The nRF9160 is a low-power cellular IoT (Internet of Things) solution, integrating an ARM® Cortex®-M33 processor with advanced security features, a range of peripherals, as well as a complete LTE modem compliant with 3GPP LTE release 13 Cat-M1 and Cat-NB1, and 3GPP LTE release 14 Cat-NB1 and Cat-NB2 standards.
The ARM® Cortex-M33 processor is exclusively for user application software, and it offers 1 MB of flash and 256 kB of RAM dedicated to this use. The M33 application processor shares the power, clock and peripheral architecture with Nordic Semiconductor nRF51 and nRF52 Series of PAN/LAN SoCs, ensuring minimal porting efforts.
The peripheral set offers a variety of analog and digital functionality enabling single-chip implementation of a wide range of cellular IoT (Internet of Things) applications. ARM® TrustZone® technology, Cryptocell 310 and supporting blocks for system protection and key management, are embedded to enable advanced security needed for IoT applications.
The LTE modem integrates a very flexible transceiver that in hardware supports frequency range from 700 to 2200 MHz (through a single 50 Ω antenna pin), and a baseband processor handling LTE Cat-M1/NB1/NB2 protocol layers L1-L3 as well as IP upper layers offering secure socket API for the application. The modem is supported by pre-qualified software builds available for free from Nordic Semiconductor.
On specific nRF9160 device variants, the LTE modem supports A-GPS operation during sleep intervals in the LTE operation (RRC idle and PSM modes).