Avnet AVT9152 - nRF52840 & nRF91 IoT module and devkit

Avnet AVT9152 is an IoT module and development kit that combines two Nordic Semi wireless solutions, namely nRF52840 Bluetooth 5.2/LE multiprotocol SoC and nRF91 IoT cellular system-on-module with NB-IoT, LTE-M, and GPS connectivity.

The module supports Avnet’s enterprise-ready IoTConnect Platform, and the development kit combines with IoT module with a 3-axis accelerometer, a 3-axis gyroscope, as well as pressure, temperature, relative humidity, ambient light, and motion (PIR) sensors to help with the development of IoT applications such as tracking devices, vending machines, points-of-sale, smart buildings, industrial IoT, and more.

Avnet AVT9152 module – nRF52840 + nRF91

Key features and specifications:

Wireless SoC/SiP
- Nordic Semi nRF9160 Cortex-M33 based system-in-package (SiP) with LTE-M/NB-IoT global carrier certification for LPWAN connectivity; support for power save mode, PSM and eDRX
- Nordic Semi nRF52840 Cortex-M4F microcontroller with Bluetooth 5.0 and Bluetooth LE for short-range communication
- Flexible LTE and GPS antenna options
50x castellated holes with UART, SPI, I2C, NFC, USB and GPIOs
Security – Arm TrustZone security isolation
Power Supply – 3V @ 200mA
Dimensions – 26 x 28 x 3 mm
Certifications – FCC, CE, RCM, and BQB certified

The module support OTA firmware updates on both nRF91 and nRF52, and can be controlled with AT commands over UDP/TCP protocols.

Avnet AVT9152 evaluation kit

The best way to evaluate or/and get started with AVT9152 is to get the evaluation kit of the same name with the following specifications:

Wireless module – Avnet AVT9152 module described above
Wireless connectivity
- Micro SIM card holder
- Antennas
  - Onboard antenna for BLE
  - SMA or µ.FL connectors for LTE-M/NB-IoT antenna
  - µ.FL connector for passive or active GPS antenna
Sensors – Temperature, relative humidity, pressure, accelerometer, gyroscope, ambient light, and motion
Expansion – Arduino compatible headers
Debugging – 2x debug interfaces, 2x USB serial debug interfaces
Power Supply – 5V via DC jack; battery connector for +3.6V battery
Misc – 2x reset buttons, once for each MCU

AVT9152 development kit block diagram — Block diagram

The kits include the AVT9152 evaluation board, an external paddle LTE antenna, an active GPS/GALILEO ceramic patch antenna, a global eUICC SIM card, a 5V power adapter, a 6-pin rainbow jumper cable, and a 10-pin header J-link ribbon cable.

Note the included SIM card’s free plan expires 3 months after first
connection to the network or when 50MB of data quota is consumed whichever comes first. It’s apparently only for LTE-M (eMTC), in other words, it does not include NB-IoT connectivity, and only works in some regions.

Software, pricing & availability

Avnet provides an SDK connecting to the Avnet IoT Connect platform for
evaluation, and which allows you to see sensor data in a web dashboard. You’ll find documentation including a getting started guide on the product page for the module and evaluation kit. A Github repository with some demo code is also available.

The module is itself sells for $37.95, while the development kit goes for $199, but available directly from Avnet.

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.