User's Guide

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Introduction
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.
Nordic Thingy:91 includes sensors that gather data about its own movements and the surrounding
environment. Temperature, humidity, air quality, air pressure, color, and light data can easily be extracted
for local or remote analysis. For input, the Nordic Thingy:91 offers a user-programmable button. Visual
output is achieved with RGB indicator LEDs, while a buzzer can provide audible output. The standard
application firmware on Nordic Thingy:91 extracts the data from the different sensors and relays it
securely to the nRF Connect for Cloud, where it is displayed in a user-friendly interface.
The firmware supports concurrent operation with LTE Link Monitor, a tool providing an AT command
interface, enabling link and network testing. LTE Link Monitor is an application, which is implemented as
part of the nRF Connect for Desktop application. The firmware has been developed using the nRF Connect
Software Development Kit (SDK). It is open source and can be leveraged and modified to suit your specific
needs. The firmware can be updated and debugged by using an external programmer/debug probe, for
example nRF9160 DK (Development Kit) or J-Link device supporting Arm Cortex-M33.
Nordic Thingy:91 integrates the nRF9160 System in Package (SiP)
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, 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 our web site
www.nordicsemi.com.
Nordic Thingy:91 has an antenna supporting GPS, LTE-M, and NB-IoT that enables it to support a global
range of LTE bands. It has two antennas connected to the nRF52840: a 2.4 GHz antenna for Bluetooth LE
and an NFC passive tag antenna. To connect to cellular network out of the box, Nordic Thingy:91 has a
nano/4FF SIM card slot and is bundled with a SIM card from iBasis that comes preloaded with 10 MB.
NFC in Nordic Thingy:91 operates as a passive tag (e.g. it does not feature a reader function). Nordic
Thingy:91 may use this tag function for the Out of Band pairing feature as described in the Bluetooth Core
Specification.
A 1400 mAh rechargeable Li-Po battery is also part of this prototyping platform giving a smooth transition
into prototype field-testing.
Key features of Nordic Thingy:91
•
700-960 MHz + 1710-2200 MHz LTE band support
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. 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
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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.
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The application currently enables the following frequency bands: 2, 3, 4, 8, 12, 13, 20, and 28.
4418_1336 v1.2
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