A multi-protocol SoC for ultra low-power wireless applications

28 September, 2017

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The nRF52840 SoC of Nordic Semiconductor is based on a 32-bit ARM Cortex-M4F CPU running at 64 MHz with flash and RAM integrated on chip. Ultra low-power wireless applications can use this advanced multi-protocol SoC with different communication protocols. The 2.4 GHz transceiver supports Bluetooth low energy (Bluetooth 5), 802.15.4, ANT and proprietary protocols. The transceiver also supports high resolution RSSI measurement and automated processes to reduce CPU load. Moreover, EasyDMA for direct data memory access and packet assembly provides full support for hardware (figure 1). The device maintains the compatibility with existing products such as nRF52, nRF51 and nRF24 series.

Figure 1: Block diagram of the nRF52840 SoC

Bluetooth 5 and SoC

Bluetooth 5 (500kbs e 125kbs) is the latest version of the well-known wireless technology. It increases the range of four times and the throughput of eight times, making this technology much more suitable for ultra low-power wireless applications such as wearable, Smart Home and more generally for Internet-related applications (IoT, IIoT). The ultra low power consumption of the Bluetooth 5 protocol facilitates high performance, advertising extension and modulation schemes.

nRF52840 SoC uses power management resources to maximize job processes and achieve an optimal energy efficiency. The power supply ranges between 1.7V and 5.5V ensures a wide choice of batteries. In addition, SoC can also work with USB direct power supply without external regulators. Especially relevant, all devices have automatic clock management with adaptive features to maintain minimal power consumption.

Features:

multi-protocol SoC
32-bit ARM Cortex-M4F Processor
1.7v to 5.5v operation
1MB flash + 256kB RAM
Bluetooth 5 support for long range and high throughput
802.15.4 radio support
On-chip NFC
PPI –Programmable Peripheral Interconnect
Automated power management system with automatic power management of each peripheral
Configurable I/O mapping for analog and digital I/O
48 x GPIO
1 x QSPI
4 x Master/Slave SPI
2 x Two-wire interface (I²C)
I²S interface
2 x UART
4 x PWM
USB 2.0 controller
ARM TrustZone CryptoCell-310 Cryptographic and security module
AES 128-bit ECB/CCM/AAR hardware accelerator
Digital microphone interface (PDM)
Quadrature decoder
12-bit ADC
Low power comparator
On-chip 50Ω balun
On-air compatible with nRF52, nRF51 and nRF24 Series

Development kit

The NRF52840-PDK is a versatile development kit based on nRF52840 SoC for the development of projects by using Bluetooth Low Energy, ANT, 802.15.4, and proprietary 2.4GHz protocols. Moreover, It is also hardware-compatible with the Arduino Uno R3 standard, allowing to use third-party compatible shields. Adding an NFC antenna, the kit enables the NFC tag feature (figure 2 and 3).