Nordic Semiconductor’s nRF93M1 Development Kit is now available through multiple distributors, providing a platform for evaluating the company’s nRF93M1 LTE Cat 1 bis cellular module. The board combines the modem with an nRF54L15 host MCU and includes USB-C, onboard J-Link debugging, power-measurement support, and a preloaded SIM card.

The nRF93M1 DK pairs the nRF93M1-LABA modem module with Nordic’s nRF54L15 as the application host MCU. A separate nRF5340 serves as the board controller and provides SEGGER J-Link support.

The nRF93M1 itself ships with signed Nordic firmware and is controlled by the host through AT commands and standardized network interfaces rather than running customer application code directly.

The cellular module supports 3GPP Release 14 LTE Cat 1 bis with peak data rates of up to 10Mbps downlink and 5Mbps uplink. It supports FDD and TDD operation, output power up to 23dBm, PSM and eDRX power-saving modes, IPv4/IPv6, TCP/UDP, TLS/DTLS, CoAP, and HTTP/HTTPS. SIM, eSIM, and softSIM options are supported.

nRF93M1 block diagram

Positioning features include cellular location and a 2.4GHz IEEE 802.11b Wi-Fi beacon receiver. The Wi-Fi receiver is used for location scanning rather than general-purpose Wi-Fi networking, with location data supported through nRF Cloud services. External GNSS can also be added when required by the application.

Other hardware includes an SMA connector for the supplied Taoglas LTE antenna, a nano-SIM socket, an MFF2 eSIM footprint, 64Mb of external flash, user-programmable buttons and LEDs, and GPIO and UART headers.

nRF93M1 DK system block diagram

USB-C is used for debugging, programming, trace output, and power. A dedicated current-measurement header is provided for use with Nordic’s Power Profiler Kit II.

The nRF93M1 module itself provides three UART interfaces, USB 2.0 device support with CDC-ACM, RNDIS, and CDC-ECM, GPIO, SIM interfaces, LTE coexistence signals, and RF tuner control. The module measures 17.7 × 15.8mm, operates from 3.3V to 4.5V, and supports an extended temperature range of -40°C to +85°C.

nRF Cloud demo

On the software side, the development kit can be accessed from a PC through Nordic’s nRF Connect for Desktop and command-line tools. The modem can be controlled through AT commands over USB, while the nRF54L15 host can be used with the nRF Connect SDK for embedded application development.

nRF93M1 DK top and bottom views

The supplied Onomondo SIM allows users to establish an LTE connection and then connect the device to nRF Cloud for messaging and location services.

The current firmware supports IPv4/IPv6, TCP, UDP, TLS/DTLS, CoAP, and HTTP/HTTPS, while MQTT and FTP are not yet supported. Firmware updates can be delivered through HTTP/HTTPS, nRF Cloud, or Memfault.

Further Information