Bluetooth 5.2/Bluetooth LE module supports demanding long range Industrial IoT applications in harsh operating environments

Nordic Semiconductor today announces that Laird Connectivity, an Akron, Ohio-based wireless technology company, has selected Nordic’s nRF52833 Bluetooth® Low Energy (Bluetooth LE) advanced multiprotocol System-on-Chip (SoC) to provide the core processing and wireless connectivity for its ‘BL653 Series’ module. 

The BL653 module comes in a 15 by 10 by 2.2mm form factor and is qualified over an extended –40º to 105º C operating temperature range, providing OEMs with the ability to develop long range Bluetooth LE product designs, even for harsh operating environments in Industrial IoT (IIoT) applications. The extended temperature range, generous amount of memory (512kB Flash and 128kB RAM), and dynamic multiprotocol support—which enables concurrent wireless protocol connectivity—ensures the nRF52833 is an ideal device for a wide range of IIoT applications including professional lighting and asset tracking, as well as other applications such as medical devices, fitness sensors, and home automation.

The module’s integrated nRF52833 SoC supports provides Bluetooth 5.2 support including 2x on-air raw data bandwidth (2Mbps); 4x range; 8x broadcasting ability with advertising extensions that increase the advertising packet payload size to 251 bytes, and an improved Channel Selection Algorithm (CSA #2) compared with Bluetooth 4.2. The nRF52833 SoC’s radio architecture with on-chip PA provides -95dBm RX sensitivity (at 1Mbps in Bluetooth LE mode), a maximum output power of 8dBm, and a total link budget of 103dBm. The radio is capable of Bluetooth Direction Finding functionality and with its large memory can support both receiver and transmitter roles for Angle-of-Arrival (AoA) and Angle-of-Departure (AoD) applications. 

The Full Speed USB operation is a key feature of the nRF52833 SoC and allows the BL653 module to be used for USB-compatible wired peripheral applications. USB is a popular connectivity interface that enables low-latency and high-bandwidth communication with a range of host devices, such as PCs, smartphones, and gateways. The connectivity also makes device firmware updates (DFU)-over-USB practical.

 

The BL653 module supports multiple programming options including the Nordic nRF5 SDK, Zephyr RTOS, AT command set, as well as Laird Connectivity’s own smartBASIC environment, offering maximum flexibility to developers regardless of their Bluetooth LE or software development experience. The BL653 series also includes a module offering an integrated PCB trace antenna, as well as a trace pad variant with multiple pre-certified external antenna options.

 

Nordic’s nRF52833 advanced multiprotocol SoC combines a 64MHz, 32-bit Arm® Cortex® M4 processor with floating point unit (FPU), with a 2.4GHz multiprotocol radio (supporting Bluetooth 5.2, Bluetooth mesh, Direction Finding, 2Mbps throughput, and Long Range plus Thread, Zigbee, IEEE 802.15.4, and proprietary 2.4GHz RF protocol software).

 

The nRF52833 is supplied with S113 or S140 SoftDevices, Nordic’s Bluetooth RF protocol stacks. The S140 is a qualified Bluetooth 5.1 stack and includes support for 2 Mbps throughput, Long Range, and improved coexistence through CSA #2.

 

“We selected the nRF52833 SoC for its range and AoA/AoD application support, while the 105º C operating temperature capability made it attractive for new market penetration in industrial applications and use cases like motors, drives and valves,” says Jonathan Kaye, Senior Director, Product Management at Laird Connectivity.

 

“Nordic also has a reputation for quality and responsiveness, in addition to everything else it has been providing across our long-standing seven-year development partnership history.”

 

About Laird Connectivity

Laird Connectivity simplifies the enablement of wireless technologies with market-leading wireless modules and antennas, integrated sensor and gateway platforms, and customer-specific wireless solutions. Our best-in-class support and comprehensive engineering services help reduce risk and improve time-to-market. When you need unmatched wireless performance to connect electronics with security and confidence, Laird Connectivity delivers — no matter what.