Bluetooth Low Energy software

Full Bluetooth features now with scope for future demands

Like mentioned in the software overview page, depending on which SoC you want to develop for, there are two options: the nRF5 SDK with Nordic's Bluetooth protocol stack (aka SoftDevices) or the nRF Connect SDK.

The nRF5 SDK is very mature and is used on millions of products to date. It is qualified to Bluetooth 5.1 and supports all of the Bluetooth features up to and including Bluetooth 5. Read below for more information. It supports all Nordic SoCs up to and including the nRF52 Series.

The nRF Connect SDK includes the Zephyr Real Time Operating System (RTOS) and is a scalable solution that will support the future Bluetooth features, for example Bluetooth Direction Finding and Bluetooth LE Audio. It supports the nRF5340 and all nRF52 Series for Bluetooth LE development.

You need both great software and great hardware

We understand that a rich selection of well-tested, reliable software forms an integral part of designing your wireless product.
Our unrivalled selection of SDK examples, robust and predictable communication stacks and development software will help you achieve success in line with your project’s goals.

Software you can rely on
All software we distribute for your application is developed by Nordic and tested in-house. Any open-source code that we re-distribute comes from projects we contribute to and ensures the quality of the solution on Nordic devices. This means we always have control of the features we offer and the testing procedures that deliver quality.

Bluetooth Low Energy software
We offer two types of software for developing your application:

• Protocol stacks: We call them SoftDevices
• Software development kits (SDKs): General purpose and for specific application areas

The software development kits for nRF52 and nRF51 Series and the range of SoftDevices are designed to work together seamlessly, offering you as a developer an easy-to-use solution for building wireless applications.

Get full value from Bluetooth and multiprotocol performance

Our Bluetooth software offering is always at the forefront of what is possible with Bluetooth.
Today, we offer Bluetooth stacks and software support for the performance improvements in Bluetooth 5.
We support these with multiprotocol stacks that combine Bluetooth Low Energy with Bluetooth mesh, Thread, Zigbee, ANT, 802.15.4 and 2.4 GHz proprietary.
It all adds up to the most feature-rich, powerful Bluetooth software solution available.

Bluetooth 5	Throughput & Topologies	Multiprotocol
2Mbps	1.4 Mbps net throughput	Protocol concurrency
Long range mode	20 concurrent connections	Bluetooth 5 / Bluetooth mesh / Thread / 802.15.4 / ANT / 2.4 GHz
Increased broadcast capacity	Concurrent multirole (Centrl/Peri/Obs/Brdc)
Improved coexistence	Advanced Network Topologies

The Nordic software architecture is unique. It is designed to make developing Bluetooth applications as simple and intuitive as possible, whilst also maintaining consistent and reliable performance at all levels.

There is a fundamental split in how the software architecture is made up, this is between the protocol stack and associated radio management functions, and the application itself.

This means less complicated application code and more reliable operation as you run through develop and compile iterations.

Your application which will usually incorporate elements of our nRF5 SDK interfaces to the protocol stack, known as a SoftDevice, via an API.

The SoftDevice is is event-driven and has no runtime dependencies.

 

Explore our high-performance protocol stacks

Nordic SoftDevices are Bluetooth protocol stacks that are pre-compiled binaries without run-time dependencies.
This allows developers to design their applications interaction with the SoftDevice such that they experience predictable and reliable operation.

A stable hardware helper
Because SoftDevices are complete and qualified when we deliver them, they are unaffected by the ‘develop and compile’ cycle of application development and always remain stable. Developers can rest assured that they cannot introduce a stack bug somewhere in the development cycle.

Combined with the nRF5 Series wireless SoCs, these independent SDKs offer developers a complete solution for application development in Bluetooth Mesh, Thread, Zigbee, Airfuel and HomeKit.

Due to licensing restrictions, the nRF5 SDK for Airfuel is only available to Airfuel members and the nRF5 SDK for HomeKit is only available to MFI licensees.