Makerdiary nRF9151 Connect Kit is a Nordic Semi nRF9151-based board with LTE-M, NB-IoT, GNSS, and DECT NR+ connectivity, an on-board battery charger, and a built-in nRF52820 “interface” MCU for debugging and programming.
The board features a USB-C port for power and programming, two 20-pin headers for expansion with through and castellated holes, a nano SIM card slot and a footprint for an eSIM, user and reset buttons, and a few user LEDs.
Makerdiary nRF9151 Connect Kit specifications:
- SiP – Nordic Semi nRF9151
- CPU – Arm Cortex-M33 @ 64 MHz
- Memory – 256 KB SRAM
- Storage – 1 MB flash
- Wireless – LTE-M and NB-IoT modem with GNSS
- 700-2200 MHz LTE bands: B1-B5, B8, B12, B13, B17-B20, B25, B26, B28, B65, B66, B85
- Power Class 5 20 dBm
- Power Class 3 23 dBm
- 1.9GHz NR+ band support
- Certified for global operation
- Security – Arm TrustZone + Arm CryptoCell
- Interface MCU – Nordic Semi nRF52820
- CPU – Arm Cortex-M4 @ 64 MHz
- Memory – 32 KB RAM
- Storage – 256 KB Flash
- Wireless – Bluetooth 5.2 LE and 802.15.4 radios (not used in this design)
- Purpose
- CMSIS-DAP support for debugging, programming, and modem firmware update support without any external tools
- USB-UART bridge for log, trace, and terminal emulation
- Interface Shell with commands to access the board-specific functionality
- Self-upgradable UF2 Bootloader
- Wireless
- GNSS – On-board GNSS Low Noise Amplifier (LNA) with 18.2 dB gain and 0.7 dB noise figure
- NanoSIM card slot
- Footprint for eSIM (MFF2)
- 2x u.FL connectors for cellular and GNSS antennas
- USB – USB Type-C port for programming and battery charging
- Expansion
- 2x 40-pin headers and castellated holes with 31x multi-function GPIOs (8x can be configured as ADC inputs), VBUS, VSYS, GND
- Various test points/solder pads for USB, CoEx, VBAT, etc…
- Debugging – Arm Serial Wire Debug (SWD) port
- Misc
- User and DFU/RST buttons
- 4x user LEDs
- Power supply
- 5V in via USB Type-C port
- 3.6 to 4.65V via 2-pin connector for LiPo, Li-Ion, and LiFePO4 batteries
- BQ25180 I2C battery charger
- TPS63901 buck-boost converter with 75-nA quiescent current and 1.8V/3.3V power supply for I/Os
- Dimensions – 55.88 x 20.32 mm
The nRF9151 Connect Kit ships with u.FL LTE-M/NB-IoT/NR+ and GNSS antennas. It supports the nRF Connect SDK based on Zephyr RTOS with applications and code samples available on the documentation website and GitHub.
It’s not quite the first nRF9151 development board/kit, as Nordic Semi provides the Thingy:91 X multi-sensor cellular IoT platform and Conexio launched the Stratus Pro nRF9151 IoT devkit last year, but Makerdiary nRF9151 Connect Kit is a bit smaller and cheaper than the latter.
Makerdiary sells the nRF9151 Connect Kit for $49 with separate headers, or $50 with soldered headers. Alternatively, it’s also available on Tindie for the same price.
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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