Nordic’s nRF52840 brings Bluetooth 5, Bluetooth mesh, multiprotocol wireless support to IoT developers

March 29, 2018 Brandon Lewis

OSLO, NORWAY. Nordic Semiconductor has announced availability of its nRF52840 Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) system on chip. In addition to being Bluetooth 5-certified, the multi-protocol SoC supports Bluetooth mesh, Thread, 802.15.4, ANT, and 2.4GHz proprietary protocols. The chips are also outfitted with a 32-bit Arm Cortex-M4F processor running at 64 MHz for general processing tasks, as well as an Arm CryptoCell-310 cryptographic accelerator.

The nRF52840 delivers the full benefits of Bluetooth 5, including 2 Mbps on-air raw data bandwidth, 4x range, 8x broadcasting capability with packet payloads of up to 251 bytes, and improved channel coexistence. It also supports concurrent Bluetooth 5 and Thread operation through a “Dynamic Multiprotocol” feature that enables simultaneous execution of Nordic’s S140 SoftDevice software stack and the OpenThread RF protocol stack.

The SoC is based on a radio architecture consisting of an on-chip +8 dBm power amplifier (PA), 1 MB Flash, 256 kB RAM, a full-speed USB 2.0 controller, and other peripherals such as a quad-SPI interface with EasyDMA. The chip can also operate from power supplies above 5V.

The nRF52840 release is accompanied by a new version of Nordic’s nRF5 software development kit (SDK), which includes full peripheral driver support for the SoC, an IPv6-over-Bluetooth LE adaptation layer (6LoWPAN), a complete Internet Protocol (IP) suite, and SEGGER’s Embedded Studio development software. A production-grade nRF5 SDK for Mesh tool is also available for Bluetooth mesh developers working with the nRF52840.

More information on the part can be found at www.nordicsemi.com/eng/Products/nRF52840.

eletter-03-29-2018

About the Author

Brandon Lewis, Editor-in-Chief of Embedded Computing Design, is responsible for guiding the property's content strategy, editorial direction, and engineering community engagement, which includes IoT Design, Automotive Embedded Systems, the Power Page, Industrial AI & Machine Learning, and other publications. As an experienced technical journalist, editor, and reporter with an aptitude for identifying key technologies, products, and market trends in the embedded technology sector, he enjoys covering topics that range from development kits and tools to cyber security and technology business models. Brandon received a BA in English Literature from Arizona State University, where he graduated cum laude. He can be reached by email at brandon.lewis@opensysmedia.com.
Follow on Twitter Follow on Linkedin Visit Website More Content by Brandon Lewis

Embedded Computing Design

Nordic’s nRF52840 brings Bluetooth 5, Bluetooth mesh, multiprotocol wireless support to IoT developers

About the Author

Previous Article

Next Article

Nordic’s nRF52840 brings Bluetooth 5, Bluetooth mesh, multiprotocol wireless support to IoT developers

About the Author

Previous Article

Next Article

Most Recent Articles

Dialog Semiconductor and GLOBALFOUNDRIES announced an agreement in which Dialog will license its conductive bridging RAM (CBRAM) technology to GF.

SMART Global Holdings announced it has entered an agreement with Cree to purchase its LED Products business unit, known as Cree LED, for upwards of $300 million.

Integrated Global Shutter sensor portfolio provide common architecture and resolutions up to 45 Mp.

Toshiba released the TW070J120B, a 1200V SiC MOSFET for high power industrial applications.

HART SMART AV operates without a steering wheel and uses a pre-programmed, fixed route with a combination of localization techniques, involving sensor technology.

Senet released a full suite of Radio Access Network planning and management tools, development programs, and co-marketing initiatives for the deployment of commercial LoRaWAN solutions.

The new facility is enabling the company to scale up production of its (Hi-Rel) connectors to meet market requirements.

The OTA solution is designed to provide users with practical experience regarding automotive OTA and offers benefits from a variety of individual application options.

Rohde & Schwarz announced it has verified assisted-GPS (APGS) performance for commercial mobile devices.

Beckhoff Automation released the EL51xx EtherCAT Terminals, which features built-in incremental signal analysis functionality.

u-blox announced that iWave Systems selected the u-blox JODY-W2 multiradio module for its i.MX8 SOM and SBC designs.

InnoPhase announced it has joined the STMicroelectronics Partner Program.

The technology uses an open architecture and has a suite of analytics with a set of automation workflows and rules to adapt the solution to each enterprise’s needs.

Guerrilla RF introduced the GRF5506 ¼ W linear power amplifier. The amplifiers were developed for 5G and 4G wireless infrastructure applications that require native linearity.

iWave Systems collaborated with Crank Software to provide 3D touch screen interfaces on iWave HMI solutions.

The new DARTS 9040-G unit, available from dSPACE, was built to test radar sensor signals for autonomous driving needs.

By integrating the wireless charging solution into its systems Stäubli WFT is reacting to the increasing customer demand for intelligent charging concepts.

Per the company, the MAX25430 decreased design size up to 40 percent and eliminates microcontrollers, metal enclosures, and heat sinks for 25 percent lower cost than competitive solutions.

The automotive platform provides solutions for safety critical applications such as digital cockpits as well as convenience functionality like vehicle infotainment systems.

Collaboration intended to expand global availability of standardized, interoperable solutions for high-speed in-vehicle connectivity.