Amazon Sidewalk

Nordic has officially completed Works With Amazon Sidewalk Qualification for nRF52840 SoC (Bluetooth LE) and nRF52840 (Bluetooth LE) + Semtech SX1262 (LoRa and FSK), both with Nordic nRF Connect SDK version 2.3.0

With Amazon Sidewalk over Bluetooth LE, developers get enhanced reliability in device connectivity by eliminating the need for proprietary gateways or mobile apps running in the background. The technology leverages Bluetooth LE to enable Amazon Sidewalk end devices to effortlessly access the cloud, utilizing a shared portion of the internet bandwidth from nearby Amazon devices such as Echo speakers, Ring Doorbells, or Ring Sidewalk Bridge PRO. The Nordic nRF52840 Multiprotocol System-on-Chip (SoC) fully supports Amazon Sidewalk, making it easy for developers to incorporate this technology into their projects. This makes Amazon Sidewalk for Bluetooth LE a very good choice for providing seamless and persistent connectivity to.

One main benefit of Sidewalk is that it can help expand the range of smart home devices and make them more reliable. It can also provide connectivity to devices where it might be difficult to get a strong internet connection, such as in rural areas or neighborhoods with much interference. A combination of an nRF52840 SoC for Bluetooth LE and a Semtech SX1262 sub-GHz radio transceiver provides the complete solution to build an Amazon Sidewalk device. Each chip has its strengths and capabilities that can be leveraged to create a more effective and reliable device.

A Nordic SoC as the host provides best-in-class BLE communication, which is used by Amazon Sidewalk to connect devices to the network. Bluetooth LE is well known as the low-power, short-range wireless communication technology ideally suited for IoT devices. This enables developers to use our nRF Connect SDK, the scalable, unified software development kit for the nRF52840, and build products based on all our nRF52, nRF53, and nRF91 Series wireless devices. It enables developers to build software optimized for size and performance on devices with limited memory, as well as more sophisticated and feature-rich software for more advanced devices and applications.

The Semtech transceiver provides communication over the sub-GHz spectrum. The sub-GHz spectrum has a longer range and is less susceptible to interference, making it well-suited for communication over longer distances or in areas with much interference.

Sidewalk in sub-GHz provides two options:

• Sidewalk over LoRa – provides the longest possible range with low data throughput
• Sidewalk over FSK – a long range option which provides higher data throughput than Sidewalk over LoRa but its range is shorter

To get the most out of Amazon Sidewalk we made it easy to integrate the Amazon Sidewalk repository into our nRF Connect SDK. 

You can find the getting started documentation here.