Rutronik UK adds Nordic’s Bluetooth 5.1 SoC for navigation

Believed to be one of the first devices to support Bluetooth Core 5.1, Nordic Semiconductor’s nRF52811 SoC is now available from Rutronik UK

The Bluetooth Core 5.1 specification was introduced early this year and adds tracking and location functions. The nRF52811 is a multi-protocol SoC that supports IEEE 802.15.4 for Thread and ZigBee and also Bluetooth Direction Finding and Bluetooth Long Range for direction information and measurement with centimetre precision.

The SoC can be used for beacons, proximity devices, real-time location systems, asset tracking and smart home devices. It is built around a 64MHz Arm Cortex-M processor with 192-kbit Flash and 24-kbyte RAM. Interfaces include SPI, UART, TWI, PDM, PWM and QDEC and there are comparators and a 12-bit 200ksps ADC. Operating supply voltage is 1.7V -3.6V. The SoC is offered in a 48-pin QFN

The distributor also offers the nRF5 SDK (software development kit) v.15.3.0 for Bluetooth development and the nRF5 SDK for Thread and ZigBee for those connectivity options. Nordic will offer Bluetooth Direction Finding software later this year.