Nordic Semiconductor nRF9160 DK User Manual
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Nordic Semiconductor nRF9160 DK User Manual

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nRF9160 DK Hardware
v1.1.0
User Guide
4418_1216 / 2022-04-19

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Summary of Contents for Nordic Semiconductor nRF9160 DK

  • Page 1 DK Hardware v1.1.0 User Guide 4418_1216 / 2022-04-19...

  • Page 2: Table Of Contents

    ........4.7.1 nRF9160 DK board control .
  • Page 3 ....... Radiated performance of nRF9160 DK ....

  • Page 4: Revision History

    2021-10-26 • Updated nRF9160 DK board control on page 20 • Editorial changes November 2020 Updated to match nRF9160 DK v0.15.0 and nRF9160 DK v1.0.0 • Updated: • Kit content on page 7 • Figure 7: nRF9160 DK block diagram on page 13 •...
  • Page 5 33 • Removed: • Getting started July 2019 Updated: • nRF9160 supply on page 16 March 2019 Updated to match nRF9160 DK v0.8.5: • Kit content on page 7 • nRF9160 supply on page 16 • Antenna interfaces on page 17 •...

  • Page 6: Introduction

    Introduction The nRF9160 DK is a hardware development platform used to design and develop application firmware on the nRF9160 Long-Term Evolution (LTE) Cat-M1 and Cat-NB1 capable System in Package (SiP). The Development Kit (DK) includes all necessary external circuitry like a Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) card holder and an antenna and it provides developers access to all I/O pins and relevant module interfaces.

  • Page 7: Kit Content

    Kit content The nRF9160 DK includes hardware, preprogrammed firmware, documentation, hardware schematics, and layout files. The nRF9160 DK (PCA10090) comes with a GPS antenna and a SIM card. Figure 1: nRF9160 DK kit content Hardware files The hardware design files including schematics, Printed Circuit Board (PCB) layout files, bill of materials, and Gerber files for the nRF9160 DK are available on the product page.

  • Page 8: Operating Modes

    The firmware development mode is the default with the IFMCU DISCONN switch (SW6) in the left position. The primary interface for programming and debugging the nRF9160 DK is the USB port (J6). The USB port is connected to an interface MCU which embeds a SEGGER J-Link-OB (On Board) debug probe.

  • Page 9: Msd

    3.1.4 Reset The nRF9160 DK is equipped with a RESET button (SW5). By default, the RESET button is connected to the interface MCU that will forward the reset signal to the nRF9160 SiP or nRF52840 System on Chip (SoC), depending on the state of the nRF52/nRF91 switch. If IF MCU DISCONNECT is activated, the RESET button will be connected to the nRF9160 SiP directly.

  • Page 10: Performance Measurement Mode

    This is done to isolate the nRF9160 SiP as much as possible and can be of use when measuring currents on low-power applications. Figure 3: nRF9160 DK performance measurement mode The DK detects if there is a USBUSB cable plugged in (see...
  • Page 11 Operating modes Figure 4: USB detect switch 4418_1216...

  • Page 12: Hardware Description

    Hardware description The nRF9160 DK (PCA10090) features an onboard programming and debugging solution. 4.1 Hardware figures The nRF9160 DK hardware drawings show both sides of the PCA10090. Figure 5: nRF9160 DK (PCA10090), front view Figure 6: nRF9160 DK (PCA10090), back view 4.2 Block diagram...

  • Page 13: Power Supply

    Figure 7: nRF9160 DK block diagram 4.3 Power supply nRF9160 DK has a flexible and configurable power supply system to allow software development and testing using different power sources and to facilitate accurate power measurements. The power source options are: •...
  • Page 14 Hardware description Figure 8: nRF9160 DK power supply options 4418_1216...
  • Page 15 Hardware description Figure 9: Power sources and switches To ensure that only one of the power sources are used on the DK at a time, power switches are implemented on each of them as shown in Figure 9: Power sources and switches on page 15.

  • Page 16: Nrf9160 Supply

    The nRF9160 has a supply range of 3.0–5.5 V and is directly powered by the VSUPPLY rail. 4.3.2 VDD supply rail VDD is the main supply for the rest of the circuitry on the nRF9160 DK. It is regulated down from VSUPPLY by a buck regulator (U27).

  • Page 17: Other Power Domains

    The GPS signal is RX only. There is a Low-Noise Amplifier (LNA) with integrated filters that amplify and filter the signal before it is fed to the GPS RF port on the nRF9160 DK. An external active GPS antenna can be connected to J2.

  • Page 18: Gpio Interfaces

    GPIO signals are also available on connectors P8, P9, P10, P12, and P27, which are on the bottom side of the DK. By mounting pin lists on the connector footprints, the nRF9160 DK can be used as a shield for Arduino motherboards.
  • Page 19 MCU. For more information, see Virtual COM port on page P0.11, P0.12, P0.23, and P0.25 Used for external memory interface. For more information, see External memory on page 27. Table 3: Default pin settings Figure 14: nRF9160 DK pins 4418_1216...

