Nordic Semi Launches the nRF9151, "The Smallest and Lowest Power" System-in-Package for Cellular IoT
With LTE-M/NB-IoT and DECT NR+ support now and satellite connectivity promised for the future, the nRF9161's successor is looking bright.
Nordic Semiconductor has announced the general availability of its nRF9151, a system-in-package (SiP) it claims offers "the smallest and lowest power" solution for cellular Internet of Things (IoT) projects — and which can be used as a dedicated modem or an application microcontroller.
"I'm excited that the nRF9151 is now entering production because we know our customers and many other IoT developers demand a highly integrated, compact, and low power LTE-M/NB-IoT and DECT NR+ solution," Nordic's Øyvind Birkene says of the launch. "“Not only does the nRF9151 bring class-leading performance to cellular IoT, but Nordic is also the only global company to offer a complete cellular IoT solution. As a result, we're already seeing high demand from customers developing the next generation of products in the massive IoT markets such as smart metering, asset tracking, and Industrial IoT products. We are eager to also close gaps and bring global coverage through the upcoming NTN [Non-Terrestrial Network] support."
The nRF9151 SiP, measuring just 12×11mm (around 0.47×0.43") features a single Arm Cortex-M33 core running at up to 64MHz, 256kB of static RAM (SRAM), and 1MB of flash memory, plus Arm's TrustZone and CryptoCell security technologies — allowing it to act as a primary application processor in a variety of projects, or to run as a communications processor next to a more powerful microcontroller or microprocessor.
Designed to succeed the nRF9161, the nRF9151 is around 20 per cent smaller and adds support for Power Class 5 20dBm on top of Power Class 3 23dBm — along with full compatibility with 3GPP Release 14 LTE-M/NB-IoT and 1.9GHz DECT NR+. For the longest of long-range communication, Nordic has promised support for satellite communication in an updated firmware — though this will not be available at launch, and the company has not yet published a timescale for release.
For those looking to get started as quickly as possible, Nordic has also launched the nRF9151 Development Kit (DK), a development board that breaks out the SiP's features into an easily-accessible form factor — including support for using its general-purpose input/output (GPIO) headers on Arduino UNO-format pin headers. The board is ready to run as-is, complete with a bundled SIM card with pre-loaded data allowance, and comes with an embedded SEGGER J-Link for programming and debugging — usable also with external targets, if desired.
The nRF9151 DK is now available to order in the channel, priced at $99; individual nRF9151 SIPs can be purchased starting at $19.87 in single-unit quantities — though at the time of writing were back-ordered at all major channel partners.
More information is available on the Nordic website.