Nordic

Nordic has a range of microcontroller families. They specialize in low-power Bluetooth MCUs, and their portfolio includes the nRF52, nRF53 and nRF92 range of MCUs (they call them SOCs).

The nRF5 SDK entered maintenance mode around the year 2021-2022¹, with the intention that new FW projects would use the Nordic nRF Connect SDK instead.

Child Pages

nRF Connect for VS Code

nRF Connect for VS Code is a VS Code plugin by Nordic that provides additional development features for the nRF52, nRF53 and nRF92 series of microcontrollers. This includes quick project setup, build/debugging integration and more.

nRF Connect for VS Code

nRF Connect for VS Code is a VS Code plugin by Nordic that provides additional development features for the nRF52, nRF53 and nRF92 series of microcontrollers. This includes quick project setup, build/debugging integration and more.

nRF52

The nRF52 series is a family of SoCs by Nordic Semiconductor. Two of their core features are Bluetooth and low-energy operation.

nRF52

The nRF52 series is a family of SoCs by Nordic Semiconductor. Two of their core features are Bluetooth and low-energy operation.

nRF53

The nRF53 series is a family of SoCs by Nordic Semiconductor. Two of their core features are Bluetooth and low-energy operation.

nRF53

The nRF53 series is a family of SoCs by Nordic Semiconductor. Two of their core features are Bluetooth and low-energy operation.

nRF54

The nRF54 series is a family of SoCs by Nordic Semiconductor designed to supersede the nRF52 series. Some of the core features of this family are a low power multi-protocol 2.4GHZ radio, a 128 MHz Arm Cortex-M33 CPU and ultra low-energy operation.

nRF54

The nRF54 series is a family of SoCs by Nordic Semiconductor designed to supersede the nRF52 series. Some of the core features of this family are a low power multi-protocol 2.4GHZ radio, a 128 MHz Arm Cortex-M33 CPU and ultra low-energy operation.

nRF91 Series

The nRF91 series is a family of wireless SiPs (system-in-packages) by Nordic Semiconductor that feature an integrated low-power LTE-M/NB-IoT modem and GNSS.

nRF91 Series

The nRF91 series is a family of wireless SiPs (system-in-packages) by Nordic Semiconductor that feature an integrated low-power LTE-M/NB-IoT modem and GNSS.

Programming Nordic MCUs

Information on how to program Nordic Semiconductor MCUs. This includes the hardware probes (nRF development kits and J-Link probes), and software tools (nrfutil and pynrfjprog).

Programming Nordic MCUs

Information on how to program Nordic Semiconductor MCUs. This includes the hardware probes (nRF development kits and J-Link probes), and software tools (nrfutil and pynrfjprog).

MCU Comparison Table

This is a placeholder for the reference: fig-nordic-semi-product-comparison-table shows a high-level comparison of the Nordic Semiconductor MCUs.

A comparison of the Nordic Semiconductor MCUs.²

Access is Blocked by the SPU Error

If you get the following error:

PS C:\Users\geoff> nrfjprog --program C:\my_file.zip --verify
[ #################### ]   0.000s | Finding image components - Finished
[error] [ Client] - Encountered error -93: Command program_file executed for 79 milliseconds with result -93
[error] [  nRF91] - Failed to prepare modem coprocessor for bootloader upload
[error] [  nRF91] - Failed to initialize modem
[error] [ Worker] - Memory access failed with SECUREFAULT at 1342189832.
ERROR: Access to the selected address is blocked by the SPU.

The problem in my case was an old version of nrfjprog. After upgrading from version 10.21.0 to 10.24.2, the above error was resolved.

Before upgrading:

PS C:\Users\geoff> nrfjprog --version
nrfjprog version: 10.21.0 external
JLinkARM.dll version: 7.94e

And after upgrading to 10.24.2:

PS C:\Users\geoff> nrfjprog --version
nrfjprog version: 10.24.2 external
JLinkARM.dll version: 7.94e

Footnotes

1. Reddit. nRF5 SDK vs. nRF Connect SDK [Forum Post]. Retrieved 2024-02-08, from https://www.reddit.com/r/embedded/comments/vdr8oz/nrf5_sdk_vs_nrf_connect_sdk/?rdt=56428. ↩

2. Nordic Semiconductor (2024, Dec). Product comparison table [pdf]. Retrieved 2025-02-12, from https://www.nordicsemi.com/-/media/Publications/WQ-Product-guide/Nordic-Product-Comparison-table-WQ-Dec-2024.pdf. ↩