Nordic Semi Archives - CNX Software - Embedded Systems News

May 19, 2019May 19, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments

Arduino Introduces Four New Nano Boards with WiFi, BLE, Sensors, and/or HW Crypto

The Maker Faire 2019 is now taking place in San Mateo, California, United States, and Arduino has made an habit of announcing new products during the events. This year is no different as the company has announced a new Nano Family with four boards: Arduino Nano Every powered by a Microchip ATMega4809 AVR microcontroller Arduino Nano 33 IoT with secure internet connectivity thanks to a U-blox ESP32 WiFi module and ATECC608A HW crypto chip Arduino Nano 33 BLE with Bluetooth connectivity via U-blox NINA B306 module based on Nordic Semi nRF52480 Bluetooth 5.0 chip Arduino Nano BLE Sense with a design similar to Nano 33 BLE but some extra on-board sensors. Arduino Nano Every Specifications: MCU – Microchip ATMega4809 AVR microcontroller @ 20 MHz with 48KB flash, 6KB SRAM, 256 Bytes EEPROM USB to Serial via Microchip ATSAMD11D14A Arm Cortex-M0+ USB MCU 2x 15-pin expansion headers with GPIO, SPI, I2C, USART, PWM, ADC, DAC, reset, and power signals (+5V, +3.3V, …

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May 6, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Aconno Bluetooth Beacons Come with Various Sensors, Nordic Semi nRF52 BLE SoC

We first covered products from Aconno is 2017 with their Bluetooth LE development board powered by the company’s ACN52832 BLE module based on Nordic Semi nRF52832 ARM Cortex-M4 multi-procotol wireless SoC. Since then they’ve launched several small Bluetooth beacon modules based on ACN52832, and the company has what they call a presale promotion until May 21st, but it looks really like a group buying event for their existing BLE modules where the price goes down as more people purchase modules. Six Bluetooth modules are offered: acnSENSA multisensor Bluetooth tag with temperature, light, humidity, barometer, accelerometer, magnetometer, gyroscope acnBEACON programmable Bluetooth tag acnACT BLE beacon with button and RGD LED, magnetometer, phototransistor acnNFC programmable Bluetooth tag with NFC tag emulator acnRANGE distance measuring beacon with time-of-flight sensor acnFIND Bluetooth smart tag with LED, sound and accelerometer All modules come with a replaceable CR2450 battery, and IP65 enclosure. Pricing currently ranges from 15.96 Euros (Net) to 29.40 Euros (Net), but price may …

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April 23, 2019April 23, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

Ruuvi Node Open-source Node Solution Combines Nordic Semi nRF9160 Cellular SiP & nRF52840 Bluetooth SoC

Back in 2016, we covered Ruuvi Innovations’ Ruuvitag open source Bluetooth & NFC sensor beacon is based on Nordic Semi nRF52832 Bluetooth SoC. The company has now introduced Ruuvi node, another open source multi-purpose, industrial-grade cellular gateway, environmental sensing, and asset tracking node solution based on not one, but two Nordic Semi chips with nRF91 cellular IoT SiP (System-in-Package) with NB-IoT and LTE M (eMTC) connectivity and nRF52840 multi-protocol Bluetooth 5.0 SoC. It’s an early announcement with the launch of the first pilots of Ruuvi Node planned for Q2/Q3 of this year, so the full specifications are yet to be released. However, thanks to a press release on Nordic Semi website, we do know that Ruuvi Node is meant to be maintenance-free, will include a solar panel for energy harvesting (which mean the included 45Wh battery may never run out depending on the application), several environmental sensors, GPS positioning provided via nRF9160 SiP, and NFC for securely reading device IDs …

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February 6, 2019February 6, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Papyr is a Nordic nRF52840 based Bluetooth/802.15.4 ePaper Display

Electronut Labs has designed a Nordic Semi nRF52840 boards featuring a black, red, and white e-Paper display. Papyr board supports both Bluetooth LE (BLE5, BLE Mesh) and 802.15.4 (Thread, Zigbee) connectivity, and can be controlled via an Android app, with iOS support coming later on. Papyr hardware specifications: Wireless Module – Raytac MDBT50 module with Nordic nRF52840 BLE/802.15.4 SoC (as used in Raytac MDBT50Q-RX Bluetooth 5 LE USB adapter) Connectivity – Bluetooth 5 LE/Mesh, 802.15.4 (Thread/Zigbee), NFC (PCB antenna) Display – 1.54″ 200×200 pixel red/black/white epaper display USB – 1x micro USB device port Expansion – Extra GPIOs via 2.54mm header Debugging – SWD Programming header Misc – RGB LED, push button, USB/Battery power switch Power Supply – 5V via USB, or CR2477 coin cell Dimensions – 65 x 35 mm You can control the board using Electronut Labs app for Android. Three features are supported at this stage: Draw, Select image, and Transfer data over MQTT. Beside the board …

