Nordic Semiconductor dual-band Wi-Fi 6 nRF7002 companion IC

Nordic Semiconductor has launched the nRF7002, an ultra-low power, dual-band Wi-Fi 6 companion IC. This expansion into Wi-Fi means Nordic’s ultra-low power wireless IoT product range now covers Bluetooth, cellular IoT and Wi-Fi. The nRF7002 is described as a ‘companion IC’, which means it is designed to provide Wi-Fi connectivity and Wi-Fi-based locationing (SSID sniffing of local Wi-Fi hubs) when used alongside Nordic’s existing products. These include the nRF52 and nRF53 Series multiprotocol Systems-on-Chip (SoCs) and nRF91 Series cellular IoT Systems-in-Package (SiPs). The nRF7002 can also be used in conjunction with non-Nordic host devices.

The launch of the nRF7002 follow’s Nordic’s 2020 acquisition of the development team, core Wi-Fi expertise and Wi-Fi IP tech assets of Imagination Technologies Group. With the nRF7002, Nordic Semiconductor brings decades of ultra-low-power wireless IoT and silicon design expertise to Wi-Fi 6, a standard which features efficiency gains that support long-life, battery-powered wireless IoT operation.

Wi-Fi forms an integral part of the smart home Matter protocol used by Apple, Amazon, Google, Samsung and other companies in consumer IoT. By adding Wi-Fi to its product range, Nordic will not support all three wireless protocols used in Matter: Bluetooth LE for commissioning, Thread for low power mesh networking and Wi-Fi for high-speed wireless applications.

The nRF7002 is supplied in a 6 x 6 mm QFN package and is sampling now.