Nordic Semiconductors releases the new nRF53 series
Nordic Semiconductor sets new benchmark with their preview development kit (PDK) for the nRF5340. The Dual-core technology of the System-on-Chip (SoC) with a fully programmable ultra-low-power network processor and high-performance application processor will be a game changer. It is the ultimate SoC for any short-range wireless personal area network or IPv6-enabled automation application.
On a single affordable board, you get the full support of Bluetooth Low Energy, all Bluetooth 5 and Bluetooth 5.1 features, including Long Range and Advertising Extensions. It also supports wireless mesh protocols like Bluetooth mesh, Thread, Zigbee and other wireless protocols like NFC, ANT, 802.15.4, and 2.4GHz proprietary.
The nRF5340 SoC fits perfectly for complex IoT applications, professional lightning and industrial, healthcare and medical, wearables, asset tracking, Real-Time Locating System (RTLS) and smart home systems.
The SoC combines a fully programmable, ultra-low-power network processor with a high- 
performance application processor. The application processor is a 128MHz Arm Cortex M33 with 1MB Flash and 256kB RAM, the network processor a smaller version the 64MHz Arm Cortex M33 with 256kB Flash and 64kB RAM. They support root-of-trust with an Arm CryptoCell 312, trusted execution features, and secured Key storage.
The nRF5340 SoC supports operating temperatures between – 40 up to 105°C. On board of the nRF5340 PDK, you find a SEGGER J- Link debugger, enabling full-blown programming and debugging, of both the nRF5340 SoC and external targets. It is equipped with 2.4GHz Radio and NFC antennas. The power supply of 1.7 to 5.0V is granted through USB, external source or by the CR2032 coin cell battery, which is also included on board and makes in- field-testing easier. The power consumption can be measured with dedicated measurement pins.
All interfaces analog, digital or GPIOs can be connected via connectors. Four LEDs and four buttons simplify all the inputs and outputs. A compatibility to the Arduino Uno Rev3 guarantees an easy connection to external device shields, including the Power Profiler Kit.
The nRF Connect SDK is the software development kit for the nRF5340 SoC and has board support for the nRF5340 PDK. Hosted on GitHub the nRF connect SDK supports source code management with Git and free access to SEGGER Embedded Studio IDE. Industrial standards like Zephyr RTOS, MCU Boot bootloader, MCU Manager DFU protocol and Open Thread also get support.
Please note that the nRF5340 PDK is for evaluation purposes only. It is a preview development kit, and parameters may be subject to change compared to the mass production version.
