Smart home
Low power wireless connectivity solutions for smart home
Nordic introduces nRF52811 SoC supporting Bluetooth 5.1 Direction Finding and other protocols for home and industry applications requiring broad connectivity options
The
Nordic nRF52811 SoC builds on the success of Nordic’s nRF52 Series
platform and brings greater levels of accessibility for applications
that would benefit from advanced wireless IoT capabilities such as
Bluetooth 5.1 Direction Finding as well as Thread and Zigbee
Nordic Semiconductor today announces the introduction of the nRF52811 System-on-Chip (SoC), a fully-featured connectivity solution that supports Bluetooth® 5.1 Direction Finding and a range of popular low power wireless protocols for applications such as gateways for smart home and industry products.
The SoC expands Nordic’s highly popular nRF52 Series platform by adding a device that combines the low cost of Nordic’s baseline nRF52810 SoC with the multiprotocol support of Nordic’s mid-range nRF52832 and advanced nRF52840 SoCs. The nRF52811 is also the first product in the Nordic low power wireless range to support Bluetooth 5.1, which adds Direction Finding to the high throughput, long range, and enhanced coexistence capabilities of Bluetooth 5.
The Nordic nRF52811 SoC includes a multiprotocol 2.4GHz radio (featuring 4dBm output power with -97dBm sensitivity (at 1Mbps in Bluetooth 5 mode)), 64MHz, 32-bit Arm® Cortex™ M4 processor, and 192kB Flash and 24kB RAM memory. The nRF52811 SoC also includes a wide range of analog and digital interfaces.
The SoC expands Nordic’s highly popular nRF52 Series platform by adding a device that combines the low cost of Nordic’s baseline nRF52810 SoC with the multiprotocol support of Nordic’s mid-range nRF52832 and advanced nRF52840 SoCs. The nRF52811 is also the first product in the Nordic low power wireless range to support Bluetooth 5.1, which adds Direction Finding to the high throughput, long range, and enhanced coexistence capabilities of Bluetooth 5.
The Nordic nRF52811 SoC includes a multiprotocol 2.4GHz radio (featuring 4dBm output power with -97dBm sensitivity (at 1Mbps in Bluetooth 5 mode)), 64MHz, 32-bit Arm® Cortex™ M4 processor, and 192kB Flash and 24kB RAM memory. The nRF52811 SoC also includes a wide range of analog and digital interfaces.
Whether developers’ primary requirement is direction finding, support for popular RF protocols, high-throughput, long range, or price, Nordic now has an ideal solution, and each is backed by the company’s proven development tools and technical support
John Leonard, Nordic Semiconductor
The
nRF52811 SoC is an ideal connectivity chip for applications that
feature a companion microprocessor. Examples include home and industry
gateways that demand low power wireless support for Bluetooth 5, Thread,
and Zigbee smart applications such as those used with smart light
networks, HVAC, and security systems. The SoC is also a good choice for
cost-constrained Bluetooth beacon applications requiring Bluetooth 5
technology’s extended range or employed as part of a Direction Finding
system.
The nRF52811 SoC is accompanied by an updated version
(v15.3.0) of Nordic’s nRF5 Software Development Kit (SDK). This SDK
includes Nordic’s S112 SoftDevice (a Bluetooth 5 certified RF software
protocol “stack”) and a large selection of examples, libraries, and
drivers, making it simple for a designer to quickly start product
development. (Thread connectivity solutions will be available through
Nordic’s upcoming new version (v2.1) of the nRF5 SDK for Thread and
Zigbee.)
“The nRF52811 SoC joins the comprehensive family of
Nordic multiprotocol products that address the widest scope of
applications found today,” says John Leonard, Senior Product Marketing
Manager with Nordic Semiconductor. “Whether developers’ primary
requirement is direction finding, support for popular RF protocols,
high-throughput, long range, or price, Nordic now has an ideal solution,
and each is backed by the company’s proven development tools and
technical support.”
The nRF52811 SoC’s Bluetooth 5.1 Direction
Finding enables positioning solutions to not only rely just on received
signal strength indicator (RSSI), but also the actual direction of a
signal. This improves accuracy significantly and opens up new
applications. There are two types of methods for determining direction,
angle of arrival (AoA), where the direction of the received signal is
calculated, and angle of departure (AoD), where the direction of the
transmitted signal is calculated. Direction finding can operate in
either two or three dimensions depending on the selected design
complexity and antenna array. The nRF52811 SoC is the ideal choice as a
transceiver for both the AoA or AoD scenarios. Bluetooth 5.1 hardware
functionality is built-in to the nRF52811 SoC.
The nRF52811 SoC
will be produced in a 6x6mm QFN48 package with 32 GPIOs, a 5x5mm QFN32
with 17 GPIOs, and a 2.5x2.5mm wafer level CSP32 with 15 GPIOs. All
packages are compatible with those of the nRF52810 SoC enabling reuse of
the same PCB layout.
All versions of the nRF52811 SoC are
available now. Full capabilities of the nRF52811 SoC—including Bluetooth
5 Long Range, Bluetooth 5.1 Direction Finding, and Zigbee 3.0—will be
made available through software releases during 2019.
