The Sera NX040 Series from Laird Connectivity are UWB + Bluetooth LE 5.4 + NFC Combo Modules that have been designed for mainstream IoT devices. They allow developers to deliver granular positioning that yields higher accuracy compared to RSSI-only proximity applications in industrial and medical environments. These modules are optimized for battery-powered applications and integrate additional memory, crystals, and other components to simplify the overall bill of materials (BOM), driving down the cost of integration. They require a DC supply of 1.8-3.6 V and operate on a coil-cell battery with low power consumption.
The Sera NX040 integrates NXP’s Trimension SR040 UWB Silicon chipset, Nordic Semiconductors’ nRF52833 Bluetooth LE SoC processing, and other RF components such as MCU, clocks, filters, and peripherals in a single module. They include a scripting engine that supports Python programming and Nordic’s nRF Connect SDK for rapid firmware app development. These combo modules are built on the Zephyr RTOS platform to provide extensibility. They can be interfaced to a mobile app for easy configuration and allow users to view the real-time status of the tags. These modules can either be connected to a central host for processing or conduct hostless operations. They are provided with a ranging toolkit for visualization.
These UWB + Bluetooth LE modules consist of UART, OTA via BLE, and DAPLink via SWD/JTAG serial interfaces to allow firmware upgrades using Python or FW application scripts. They are available in a module that measures 20.3 x 22.3 x 2.15 mm with MHF 4L connectors and are ideal for smart cities, factory automation, indoor positioning/RTLS, and asset tracking applications.
