Nordic Semiconductor (Country Manager for Korea Choi Soo-chul), which has established a new milestone in Bluetooth LE technology, is realizing the innovative future of newly emerging IoT through its 4th generation Bluetooth LE SoC (System-on-Chip) based on an innovative new architecture.

Nornik announced on the 12th that it has launched the nRF54H20, a fourth-generation multi-protocol SoC (System-on-Chip).

Following Nordic’s award-winning nRF51, nRF52, and nRF53 series, the nRF54 series, which newly extends Nordic’s leading approach to Bluetooth® Low Energy (Bluetooth LE), introduces an innovative new architecture based on GlobalFoundries’ latest 22FDX® process node.

The nRF54H20 is one of the nRF54H series, which is the 'H' line of the nRF54 series.

The nRF54H20, which supports Bluetooth 5.4 and future Bluetooth specifications, as well as LE Audio, Bluetooth Mesh, Thread, and Matter, will serve as the foundation for newly emerging innovative IoT products. Through various advanced functions, it is possible to realize high-performance, sophisticated products that were previously impossible.

Nordic Semiconductor CEO Svenn-Tore Larsen stated, “We were able to develop the nRF54 series based on decades of expertise in the field of ultra-low power wireless. With the nRF54H20, the first SoC of the 4th generation Bluetooth LE solution, Nordic has once again established a significant milestone, and Nordic’s customers are now able to implement products that are much more efficient and advanced than before.”

Svein-Egil Nielsen, CTO and Senior Vice President of R&D and Strategy at Nordic Semiconductor, said, “Innovative products like the nRF54H20 can only be born through long-term R&D efforts, and Nordic has actively pursued this. The nRF54H20 is just one SoC in Nordic’s groundbreaking next-generation IoT solution roadmap that far exceeds customer expectations, and initial feedback has been overwhelmingly positive.”

The nRF54H20 incorporates multiple Arm® Cortex®-M33 processors and RISC-V coprocessors. These processors operate at clock speeds of up to 320 MHz, and each processor is optimized for specific types of workloads.

The application-dedicated processor provides twice the processing performance (2x CoreMark) of the nRF5340 SoC application processor, which is currently Nordic's flagship product. The computing resources of the nRF54H20 are supported by integrated memory consisting of 2MB of non-volatile memory and 1MB of RAM. Developers can miniaturize their designs by replacing multiple components, such as application MCUs, external memory, and wireless SoCs, into a single ultra-small device using this SoC, which offers high integration capabilities. In addition to advanced wearable, smart home, medical, and LE audio applications, the nRF54H20 SoC is an ideal solution for applications requiring complex machine learning and edge sensor fusion.

The nRF54H20 provides several new digital and analog interfaces, including a high-performance external memory interface (400 Mbps), high-speed USB (480 Mbps), two I3C peripherals, a CAN FD controller, and a 14-bit ADC. In addition to these advanced interfaces, the nRF54H20 is also equipped with various analog and digital interfaces.

The nRF54H20 SoC is capable of providing the world's first receive (RX) sensitivity of -100dBm when receiving Bluetooth LE signals at 1Mbps via a completely new level of best-in-class multi-protocol 2.4GHz wireless. Combining this receive sensitivity with a transmit (TX) power of up to 10dBm, the nRF54H20 supports a sufficient link budget for enhanced stability and longer range. Furthermore, wireless RX current consumption, realized through decades of Nordic's ultra-low-power wireless technology, is only half that of the existing nRF5340. This allows for reduced energy consumption, miniaturization of batteries, and extended battery life in applications such as earbuds and wearables, which are primarily receiver-based.

The nRF54H20 is one of the most secure low-power multi-protocol SoCs on the market. Its cutting-edge security features are designed to comply with PSA (Platform Security Architecture) Certification Level 3, the highest level of IoT security standards. This SoC supports security services such as secure boot, secure firmware updates, and secure storage. It also features an enhanced cryptographic accelerator capable of countering side-channel attacks, as well as a tamper sensor that detects ongoing attacks and takes appropriate action.

Kjetil Holstad, Senior Vice President of Product Management at Nordic Semiconductor, stated, “The nRF54H20 is a groundbreaking technological achievement. As a true next-generation product following the nRF51, nRF52, and nRF53 series, we expect the nRF54 series to once again enable new innovation in the low-power wireless sector. This is not merely an evolution of the wireless SoC line, but a revolutionary advancement. Through the nRF54 series, customers will be able to realize a new level of cutting-edge, high-performance, and sophisticated IoT products.”

Samples of the nRF54H20 SoC are currently being supplied to key customers. Further details can be obtained through Nordic Korea.