nRF7002 Based Arduino Shield: Nordic Adds Wi-Fi 6 to Arduino and RPi

The nRF7002 EK is a Wi-Fi 6 evaluation kit in an Arduino-compatible form factor. It’s designed to integrate with various Nordic development kits like the nRF52840 and supports the nRF Connect SDK and code samples. This kit includes the nRF7002-based Arduino Shield and other peripherals. Additionally, Nordic has released a Linux driver for the nRF70 series, enabling compatibility with Raspberry Pi devices.

The nRF7002 is a compact, energy-efficient Wi-Fi 6 chip by Nordic Semiconductor, designed for IoT devices. It supports dual-band Wi-Fi and Bluetooth LE and can be interfaced with SPI/QSPI bus, which makes it ideal for a lot of microcontrollers. It leverages Target Wake Time to save power. It’s integrated into the nRF Connect SDK for development ease.

This board can be integrated with the nRF Connect SDK, and for simplicity, it also includes sample code for development. The whole device is designed with an Arduino shield in mind but its compatibility with standard Arduino boards isn’t specified by Nordic, particularly regarding the use of Wi-Fi/Bluetooth coexistence features. However, it could be managed by an Arduino via the SPI interface with custom-written software.

Nordic recently introduced a Linux driver for its nRF70 chips, which has been successfully tested with a Raspberry Pi 4 using Ubuntu 22.04 64-bit. This setup involved connecting the nRF7002 Evaluation Kit (EK) through a special interposer board. While this interposer board is not available for purchase, its design files are accessible for anyone to build.

Specifications of nRF7002 Based Arduino Shield:

• Wireless chip – Nordic Semi nRF7002
• Dual-band Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax)
• Wi-Fistation mode
• Target Wake Time (TWT)
• 20 MHz channel bandwidth
• Antenna – 2.4 and 5 GHz antenna for Wi-Fi
• SWF port for RF measurement
• Host interface – SPI or QSPI interfaces
• Dimensions – Arduino shield form factor

The nRF7002 Evaluation Kit is priced at $19 (Not Including Shipping) and available on Crowd Supply, as well as through distributors like Mouser and Digikey. For more information, you can visit the product page.

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