Rigado’s ‘Edge Connectivity Suite’ employs nRF52840 SoC to help rapidly deploy large scale IoT projects

Rigado, Edge Connectivity Suite

Nordic-powered Bluetooth 5 device-to-Cloud mesh networking platform delivers wireless connectivity and edge computing to commercial IoT applications

Nordic Semiconductor today announces that Portland, OR-based, wireless solutions company, Rigado, has selected Nordic’s nRF52840 Bluetooth® Low Energy (Bluetooth LE) advanced multiprotocol System-on-Chip (SoC) for its ‘Edge Connectivity Suite’, a device-to-Cloud solution for reducing the cost and risk of commercial Internet of Things (IoT) deployments.

The Edge Connectivity Suite is comprised of Rigado’s full line of nRF52 Series-based modules—including the new BMD-340—as well as its Vesta IoT Gateway, and DeviceOps® platform for updating of large-scale IoT deployments.

The BMD-340 module provides smart-device manufacturers with a plug-and-play solution to speed time to market, while reducing design, testing, and certification costs. Because it incorporates the nRF52840 SoC, the module is fully Bluetooth 5-certified and features full mesh-networking capabilities, making it ideal for applications such as smart lighting or asset tracking.

The nRF52 Series-powered Vesta IoT Gateway is a cost-effective edge router to connect wireless devices, run edge applications, and integrate with Cloud services. The gateway manages long range connectivity to end devices, and ensures data reaches both public and private Cloud services. It also supports custom edge applications to process data and offer local device control.

The company’s Cloud-based DeviceOps tools allow for faster development and secure over-the-air device firmware updates (OFA-DFU) at scale, allowing developers to quickly push new builds to their gateways during prototyping. For production deployment, the gateways are given a secure ID and key at the point of manufacture, enabling field updates via DeviceOps after deployment.
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Using Bluetooth 5 for large-scale IoT deployments requires a solution that addresses flexibility, interoperability, and security. That’s what Rigado’s Edge Connectivity Suite provides
 Ben Corrado, Rigado

Nordic’s nRF52840 Bluetooth LE SoC is Nordic’s most advanced ultra low power wireless solution. The SoC supports complex Bluetooth LE and other low-power wireless applications that were previously not possible with a single-chip solution. The SoC combines a 64MHz, 32-bit ARM® Cortex® M4F processor with a 2.4GHz multiprotocol radio (supporting Bluetooth 5, ANT™, IEEE 802.15.4, and proprietary 2.4GHz RF software) with 1MB Flash memory and 256kB RAM. A new radio architecture with on-chip PA provides features -96dB RX sensitivity, a maximum output power of 8dBm, and a total link budget of >110dBm. Designed to address the inherent security challenges of the IoT, the nRF52840 SoC incorporates the ARM® CryptoCell-310 cryptographic accelerator, offering best-in-class security.

The SoC is supplied with Nordic’s S140 SoftDevice, a Bluetooth 5-certified software protocol stack for building long range and high data Bluetooth LE applications. The S140 SoftDevice offers concurrent Central, Peripheral, Broadcaster, and Observer Bluetooth LE roles.

“Many manufacturers and integrators are now choosing Bluetooth 5 for their Commercial IoT applications, such as asset tracking and smart lighting,” says Ben Corrado, CEO at Rigado. “But using Bluetooth 5 for large-scale IoT deployments requires a solution that addresses flexibility, interoperability, and security. That’s what Rigado’s Edge Connectivity Suite provides.

“The nRF52840 SoC’s full support of Bluetooth 5—including long range, fast data bandwidth rate, and advertising extensions—as well as the computing capability of the ARM Cortex M4F processor, make it an attractive option for the Edge Connectivity Suite and our customers who want to build smarter devices.”

To help companies rapidly prototype Bluetooth 5 IoT solutions, Nordic and Rigado have also partnered to create the Rigado IoT Development Kit (DK), which combines the Vesta IoT Gateway with Nordic’s Thingy:52 sensor. The Nordic Thingy:52® DK enables app developers to configure, test, and demonstrate Bluetooth LE IoT devices linked to mobile apps and Cloud platforms, without needing firmware coding skills or development tools. The Rigado IoT DK includes sample software that makes it easy to capture sensor information from the Nordic Thingy:52 and analyze and display it through Rigado’s Gateway Web app, or stream sensor data to Amazon Web Services where it is in turn visualized in a Cloud-based dashboard.

The Rigado family of integrated edge connectivity solutions based on the nRF52840 will be available in Q1, 2018. Samples, and the Rigado IoT DK, are available immediately.