Nordic Semiconductor ASA, a manufacturer of ultra low power (ULP) RF devices, has unveiled major improvements on its nRF51 series SoCs. According to the company, the latest enhancements include variants with 32kB RAM, and 128kB flash wafer level chip scale package (WLCSP) options. The advancements are available for the nRF51822 Bluetooth Smart and 2.4GHz proprietary SoC and the nRF51422 ANT and ANT/Bluetooth Smart SoC, Nordic indicated.

First launched in June 2012, the nRF51 series SoCs are optimised for ULP wireless connectivity. The SoCs integrate a 2.4GHz multiprotocol radio, 32bit ARM Cortex M0 processor, up to 256kB flash memory and random access memory (RAM). The nRF51 series software architecture features a unique and powerful separation between protocol stack and user application code providing application developers maximum flexibility, ease-of-development and code safety, detailed the company.

RAM forms the "short-term working memory" of the nRF51 Series SoC and by doubling its capacity, the chip's ability to run more complex, computationally intensive applications is greatly enhanced. Together with other improvements that further increase the SoC's performance, greater RAM allows the chip to run either more complex application software compared to the previous generation of the nRF51 series or the same application code considerable faster. In addition, the enhancements improve the ability of the SoC to act as the major processing device for the end-product application.

The RAM increase also future proofs the nRF51 series allowing the SoCs to run SoftDevices with greater performance and features that will demand more working-memory resources. (Nordic's SoftDevices are self-contained stacks for nRF51 Series SoCs that incorporate RF protocols and associated management frameworks.)

The latest nRF51 series SoCs will be available in a wider range of packaging options allowing engineers to design even more compact products, a feature that is of increasingly vital importance especially in the burgeoning wearables sector, added Nordic.

The nRF51 series SoCs will be drop-in compatible with existing nRF51 series SoCs and will be supplied in a 6 x 6mm QFN package and WLCSP variants measuring as little as 11.8mm2. When WL-CSP devices are used together with thin film chip baluns from third party partners, the total footprint of the wireless device can be reduced to just 12.8 x 13.8mm2.

An nRF51 development kit (DK) complements the refreshed nRF51 aeries SoCs. The nRF51 DK makes it possible to develop Bluetooth Smart, ANT and 2.4GHz proprietary applications on a single board. The nRF51 DK is compatible with Arduino Uno form factor shields and supports both native Keil/IAR/GCC and the ARM mbed development tool-chain.

Engineering samples of Nordic's nRF51 series SoCs with 32kB RAM are available. Production volumes will be available before the end of 2014.

By: DocMemory
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