nRF52840's BLE Capabilities vs U-Blox NINA-B306 (Nano 33 BLE)

[GaryDT]

Good evening,

How does the nRF52840's own BLE transceiver capabilities compare to the BLE capabilities of the NINA-B306, as follows...

1. Does the nRF52840 chip have its own complete BLE functionality, or does it require being part of, for example a module such as the NINA-B306?
2. What are the key components in addition to the nRF52840 chip, that the NINA-B306 utilises to create its own BLE functionality?

My guess: the entire BLE functionality comes from the nRF52840 chip? But then what are the key functionalities of the NINA-B306's other components?

Thank you, Gary.

Edit... I've found the following page https://www.nordicsemi.com/Nordic-Partners/3rd-party-modules

By using these modules you can leverage all the strengths of Nordic's SoC Hardware and Software architecture and make a 'single module product' without the need for an additional microcontroller to run your application.

Please explain why an "additional microcontroller" is required when not using a module, i.e., I thought that the NRF52840's Cortex-M4F CPU was capable of running the application?

[GaryDT]

Well I've made some progress, but it's not a complete answer...

GaryDT said:

• Does the nRF52840 chip have its own complete BLE functionality, or does it require being part of, for example a module such as the NINA-B306?
• What are the key components in addition to the nRF52840 chip, that the NINA-B306 utilises to create its own BLE functionality?

1.a) Yes, see the 1st section within "Features" in the following product specification nRF52840 Product Specification in which it states the chip's transceiver capabilities. Also refer to the following U-Blox product summary NINA-B30 series

Screenshot from the above U-Blox link. Notice the nRF52840 chip listed under "Radio", which to me implies (i.e., confirms) that the chip is the sole key component of the BLE transceiver functionality. I almost feel embarrassed. 

1.b) Ultimately yes it needs to be part of a module, but only because on its own it wouldn't have "the necessary external circuitry" as quoted below from the opening post's link to Nordic's 3rd party modules page.  

Today, many of the world’s best-known module manufacturers offer modules/modems based on Nordic technology.
These modules/modems are available with the necessary external circuitry and are either partly or fully qualified (with/without integrated antenna) towards relevant wireless standards.

2) Unfortunately I haven't managed to find a reasonable answer regarding additional components. However, on reflection the question itself doesn't really make much sense, because as already stated the nRF52840 is ultimately the "Radio", i.e., the NINA-B306 doesn't actually "create" its own BLE in that manner.

Final question was...

Please explain why an "additional microcontroller" is required when not using a module, i.e., I thought that the NRF52840's Cortex-M4F CPU was capable of running the application?

Again not a complete answer coming up, but I'm not convinced that the quote in the opening post from Nordic's "3rd party modules" section explains it sufficiently...

Notice "Open CPU for embedded customer applications" in the above screenshot. Open CPU (AKA (although perhaps not technically precise) nRF5 SDK) is one of several software options, e.g., u-connectXpress is one alternative to Open CPU. However, Open CPU (open CPU modules) allows applications to run on the Cortex-M4 processor which itself is part of the nRF52840 chip.

Quote from the above U-Blox link...

Both variants are open CPU modules that enable customer applications to run on the built-in Arm Cortex-M4 with FPU.

However, I'm unable to provide an example of how needing an additional microcontroller could come into play in the context being discussed here.