Utilizing the Nordic nRF52832 SoC, it supports Bluetooth Low Energy and NFC Touch-to-Pair.

Nordic Semiconductor (Country Manager for Korea, Soo-Chul Choi) announced the launch of Arduino Primo, a low-cost, state-of-the-art programmable single-board computer (or baseboard) targeting the Internet of Things (IoT), based on its nRF52832 Bluetooth® Low Energy (formerly named Bluetooth Smart) SoC. Arduino is the world's most successful open-source ecosystem for manufacturers, academia, and the IoT market.

The Arduino Primo base board not only natively supports Bluetooth Low Energy but also includes Near Field Communication (NFC), Wi-Fi, and Infrared (IR) technologies. Previously, users had to add shields, such as plug-in daughter boards that provided additional functionality, to the base board to upgrade to Bluetooth Low Energy.

This Arduino Primo can not only wirelessly connect with multiple Bluetooth Low Energy sensors, but can also function as a complete Wi-Fi-based TCP/IP internet client and server. In addition, the NFC functionality integrated into Nordic's nRF52832 SoC can be used for security authentication and touch-to-pair (a simple Bluetooth Low Energy pairing function that requires no separate interaction with the user), and IR technology applied to existing remote controls is also supported.



Nordic Semiconductor’s nRF52832 features a 64MHz, 32-bit ARM® Cortex™-M4F processor that delivers up to 60% of typical processing power compared to competing solutions, along with 10 times the floating-point performance and 2 times the digital signal processing (DSP) performance. Additionally, the nRF52832’s 2.4GHz wireless multi-protocol is fully compliant with Bluetooth 4.2 specifications and features an RX sensitivity of -96dB and an RX/TX peak current of 5.5mA. Along with 512kB of flash memory and 64kB of RAM, the nRF52832 is equipped with a fully automated power management system that optimizes power consumption.

The ARM processor in Nordic’s nRF52832 SoC has sufficient computational overhead to control Bluetooth Low Energy RF protocol software (stack) and application code, as well as to control and supervise the Arduino Primo’s onboard accelerometer, temperature, humidity, and pressure sensors. Except for cutting-edge projects, all programming can be performed through the existing Arduino IDE (Integrated Development Environment) interface. Arduino is designed to enable anyone to easily perform electronic design, regardless of experience, technical expertise, or age.

Meanwhile, for professional developers or manufacturers seeking to implement cutting-edge features and characteristics, Arduino Primo supports the use of all Software Development Kits (SDKs) compatible with Nordic’s nRF52 series. For example, the nRF5 SDK for IoT enables experienced users to develop IPv6-based Bluetooth Low Energy applications based on the nRF52832 SoC, allowing communication between Arduino Primo and other Internet-connected Things without the need for expensive gateways or complex resources such as Wi-Fi routers or smartphones.

Federico Musto, President and CEO of Arduino SrL, stated, “The number of connected devices worldwide is projected to increase from approximately 15 billion currently to 200 billion by 2020, largely driven by the explosive growth of the IoT market.” He added, “Many manufacturers and entrepreneurs, as well as large and small companies and venture investors, are already showing great interest in this market.” He further noted, “Since the application areas are also very diverse, there will be no limits to applications, ranging from smart homes to data analysis and security.” In addition, they stated, “Arduino’s goal is to provide hardware and software tools that can advance and realize these ideas, and through the partnership with Nordic, the addition of wireless connectivity will enable more options to be offered.”

CEO Federico Musto stated, “Manufacturers can now more simply acquire wireless solutions through the Arduino Promo’s hardware, software architecture, and various development tools, as well as the Nordic nRF52 series, which is the most widely used Bluetooth Low Energy solution on the market.” He added, “Ease of use is one of Arduino’s core strengths, and the Nordic chip was the perfect alternative for the Arduino Promo.”

Geir Langeland, Sales and Marketing Director at Nordic Semiconductor, stated, “One of Nordic’s strategies is to actively support the manufacturing and hobbyist developer communities in easily applying Bluetooth Low Energy wireless access technology to their electronic device development projects.” He added, “Since about 70 to 80 percent of Arduino-based electronic devices are projects by amateur engineers, we were able to make an easy decision when Arduino requested the supply of the nRF52832 SoC as the core product for the first baseboard that natively supports Bluetooth Low Energy wireless technology.” He further noted, “Given the popularity of the Arduino ecosystem, we expect to see numerous innovative IoT applications using Arduino Primo in the near future.”

Following the Arduino Primo, the 'Arduino Primo Core,' a 40mm diameter circular baseboard targeting wearable devices, is also scheduled to be released soon, excluding Wi-FiAll features provided in a large product are supported.