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January 28, 2019January 28, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

nRF52840 MDK Base Dock Adds AA Battery Holder, Grove Connectors

Makerdiary nRF52840 Micro Development Kit (MDK) is a breadboard-friendly devkit for Nordic Semi nRF52840 multi-protocol wireless SoC that supports Bluetooth 5.0, Thread, IEEE 802.15.4, ANT, and 2.4GHz proprietary, and various popular frameworks or OS such as Arm Mbed OS, or the Zephyr Project. nRF52840 MDK Base Dock makes development just a little easier, by adding an AA battery holder, and four Grove connectors compatible with Seeed Studio’s Grove modules. nRF52840 MDK Base Dock specifications: Dual 2×18 Socket Headers compatible with nRF52832-MDK & nRF52840-MDK 4 Grove connectors with selectable UART/I2C/I2S/PDM/QDEC/SPI/ADC NFC tag-A PCB Antenna Power Power button with latching circuit AA battery holder Synchronous, Step-up Converter with VIN>VOUT Down Mode Operation 0.8V-to-4V Input Range 3.3V Output with Over-Current Protection Battery level sensing with 1:2 voltage divider on AIN2 Low power consumption: 5uA Shutdown Current; 145uA Idle Current Dimensions – 58mm x 54mm x 17mm The board also adds an NFC PCB antenna and a power button. There’s no specific documentation for …

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January 11, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

Obvious is an App Store for Embedded Devices

Mobile devices have gotten their own app stores for more than 10 years already, with Google Play for Android and Apple App Store for iPhones and iPads. Linux powered IoT devices – usually gateways – also got their own app stores with branded Ubuntu app stores relying on Ubuntu Snaps, although I’m not sure they are widely used. However, low power embedded devices usually based on microcontrollers did not get their own app store, and Obvious aims to fill this gap with the Obvious platform, an app store for embedded devices, which enabled after-sales features and upgrades. Obvious app store is currently in Beta and works exclusively with Nordic Semi based products at this stage. We don’t know an awful lot about the services, except it will enable a new revenue stream for providers of low power wireless IoT devices. Some benefits listed by the company include: Untapped resources – Spare CPU cycles, an extra I/O port or an unused …

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December 27, 2018December 28, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

SDTxArm Pelion Kit is a Modular IoT Devkit Designed for Arm Mbed Cloud Platform

South Korea based Sigma Delta Technologies’ SDTxArm Pelion Kit is a modular development kit comprised of a baseboard, as well as CPU and interface modules that is specifically designed to work with Arm Pelion cloud based device management service and Mbed OS for wearables and IoT applications. DAP (Debug Access Port) Station Ver.2 baseboard key features and specifications: USB – 1x micro USB 2.0 port Expansion I/Os via rows of through-holes 3x UART Interfaces 4x SPI Interfaces 3x I²C Interfaces 7x GPIO 4x analog inputs Debugging / Programming 1x TC2050 tag connection designed to allow programming without purchasing additional Interface if the user already has an appropriate Interface Module from other companies. I assume this is related to Tag Connect TC2050-IDC. 1x SD-TAG with JTAG/SWD signals Power Supply – 5V via micro USB port The DAP station takes an SDT Board (i.e. CPU board), as well as an interface board for example a UART to USB debug board. The board …

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December 24, 2018December 26, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 8 Comments

Raytac MDBT50Q-RX Bluetooth 5 LE USB Adapter Features nRF52840 WiSoC

Bluetooth 5 has been around for a while, but apart from MakerSpot CC2640 Bluetooth 5 USB dongle and Nordic Semi nRF52840 USB Dongle both for developers (and without case), it’s been hard to find Bluetooth 5 USB adapters. So far the only proper BT 5.0 USB adapter for consumers that’s easily purchasable I know of has been Fanstel USB840F available for about $18 plus shipping. Soon enough there should at least another alternative with Raytac MDBT50Q-RX Bluetooth 5 USB adapter- also based on Nordic Semi nRF52840 WiSoC – that the company very recently announced. Raytac MDBT50Q-RX BT 5 dongle main features and specifications: Bluetooth 5 Module – Raytac MDBT50Q-P1M Nordic nRF52840 SoC Arm Cortex-M4F MCU with 1MB Flash memory, 256kB RAM Connectivity – Bluetooth 5 Certified, supports BT5 Long Range Feature Bluetooth Low Energy, ANT+, Zigbee, Thread (802.15.4) Certifications – FCC, IC, CE, Telec (MIC), KC, SRRC, NCC, RCM, WPC Bluetooth 5 details Bitrate / Range 1Mbps up to 250 …

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