THINGY:53 IoT Sensor Kit, nrf5340 based

The Nordic Thingy:53™ is an easy-to-use IoT prototyping platform. It enables the creation of prototypes and proof-of-concepts without the need to build custom hardware. The Thingy:53 is based on the nRF5340 SoC, our flagship dual-core wireless SoC. The processing power and memory size of its two Arm Cortex-M33 processors enable embedded machine learning (ML) models to run directly on the device.

With the nRF Edge Impulse app, users can connect their Nordic Thingy:53 to their Edge Impulse Studio account via a mobile device. It enables wireless transfer of sensor data via Bluetooth LE to the mobile device and upload to the cloud for training, as well as downloading trained ML models to the Thingy:53 for deployment and inferencing. The app also serves as a GUI for displaying the inference results of a running ML model.

The Bluetooth Low Energy (LE) radio enables firmware updates and communication via Bluetooth LE, and the radio also supports other protocols such as Bluetooth Mesh, Thread, Zigbee and proprietary 2.4 GHz protocols. Compatibility with the Thread protocol also makes the device a good choice for developing products for the new Matter ecosystem. Matter is a standardized application layer for networked home applications that uses the Internet Protocol (IP) as the network layer.

The Thingy:53 also contains many different integrated sensors, such as environmental, color and light sensors, accelerometers and a magnetometer, all of which can be used without additional hardware. Power is supplied by a rechargeable Li-Po battery that can be charged via USB-C. There is also an external 4-pin JST connector that is compatible with Stemma/Qwiic/Grove standards for hardware accessories.

Each Thingy:53 comes pre-installed with firmware that works with the nRF Edge Impulse app for iOS and Android. The nRF Programmer app will also be released with the Thingy:53, allowing the device firmware to be updated directly from a mobile device.