nRF52805 Tiny Bluetooth 5.2 SoC is Optimized for Small Two-layer PCB Designs

Nordic Semi has just added a new member to its nRF52 Bluetooth 5 wireless SoC family with nRF52805 offered in a tiny WLCSP package measuring 2.48×2.46 mm and optimized for cost-effective 2-layer PCB designs.

nRF52805 key features and specifications:

• MCU Core – Arm Cortex-M4 @ 64 MHz
• Storage & Memory – 192 KB Flash, 24 KB RAM
• Wireless
  • Bluetooth Low Energy and 2.4 GHz proprietary protocols.
  • High bitrate – 2 Mbps, 1 Mbps
  • +4 dBm TX power
  • -97 dBm RX sensitivity (1 Mbps Bluetooth LE)
  • Integrated balun with single-ended output
• I/Os – UART, SPI, TWI, 2-channel 12-bit ADC
• Security 128-bit AES
• Power Consumption
  • 7 mA in TX (4 dBm)
  • 4.6 mA in TX (0 dBm)
  • 4.6 mA in RX (1 Mbps)
  • 0.3 μA in System OFF
  • 1.1 μA in System ON with 24 KB RAM retained and RTC running
• Supply Voltage – 3.6V max
• Package – 2.48×2.46 mm WLCSP

Note the latest Nordic Semi wireless SoC does not support all features from its big brother such as nRF52833. Unsupported features include Bluetooth long-range and direction-finding, 802.15.4 connectivity, and USB interface.

Nordic Semi nRF52805 is supported by SoftDevice S112 and will be supported by SoftDevice S113, both of which are memory-optimized peripheral-only Bluetooth Low Energy protocol stacks supporting up to 4 connections. You’ll find a guide on how to get started with nRF52805 using nRF5 SDK on Nordic Devzone. There’s no specific development kit, and instead, developer can use nRF52 devkit to emulate nRF52805 WiSoC.

The company also provides an Altium based 2-layer reference layout measuring just 9.8×8.8mm and exposing all ten GPIOs. Only 10 external passive components, including two crystal load capacitors, are required on the board.

nRF5208 target applications include beacons, disposable medical devices, sensors, styluses, and presenters. Price starts at $1.29 per unit in 1,500 pieces quantities on distributors such as AVNET.  More details, including documentation and reference layout, can be found on the product page.

Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft)

Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011.

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