  • Page 20: Nrf52840

    The nRF52840 SoC controls analog switches on the nRF9160 DK, enabling routing of some of the nRF9160 GPIO pins to onboard functionality, for example LEDs, or the regular GPIO interfaces. For details on which GPIOs on the nRF9160 DK can be routed by these analog switches, see the following table.
  • Page 21 Hardware description Name nRF52 Hardware nRF9160 Default Optional External control default GPIO GPIO nRF91_SWITCH1 P1.09 P0.08 P3_pin7 (D6) Switch 1 – nRF91_SWITCH2 P0.08 P0.09 P3_pin8 (D7) Switch 2 – nRF91_BUTTON1 P0.06 P4_pin1 (D8) Button 1 – P0.06 nRF91_BUTTON2 P0.26 P0.07 P4_pin2 (D9) Button 2 –...
  • Page 22 (nCS) P25_pin20 (TRACEDATA3) For the location of connectors, see Figure 5: nRF9160 DK (PCA10090), front view on page 12. When the I/O expander is enabled, the interrupt line from the I/O expander shares the same GPIO as Button 1. Pins are shared with TRACE, and when TRACE functionality is to be used, make sure that the nRF52 control GPIO is in Hardware default state.

  • Page 23: Bluetooth/Ieee 802.15.4 Network Processor

    Figure 16: nRF9160 DK board control Since this firmware in the nRF52840 SoC decides the nRF9160 DK behavior, it is vital that it is always present in the nRF52840 SoC. If it is accidentally erased or firmware affecting the use of the key nRF52840 GPIOs is programmed in, nRF9160 DK functionality is not guaranteed.

  • Page 24: Buttons, Slide Switches, And Leds

    Figure 17: nRF52840 board controller 4.8 Buttons, slide switches, and LEDs The nRF9160 DK has four LEDs, two buttons, and two switches for simple user interaction. By default, they are connected to nRF9160 GPIOs as shown in the following table.

  • Page 25: I/O Expander

    Figure 19: LEDs 4.9 I/O expander The nRF9160 DK has an I/O expander that can optionally be used to interface the LEDs, slide switches, and buttons. The connection of each component is controlled by the nRF52840 SoC using analog switches (see...
  • Page 26 Hardware description Signal GPIO Description P0.30 I2C data line P0.31 I2C clock line IOEXP_IRQ P0.06 Interrupt line from the I/O expander Table 6: nRF9160 I/O expander interface The following table shows the I/O expander connections: Component I/O expander pin LED 1 I/O_EXP_IO4 LED 2 I/O_EXP_IO5...

  • Page 27: External Memory

    Hardware description 4.10 External memory The nRF9160 DK has a 64 Mb external flash memory. The memory is a multi-I/O memory supporting both SPIs. The memory is connected to the chip using the following GPIOs: GPIO Flash memory pin Solder bridge for default Testpoint P0.25...

  • Page 28: Debug Output

    Table 9: nRF9160 trace interfaces 4.12 Debug output The nRF9160 DK supports programming and debugging external boards with Nordic SoCs and SiPs. To debug an external board with SEGGER J-Link OB IF, connect the Debug out connector P19 to your target board with a 10-pin flat cable.

  • Page 29: Connectors For Programming External Boards

    If the interface MCU detects target power on both P19 and P20, it will program/debug the target connected to P19 by default. If it is inconvenient to have a separate power supply on the external board, the nRF9160 DK can supply power through the Debug out connector P18. To enable this, short solder bridge SB24.

  • Page 30: Signal Routing Switches

    Table 11: Pinout of connector P20 for programming target on shields 4.13 Signal routing switches A number of the GPIO signals of the nRF9160 DK are routed through analog switches for use for onboard functionality or having them available on the pin headers for external circuitry or Arduino type shields.

  • Page 31: Interface Mcu Disconnect Switches

    Hardware description 4.13.1 Interface MCU disconnect switches The IF MCU DISCONNECT mode can be enabled using the switches shown in the schematics. For more information, see Performance measurement mode on page 10. Figure 24: Signal interface switches 4.13.2 Switches for UART interface Two UART interfaces are routed between the interface MCU and the nRF9160 SiP.

  • Page 32: Switches For Buttons And Leds

    Figure 25: UART interface switches 4.13.3 Switches for buttons and LEDs On the nRF9160 DK, there are a few analog switches that are used to connect and disconnect signals to control buttons, switches, and LEDs. The analog switches select if the LEDs, buttons, and switches should be connected directly to the nRF9160 GPIO or to an I/O expander.

  • Page 33: Switches For Nrf52840 Interface

    Hardware description Figure 26: LED switch control 4.13.4 Switches for nRF52840 interface Four analog switches control the routing of signals between the nRF9160 SiP and the nRF52840 SoC. There are ten signals that can be routed between the devices, seven GPIOs and three COEX pins. 4418_1216...

