nRF9160 DK

Board Overview

nRF9160 DK

Name:

nrf9160dk

Vendor:

Nordic Semiconductor

Status:

Maintained

Architecture:

arm

SoC:

nrf52840, nrf9160

Browse board sources

nRF9160 DK

Overview

The nRF9160 DK (PCA10090) is a single-board development kit for evaluation and development on the nRF9160 SiP for LTE-M and NB-IoT. The nrf9160dk/nrf9160 board configuration provides support for the Nordic Semiconductor nRF9160 ARM Cortex-M33F CPU with ARMv8-M Security Extension and the following devices:

• ADC

• CLOCK

• FLASH

• GPIO

• I2C

• MPU

• NVIC

• PWM

• RTC

• Segger RTT (RTT Console)

• SPI

• UARTE

• WDT

• IDAU

nRF9160 DK (Credit: Nordic Semiconductor)

More information about the board can be found at the nRF9160 DK website [2]. nRF9160 Product Specification [5] contains the processor’s information and the datasheet.

Hardware

nRF9160 DK has two external oscillators. The frequency of the slow clock is 32.768 kHz. The frequency of the main clock is 32 MHz.

Supported Features

The nrf9160dk board supports the hardware features listed below.

on-chip / on-board

Feature integrated in the SoC / present on the board.

2 / 2

Number of instances that are enabled / disabled.
Click on the label to see the first instance of this feature in the board/SoC DTS files.

vnd,foo

Compatible string for the Devicetree binding matching the feature.
Click on the link to view the binding documentation.

nrf9160dk@0.14.0/nrf52840 target

Type	Location	Description	Compatible
CPU	on-chip	ARM Cortex-M4F CPU1	arm,cortex-m4f
ADC	on-chip	Nordic Semiconductor nRF family SAADC node1	nordic,nrf-saadc
ARM architecture	on-chip	Nordic UICR (User Information Configuration Registers)1	nordic,nrf-uicr
	on-chip	Nordic EGU (Event Generator Unit)6	nordic,nrf-egu
	on-chip	Nordic nRF family ACL (Access Control List)1	nordic,nrf-acl
	on-chip	Nordic nRF family MWU (Memory Watch Unit)1	nordic,nrf-mwu
Audio	on-chip	Nordic PDM (Pulse Density Modulation interface)1	nordic,nrf-pdm
Clock control	on-chip	Nordic nRF clock control node1	nordic,nrf-clock
	on-chip	Nordic nRF high-frequency crystal oscillator (nRF52 series)1	nordic,nrf52-hfxo
Comparator	on-chip	Nordic nRF COMP (analog COMParator)1	nordic,nrf-comp
Counter	on-chip	Nordic nRF timer node5	nordic,nrf-timer
Cryptographic accelerator	on-chip	Nordic ECB (AES electronic codebook mode encryption)1	nordic,nrf-ecb
	on-chip	Nordic nRF family CCM (AES CCM mode encryption)1	nordic,nrf-ccm
	on-chip	ARM TrustZone CryptoCell 3101	arm,cryptocell-310
Debug	on-chip	ARMv7 instrumentation trace macrocell1	arm,armv7m-itm
