Nordic Semiconductor nRF5340 Audio DK

Nordic Semiconductor has released its nRF5340 Audio Development Kit (DK), a design platform for rapid development of Bluetooth LE Audio products. The kit contains everything needed to get started on LE Audio development projects. It is based on Nordic’s nRF5340 system-on-chip (SoC), a wireless SoC with two Arm Cortex-M33 processors. The SoC is suitable for LE Audio and other complex IoT applications.

The kit makes it easy to embark on LE Audio projects. It is highly configurable, allowing it to function as a USB dongle to send and receive high-quality audio data from a PC, a business headset or a TWS earbud. (Most use cases require two or more DKs.) The kit includes: two 3.5 mm audio jacks for analog ‘in’ and headphones ‘out’; five user-programmable buttons and LEDs; an SD-card holder for extra storage; a SEGGER J-Link debugger for programming and debugging; and connectors to access the analog/digital interfaces and GPIOs.

The nRF5340 SoC at the heart of the DK combines a high-performance application processor with a fully programmable, ultralow-power network processor. The dual core architecture enables optimum power efficiency with high performance. In addition to the SoC, the DK features Nordic’s nPM1100 power management IC (PMIC) and Cirrus Logic’s CS47L63 Audio digital signal processor (DSP).

The DK is typically powered via USB but also has a battery connector for a Li-ion/Li-Po battery. The current consumption can be measured on the board and by using the dedicated current measurement pins and Nordic’s Power Profiler Kit II or other current measuring equipment.