  • Page 34: Switches For External Memory

    Hardware description Figure 27: nRF52840 interface switches 4.13.5 Switches for external memory Two analog switches are used to control the signals between the nRF9160 DK and the external memory. The switches are controlled by P0.19 of nRF52840. 4418_1216...

  • Page 35: Switches For I/O Expander

    4.14 SIM and eSIM The nRF9160 DK is designed to support both regular SIM and Embedded SIM (eSIM). For this purpose, it has a pluggable SIM card socket (J5) that takes a nano-sized SIM (4FF) and a non-populated footprint for an eSIM (MFF2).

  • Page 36: Additional Interfaces

    DK. RF control interface The nRF9160 DK has an interface allowing the modem to control external RF applications, such as antenna tuner devices. There are three MIPI RFFE interface pins, namely, VIO, SCLK, SDATA and three MAGPIO interface pins, namely, MAGPIO0, MAGPIO1, MAGPIO2. The MAGPIOs and MIPI RFFE pins are not in use in this DK.

  • Page 37: Sip Enable

    By default, the enable signal is pulled high by resistor R1. 4.17 Solder bridge configuration The nRF9160 DK has a range of solder bridges for enabling or disabling functionality on the DK. Changes to these are not needed for normal use of the DK.
  • Page 38 Hardware description Solder bridge Default Function SB16 Open Short to connect the RESET button to the RESET pin on the Arduino interface SB17 Open Short to connect the RESET pin on the Arduino interface to the nRF9160 reset pin SB18 Open Short to connect the RESET pin on the Arduino interface to the nRF9160 reset pin when the interface MCU is disconnected...

  • Page 39: Measuring Current

    Measuring current The current drawn by the nRF9160 SiP can be monitored on the nRF9160 DK. Current can be measured using various test instruments. Examples of test equipment are the following: • Power analyzer • Oscilloscope • Ampere-meter You can use connector P22 for measuring current consumption or monitoring voltage levels of nRF9160.

  • Page 40: Using An Oscilloscope For Current Profile Measurement

    Before you start, make sure you have prepared the DK as described in section Preparing the development kit for current measurements on page 39. To connect the current meter in series with the nRF9160 DK, connect the current meter to the pins on connector P22. 4418_1216...
  • Page 41 Note: Use a high-speed, high-dynamic-range ampere meter for the best and most reliable measurements. Current range switching in the current meter may affect the power supply to the nRF9160 DK. High speed and bandwidth are required to detect rapid changes in the current consumption in the nRF9160 DK.

  • Page 42: Rf Measurements

    RF measurements The nRF9160 DK is equipped with a small size coaxial connectors J1 and J3 for measuring the RF signal for LTE and 2.4 GHz. The connectors are of SWF type (Murata part no. MM8130-2600) with an internal switch. By default, when no cable is attached, the RF signal is routed to the onboard antenna.

  • Page 43: Radiated Performance Of Nrf9160 Dk

    73.8 Table 14: Antenna performance versus radio band The 2.4 GHz antenna on the nRF9160 DK is optimized for the frequency range of 2.4–2.48 GHz. It has an average return loss of -15 dB, average efficiency being 80 %. 4418_1216...

  • Page 44: Glossary

    Glossary AT command A command used to control the modem. Band-Pass Filter (BPF) An electronic device or circuit that passes frequencies within a certain range and rejects frequencies outside that range. Cat-M1 LTE-M User Equipment (UE) category with a single RX antenna, specified in 3GPP Release 13. Cat-NB1 NB-IoT UE category with 200 kHz UE bandwidth and a single RX antenna, specified in 3GPP Release Clear to Send (CTS)
  • Page 45 Nordic Semiconductor's platform for connecting IoT devices to the cloud, viewing and analyzing device message data, prototyping ideas that use Nordic Semiconductor chips, and more. It includes a public REST API that can be used for building IoT solutions. See nRF Cloud (nrfcloud.com).
  • Page 46 Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) A card used in UE containing data for subscriber identification. System in Package (SiP) Several integrated circuits, often from different technologies, enclosed in a single module that performs as a system or subsystem. System on Chip (SoC) A microchip that integrates all the necessary electronic circuits and components of a computer or other electronic systems on a single integrated circuit.

  • Page 47: Recommended Reading

    Recommended reading In addition to the information in this document, you may need to consult other documents. Nordic documentation • Getting started with nRF9160 DK • nRF9160 Product Specification • nRF9160 Modem Firmware Release Notes (included in the latest nRF9160 modem firmware) •...

  • Page 48: Legal Notices

    Nordic Semiconductor ASA customers using or selling these products for use in such applications do so at their own risk and agree to fully indemnify Nordic Semiconductor ASA for any damages resulting from such improper use or sale.

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