Flash controller	on-chip	Nordic NVMC (Non-Volatile Memory Controller)1	nordic,nrf52-flash-controller
	on-chip	Properties defining the interface for the Nordic QSPI peripheral1	nordic,nrf-qspi
GPIO & Headers	on-chip	NRF5 GPIOTE1	nordic,nrf-gpiote
	on-chip	NRF5 GPIO2	nordic,nrf-gpio
I2C	on-chip	Nordic nRF family TWIM (TWI master with EasyDMA)2	nordic,nrf-twim
I2S	on-chip	Nordic I2S (Inter-IC sound interface)1	nordic,nrf-i2s
IEEE 802.15.4	on-chip	Nordic nRF IEEE 802.15.4 node1	nordic,nrf-ieee802154
Interrupt controller	on-chip	ARMv7-M NVIC (Nested Vectored Interrupt Controller)1	arm,v7m-nvic
Miscellaneous	on-chip	Nordic FICR (Factory Information Configuration Registers)1	nordic,nrf-ficr
	on-chip	Nordic nRF family PPI (Programmable Peripheral Interconnect)1	nordic,nrf-ppi
	on-board	nRF9160 DK GPIO interface between nRF9160 and nRF528401	nordic,nrf9160dk-nrf52840-interface
	on-board	GPIO used to reset nRF52840 on nRF9160 DK1	nordic,nrf9160dk-nrf52840-reset
	on-board	nRF9160 DK optional routing provided by analog switch115	nordic,nrf9160dk-optional-routing
MTD	on-chip	Flash node1	soc-nv-flash
	on-chip	Fixed partitions of a flash (or other non-volatile storage) memory1	fixed-partitions
Networking	on-chip	Nordic nRF family RADIO peripheral1	nordic,nrf-radio
	on-chip	Nordic nRF family NFCT (Near Field Communication Tag)1	nordic,nrf-nfct
Pin control	on-chip	Nordic nRF family Pin Controller1	nordic,nrf-pinctrl
Power management	on-chip	Nordic nRF power control node1	nordic,nrf-power
PWM	on-chip	nRF PWM4	nordic,nrf-pwm
	on-chip	nRFx S/W PWM1	nordic,nrf-sw-pwm
Regulator	on-chip	Nordic nRF5X regulator (fixed stage of the core supply)1	nordic,nrf5x-regulator
	on-chip	Nordic nRF52X regulator (high voltage stage of the main supply)1	nordic,nrf52x-regulator-hv
Retained memory	on-chip	Nordic GPREGRET (General Purpose Register Retention) device2	nordic,nrf-gpregret
RNG	on-chip	Nordic nRF family RNG (Random Number Generator)1	nordic,nrf-rng
RTC	on-chip	Nordic nRF RTC (Real-Time Counter)3	nordic,nrf-rtc
Sensors	on-chip	Nordic nRF family TEMP node1	nordic,nrf-temp
	on-chip	Nordic nRF quadrature decoder (QDEC) node1	nordic,nrf-qdec
Serial controller	on-chip	Nordic nRF family UARTE (UART with EasyDMA)11	nordic,nrf-uarte
SPI	on-chip	Nordic nRF family SPIM (SPI master with EasyDMA)4	nordic,nrf-spim
SRAM	on-chip	Generic on-chip SRAM1	mmio-sram
Timer	on-chip	ARMv7-M System Tick1	arm,armv7m-systick
USB	on-chip	Nordic nRF52 USB device controller1	nordic,nrf-usbd
Watchdog	on-chip	Nordic nRF family WDT (Watchdog Timer)1	nordic,nrf-wdt

