Nordic Semiconductor today announces a low cost, battery-powered evaluation (eval) kit for its latest nRF51 Series of ULP 2.4GHz integrated circuits that supports real-world environmental testing of ANT / ANT+, Bluetooth low energy (including Bluetooth Smart), and proprietary 2.4GHz ULP wireless sensors and accessories.
The nRF51 Series eval kit is applicable to both of the first two ICs to debut in the nRF51 Series: the nRF51822 multi-protocol Bluetooth low energy / 2.4GHz proprietary RF System-on-Chip, and the nRF51422 – the world’s first ANT / ANT+ SoC.
applications: from engineers prototyping multiple body-worn sensor network products all the way through to industrial measurement and control systems.
The challenge is that to date the development and eval tools available for prototyping ULP wireless nodes have tended to be designed for desk-based testing, while being quite costly when purchased in multiple unit numbers, comments Geir Langeland, Nordic Semiconductor’s Director of Sales & Marketing. What these new nRF51 Series eval kits will do is to allow developers to prototype and test ULP wireless sensors and accessories under real-world environmental operating conditions in a cost effective way that supports rather than hinders them.