July pre-order shipments have begun!
Hundreds of engineers around the world are using the nRF9160 Feather to jumpstart their IoT based projects. Projects like pet tracking, air quality detection, remote monitoring and control, and more. It’s capable of both CAT M1 LTE and NB-IoT cellular communication. Plus it’s designed to work with Zephyr RTOS the go-to RTOS for embedded development.
It’s also nice to your batteries. Not only can you take advantage of Nordic’s advanced power states, but you can also put the device into a low power standby state. Laboratory measurements are putting that mode at about <10 µA of current at 3.6V. It also features a low Iq 3.3V Buck which helps get every mWh from your battries as possible.
No batteries? No problem! You can plug or power your nRF9160 Feather externally for AC/DC powered operation. Keep it on at all times for high availability scenarios. Power it the 5V pin or insert a USB-C cable to keep things going.
Want to persist data? The nRF9160 Feather has a 4MB external flash for storing data while offline. Using external flash with a filesystem like LitteFS and you’ll have a project to recon with!
What people are saying
Here’s what some folks are saying about the nRF9160 Feather:
I really love this board, you’ve done a great job with it. - Steven
Props on the feather dude, I know it takes so much focus to take it where you’ve got it. Very impressed- documentation, forum, board, persistence. Very cool. - Dylan
It’s Certified and Assembled in the USA 🇺🇸!
The nRF9160 Feather is CE, FCC & ISED compliant.
Boards are fabricated in Taiwan and everything is assembled and tested right here in the USA.
No Programmer Necessary
You can load your applications directly to the nRF9160 Feather without an external programmer. That’s right, there are no extra costs associated with getting started with your nRF9160 Feather.
We’ve tweaked the MCUBoot boot-loader and command-line tools to boost loading speeds by 10x. This means loading via the boot-loader is nearly as fast as using an external programmer!
(Debugging and larger application sizes do require an external programming setup.)
Ready to roll out of the box
The nRF9160 Feather comes with a Hologram SIM ready for activation!
Open Source
The nRF9160 Feather has been reviewed and the results are in.
It now has the Open Source Hardware Association stamp of approval!
That means you’re able to view the source and build on the design yourself. All the Eagle files, PDF schematic, and 3D files are available for download today at the documentation website.
Licenses:
- Hardware licensed with CERN 2.0 - weakly reciprocal
- Firmware with Apache 2.0
- Documentation with CC-SA-4.0.
Documentation and Community
Documentation is readily available and you can access it on docs.jaredwolff.com at any time. Join the community at any time to get access to common questions and to get help using you nRF9160 Feather.
Addons
Active GPS Antenna
nRF9160 Feather used an external active antenna. That means that it will work with most ceramic antennas that look like the one below.
You also have the option to purchase a pre-verified module. Not all GPS antennas are made equal. Go with the included one and you’ll be ready to rock.
Here are some additional antenna specs:
- 18.6 x 18.6 mm
- 5.1 mm thick
- LNA Gain: 26 to 35 dB
- Max noise figure: 1.4 dB
- Cable length: 2.5in (63mm)
GPS Enclosure
Start your asset tracking projects off on the right foot with the nRF9160 Feather enclosure. It pairs perfectly with the GPS antenna and a 18650 battery cell. (not included). Check out the photos and details below:
The case has a few features you may find handy:
- 18650 holder
- GPS antenna port
- Standoffs for mounting the nRF9160 feather
- USB cutout for easy DFU programming
Order it with your nRF9160 Feather and make the package complete! It comes in a kit including the 18650 holder enclosure and PH wire assembly.
LTE Antenna
$5.00
Need an antenna? You can get one here too. Antenna is shipped with adhesive so you can stick it to nearly any surface.
Air Quality Wing
The Air Quality Wing is an all-in-one air quality sensor and development board. It brings together a trio of sensors to give you as many data points as possible. That way, there won’t be anything missing when you go to measure the air inside your home or workplace. It’s designed to work with the nRF9160 Feather with lots of example code to get started!
For more information, check out the documentation here.
Below are the suggested accessories that pair nicely with the Air Quality Wing:
Dust Sensor + Cable
Battery Holder
Female Headers
Have questions/looking for support?
Check out the forum here. Also don’t forget about the documentation. Also please be sure to see the Terms and Conditions at the bottom of this page for more details on support.