nrf9160dk@0.14.0/nrf9160 target

Type	Location	Description	Compatible
CPU	on-chip	ARM Cortex-M33F CPU1	arm,cortex-m33f
ADC	on-chip	Nordic Semiconductor nRF family SAADC node1	nordic,nrf-saadc
	on-board	ADC channels exposed on Arduino Uno (R3) headers1	arduino,uno-adc
ARM architecture	on-chip	Nordic EGU (Event Generator Unit)6	nordic,nrf-egu
	on-chip	Nordic KMU (Key Management Unit)1	nordic,nrf-kmu
	on-chip	Nordic nRF family CTRL-AP (Control Access Port)1	nordic,nrf-ctrlapperi
	on-chip	Nordic SPU (System Protection Unit)1	nordic,nrf-spu
	on-chip	Nordic UICR (User Information Configuration Registers)1	nordic,nrf-uicr
Audio	on-chip	Nordic PDM (Pulse Density Modulation interface)1	nordic,nrf-pdm
Clock control	on-chip	Nordic nRF clock control node1	nordic,nrf-clock
Counter	on-chip	Nordic nRF timer node3	nordic,nrf-timer
Cryptographic accelerator	on-chip	ARM TrustZone CryptoCell 3101	arm,cryptocell-310
Flash controller	on-chip	Nordic NVMC (Non-Volatile Memory Controller)1	nordic,nrf91-flash-controller
GPIO & Headers	on-board	PCAL6408A 8-bit I2C-based I/O expander1	nxp,pcal6408a
	on-chip	NRF5 GPIO1	nordic,nrf-gpio
	on-chip	NRF5 GPIOTE11	nordic,nrf-gpiote
	on-board	GPIO pins exposed on Arduino Uno (R3) headers1	arduino-header-r3
I2C	on-chip	Nordic nRF family TWIM (TWI master with EasyDMA)13	nordic,nrf-twim
I2S	on-chip	Nordic I2S (Inter-IC sound interface)1	nordic,nrf-i2s
Input	on-board	Group of GPIO-bound input keys1	gpio-keys
Interrupt controller	on-chip	ARMv8-M NVIC (Nested Vectored Interrupt Controller)1	arm,v8m-nvic
IPC	on-chip	Nordic nRF family IPC (Interprocessor Communication)1	nordic,nrf-ipc
LED	on-board	Group of GPIO-controlled LEDs1	gpio-leds
	on-board	Group of PWM-controlled LEDs1	pwm-leds
Miscellaneous	on-chip	Nordic DPPIC (Distributed Programmable Peripheral Interconnect Controller)1	nordic,nrf-dppic
	on-chip	Nordic FICR (Factory Information Configuration Registers)1	nordic,nrf-ficr
	on-board	nRF9160 DK GPIO interface between nRF9160 and nRF528401	nordic,nrf9160dk-nrf52840-interface
	on-board	GPIO used to reset nRF52840 on nRF9160 DK1	nordic,nrf9160dk-nrf52840-reset
MMU / MPU	on-chip	ARMv8-M MPU (Memory Protection Unit)1	arm,armv8m-mpu
MTD	on-chip	Flash node1	soc-nv-flash
	on-chip	Fixed partitions of a flash (or other non-volatile storage) memory1	fixed-partitions
	on-chip	Fixed subpartitions of a flash (or other nonvolatile storage) memory2	fixed-subpartitions
	on-board	Properties supporting Zephyr spi-nor flash driver (over the Zephyr SPI API) control of serial flash memories using the standard M25P80-based command set1	jedec,spi-nor
Pin control	on-chip	Nordic nRF family Pin Controller1	nordic,nrf-pinctrl
Power management	on-chip	Nordic VMC (Volatile Memory Controller)1	nordic,nrf-vmc
	on-chip	Nordic nRF power control node1	nordic,nrf-power
PWM	on-chip	nRF PWM13	nordic,nrf-pwm
	on-chip	nRFx S/W PWM1	nordic,nrf-sw-pwm
Regulator	on-chip	Nordic REGULATORS (voltage regulators control module) on nRF91X1	nordic,nrf91x-regulators
Retained memory	on-chip	Nordic GPREGRET (General Purpose Register Retention) device2	nordic,nrf-gpregret
RTC	on-chip	Nordic nRF RTC (Real-Time Counter)2	nordic,nrf-rtc
Serial controller	on-chip	Nordic nRF family UARTE (UART with EasyDMA)22	nordic,nrf-uarte
SPI	on-chip	Nordic nRF family SPIM (SPI master with EasyDMA)13	nordic,nrf-spim
SRAM	on-chip	Generic on-chip SRAM1	mmio-sram
Timer	on-chip	ARMv8-M System Tick1	arm,armv8m-systick
Watchdog	on-chip	Nordic nRF family WDT (Watchdog Timer)1	nordic,nrf-wdt

