nRF7001 is a wireless companion device that is connected to a
host Microcontroller Unit (MCU) or application processor. It is connected to the host
through a Quad Serial Peripheral Interface (QSPI) (6-wire) or Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI) (4-wire)
for data and a 3-wire or 4-wire coexistence control interface for hosts that include a Bluetooth® LE/IEEE 802.15.4 radio. In addition, two lines (HOST_IRQ and BUCKEN)
are required. The user application executes on the host MCU.
The following figure shows a system with nRF7001 and a host MCU.
Figure 1. Functional block diagram with generic host MCU
nRF7001 is designed to support radio
coexistence and can be used together with another nRF Series device. The following figure shows
nRF7001 together with nRF5340 to achieve a combined Bluetooth LE and Wi-Fi®
solution. nRF5340 functions as a host and common interface to the wireless system.
Figure 2. Functional block diagram with nRF host and separate
antennas
Using a separate antenna configuration enables simultaneous 2.4 GHz
Wi-Fi and Bluetooth LE/IEEE 802.15.4 operation. For cost or area-sensitive applications
that do not need simultaneous operation, a single antenna configuration is also possible. This
requires an antenna switch, which can be controlled from the radio coexistence algorithm.
The following figure shows a single antenna configuration with
nRF7001.
Figure 3. Functional block diagram of nRF7001 with nRF host and single
antenna
Note: Introducing a switch in the signal path may
give a loss in sensitivity (typically <1 dB) compared to using a dual antenna.