Nordic Thingy:91 Hardware

Nordic Thingy:91 Hardware

The Nordic Thingy:91™ is a battery-operated prototyping platform for cellular IoT, certified for global operation. It is ideal for rapid development of prototypes for cellular IoT systems and is especially suited for asset tracking applications and environmental monitoring.

Note: The HTML rendition of this document corresponds to the latest version only. All relevant versions are available as PDF attachments of this document.
Nordic Thingy:91 integrates the nRF9160 System in Package (SiP)1, supporting LTE-M, NB-IoT and Global Positioning System (GPS), and the nRF52840 System on Chip (SoC), supporting Bluetooth® Low Energy and Near Field Communication (NFC) passive tag.
Note: LTE-M or LTE NB-IoT can operate simultaneously with Bluetooth LE.

Source code for firmware, hardware layout, and schematics are all available on the Nordic Thingy:91 Downloads page.

A rechargeable Li-Po battery is also part of this prototyping platform giving a smooth transition into prototype field-testing, 1400 mAh for Nordic Thingy:91 v1.0.0, and 1350 mAh for Nordic Thingy:91 v1.4.0.

To get started with Nordic Thingy:91, see Getting started with Thingy:91.

Key features

  • 700-960 MHz + 1710-2200 MHz LTE band support2. The following bands, based on geographic regions, are used:
    • USA – 2, 4, 12, and 13
    • EU – 3, 8, 20, and 28
  • Certifications: CE, FCC
  • LTE-M/NB-IoT/GPS, Bluetooth LE and NFC passive tag antennas
  • Nano/4FF Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) card slot
  • MFF2 M2M Form Factor eUICC (Nordic Thingy:91 v1.4.0 only)
  • User-programmable button and RGB LEDs
  • Environmental sensor for temperature, humidity, air quality, and air pressure
  • Color and light sensor
  • Low-power and high-G accelerometer
  • Buzzer
  • 4 x N-MOS transistor for external DC motors or LEDs
  • 16 kbit I2C serial EEPROM (Nordic Thingy:91 v1.4.0 only)
  • Rechargeable Li-Po battery with:
    • 1400 mAh capacity for Nordic Thingy:91 v1.0.0
    • 1350 mAh capacity for Nordic Thingy:91 v1.4.0 and later
  • Charging through Universal Serial Bus (USB)
  • PC connection through USB
  • Normal operating temperature range: 5oC ~ 35oC

nRF9160

  • Multimode LTE-M/NB-IoT modem
  • Application processor
    • 64 MHz Arm® Cortex®-M33 CPU
    • Arm TrustZone® for trusted execution
    • Arm CryptoCell 310 for application layer security
    • 1 MB flash and 256 kB RAM
    • 4 x SPI/UART/TWI, PDM, I2S, PWM, ADC

nRF52840 WLCSP

  • Bluetooth LE and NFC passive tag support
  • 64 MHz Arm Cortex-M4F CPU
  • 1 MB flash and 256 kB RAM
  • USB
Environmental protection: Waste electrical products should not be disposed of with household waste.
The universal recycling symbol

The battery in this product cannot be easily replaced by users themselves. Batteries should be removed only by qualified professionals due to safety concerns.

1 The nRF9160 SiP is certified for USA bands 2, 4, 5, 12, 13, 14, 17, 25, 26, and 66. However, Nordic Thingy:91 operates and is only certified for USA bands 2, 4, 12, and 13. The Nordic Thingy:91 firmware is written and documented to only use this subset of USA bands.
2 The application currently enables the following frequency bands: 2, 3, 4, 8, 12, 13, 20, and 28.