nrf9160dk@0.14.0/nrf9160/ns target

Type	Location	Description	Compatible
CPU	on-chip	ARM Cortex-M33F CPU1	arm,cortex-m33f
ADC	on-chip	Nordic Semiconductor nRF family SAADC node1	nordic,nrf-saadc
	on-board	ADC channels exposed on Arduino Uno (R3) headers1	arduino,uno-adc
ARM architecture	on-chip	Nordic EGU (Event Generator Unit)6	nordic,nrf-egu
	on-chip	Nordic KMU (Key Management Unit)1	nordic,nrf-kmu
Audio	on-chip	Nordic PDM (Pulse Density Modulation interface)1	nordic,nrf-pdm
Clock control	on-chip	Nordic nRF clock control node1	nordic,nrf-clock
Counter	on-chip	Nordic nRF timer node3	nordic,nrf-timer
Flash controller	on-chip	Nordic NVMC (Non-Volatile Memory Controller)1	nordic,nrf91-flash-controller
GPIO & Headers	on-board	PCAL6408A 8-bit I2C-based I/O expander1	nxp,pcal6408a
	on-chip	NRF5 GPIO1	nordic,nrf-gpio
	on-chip	NRF5 GPIOTE1	nordic,nrf-gpiote
	on-board	GPIO pins exposed on Arduino Uno (R3) headers1	arduino-header-r3
I2C	on-chip	Nordic nRF family TWIM (TWI master with EasyDMA)13	nordic,nrf-twim
I2S	on-chip	Nordic I2S (Inter-IC sound interface)1	nordic,nrf-i2s
Input	on-board	Group of GPIO-bound input keys1	gpio-keys
Interrupt controller	on-chip	ARMv8-M NVIC (Nested Vectored Interrupt Controller)1	arm,v8m-nvic
IPC	on-chip	Nordic nRF family IPC (Interprocessor Communication)1	nordic,nrf-ipc
LED	on-board	Group of GPIO-controlled LEDs1	gpio-leds
	on-board	Group of PWM-controlled LEDs1	pwm-leds
Miscellaneous	on-chip	Nordic DPPIC (Distributed Programmable Peripheral Interconnect Controller)1	nordic,nrf-dppic
	on-board	nRF9160 DK GPIO interface between nRF9160 and nRF528401	nordic,nrf9160dk-nrf52840-interface
	on-board	GPIO used to reset nRF52840 on nRF9160 DK1	nordic,nrf9160dk-nrf52840-reset
MMU / MPU	on-chip	ARMv8-M MPU (Memory Protection Unit)1	arm,armv8m-mpu
MTD	on-chip	Flash node1	soc-nv-flash
	on-chip	Fixed partitions of a flash (or other non-volatile storage) memory1	fixed-partitions
	on-chip	Fixed subpartitions of a flash (or other nonvolatile storage) memory2	fixed-subpartitions
	on-board	Properties supporting Zephyr spi-nor flash driver (over the Zephyr SPI API) control of serial flash memories using the standard M25P80-based command set1	jedec,spi-nor
Pin control	on-chip	Nordic nRF family Pin Controller1	nordic,nrf-pinctrl
Power management	on-chip	Nordic VMC (Volatile Memory Controller)1	nordic,nrf-vmc
	on-chip	Nordic nRF power control node1	nordic,nrf-power
PWM	on-chip	nRF PWM13	nordic,nrf-pwm
	on-chip	nRFx S/W PWM1	nordic,nrf-sw-pwm
Regulator	on-chip	Nordic REGULATORS (voltage regulators control module) on nRF91X1	nordic,nrf91x-regulators
Retained memory	on-chip	Nordic GPREGRET (General Purpose Register Retention) device2	nordic,nrf-gpregret
RTC	on-chip	Nordic nRF RTC (Real-Time Counter)2	nordic,nrf-rtc
Serial controller	on-chip	Nordic nRF family UARTE (UART with EasyDMA)13	nordic,nrf-uarte
SPI	on-chip	Nordic nRF family SPIM (SPI master with EasyDMA)13	nordic,nrf-spim
SRAM	on-chip	Generic on-chip SRAM1	mmio-sram
Timer	on-chip	ARMv8-M System Tick1	arm,armv8m-systick
Watchdog	on-chip	Nordic nRF family WDT (Watchdog Timer)1	nordic,nrf-wdt

