Nordic Ambient Temperature-Qualified Bluetooth 5.1 SoC

By Tiera Oliver

Associate Editor

Embedded Computing Design

January 30, 2020

News

Nordic Ambient Temperature-Qualified Bluetooth 5.1 SoC

For a range of concurrent multiprotocol Bluetooth LE, mesh, and Thread applications. Offering options for professional lighting with high-temperature capability, direction finding, and robust coverage

Nordic Semiconductor announces the nRF52833 multiprotocol System-on-Chip (SoC). The nRF52833 is a low power Bluetooth Low Energy (Bluetooth LE), Thread, Zigbee, and 2.4-GHz proprietary wireless connectivity solution with a Bluetooth 5.1 Direction Finding-capable radio and is qualified for operation across a -40 to 105oC temperature range.

The nRF52833 features a 64-MHz 32-bit Arm Cortex-M4 processor with FPU and includes Flash (512 KB) and RAM (128 KB) memory for a wide range of commercial and industrial wireless applications including professional lighting, asset tracking, smart home products, advanced wearables, and gaming solutions. 

The SoC's Flash and RAM memory supports multiprotocol capability for applications such as professional lighting where concurrent Bluetooth LE and Bluetooth mesh/Thread/Zigbee support enables provisioning, commissioning, and interaction with a lighting mesh network from a smartphone using Bluetooth LE.

The nRF52833's radio is capable of Bluetooth 5.1 Direction Finding features and the memory can support both receiver and transmitter roles for Angle-of-Arrival (AoA) and Angle-of-Departure (AoD) applications. Direction Finding enables positioning applications not only rely on received signal strength indication (RSSI) but also the signal direction. Applications include real time location systems (RTLS) and indoor positioning systems (IPS).

The nRF52833 includes features-including Full-Speed USB, High-Speed SPI, and +8dBm output power, previously only available on Nordic's flagship nRF52840 multiprotocol SoC. The output power together with Bluetooth 5 technology's Long Range feature ensures the nRF52833 is good for smart-home applications in need of robust connections and complete building coverage. The SoC includes up to 42 GPIOs and analog and digital interfaces such as an NFC-A Tag, ADC,  UART/SPI/TWI, PWM, I2S, and PDM. The device has a two-stage LDO voltage regulator and a DC-DC converter with a 1.7 to 5.5-V input supply range, allowing the nRF52833 SoC to be powered by coin-cells, rechargeable batteries, or the on-chip USB.

  The nRF52833 is supported by the S113 or S140 SoftDevices, Nordic's Bluetooth RF protocol stacks. The S140 is a Bluetooth 5.1 stack and includes support for 2 Mbps throughput, Bluetooth Long Range, and improved coexistence through Channel Selection Algorithm #2. The nRF5 Software Development Kit (SDK) provides examples, libraries, and drivers to get started with Bluetooth LE development. The nRF5 SDK for Mesh and nRF5 SDK for Thread and Zigbee are scheduled for release in Q4 2019.

The nRF52833 Development Kit (DK) accompanies the SoC's introduction and is a design tool to start nRF52833-based designs. The DK is a single board development kit for Bluetooth LE, Bluetooth mesh, 802.15.4, Thread, Zigbee, and 2.4GHz proprietary applications running on the nRF52833 SoC. The DK is compatible with the Arduino Uno Rev3 standard, enabling the use of the compatible Nordic Power Profiler Kit and a range of third-party shields during development.

nRF52833 engineering samples are available now with volume production Q4, 2019. The SoC will be made available in three different packages: a 7x7 mm aQFN73 with 42 GPIOs, a 5x5 mm QFN40 with 18 GPIOs and a 3.2x3.2 mm wlCSP with 42 GPIOs. 

For more information, please visit: https://www.nordicsemi.com/Products/Low-power-short-range-wireless/nRF52833

 

Tiera Oliver, Associate Editor for Embedded Computing Design, is responsible for web content edits, product news, and constructing stories. She also assists with newsletter updates as well as contributing and editing content for ECD podcasts and the ECD YouTube channel. Before working at ECD, Tiera graduated from Northern Arizona University where she received her B.S. in journalism and political science and worked as a news reporter for the university’s student led newspaper, The Lumberjack.

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