nRF7002 Expansion Board

Plug-in board for adding low-power Wi-Fi 6 capabilities to the Thingy:53

The nRF7002 Expansion Board is a plug-in board for adding Wi-Fi 6 connectivity to a Nordic Thingy:53. It contains everything needed to get started developing Wi-Fi applications on the Thingy:53. The board connects with a PCB edge connector to the Thingy:53’s expansion slot and uses the Thingy’s nRF5340 multiprotocol System-on-Chip (SoC) as a host device for the nRF7002 Wi-Fi Companion IC.

The nRF7002 supports the development of low-power Wi-Fi 6 applications and enables Thingy:53 to use Wi-Fi 6 features like OFDMA, Beamforming, and Target Wake Time. The Edge Impulse Wi-Fi sample allows the Thingy:53 to upload data samples to Edge Impulse studio directly using Wi-Fi, instead relaying them via a Bluetooth LE connected smartphone. 

The nRF7002 Expansion Board can also be used for easy prototyping with other Nordic host devices, with castellations for all pins on the nRF7002 and perforations along the neck of the Thingy:53 specific connector, making it possible to break off.

To communicate with the Thingy:53’s internal nRF5340 SoC, the nRF7002 Expansion Board uses SPI, and a 3-wire coexistence interface to allow seamless coexistence with other protocols like Bluetooth Low Energy, Thread, or Zigbee. The nRF7002 Expansion Board is integrated and supported in Nordic’s nRF Connect SDK. 

With this Wi-Fi 6 expansion board, the Nordic Thingy:53 supports all wireless protocols used in Matter: Bluetooth LE for commissioning, Thread for low-power mesh, and Wi-Fi for high-throughput. Matter is a standard championed by Apple, Amazon, Google, Nordic Semiconductor, Samsung, and hundreds of other companies in consumer IoT.