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nRF9160 DKDevelopment kit

Cellular IoT development kit for LTE-M, NB-IoT, GPS and Bluetooth LE

The nRF9160 DK is an affordable, pre-certifed single-board development kit for evaluation and development on the nRF9160 SiP for LTE-M, NB-IoT and GPS. It also includes an nRF52840 board controller that for example can be used to build a Bluetooth Low Energy gateway.

It has a dedicated LTE-M and NB-IoT antenna that supports a wide range of bands, to operate globally. LTE bands B1, B2, B3, B4, B5, B8, B12, B13, B14, B17, B18, B19, B20, B25, B26, B28 and B66 have been certified so far. See this for more details.

Included is also a dedicated antenna for GPS, and a 2.4 GHz antenna to be used with Bluetooth LE. SWF RF connectors are available for all antennas.

All GPIOs and interfaces (SPI/TWI/UART), are available via connectors. The kit is Arduino Uno Rev3 compatible, meaning it can be easily interfaced with external device shields.

User-programmable LEDs(4), buttons(2) and switches(2) are available to easily give input and get output. The nRF9160 DK has both a 4FF SIM card slot and an MFF2 SIM footprint, to support both plug-in and soldered (e)SIMs. It is bundled with a eSIM card from iBasis preloaded with 10 MB.

Programming and debugging is enabled through the Segger J-Link OB, which also supports external targets. The nRF9160 DK is supported by a full suite of development software and tools. All free to download and use commercially.

nRF Connect SDK includes everything needed to get started, application layer protocols, examples, peripheral drivers and more. The kit can easily be connected to our cloud solution, nRF Connect for Cloud. The nRF Link Monitor tool provides and AT command interface that enables you to test your link, and extract information about the network.

The nRF9160 hardware and development kits are now in production and is suitable for full end-to-end sensor to cloud development. We’re still developing features and optimizing performance. This blog keeps you updated on our latest developments and plans. 

See this for details on supported bands.

NB! Updated band support with modem firmware Version 1.0.0, see downloads section. 

Download PDF Download nRF9160 DK product brief (PDF)

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Key Features
LTE-M
NB-IoT
+23dBm
output
GPS
location
TrustZone
Arm
CryptoCell
Arm
SIM
card
J-Link
Segger
Arduino Uno
form factor
4 LEDs
programmable
4 Buttons
programmable
Antennas
LTE/GPS
Documentation
Downloads

Update nRF9160 DK firmware

Follow the steps below to update the nRF9160 SiP nRF Connect for Cloud certificates, application firmware and modem firmware.

  1. Follow these steps to update application firmware and modem firmware, as well as your nRF Connect for Cloud certificates.
  2. When complete, go back to step 2 in "Unboxing step by step" above.

Get your nRF9160 DK online

Step-by-step

  2. To ensure you get the latest available functionality, it is recommended to update your nRF9160 DK firmware. To update, please follow "Update nRF9160 DK firmware" below, then continue with step 2.
  3. Punch out the nano-SIM from the card included in the nRF9160 DK box and plug it into the SIM card holder on the nRF9160 DK.
  4. Optional: If you received an external GPS patch antenna, attach this to the GPS SWF port near the top right corner of the nRF9160 SiP.
  5. Connect the nRF9160 DK to a USB power source such as a computer.
  6. Flip the power switch on the nRF9160 DK to “on”.
  7. Log in to nRF Connect for Cloud at nrfcloud.com. Create a new user if necessary.
  8. Click the large “+” sign on the top left.
  9. Choose "LTE".
  10. Follow the instructions to register your SIM card.
  11. Wait up to 3 minutes for the device to find the cellular network and the cloud server. LED 3 should blink first.
  12. Once both LED3 and LED4 blink simultaneously, then perform the device association procedure to connect your board with your account.
  13. Once LED4 is on, your device is connected to nRF Connect for Cloud.
  14. Once connected to the cloud, toggle Switch 1 to simulate orientation change of the board.
  15. Optional: To activate the GPS, go outside or near a window and press button 1 for min 10 sec.

Certification and SIM

Check out the regulatory certifications nRF9160 Certifications to see which regions the nRF9160 DK has been certified for radiated operation. It’s modem firmware is limited to operation in the bands that were certified at the time of production.

Check out the iBasis network coverage to see where the iBasis eSIM will work with LTE-M and NB-IoT, if you can't use it in your region, please contact your local network operator to get a SIM card from them.

Get started with development

Once your nRF9160 DK is online, and you want to start development, check out this guide on Nordic Developer Zone.

To learn more about the example that you have flashed on the nRF9160 DK, see this link.

nRF Connect SDK, the software development kit for the nRF9160 DK is a great starting point for development. Click here to get started.

This DevZone tutorial also gives a great introduction to development with nRF Connect SDK.

Videos

Watch and learn

See all our videos

Introducing nRF9160 DK

Field-testing how distance affects the behavior of LTE-M and NB-IoT

Cellular IoT for everything else

Low power cellular for the IoT

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