Nordic Semi Unveils Its Next-Generation 22nm nRF54 Series of Bluetooth 5.4 SoCs
Promises twice the compute of the nRF53 Series, "multiple" RISC-V coprocessors, and a "class-leading" 2.4GHz multi-protocol radio.
Nordic Semiconductor has announced the fourth generation of its popular nRF family of low-power wireless systems-on-chips (SoCs), dubbed the nRF54 Series — and starting with the nRF54H20, boasting support for Bluetooth 5.4 "and future Bluetooth specifications."
"Decades of ultra low power wireless expertise have come together to form the nRF54 Series," claims Svenn-Tore Larsen, Nordic Semi's chief executive officer, of the launch. “Our first SoC from the fourth generation of Bluetooth LE solutions, the nRF54H20, not only represents a significant milestone for Nordic, but also allows Nordic's customers to build end-products far more advanced and efficient than those we see today."
Precise specifications for the nRF54H20, which is only the first in a planned nRF54 range, have yet to be released, but the company has pledged "multiple" Arm Cortex-M33 processors running at up to 320MHz, with the "dedicated application processor" boasting twice the performance of the last-generation nRF5340, "multiple" coprocessors based on the free and open-source RISC-V architecture, 1MB of RAM and 2MB of non-volatile memory, and a multi-protocol radio featuring Bluetooth 5.4 Low Energy (BLE) support with Low Energy Audio (LE Audio), Bluetooth Mesh, Thread, and Matter support.
Interestingly, Nordic has made the move to a 22nm semiconductor process node for the next-generation parts — just as rival Renesas has for its own Arm Cortex-M33 parts. Shifting to a smaller process node provides room for packing in more hardware, which Nordic has exploited with the addition of USB High-Speed (480Mb/s) support, a CAN FD controller, two I3C buses, and a 14-bit analog to digital converter (ADC) as standard. The company has promises a range of security features, including protections against physical attacks and secure firmware update capabilities — all designed to meet the PSA Certified Level 3 standard.
"The ground-breaking nRF54H20 is a major technical achievement. It is a truly worthy successor to our nRF51, nRF52, and nRF53 Series, and we expect our nRF54 Series to again disrupt the low power wireless segment," claims Nordic's Kjetil Holstad. "It is not just an evolution of our wireless SoC line, but a revolution. We look forward to our customers using the nRF54 Series to build the next wave of advanced and complex IoT [Internet of Things] end-products."
On the topic of planned workloads, Nordic claims the nRF54H20 will be ideal for wearables, audio designs, smart home, and medical projects, while offering the performance needed for "applications demanding complex machine learning and support for sensor fusion at the edge." The radio, meanwhile, is claimed to offer "class-leading" performance with a -100dBm reception sensitivity for a 1Mb/s BLE signal and up to 10dBm transmit power.
More information on the part is available on the Nordic Semi website, with samples now available for "selected customers" ahead of general availability later this year.
