nRF9161 Development Kit

Nordic Semiconductor’s nRF9161 DK is an affordable, pre-certified single board development kit for evaluation and development on the nRF9161 system-in-package (SiP) for LTE-M, NB-IoT, GNSS, and DECT NR+. It has a dedicated LTE-M, NB-IoT, and DECT NR+ antenna that supports a wide range of bands to operate globally. The nRF9161 DK has the same coverage as the nRF9161 SiP. LTE bands B1 through B5, B8, B12, B13, B17 through B20, B25, B26, B28, B65, B66, and B85 are supported.

An integrated patch antenna for GNSS is also included on the PCB, while SWF RF connectors are available for measuring the performance of the RF signals. Both antenna connectors also allow for the use of external antennas.

All GPIOs and interfaces are available via connectors. The kit is Arduino Uno Rev3 compatible, meaning it can easily interface with external device shields. User-programmable LEDs and buttons (four each) are available for output and input.

The nRF9161 DK has both a nano/4FF SIM card slot and an MFF2 SIM footprint to support plug-in and soldered (e)SIMs. The kit is shipped with a SIM card that is pre-loaded with free data. It also supports the use of Software SIM, further reducing power consumption. Programming and debugging are enabled through the on-board SEGGER J-Link, which also supports programming and debugging external targets.

The nRF9161 DK is supported by a full suite of development software, tools, and resources, including the Nordic Developer Academy’s Cellular IoT Fundamentals course. The nRF9161 DK comes pre-flashed with a serial LTE modem application for interfacing through AT Commands. Getting started with other firmware samples is available in the quick start tool found in nRF Connect for Desktop.