nrf9160dk@0.7.0/nrf52840 target

Type	Location	Description	Compatible
CPU	on-chip	ARM Cortex-M4F CPU1	arm,cortex-m4f
ADC	on-chip	Nordic Semiconductor nRF family SAADC node1	nordic,nrf-saadc
ARM architecture	on-chip	Nordic UICR (User Information Configuration Registers)1	nordic,nrf-uicr
	on-chip	Nordic EGU (Event Generator Unit)6	nordic,nrf-egu
	on-chip	Nordic nRF family ACL (Access Control List)1	nordic,nrf-acl
	on-chip	Nordic nRF family MWU (Memory Watch Unit)1	nordic,nrf-mwu
Audio	on-chip	Nordic PDM (Pulse Density Modulation interface)1	nordic,nrf-pdm
Clock control	on-chip	Nordic nRF clock control node1	nordic,nrf-clock
	on-chip	Nordic nRF high-frequency crystal oscillator (nRF52 series)1	nordic,nrf52-hfxo
Comparator	on-chip	Nordic nRF COMP (analog COMParator)1	nordic,nrf-comp
Counter	on-chip	Nordic nRF timer node5	nordic,nrf-timer
Cryptographic accelerator	on-chip	Nordic ECB (AES electronic codebook mode encryption)1	nordic,nrf-ecb
	on-chip	Nordic nRF family CCM (AES CCM mode encryption)1	nordic,nrf-ccm
	on-chip	ARM TrustZone CryptoCell 3101	arm,cryptocell-310
Debug	on-chip	ARMv7 instrumentation trace macrocell1	arm,armv7m-itm
Flash controller	on-chip	Nordic NVMC (Non-Volatile Memory Controller)1	nordic,nrf52-flash-controller
	on-chip	Properties defining the interface for the Nordic QSPI peripheral1	nordic,nrf-qspi
GPIO & Headers	on-chip	NRF5 GPIOTE1	nordic,nrf-gpiote
	on-chip	NRF5 GPIO2	nordic,nrf-gpio
I2C	on-chip	Nordic nRF family TWIM (TWI master with EasyDMA)2	nordic,nrf-twim
I2S	on-chip	Nordic I2S (Inter-IC sound interface)1	nordic,nrf-i2s
IEEE 802.15.4	on-chip	Nordic nRF IEEE 802.15.4 node1	nordic,nrf-ieee802154
Interrupt controller	on-chip	ARMv7-M NVIC (Nested Vectored Interrupt Controller)1	arm,v7m-nvic
Miscellaneous	on-chip	Nordic FICR (Factory Information Configuration Registers)1	nordic,nrf-ficr
	on-chip	Nordic nRF family PPI (Programmable Peripheral Interconnect)1	nordic,nrf-ppi
	on-board	nRF9160 DK GPIO interface between nRF9160 and nRF528401	nordic,nrf9160dk-nrf52840-interface
	on-board	GPIO used to reset nRF52840 on nRF9160 DK1	nordic,nrf9160dk-nrf52840-reset
	on-board	nRF9160 DK optional routing provided by analog switch103	nordic,nrf9160dk-optional-routing
MTD	on-chip	Flash node1	soc-nv-flash
	on-chip	Fixed partitions of a flash (or other non-volatile storage) memory1	fixed-partitions
Networking	on-chip	Nordic nRF family RADIO peripheral1	nordic,nrf-radio
	on-chip	Nordic nRF family NFCT (Near Field Communication Tag)1	nordic,nrf-nfct
Pin control	on-chip	Nordic nRF family Pin Controller1	nordic,nrf-pinctrl
Power management	on-chip	Nordic nRF power control node1	nordic,nrf-power
PWM	on-chip	nRF PWM4	nordic,nrf-pwm
	on-chip	nRFx S/W PWM1	nordic,nrf-sw-pwm
Regulator	on-chip	Nordic nRF5X regulator (fixed stage of the core supply)1	nordic,nrf5x-regulator
	on-chip	Nordic nRF52X regulator (high voltage stage of the main supply)1	nordic,nrf52x-regulator-hv
Retained memory	on-chip	Nordic GPREGRET (General Purpose Register Retention) device2	nordic,nrf-gpregret
RNG	on-chip	Nordic nRF family RNG (Random Number Generator)1	nordic,nrf-rng
RTC	on-chip	Nordic nRF RTC (Real-Time Counter)3	nordic,nrf-rtc
Sensors	on-chip	Nordic nRF family TEMP node1	nordic,nrf-temp
	on-chip	Nordic nRF quadrature decoder (QDEC) node1	nordic,nrf-qdec
Serial controller	on-chip	Nordic nRF family UARTE (UART with EasyDMA)11	nordic,nrf-uarte
SPI	on-chip	Nordic nRF family SPIM (SPI master with EasyDMA)4	nordic,nrf-spim
SRAM	on-chip	Generic on-chip SRAM1	mmio-sram
Timer	on-chip	ARMv7-M System Tick1	arm,armv7m-systick
USB	on-chip	Nordic nRF52 USB device controller1	nordic,nrf-usbd
Watchdog	on-chip	Nordic nRF family WDT (Watchdog Timer)1	nordic,nrf-wdt

