The main showcase for Nordic Semiconductor at Hardware Pioneers was its nRF9151 – a System in Package (SiP) that represents the latest in low-power and high-performance cellular IoT solutions for the company. Frans Lutz, Senior Field Applications Engineer at Nordic took some time out at the event to walk IoT Insider through the solution.
The nRF9151 SiP
The SiP belongs to a wider portfolio of low-power solutions that Nordic prides itself on. At electronica, Sam Presley discussed its nRF54L15 System-on-Chip (SoC) in relation to the reduction in power consumption, from 165 micro amps on the nRF52 Series to 75 micro amps on the 54L15.
The nRF9151 SiP is differentiated from its predecessor, the nRF9160, by offering greater performance in a smaller package: the nRF9151 has a 20% smaller footprint.
It doesn’t suit just one case, Lutz explained, because all industries benefit from low-power solutions. “It’s always important, while the nRF9151 is optimal for asset tracking, smart metering, and industrial IoT” he said.
The RF front has been optimised and it will soon support non-terrestrial networks and satellite communications – perhaps a sign of what is to come from semiconductor companies like Nordic.
The non-terrestrial (NTN) capabilities of the nRF9151 have been part of a broader “scope” for Nordic, who has been keeping its eye on the evolution of this sector.
“We’re aiming for the NB-IoT standard on satellites – not a proprietary one – because we believe it’s more logical to have a standard to connect to different kinds of operators,” said Lutz, echoing other sentiments about the value of standardising satellite communications to ensure interoperability.
Notably, users can choose power class 5 and go down to 20dBm instead of the default class 3 with 23dBm to reduce power consumption. This does come with less range as a trade-off.
“Typically you see customers that need low power are in asset tracking or remote sensing,” added Lutz, “where you want to have a long lifeline on a small battery, so typically [there’s] no data volume but long lasting products.”
Asset tracking is a particularly demanding application on low power, because of how the object being tracked will move through different environments and therefore work better with different technologies, such as GNSS, Wi-Fi, cell-based – and NTN/satellite communication.
By designing the nRF9151 to have a “hybrid approach” in which it can support GNSS and Wi-Fi location services, Nordic is navigating the challenges that come with a low-power solution servicing asset tracking.
“All of these solutions have trade-offs, and the challenge for a customer is to combine and select when they want to use [different technologies],” said Lutz. “If you’re in a hallway, Wi-Fi location services will work perfectly. GPS will never work here. So you make a trade-off. And NTN will be the fallback solution in remote areas where cellular coverage does not exist.
“But if you’re tracking, for example, your parcel on route … you don’t care exactly where it is, you just want to know it’s somewhere [in an area] then you can switch to an alternative source, which will reduce your power a lot.”
Additional tooling
To complement its low-power portfolio, Nordic also offers its Cloud services platform, an “out-of-the-box” solution. The services it offers include location services; device management; security services; admin and support.
“We’re working with provisioning of our devices, so [the] devices can be connected to our Cloud services using secure identity, and they [customers] can start quickly exploring our services,” explained Lutz.
The open-source design of the nRF Connect SDK platform was deliberate, as it reflects the company’s commitment to open source and its value in supporting customers with providing a complete design that can be integrated with other Nordic products.
In addition to its Cloud services, it provides power profile kits to allow engineers to understand the power profile of a device better before they deploy it in the field – something Lutz said he recommended to all customers.
“Not only to measure the data, but to see what happens,” he said. “The quality of the network, if it takes a long time to connect … that’s very easy to see with power profile kits. You can do it by analysing your logs, but the power profile kit is a visual representation of what’s going on.”
This will paint a more accurate picture than just studying the data sheet and seeing the figures provided there, which won’t necessarily show how a device will perform after it is deployed as this depends on the different bands available, the distance from the tower, and so on.
“Networks are dynamic and depending on where you are, it’s very difficult to predict,” elaborated Lutz.
The hardware can’t just be low-power, but the software too. Nordic’s modem firmware has the microcontroller integrated inside, which helps to reduce power because external microcontrollers use a lot.
“It [the external microcontroller] needs to wake up and communicate … during that time when you are transmitting data, the radio needs to be on. So there is a lot of time wasted on powering up the external microcontroller, doing communications, and shutting it down again.
“If everything is integrated, it can be much more optimised and much faster.”
The nRF9151 is fully designed and owned by Nordic Semiconductor, rather than relying on third-party chipsets, Lutz noted. “We are in control of everything, and it means we can have very powerful tooling.”
If you’re interested in other interviews conducted at Hardware Pioneers, we also spoke to Blecon commencing their 11-month anniversary at the show, and Memfault, about the importance of observability.
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