Nordic Targets IoT Market With Ultra-Compact Multi-Protocol SoC
TECHWORLD ·
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Nordic Semiconductor announced the release of the nRF54LC10A SoC on the 17th.
The SoC supports Bluetooth LE, Channel Sounding, Thread, Zigbee, and Matter, and is designed for small connected products for tags, trackers, and smart home sensors.
The nRF54LC10A is the smallest product in the nRF54L series, uses a 1.9×2.3mm CSP, comes with 1MB NVM and 192KB RAM, and is currently available as samples.
Nordic Semiconductor is stepping up its push into the connected products market with the unveiling of a multi-protocol SoC for small, low-cost IoT devices. The company announced the release of the nRF54LC10A SoC on the 17th.
The nRF54LC10A SoC supports Bluetooth low energy (LE), Bluetooth Channel Sounding, Thread, Zigbee, and Matter. The chip is designed for small connected product development and is suited for tags, trackers, and smart home sensors.
Nordic Semiconductor said it focused on reducing product size and cost while integrating a range of wireless protocols, security features, and software ecosystem support into a single chip. The nRF54LC10A is an ultra-low-power multi-protocol SoC developed for entry-level products.
The product is the smallest in the nRF54L series, and it integrates a core MCU and multi-protocol wireless functions. It comes in a 1.9×2.3mm chip-scale package (CSP).
The product is equipped with 1MB NVM and 192KB RAM, and it provides a set of peripherals for simple connected products, offering the basic configuration needed to develop straightforward connected devices.
It also adds stronger security features, supporting Arm TrustZone-based isolation and protection against physical attacks. In addition, when linked with Nordic's nRF Cloud service, it provides FOTA and remote observability features, helping developers respond to regulatory requirements and secure the security and maintenance capabilities of deployed products.
Eivind Strom, senior vice president of Nordic Semiconductor's short-range business, said that developing entry-level products involves challenges in balancing multiple trade-offs. He said the nRF54LC10A supports use of the nRF54L series' protocols, advanced security features, and software ecosystem, and that this configuration reduces the trade-offs in entry-level development while helping enable small, low-cost devices.
The main targets for the nRF54LC10A are Bluetooth LE devices and smart home applications. In Bluetooth LE, the product is suited for asset trackers. Nordic pointed to its compact size, competitive cost, and support for Bluetooth Channel Sounding. It can also be used in a range of Bluetooth LE products that require low power and a small form factor.
In smart home applications, it can be applied to relatively simple Matter-enabled sensors and Thread accessories and Zigbee accessories that can be implemented within its memory specifications. It can also be used for home hubs and Thread border router designs in the form of a Thread radio co-processor (RCP) that works with a host application processor or MCU.
The product features a 128MHz Arm Cortex-M33 core with support for an RISC-V coprocessor. Peripherals include 3 SPI/TWI/UART instances and essential peripherals such as ADC.
In preliminary measurements, the nRF54LC10A recorded performance of 239 CoreMark/mA and 503 CoreMark. The product incorporates the low-power design characteristics of the nRF54L series based on a 22nm process node.
In terms of power and wireless characteristics, the radio current consumption is 4.0mA in receive mode and 5.8mA in transmit mode at 0dBm output, and the maximum transmit power is +4dBm. Receive sensitivity is -97dBm in Bluetooth LE 1M mode and -101dBm in 802.15.4 mode. Current consumption in sleep mode is 0.5µA to 1.6µA.
There are 3 package options in total. Specifically, they consist of 2 types of 1.9×2.3mm CSP and 1 QFN option.
As for supply, sample availability for the nRF54LC10A is available now. The planned general availability for the development kit is the first quarter of 2027, and the planned mass production timing for the nRF54LC10A is the second quarter of 2027.
Source: TECHWORLD · Park Gyu-chan
Original: https://www.epnc.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=407061
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Source: TECHWORLD
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