nrf9160dk@0.7.0/nrf9160 target

Type	Location	Description	Compatible
CPU	on-chip	ARM Cortex-M33F CPU1	arm,cortex-m33f
ADC	on-chip	Nordic Semiconductor nRF family SAADC node1	nordic,nrf-saadc
	on-board	ADC channels exposed on Arduino Uno (R3) headers1	arduino,uno-adc
ARM architecture	on-chip	Nordic EGU (Event Generator Unit)6	nordic,nrf-egu
	on-chip	Nordic KMU (Key Management Unit)1	nordic,nrf-kmu
	on-chip	Nordic nRF family CTRL-AP (Control Access Port)1	nordic,nrf-ctrlapperi
	on-chip	Nordic SPU (System Protection Unit)1	nordic,nrf-spu
	on-chip	Nordic UICR (User Information Configuration Registers)1	nordic,nrf-uicr
Audio	on-chip	Nordic PDM (Pulse Density Modulation interface)1	nordic,nrf-pdm
Clock control	on-chip	Nordic nRF clock control node1	nordic,nrf-clock
Counter	on-chip	Nordic nRF timer node3	nordic,nrf-timer
Cryptographic accelerator	on-chip	ARM TrustZone CryptoCell 3101	arm,cryptocell-310
Flash controller	on-chip	Nordic NVMC (Non-Volatile Memory Controller)1	nordic,nrf91-flash-controller
GPIO & Headers	on-chip	NRF5 GPIO1	nordic,nrf-gpio
	on-chip	NRF5 GPIOTE11	nordic,nrf-gpiote
	on-board	GPIO pins exposed on Arduino Uno (R3) headers1	arduino-header-r3
I2C	on-chip	Nordic nRF family TWIM (TWI master with EasyDMA)13	nordic,nrf-twim
I2S	on-chip	Nordic I2S (Inter-IC sound interface)1	nordic,nrf-i2s
Input	on-board	Group of GPIO-bound input keys1	gpio-keys
Interrupt controller	on-chip	ARMv8-M NVIC (Nested Vectored Interrupt Controller)1	arm,v8m-nvic
IPC	on-chip	Nordic nRF family IPC (Interprocessor Communication)1	nordic,nrf-ipc
LED	on-board	Group of GPIO-controlled LEDs1	gpio-leds
	on-board	Group of PWM-controlled LEDs1	pwm-leds
Miscellaneous	on-chip	Nordic DPPIC (Distributed Programmable Peripheral Interconnect Controller)1	nordic,nrf-dppic
	on-chip	Nordic FICR (Factory Information Configuration Registers)1	nordic,nrf-ficr
	on-board	nRF9160 DK GPIO interface between nRF9160 and nRF528401	nordic,nrf9160dk-nrf52840-interface
	on-board	GPIO used to reset nRF52840 on nRF9160 DK1	nordic,nrf9160dk-nrf52840-reset
MMU / MPU	on-chip	ARMv8-M MPU (Memory Protection Unit)1	arm,armv8m-mpu
MTD	on-chip	Flash node1	soc-nv-flash
	on-chip	Fixed partitions of a flash (or other non-volatile storage) memory1	fixed-partitions
	on-chip	Fixed subpartitions of a flash (or other nonvolatile storage) memory2	fixed-subpartitions
Pin control	on-chip	Nordic nRF family Pin Controller1	nordic,nrf-pinctrl
Power management	on-chip	Nordic VMC (Volatile Memory Controller)1	nordic,nrf-vmc
	on-chip	Nordic nRF power control node1	nordic,nrf-power
PWM	on-chip	nRF PWM13	nordic,nrf-pwm
	on-chip	nRFx S/W PWM1	nordic,nrf-sw-pwm
Regulator	on-chip	Nordic REGULATORS (voltage regulators control module) on nRF91X1	nordic,nrf91x-regulators
Retained memory	on-chip	Nordic GPREGRET (General Purpose Register Retention) device2	nordic,nrf-gpregret
RTC	on-chip	Nordic nRF RTC (Real-Time Counter)2	nordic,nrf-rtc
Serial controller	on-chip	Nordic nRF family UARTE (UART with EasyDMA)22	nordic,nrf-uarte
SPI	on-chip	Nordic nRF family SPIM (SPI master with EasyDMA)13	nordic,nrf-spim
SRAM	on-chip	Generic on-chip SRAM1	mmio-sram
Timer	on-chip	ARMv8-M System Tick1	arm,armv8m-systick
Watchdog	on-chip	Nordic nRF family WDT (Watchdog Timer)1	nordic,nrf-wdt

