Date: 05/07/2012

Nordic announces 2.4GHz ANT and Bluetooth SoCs from nRF51 Series

Nordic Semiconductor ASA has announced the first members of its new nRF51 Series of ultra-low power (ULP) RF integrated circuits (ICs) that feature a new multi-protocol 2.4GHz radio and a 32-bit ARM Cortex-M0 based processor.

Applications development based on the ULP wireless sub-categories such as Bluetooth low energy, ANT / ANT+, and 2.4GHz proprietary RF are made straightforward with the launch of the nRF51 Series.

The first two Flash-based chips to unveil in the new nRF51 Series are:
1. The nRF51822 multi-protocol Bluetooth low energy / 2.4GHz proprietary RF SoC
2. The nRF51422, the first ANT SoC

Features of the multi-protocol 2.4GHz radio:
1. -92.5dB RX sensitivity in Bluetooth low energy mode
2. Up to +4dBm output power in all modes
3. Up to 9.5dBm improvement in link budget compared to Nordic’s previous generation radio
4. Sub-10mA peak currents running off a 3V coin cell battery
5. Bluetooth v4.0 compliant
6. 100% on air compatibility with Nordic's existing nRF24L series ICs
7. Support for non-concurrent and concurrent operation of a range of protocols including Bluetooth low energy, ANT, and proprietary 2.4GHz RF
8. Full range received signal strength indication (RSSI)

Features of the SoC architecture:
1. 32-bit ARM Cortex-M0 processor with 2µs start-up time
2. Advanced and fine-grained power management scheme. Individual system blocks can be powered on or off independently and control their clock autonomously based on activity level
3. Programmable Peripheral Interconnect (PPI) system. Enables peripherals such as radio, timers’ and I/O to interact autonomously with each other without involving the processor.
4. EasyDMA radio interface with flexible RAM mapped FIFOs
5. Flexible GPIO mapping
6. Custom 2-region Memory Protection Unit (MPU) enabling program memory and run-time protection of pre-compiled protocol stacks

“We have worked closely with our most trusted customers for several years on the nRF51 Series and we are confident that this latest Nordic product range once again sets a new benchmark for Bluetooth low energy, ANT, and 2.4GHz RF proprietary ultra low power applications,” comments Thomas Embla Bonnerud, director of Product Management at Nordic Semiconductor.

Bonnerud continues: “Our new multi-protocol radio combined with the ARM Cortex-M0 based processor not only slashes power consumption, but also significantly improves performance and available processing power, and also extends the range of applications we can cover with our new SoC solutions. We have also taken a completely novel approach with our software architecture for Bluetooth low energy and ANT SoCs that accelerates product development and lowers risks by offering developers unprecedented flexibility, ease-of-use, and code safety.”

nRF51822 and nRF51422 are sampling to lead customers now. General availability is scheduled for early September 2012 and mass production is scheduled for Q4 2012.