Nordic Semiconductor : Bluetooth 5.2/Bluetooth LE module with built-in sensors helps OEMs speed up development cycle for IoT applications

'Sensry Kallisto' employs Nordic's nRF52832 SoC to provide processing power and connectivity for sensor-based applications

Nordic Semiconductor today announces that joint-venture startup Sensry, a full service provider of multisensor hardware enabling edge computing, has selected Nordic's nRF52832 Bluetooth® 5.2/Bluetooth Low Energy (Bluetooth LE) multiprotocol System-on-Chip (SoC) to provide the processing power and wireless connectivity for its 'Sensry Kallisto' sensor platform solution.

The Sensry Kallisto module measures 28 by 11.5mm and provides flexibility in the selection of embedded sensors, communication protocols, and power management add-ons. The module integrates a comprehensive range of wireless sensors including accelerometer, gyroscope, geomagnetic sensor, temperature sensor, relative humidity sensor, and air pressure sensor. OEMs can define their own hardware configurations when prototyping and developing almost any IoT application or wearable in a mass production environment.

Powered by the nRF52832 SoC's 64MHz, 32-bit Arm® Cortex® M4 processor with floating point unit (FPU), a 2.4GHz multiprotocol radio (supporting Bluetooth 5.2, ANT™, and proprietary 2.4GHz RF protocol software) featuring -96dB RX sensitivity and a total link budget of >100dBm, as well as a generous 512kB Flash and 64kB RAM memory allocation, the module can support a wide array of complex and computationally intensive applications.

Nordic's robust pre-certified Bluetooth LE stack and its clean separation from the application code, were the key software features of the nRF52832 that aided our decision

Mario Grafe, Sensry

Reduce time to market

The Sensry Kallisto ecosystem allows product developers to interact with the module and its features in order to speed up the development cycle and reduce the time to market. Once in the field, the SoC's support for over-the-air device firmware updates (OTA-DFUs) enables in-situ software upgrades.

Sensry provides a starter kit with documentation and software tools to help developers get started with Sensry Kallisto including the Kallisto SDK (Software Development Kit) (which complements Nordic's nRF5 SDK), Kallisto API, and Android API (for application development), as well as software support and extended development support for applications through its experienced partners.

The nRF52832 multiprotocol SoC is supplied with Nordic's S132 SoftDevice, a Bluetooth 5-certifed RF software protocol stack for building advanced Bluetooth LE applications. Nordic's unique software architecture includes a clear separation between the RF protocol software and the application code. This simplifies development, and ensures the SoftDevice doesn't get corrupted when Sensry's customers are developing, compiling, testing, and verifying their application code. The S132 SoftDevice features Central, Peripheral, Broadcaster and Observer Bluetooth LE roles, supports up to twenty connections, and enables concurrent role operation.

Power consumption important

'As the Sensry Kallisto concept is a modular hardware architecture for several IoT applications, the most important Bluetooth LE SoC requirements for us were multiprotocol support, power consumption, and cost - Nordic's nRF52832 SoC met all these expectations,' says Mario Grafe, Head of Hardware and Software Engineering at Sensry.

'Nordic's robust pre-certified Bluetooth LE stack and its clean separation from the application code, were the key software features of the nRF52832 that aided our decision.

'The technical support, documentation, and resources made available by Nordic for OEM developers were considered essential factors. The interactions with Nordic's application engineers highlighted their commitment and expertise on these domains, while the widespread adoption of Nordic solutions in the industry was also important.'

• About Sensry Kallisto Starter Kit
• About nRF52832
• About Nordic Semiconductor