nrf9160dk@0.7.0/nrf9160/ns target

Type	Location	Description	Compatible
CPU	on-chip	ARM Cortex-M33F CPU1	arm,cortex-m33f
ADC	on-chip	Nordic Semiconductor nRF family SAADC node1	nordic,nrf-saadc
	on-board	ADC channels exposed on Arduino Uno (R3) headers1	arduino,uno-adc
ARM architecture	on-chip	Nordic EGU (Event Generator Unit)6	nordic,nrf-egu
	on-chip	Nordic KMU (Key Management Unit)1	nordic,nrf-kmu
Audio	on-chip	Nordic PDM (Pulse Density Modulation interface)1	nordic,nrf-pdm
Clock control	on-chip	Nordic nRF clock control node1	nordic,nrf-clock
Counter	on-chip	Nordic nRF timer node3	nordic,nrf-timer
Flash controller	on-chip	Nordic NVMC (Non-Volatile Memory Controller)1	nordic,nrf91-flash-controller
GPIO & Headers	on-chip	NRF5 GPIO1	nordic,nrf-gpio
	on-chip	NRF5 GPIOTE1	nordic,nrf-gpiote
	on-board	GPIO pins exposed on Arduino Uno (R3) headers1	arduino-header-r3
I2C	on-chip	Nordic nRF family TWIM (TWI master with EasyDMA)13	nordic,nrf-twim
I2S	on-chip	Nordic I2S (Inter-IC sound interface)1	nordic,nrf-i2s
Input	on-board	Group of GPIO-bound input keys1	gpio-keys
Interrupt controller	on-chip	ARMv8-M NVIC (Nested Vectored Interrupt Controller)1	arm,v8m-nvic
IPC	on-chip	Nordic nRF family IPC (Interprocessor Communication)1	nordic,nrf-ipc
LED	on-board	Group of GPIO-controlled LEDs1	gpio-leds
	on-board	Group of PWM-controlled LEDs1	pwm-leds
Miscellaneous	on-chip	Nordic DPPIC (Distributed Programmable Peripheral Interconnect Controller)1	nordic,nrf-dppic
	on-board	nRF9160 DK GPIO interface between nRF9160 and nRF528401	nordic,nrf9160dk-nrf52840-interface
	on-board	GPIO used to reset nRF52840 on nRF9160 DK1	nordic,nrf9160dk-nrf52840-reset
MMU / MPU	on-chip	ARMv8-M MPU (Memory Protection Unit)1	arm,armv8m-mpu
MTD	on-chip	Flash node1	soc-nv-flash
	on-chip	Fixed partitions of a flash (or other non-volatile storage) memory1	fixed-partitions
	on-chip	Fixed subpartitions of a flash (or other nonvolatile storage) memory2	fixed-subpartitions
Pin control	on-chip	Nordic nRF family Pin Controller1	nordic,nrf-pinctrl
Power management	on-chip	Nordic VMC (Volatile Memory Controller)1	nordic,nrf-vmc
	on-chip	Nordic nRF power control node1	nordic,nrf-power
PWM	on-chip	nRF PWM13	nordic,nrf-pwm
	on-chip	nRFx S/W PWM1	nordic,nrf-sw-pwm
Regulator	on-chip	Nordic REGULATORS (voltage regulators control module) on nRF91X1	nordic,nrf91x-regulators
Retained memory	on-chip	Nordic GPREGRET (General Purpose Register Retention) device2	nordic,nrf-gpregret
RTC	on-chip	Nordic nRF RTC (Real-Time Counter)2	nordic,nrf-rtc
Serial controller	on-chip	Nordic nRF family UARTE (UART with EasyDMA)13	nordic,nrf-uarte
SPI	on-chip	Nordic nRF family SPIM (SPI master with EasyDMA)13	nordic,nrf-spim
SRAM	on-chip	Generic on-chip SRAM1	mmio-sram
Timer	on-chip	ARMv8-M System Tick1	arm,armv8m-systick
Watchdog	on-chip	Nordic nRF family WDT (Watchdog Timer)1	nordic,nrf-wdt

Additional hardware in v0.14.0+

Starting from v0.14.0, additional hardware is available on the DK:

• External flash memory (MX25R6435F, 64 Mb)

• I/O expander (PCAL6408A) that can be used to interface LEDs, slide switches, and buttons

To use this additional hardware, specify the revision of the board that should be used when building your application (for more information, see Building for a board revision). For example, to build for nRF9160 DK v1.0.0:

Using west:

west build -b nrf9160dk/nrf9160@1.0.0

Using CMake and ninja:

mkdir build && cd build
cmake -GNinja -DBOARD=nrf9160dk/nrf9160@1.0.0 ..
ninja

Remember to also enable routing for this additional hardware in the firmware for nRF9160 DK - nRF52840 (see Board controller firmware).

Other hardware features have not been enabled yet for this board. See nRF9160 DK website [2] and nRF9160 Product Specification [5] for a complete list of nRF9160 DK board hardware features.

Connections and IOs

LED

• LED1 (green) = P0.2

• LED2 (green) = P0.3

• LED3 (green) = P0.4

• LED4 (green) = P0.5

Push buttons and Switches

• BUTTON1 = P0.6

• BUTTON2 = P0.7

• SWITCH1 = P0.8

• SWITCH2 = P0.9

• BOOT = SW5 = boot/reset

Security components

• Implementation Defined Attribution Unit (IDAU [1]). The IDAU is implemented with the System Protection Unit and is used to define secure and non-secure memory maps. By default, all of the memory space (Flash, SRAM, and peripheral address space) is defined to be secure accessible only.

• Secure boot.

Programming and Debugging

nrf9160dk/nrf9160 supports the Armv8m Security Extension, and by default boots in the Secure state.

Building Secure/Non-Secure Zephyr applications with Arm® TrustZone®

Applications on the nRF9160 may contain a Secure and a Non-Secure firmware image. The Secure image can be built using either Zephyr or Trusted Firmware M [3] (TF-M). Non-Secure firmware images are always built using Zephyr. The two alternatives are described below.

Note

By default the Secure image for nRF9160 is built using TF-M.

