nRF52840 DKDevelopment kit

Bluetooth Low Energy, Bluetooth mesh, NFC, Thread and Zigbee development kit for the nRF52840 SoC

The nRF52840 DK is a versatile single board development kit for Bluetooth Low Energy, Bluetooth mesh, Thread, Zigbee, 802.15.4, ANT and 2.4 GHz proprietary applications on the nRF52840 SoC. It also supports development on the nRF52811 SoC.

It facilitates development exploiting all features of the nRF52840 SoC. It includes an NFC antenna that quickly enables utilization of the NFC-A tag peripheral. All GPIOs are available via edge connectors and headers, and 4 buttons and 4 LEDs simplify input and output to and from the SoC. An on-board external memory is connected to the QSPI peripheral in the nRF52840 SoC.

It is Arduino Uno Revision 3 compatible, making it possible to mount 3rd-party shields with ease. It comes with an on-board SEGGER J-Link debugger allowing programming and debugging both the on-board SoC and external targets through the debug out header. It also interfaces directly with the Power Profiler Kit.

The DK is typically powered with USB, but can be powered by a wide range of sources, within the supply range of 1.7 to 5.0 V. In addition to USB, it can be powered with external source, but also includes a CR2032 battery holder and a Li-Po battery connector, for in-field testing. Current consumption can be measured by using the dedicated current measurement pins.

Hardware layout and schematics for the nRF52840 DK are available under Downloads.

Download PDF Download nRF52840 DK product brief [PDF]

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Key features

Supports Bluetooth LE, Bluetooth mesh, NFC, Thread and Zigbee

User-programmable LEDs(4) and buttons(4)

2.4 GHz and NFC antennas

SWF RF connector for direct RF measurements

On-board SEGGER J-Link debugger/programmer

Arduino Uno Rev3 form factor

Pins for measuring power consumption

1.7-5.0 V supply from USB, external, Li-Po battery or CR2032 coin cell battery

Documentation
Downloads

Get started

with the nRF52840 DK

Congratulations on getting your nRF52840 DK!
On this page we'll show you how to connect and power up your nRF52840 DK, and what to expect when you do so.

This will take about 20 minutes.

NB! You need a reasonably current Windows PC to perform the following.

Other requirements:
Your nRF52840 DK must be running firmware v1.1.0 or later.
Kits with hardware revision 1.1.0 or later, are shipped with this firmware.

If step 4) below fails, you need to re-program the factory example code into the flash.
Click here for instructions.

Connect and test

the nRF52840 DK

  2. What's included with the kit: The nRF52840 DK board itself, and a flex NFC antenna (Pic.1).
  3. Connect the NFC antenna to the board. The connector is marked "NFC", and located on the edge of the board near the 4 buttons (Pic.2). Use a micro USB 2.0 cable to connect the nRF52840 DK to one of your PC's USB host ports. This provides power to the board, and supports target programming 
  4. Flip the power switch to "on". Find it near the micro USB connector (Pic.3). A popup may appear. Ignore it for now.
  5. Confirm that LED 1 has started pulsating (Pic.4). 
  6. Use the buttons SW1 to SW4 to control which LED is pulsating.
  7. Open a Windows file explorer. Confirm that the nRF52840 DK has appeared as a removable drive named "JLINK" (Pic.6). This allows you to program the onboard chip. You'll do this under "how to program the optional demos into your nRF52840 DK" below. Take out your smart phone and enable NFC, if available. If you don't know how to do this, consult the phone manual or Google " NFC enable".
  8. Once NFC is enabled, hold your phone close to the nRF52840 DK (Pic.7). Your phone will prompt you to open a URL. Please allow this. Your smart phone browser will then open this web page! This will also make it easier for you to install the nRF Toolbox mobile app. See below.

Optional demos

Download them from the 'Downloads' tab

Both the optional demos below interact with the nRF Toolbox mobile app. Once nRF Toolbox is installed on your phone, download the optional demo programs below to interact with the nRF52DK from your smart phone.
  • Heart rate monitor - fake EKG values are broadcasted by the nRF52840 DK. The nRF Toolbox app displays the curve.
  • Proximity demo - activate LEDs on the nRF52840 DK using the nRF Toolbox mobile app.
Get the mobile App for more demo fun
Now it's time to download and install the nRF Toolbox mobile app-available for Android, iOS and Windows Phone. This app is required for the downloadable optional demos.

Click here to download the desired platform for the nRF Toolbox app!

Program optional demos

(Make sure you have installed the nRF Toolbox mobile app before you start. See above right).
 
  1. Download demo zip files by clicking on the links above.
  2. Unzip and find a hex file and a readme document inside. The document describes how the demo works.

Video tutorials

View and learn

See all tutorials

Bluetooth 5 - 2 Mbps

Bluetooth 5 - Long Range 

nRF52840 DK

Concurrent Thread and Bluetooth 5

Getting started guide

In addition to the user guide for this devkit, you will also find good help to get started in the guide "nRF5 Getting Started", which encompasses several Nordic tools. Check it out!

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