From Nordic: "Nordic Semiconductor demonstrates new nRF9160 SiP for cellular IoT and class-leading nRF52 Series Bluetooth 5, Thread, and Zigbee SoCs at CES 2019"

Low power RF specialist Nordic Semiconductor ASA today announces it will demonstrate its newly-launched ‘nRF9160 System-in-Package’ (SiP), an LTE-M/NB-IoT cellular IoT solution, at International CES 2019. Nordic will also demonstrate its ‘nRF52840 multi-protocol System-on-Chip’ (SoC), together with its other nRF52 SoCs, at the show. These and other demonstrations will be hosted on the company’s booth (#44549 in Sands A-D, Sands Exhibition Hall) at CES. CES, the world’s leading consumer electronics exhibition, is organized by the U.S.-based Consumer Technology Association (CTA). The event will be held in Las Vegas, NV, from January 8 to 11, 2019.

The recent launch of the nRF9160 SiP makes cellular IoT wireless technology accessible to any application because of the unique ease with which the product can be designed-in. At just 10 x 16 x 1mm, the nRF9160 SiP is suitable for even compact wearable consumer and medical devices yet is a complete solution that integrates everything a cellular connection and IoT application needs (except battery, SIM, and antenna). The product has received GCF certification along with separately required FCC and CE regulatory certifications. The SiP has also been recognized as an Awards Honoree in the “Embedded Products” category of the CES 2019 Innovation Awards.

Nordic partnered with Qorvo to make a SiP that more closely resembles an integrated chip than a conventional module. The nRF9160 SiP leverages Qorvo’s state-of-the-art, proven RF front-end, advanced packaging, and MicroShield™ technology to deliver a unique, ultra-compact solution that combines high performance with low power consumption. The nRF9160 SiP supports global operation with a single SiP variant thanks to the combination of Nordic’s multimode LTE-M/NB-IoT modem, SAW-less transceiver, and the custom RF front-end solution from Qorvo.

The nRF9160 SiP provides LTE-M and NB-IoT support in the 700MHz to 2.2GHz spectrum allocation and incorporates Arm’s latest Arm Cortex M-33 CPU core, Arm TrustZone, and Arm CryptoCell security for Internet-level encryption and application protection. The SiP features 1MB Flash plus 256 kB RAM and a broad range peripheral set, analog and digital interfaces, 32 GPIOs, a stand-alone modem with full LTE capability, plus a multi-band RF front-end. In addition, the SiP uniquely features built-in support for positioning via an integrated Assisted GPS (A-GPS).

The nRF9160 SiP demonstration will illustrate the ease with which the cellular IoT product can be designed-in to asset-tracking applications. The demonstration will be based on an nRF9160 Development Kit (DK) and will link, using LTE-M wireless connectivity, to Nordic’s ‘nRF Connect for Cloud’, the company’s versatile IoT connectivity enabler. The asset-tracking example source code is included as part of the ‘nRF Connect SDK’—the Software DK used with the nRF9160 SiP—and forms the starting point for a customer application.

A second demonstration will also use the nRF9160 DK with LTE-M and nRF Connect for Cloud but this time will show how the DK’s built-in nRF52840 SoC can be used to extend a cellular IoT link to a Bluetooth LE device (a Nordic ‘Thingy:52 IoT Sensor Kit’) as the foundation of a real application. This demonstration shows how, for example, moisture sensors on a farm could connect via Bluetooth 5 (or Thread or Zigbee) to a gateway equipped with an nRF52840 SoC with the data then relayed via a cellular IoT device to the Cloud for analysis.

Nordic will also present a new version of the ‘SEGGER Embedded Studio’ Integrated Development Environment (IDE) with features that make it even easier to develop applications with the nRF Connect SDK.

Other demonstrations include the nRF52840 SoC running applications based on multiple low power RF protocols. For example, the nRF52840 SoC will be used to control Philips Hue smart lights, a smart door lock and other smart lights using Zigbee 3.0. The nRF52840 SoC will also demonstrate its concurrent protocol support by controlling smart-home products with Zigbee at the same time as communicating with a Thingy:52 using Bluetooth LE.

The nRF52840 SoC is Bluetooth® Low Energy (Bluetooth LE)/Bluetooth 5-, Thread 1.1-, and Zigbee PRO (R21) and Green Power proxy specification-certified product. The SoC employs a 64MHz, 32-bit Arm® Cortex™ M4F processor which has ample generic processing power, Floating Point, and DSP performance to meet the demands of even the most challenging wireless applications. The SoC features a radio architecture with an +8 dBm on-chip PA; 1MB Flash and 256 kB RAM; a full speed USB 2.0 controller, and a host of peripherals. The SoC also incorporates an Arm® CryptoCell-310 cryptographic accelerator for best-in-class security.

Nordic will also demonstrate the range and throughput advantages of Bluetooth 5, and advanced mesh network solutions based on Bluetooth mesh and Thread (running over the IEEE 802.15.4 low power wireless network standard). In addition to Zigbee, the nRF52840 SoC concurrently supports Bluetooth LE and Thread. Such support ensures smartphone interoperability (for app-based home automation equipment control without the need for a dedicated gateway).

“The objective of our demonstrations at CES is to show how the nRF9160 cellular IoT SiP and associated development tools make it simple for developers to add cellular IoT to any application,” says Geir Langeland, Nordic Semiconductor’s Director of Sales & Marketing. “Following big investments from cellular infrastructure providers, 2019 will be the year that cellular IoT low power wireless area networks [LPWANs] take off. Nordic’s cellular IoT, available from major distributors right now, allows even those who are new to the technology to immediately develop applications for what will be a huge new market.

“The show also provides the opportunity to show how cellular IoT can combine with Nordic’s proven nRF52 Series SoCs to add seamless Cloud connectivity to any wireless-sensor application using Nordic hardware, software, and development tools from end-to-end,” says Langeland. “The asset-tracking, utility metering, industrial machinery, smart city, smart agriculture, and medical sectors, among many others, have been crying out for such connectivity - and now it’s here.”

International CES boasts five decades of success. At the 2018 event CES welcomed 182,198 industry professionals and showcased 4,598 exhibiting companies across 232,250m2 of exhibit space.