Unlocking Bluetooth Cloud Connectivity with Nordic’s nRF54L and Blecon

At Electronica 2024 in Munich, we announced our support for Nordic Semiconductor's newly launched nRF54L Series System-on-Chips (SoCs), marking a significant advancement in Bluetooth Low Energy (LE) technology for Internet of Things (IoT) applications. This collaboration enables developers to create next-generation IoT devices with seamless cloud connectivity, enhanced processing capabilities, and improved energy efficiency.  

Nordic's nRF54L Series  

Many of you are familiar with Nordic's nRF52 Series, a mainstay in Bluetooth LE IoT devices. The new nRF54L Series takes that foundation to the next level. With a powerful 128 MHz Arm Cortex-M33 processor and a cutting-edge 22 nm process node, these chips deliver double the processing power and triple the efficiency compared to their predecessors.  

The nRF54L Series includes the nRF54L15, L10, and L05 models, offering lower power consumption, faster processing, and enhanced capabilities for a wide range of IoT applications. Whether you're building battery-powered devices or exploring new possibilities like machine learning inference on the edge, this series is designed to help you achieve more while using less power.  

Key Comparison: nRF52 vs. nRF54L Series  

Blecon Brings Cloud Connectivity to the nRF54L  

On our end, we’ve been working hard to ensure the nRF54L Series integrates smoothly with Blecon’s modem firmware and device SDK. The result? You can now build IoT products on the nRF54L with direct cloud connectivity without 1:1 pairing or custom gateways.  

By combining Nordic's low-power nRF54L with our Bluetooth connectivity infrastructure, you can create devices that leverage existing Bluetooth-enabled phones, laptops, or dedicated hubs as hotspots for cloud communication. This partnership empowers developers to achieve significant battery life improvements while enjoying seamless cloud integration.  

Hands-On Examples  

Demo: nRF54L’s Efficiency in Action  

At Nordic Semiconductor’s booth during Electronica 2024, the nRF54L performance was directly compared to the nRF52 Series using the Nordic Power Profiler Kit 2. This interactive demo allowed attendees to observe the nRF54L’s superior power efficiency during typical Bluetooth LE operations, like advertising and connection.  

Key observations from the demo:

• Power Consumption: Up to a 50% reduction in advertising and connection mode power usage.
• Processing Power: Workloads completed in half the time, thanks to the 128 MHz processor and advanced 22 nm node.  

For developers, this means you can extend battery life for existing applications or unlock more complex use cases that previously weren’t feasible.  

nRF54L15 DK in Action: Bluetooth Cloud Connectivity with Blecon  

In a video shared on YouTube, we demonstrated the nRF54L Development Kit (DK) showcasing how easy it is to get started with Blecon. The process began with programming the DK using our modem firmware, which was downloaded from the developer portal and flashed onto the device with Nordic’s NCS tools. Once programmed, the DK was ready to interact with the Blecon console.  

Key features of the demo included:  

• Secure Identity Generation: The device automatically created a unique public-private key pair during its first boot.
• Cloud Communication: The DK performed actions like a ping request, establishing a connection with the Blecon backend through a nearby Bluetooth hotspot.
• Time Synchronisation: The device synchronised its real-time clock (RTC) with the global network time, ensuring precise time-stamping for data collection and updates.
• Location Awareness: The device’s geographic location was retrieved and validated through the Blecon network.  

These features—secure identity, global time synchronisation, and location awareness—are built into the Blecon platform, enabling developers to create scalable, cloud-connected IoT applications right out of the box.  

Building Hello Blecon with nRF54L15 DK and the Blecon SDK

For a more hands-on perspective, we recently showcased a "Hello Blecon" demo using the nRF54L15 Development Kit (DK) and the Blecon Device SDK. Here’s a quick walkthrough of what we covered:

Setup:

• Hardware: nRF54L15 DK.
• Software: VS Code with the NRF Connect extensions.

Application Creation:

• Using the nRF Connect SDK add-on index, we selected the Blecon Device SDK (v2.0.1) and created a new workspace.
• After configuring the workspace, we accessed the Blecon Hello World example, designed to send and receive data through the Blecon Network.

Building and Flashing:

• We compiled the code for the nRF54L15 DK, targeting the CPU app  for the main application core.
• Once built, the firmware was flashed to the DK, enabling it to boot with a unique Blecon Device ID.

Cloud Connectivity in Action:

• The demo illustrated how the DK connects to nearby Bluetooth hotspots and interacts with the Blecon infrastructure.
• The Hello World application sent a "Hello Blecon!" message to an echo server, which returned the same message to the device, as confirmed via the serial terminal.

This demo highlights how simple it is to integrate Bluetooth cloud connectivity into IoT projects using Nordic’s nRF54L Series and the Blecon platform.

Ready to Build?  

Support for the nRF54L Series is live now. You can download firmware, tools, and the SDK using the links below or Nordic’s nRF Connect platform. Development kits are widely available, buy yours here.

🔗 For firmware releases and tools 

🔗 For SDK

🔗 For Developer Website 

We can’t wait to see what our customers build with the nRF54L Series and Blecon. Whether you’re designing for industrial IoT, healthcare, or super beacons, this collaboration is here to help you.

Talk to an Expert

To understand more about how this solution could work for you, feel free to reach out via email or book a technical call to explore your use case or questions: Contact Us

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