Japanese company KAGA FEI has recently unveiled the incredibly small ES5L15BA1 Bluetooth LE 6.0 and 802.15.4 module based on Nordic Semi nRF54L15 ultra-low-power Cortex-M33 wireless MCU.
We had previously covered the u-Blox NORA-B2 which I already found pretty small at 14.3 x 10.4 x 1.9mm, but the ES5L15BA1 module goes a step further measuring just 8.55 x 3.25 x 1.00 mm with an integrated antenna which could make it the world’s smallest Bluetooth LE module.
KAGA FEI ES4L15BA1 specifications:
- SoC – Nordic Semiconductor nRF54L15
- MCU cores
- Arm Cortex-M33 with Arm TrustZone @ 128MHz
- RISC-V coprocessor for software-defined peripheral
- Memory – 256KB SRAM
- Storage – 1.5MB non-volatile memory
- Wireless
- Bluetooth 6.0
- Data rates – 2Mbps, 1Mbps, 500kbps, 125kbps
- Features
- AoA / AoD
- Channel Sounding
- 802.15.4 radio for Thread / Zigbee / Matter
- Nordic Proprietary 2.4 GHz protocol up to 4 Mbps
- Frequency – 2402 to 2480 MHz
- +8dBm output power
- Bluetooth 6.0
- MCU cores
- Antenna – Integrated high-performance PCB antenna
- Peripherals
- 14x GPIO pads
- Software-defined peripheral enabled by the RISC-V core
- 14-bit ADC
- Global RTC
- Security
- Arm TrustZone-M
- Designed for PSA Certified Level 3 IoT security standard
- Power Supply – 1.7V to 3.6V
- Dimensions – 8.55 x 3.25 x 1.00 mm
- Temperature Range – -40°C to 105°C
- Certifications
- Radio Law MIC (Japan), FCC (USA), ISED (Canada) qualification
- ETSI EN 300 328 v2.2.2 Conducted Test Report Available
- RoHS compliant / Complete Lead-Free
We don’t have much information about firmware/software, but it’s most probably just going to rely on Nordic Sermi nRF Connect SDK like other Nordic modules. It will implement the latest features found in Bluetooth 6.0 such as channel sounding for accurate distance measurement. Its tiny size and low power consumption mean it is suitable for small medical/healthcare products and wearable devices that require a compact form factor. The ES4L15BA1-EVB evaluation board and ES4L15BA1-EVK evaluation kit are also in the works, but we have no specific details about these at this stage.
Considering the nRF54L15 microcontroller itself is not in mass production yet, you’ll need to wait for a bit longer because getting your hands on the ultra-small ES5L15BA1 Bluetooth LE 6.0 and 802.15.4 module. KAGA FEI expects sampling to start in February 2025 and mass production in 2025. Additional information may be found on the product page and the press release.
Thanks to TLS for the tip.
Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011.
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I love small designs. Here,the PCB looks multi-layer for an extremely thin result, because the antenna seems to be made in an blind layer, which is a good idea, avoiding accidental shorts, even if complicated to design since layers capacitance needs to be taken care of. Thinking that this could be embedded inside a micro-SD card is scary…
I am quite intrigued by the antenna. I am not sure if the antenna is in a blind layer as you said or if it is just on the bottom layer with a solder mask. It seems a rather odd choice to put it on this side since it will directly sandwitched against the host PCB.
Given the pin density, I do think they need to have a blind layer to at least route pins between the chip and the bottom pads, so it would make sense to be able to use this for the antenna as well. But you’re totally right, it could also be at the bottom with a solder mask. In any case I guess there are design rules asking not to put PCB traces below it!
For a product I have worked with the Taiyo Yuden EYSHSNZWZ was chosen. I was looking at this and it looked oddly familiar. I just noticed part of Taiyo Yuden’s wireless division has been sold to Kaga Fei.