The nRF5340 is a multi-protocol wireless system-on-chip (SoC) powered by two Arm® Cortex®-M33 processors capable of directly running embedded machine learning algorithms. With its advanced feature set, operating temperature up to 105 °C, and choice of two packages, the nRF5340 SoC is an ideal choice for Bluetooth® Low Energy Audio, professional lighting, advanced wearables, and other complex IoT applications.

The nRF5340 is an all-in-one SoC that includes a superset of the most prominent nRF52® Series features, such as Bluetooth 5.4, high-speed SPI, QSPI, USB, and more. The SoC combines all this with better performance, more memory, and tighter peripheral integration, while minimizing power consumption.

Features & Specifications

• Wireless: Bluetooth Low Energy, AoA, AoD, LE Audio, Long Range, and more
• Processors: Dual-core Arm Cortex-M33
• Clock: 128 MHz or 64 MHz via voltage-frequency scaling
• Storage: 1 MB flash
• Memory: 512 MB RAM
• Cache: 8 KB two-way associative
• Acceleration: Floating-point unit (FPU) & DSP instruction capabilities
• Network processor: 64 MHz clock, low-power (101 CoreMark/mA), 256 KB flash, 64 KB RAM
• Security: Arm TrustZone, Arm CryptoCell-312, key management unit
• Software: full support in nRF Connect SDK, including Zephyr RTOS and more

The nRF5340 SoC supports an extensive range of wireless protocols, including Bluetooth Low Energy, NFC, ANT, 802.15.4, and proprietary 2.4 GHz protocols. The SoC is capable of all angle-of-arrival (AoA) and angle-of-departure (AoD) roles in Bluetooth Direction Finding, and supports LE Audio, high-throughput 2 Mbps, Advertising Extensions, and Long Range. Mesh protocols like Bluetooth mesh, Thread, and Zigbee can be run concurrently with Bluetooth LE, enabling smartphones to provision, commission, configure and control mesh nodes.

Thingy:53

The Nordic Thingy:53 is an easy-to-use IoT prototyping platform for creating prototypes and proofs-of-concept without building custom hardware. Thingy:53 combines the nRF5340 SoC with color and light sensors, accelerometers, a magnetometer, a 1350 mAh rechargeable (via USB Type-C) Li-Po battery, an external four-pin JST connector compatible with the Stemma/Qwiic/Grove standards for hardware accessories, and a protective enclosure.

The nRF Edge Impulse mobile app enables users to connect their Thingy:53 to their Edge Impulse studio account, which enables Bluetooth LE transfer of sensor data to the mobile device and then on onward to the cloud for training. Similarly, trained ML models can be easily downloaded to Thingy:53 for deployment. Finally, the mobile app also acts as the GUI for viewing real-time results from a running ML model.

Every Thingy:53 comes pre-installed with the firmware to work with the nRF Edge Impulse app for iOS and Android. With a firmware update, Thingy:53 is compabible with the nRF7002 Expansion Board. Thing:53 can receive over-the-air firmware updates via the nRF Programmer mobile app.

Development Kit

The nRF5340 DK is an all-in-one board with everything needed to develop for the nRF5340 SoC. The kit comes with an NFC antenna for NFC-A tag functionality. There is an onboard SEGGER J-Link debugger for all programming and debugging needs of both the onboard nRF5340 SoC and external targets. All analog interfaces, digital interfaces, and GPIOs are available via headers and edge connectors. The kit can easily interface with any shield that is compatible with the Arduino Uno Rev3. Four buttons and four LEDs, all user-programmable, simplify input and output. An onboard external memory is connected to the 96 MHz QSPI peripheral in the nRF5340 SoC.

The nRF5340 DK is typically powered via USB, but can also be powered by a wide range of external sources from 1.7 VDC to 5.0 VDC. In addition, the kit includes a CR2032 battery holder and a Li-Po battery connector, for untethered operation. Current consumption can be measured by using the dedicated current measurement pins, for example by using Nordic’s Power Profiler Kit II.

Hardware layout and schematics for the nRF5340 DK are available.

Audio Development Kit

The nRF5340 Audio Development Kit (DK) is perfect for developing Bluetooth LE Audio products, and supports all Auracast™ features. It can be configured as a USB dongle, a Business Headset, or a True Wireless Stereo (TWS) Earbud. This kit incorporates the nRF5340 SoC, nPM1100 PMIC, and Cirrus Logic’s CS47L63 Audio DSP, which has a high-performance DAC and differential output driver optimized for direct connection to an external headphone load. A single kit is perfect for earbuds with mono-only and direct-speaker output. Two or more kits may be needed for testing stereo or audio configurations.

The nRF5340 Audio DK is typically powered via USB and has a battery connector for a Li-Ion/Li-Po battery. Current consumption can be measured by using the dedicated current measurement pins, for example by using Nordic’s Power Profiler Kit II.

The new Low Complexity Communications Codec (LC3) that replaced Bluetooth Classic’s Low Complexity Subband Codec (SBC) is available for this kit. The LC3 codec has superior audio quality compared to SBC, even at about half the wireless data rate, which is a key factor in minimizing power consumption.