The nRF70 Series is a family of low-power Wi-Fi companion ICs designed for embedded applications. The series includes: nRF7002 for dual-band Wi-Fi 6, nRF7001 for lower-cost 2.4 GHz applications, and nRF7000 for Wi-Fi network scanning and SSID-based Wi-Fi locationing. They enable Wi-Fi connectivity, and provide a flexible and low-power solution for adding Wi-Fi connectivity to embedded applications. The series also has advanced security features included to help protect user data.
The ICs can easily operate alongside Nordic’s nRF52840, nRF5340, and nRF91 Series devices, as well as other hosts that support SPI or QSPI communication. An extra coexistence feature allows for seamless coexistence with other protocols like Bluetooth Low Energy, Thread, or Zigbee.
To facilitate development and integration, all nRF70 series ICs are fully compatible with Nordic’s nRF Connect SDK. This comprehensive software development kit provides a unified platform with a range of tools and libraries specifically designed for harnessing the capabilities of the nRF7000 IC. With the nRF70 series and the nRF Connect SDK, developers can seamlessly incorporate Wi-Fi 6 connectivity (with nRF7001 and nRF7002) and SSID-based Wi-Fi locationing (with nRF7000, nRF7001, and nRF7002) into their products, augmenting their IoT applications with accurate positioning and location-awareness features.
With Wi-Fi 6, Nordic supports all wireless protocols used in Matter: Bluetooth LE for commissioning, Thread for low-power mesh, and Wi-Fi for high-throughput.
| nRF7000 | nRF7001 | nRF7002 |
| Passive & active SSID scanning | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Wi-Fi 6 connectivity | | Yes | Yes |
| Band | 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz | 2.4 GHz | 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz |
Expansion Board
The nRF7002 Expansion Board is a plug-in board for adding Wi-Fi 6 connectivity to a Nordic Thingy:53 via a PCB edge connector. The edge connector can snap off, leaving a compact breakout board that makes all nRF7002 pins accessible through castellations suitable for integrating with other host devices via SPI. When used with a Thingy:53 (and after a firmware upgrade to the Thing:53), this expansion board allows the Thing:53 to communicate directly with Edge Impulse Studio directly over Wi-Fi, making embedded machine learning development even easier and faster.
To communicate with the Thingy:53’s internal nRF5340 SoC, the nRF7002 Expansion Board uses SPI, and a 3-wire coexistence interface to allow seamless coexistence with other protocols. With this Wi-Fi 6 expansion board, the Nordic Thingy:53 supports all wireless protocols used in Matter: Bluetooth LE for commissioning, Thread for low-power mesh, and Wi-Fi for high-throughput. Matter is a standard championed by Apple, Amazon, Google, Nordic Semiconductor, Samsung, and hundreds of other companies in consumer IoT.
The expansion board has a dual-band (2.4 and 5 GHz) Wi-Fi antenna and an SWF port for RF measurement. The board is fully supported by the nRF Connect SDK, including sample code.
Development Kit
The nRF7002 DK is the development kit for the nRF7002 Wi-Fi 6 companion IC. It contains everything needed to get started developing on a single board. The DK features an nRF5340 multiprotocol System-on-Chip (SoC) as a host device for the nRF7002. The DK supports the development of low-power Wi-Fi 6 applications and enables applications to use Wi-Fi 6 features like OFDMA, beamforming, and target wake time.
Evaluation Kit
The nRF7002 EK is a versatile evaluation kit in the form of an Arduino shield. This kit is designed to complement the nRF52840 DK, nRF5340 DK, and nRF9160 DK development kits, providing an easy way to evaluate and harness the power of the nRF70 Series of Wi-Fi companion ICs.
Equipped with the nRF7002 companion IC, the nRF7002 EK unlocks low-power Wi-Fi 6 capabilities for your host device. Seamlessly connect to Wi-Fi networks and leverage Wi-Fi-based locationing, enabling advanced features such as SSID sniffing of local Wi-Fi hubs. The nRF7002 is specifically designed to integrate with Nordic’s nRF52 and nRF53 Series multiprotocol SoCs, as well as the nRF91 Series cellular IoT SiP. It can also be used alongside non-Nordic host devices.
To communicate with the host processor, the nRF7002 EK supports SPI or QSPI interfaces. The unique wireless coexistence support on the nRF70 series ensures that protocols such as Bluetooth Low Energy, Thread, or Zigbee can seamlessly co-exist with Wi-Fi. The nRF7002 is fully integrated into Nordic’s nRF Connect SDK, making development simple. While the nRF7002 DK is a complete development kit, the nRF7002 EK is a companion evaluation kit that requires a host development kit to unleash its full potential. By connecting the nRF7002 EK to an nRF52840 DK, you can evaluate the cost-effective combination of nRF52840 and nRF7002.
The combination of nRF9160 DK and the nRF7002 enables developers to combine the capabilities of cellular IoT and Wi-Fi. The nRF7002 EK can also be used to emulate the nRF7001 and nRF7000 ICs. A combination of an nRF91 Series cellular SiP and an nRF7000 IC has GNSS, cell-based locationing, and SSID-based Wi-Fi locationing capabilities. This enables the best possible location results in most conditions.
