Smart home
Low power wireless connectivity solutions for smart home
Wireless development boards built on Nordic’s nRF54LM20A SoC and nPM1300 PMIC deliver high performance and power management in compact form factor
Seeed Studio’s XIAO nRF54LM20A Sense and XIAO nRF54LM20A can support complex battery-powered applications with robust built-in security from Nordic
Leading open source hardware developer, Seeed Studio, has released two new wireless development boards designed for a wide range of battery-powered IoT applications including wearables, smart home, industrial IoT and smart sensing. Both the ‘XIAO nRF54LM20A Sense’ and ‘XIAO nRF54LM20A’ development boards are powered by Nordic Semiconductor’s nRF54LM20A SoC, and integrate its nPM1300 Power Management IC (PMIC). The XIAO nRF54LM20A Sense also includes a 6-axis IMU and a digital microphone, allowing developers to prototype voice, audio, motion, and gesture applications without additional hardware.
High performance and power management
The powerful combination of Nordic’s nRF54LM20A and nPM1300 PMIC provides users with a 128 MHz Arm® Cortex®-M33 processor, 512 KB RAM, 2 MB on-chip NVM, a 128 MHz RISC-V coprocessor and an ultra-low-power multiprotocol 2.4 GHz radio supporting Bluetooth® LE, Bluetooth Channel Sounding, Bluetooth Mesh, Thread, Zigbee, Matter, and proprietary 2.4 GHz protocols up to 4 Mbps. The nPM1300 combines battery charging, voltage regulation, power management, and fuel gauging in a single PMIC. This reduces the need for multiple discrete power-management components while providing efficient power delivery and better control of different system power states. Combined with the nRF54LM20A's low-power architecture, it helps Seeed Studio’s development boards achieve the long battery life required for compact, always-connected devices.
“Having previously developed XIAO products based on Nordic's nRF52840 and nRF54L15, the nRF54LM20A represents a natural evolution of our wireless product family,” says Kevin Yang, Senior Product Manager and Maker Team Lead at Seeed Studio. “Its combination of higher processing performance, larger memory capacity, improved power efficiency, and advanced wireless capabilities made it a strong fit for the next generation of XIAO products … with significantly more capability for complex battery-powered applications.”
The nRF Connect SDK and Zephyr RTOS provide a stable software framework supporting Nordic's wireless technologies
Kevin Yang, Senior Product Manager and Maker Team Lead at Seeed Studio
Comprehensive security features
Both the XIAO nRF54LM20A Sense and XIAO nRF54LM20A development boards also offer developers 28 GPIOs, USB Type-C, 8 MB external Flash, NFC, and an external antenna interface. The nRF54LM20A SoC’s comprehensive security features include secure boot, secure firmware updates, secure storage, TrustZone-enabled trusted execution environment, cryptographic acceleration with side-channel protection, and tamper detection, ensuring robust protection for IoT deployments. Support for the nRF Connect SDK, Zephyr RTOS, and PlatformIO enables efficient embedded development workflows.
“The nRF Connect SDK and Zephyr RTOS provide a stable software framework supporting Nordic's wireless technologies, while Nordic's hardware documentation and reference designs helped our engineering team efficiently integrate the nRF54LM20A and nPM1300 into the compact [21 by 17.8 mm] XIAO form factor,” continues Yang.
“The development boards also benefit from the broader XIAO ecosystem, including compatible expansion boards, accessories, tutorials, and open-source examples, making it easier for developers to move from proof of concept to a complete prototype.”
Seeed Studio is also preparing to expand the XIAO nRF54LM20A family with an upcoming ‘XIAO nRF54LM20B’ version, further expanding the options available to developers building next-generation low-power, edge AI devices.
