nRF7002 host connection

nRF7002 is a wireless companion device that is connected to a host Microcontroller Unit (MCU) or application processor. It is connected to the host through a Quad Serial Peripheral Interface (QSPI) (6-wire) or Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI) (4-wire) for data and a 3-wire or 4-wire coexistence control interface for hosts that include a Bluetooth® LE/IEEE 802.15.4 radio. In addition, two lines (HOST_IRQ and BUCKEN) are required. The user application executes on the host MCU.

The following figure shows a system with nRF7002 and a host MCU.

Figure 1. Functional block diagram with generic host MCU

Functional block diagram with nRF7002 and a generic host MCU

nRF7002 is designed to support radio coexistence and can be used together with another nRF Series device. The following figure shows nRF7002 together with nRF5340 to achieve a combined Bluetooth LE and Wi-Fi® solution. nRF5340 functions as a host and common interface to the wireless system.

Figure 2. Functional block diagram with nRF host and separate antennas

Using a separate antenna configuration enables simultaneous 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi and Bluetooth LE/IEEE 802.15.4 operation. For cost or area-sensitive applications that do not need simultaneous operation, a single antenna configuration is also possible. This requires an antenna switch, which can be controlled from the radio coexistence algorithm.

The following figure shows a single antenna configuration with nRF7002.

Figure 3. Functional block diagram of nRF7002 with nRF host and single antenna

Note: Introducing a switch in the signal path may give a loss in sensitivity (typically <1 dB) compared to using a dual antenna.

Host connection