Nordic Semiconductor's nRF7001 Extends Their Wi-Fi 6 Capable IC Family

Nordic Semiconductor has introduced a new chip to its Wi-Fi 6 family. The nRF7001 is a single-band (2.4 GHz) companion IC designed to add Wi-Fi to a project. Combined with a Nordic SoC, like one of the nRF52 options, you can now build an application that uses Matter, Bluetooth LE, Thread, and Wi-Fi.

The nRF7001 is part of Nordic's nRF70 family. These are Wi-Fi 6 companion ICs that connect a host device. For example, Nordic recommends using them with their nRF52, nRF53, and nRF91 system-on-chips (SoCs.) The nRF52 and nRF53 are Bluetooth-based, while the nRF91 is cellular-based.

Previously, Nordic announced the nRF7002, their first Wi-Fi 6-enabled IC. That chip is dual-band supporting both 2.4 and 5.0 GHz. The new nRF7001 is a single-band IC that works on 2.4 GHz only. It supports station (STA) mode and can act as a SoftAP.

By offering a single-band companion IC, the 6 by 6 millimeter QFN provides a lower-cost and lower-power solution for applications that only need the 2.4 GHz radio. One Nordic example shows how to use a low-loss switch to utilize Bluetooth LE and Wi-Fi on a single antenna.

The host controller communicates with the nRF7001 over an SPI or Quad-SPI interface with several control signals. Nordic offers a development kit for the nRF7001 and nRF7002 that works with their nRF Connect SDK. That SDK is the preferred method for programming the Nordic host controllers.

Check out this press release or the nRF7001 product page for more information. The new nRF7001 and existing nRF7002 should be available now from major electronic component distributors.