Building the Secure firmware using Zephyr

The process requires the following steps:

1. Build the Secure Zephyr application using -DBOARD=nrf9160dk/nrf9160 and CONFIG_TRUSTED_EXECUTION_SECURE=y in the application project configuration file.

2. Build the Non-Secure Zephyr application using -DBOARD=nrf9160dk/nrf9160/ns.

3. Merge the two binaries together.

Building the Secure firmware with TF-M

The process to build the Secure firmware image using TF-M and the Non-Secure firmware image using Zephyr requires the following action:

1. Build the Non-Secure Zephyr application using -DBOARD=nrf9160dk_nrf9160_ns. To invoke the building of TF-M the Zephyr build system requires the Kconfig option BUILD_WITH_TFM to be enabled, which is done by default when building Zephyr as a Non-Secure application. The Zephyr build system will perform the following steps automatically:

   • Build the Non-Secure firmware image as a regular Zephyr application

   • Build a TF-M (secure) firmware image

   • Merge the output binaries together

   • Optionally build a bootloader image (MCUboot)

Note

Depending on the TF-M configuration, an application DTS overlay may be required, to adjust the Non-Secure image Flash and SRAM starting address and sizes.

When building a Secure/Non-Secure application, the Secure application will have to set the IDAU (SPU) configuration to allow Non-Secure access to all CPU resources utilized by the Non-Secure application firmware. SPU configuration shall take place before jumping to the Non-Secure application.

Building a Secure only application

Build the Zephyr app in the usual way (see Building an Application and Run an Application), using -DBOARD=nrf9160dk/nrf9160.

Flashing

Follow the instructions in the Nordic nRF5x Segger J-Link page to install and configure all the necessary software. Further information can be found in Flashing. Then build and flash applications as usual (see Building an Application and Run an Application for more details).

Here is an example for the Hello World application.

First, run your favorite terminal program to listen for output.

$ minicom -D <tty_device> -b 115200

Replace <tty_device> with the port where the nRF9160 DK can be found. For example, under Linux, /dev/ttyACM0.

Then build and flash the application in the usual way.

# From the root of the zephyr repository
west build -b nrf9160dk/nrf9160 samples/hello_world
west flash

Debugging

Refer to the Nordic nRF5x Segger J-Link page to learn about debugging Nordic boards with a Segger IC.

Testing the LEDs and buttons in the nRF9160 DK

There are 2 samples that allow you to test that the buttons (switches) and LEDs on the board are working properly with Zephyr:

• Blinky

• Button

You can build and flash the examples to make sure Zephyr is running correctly on your board. The button and LED definitions can be found in boards/nordic/nrf9160dk/nrf9160dk_nrf9160_common.dtsi.

nRF9160 DK - nRF52840

Overview

The nRF52840 SoC on the nRF9160 DK (PCA10090) hardware provides support for the Nordic Semiconductor nRF52840 ARM Cortex-M4F CPU and the following devices:

• CLOCK

• FLASH

• GPIO

• MPU

• NVIC

• PWM

• RADIO (Bluetooth Low Energy and 802.15.4)

• RTC

• Segger RTT (RTT Console)

• UART

• WDT

The nRF52840 SoC does not have any connection to the any of the LEDs, buttons, switches, and Arduino pin headers on the nRF9160 DK board. It is, however, possible to route some of the pins of the nRF52840 SoC to the nRF9160 SiP.

More information about the board can be found at the Nordic Low power cellular IoT [4] website. nRF52840 Product Specification [6] contains the processor’s information and the datasheet.

Hardware

The nRF9160 DK has two external oscillators. The frequency of the slow clock is 32.768 kHz. The frequency of the main clock is 32 MHz.

Supported Features

The nrf9160dk board supports the hardware features listed below.

on-chip / on-board

Feature integrated in the SoC / present on the board.

2 / 2

Number of instances that are enabled / disabled.
Click on the label to see the first instance of this feature in the board/SoC DTS files.

vnd,foo

Compatible string for the Devicetree binding matching the feature.
Click on the link to view the binding documentation.

nrf9160dk@0.14.0/nrf52840 target

Type	Location	Description	Compatible
CPU	on-chip	ARM Cortex-M4F CPU1	arm,cortex-m4f
ADC	on-chip	Nordic Semiconductor nRF family SAADC node1	nordic,nrf-saadc
ARM architecture	on-chip	Nordic UICR (User Information Configuration Registers)1	nordic,nrf-uicr
	on-chip	Nordic EGU (Event Generator Unit)6	nordic,nrf-egu
	on-chip	Nordic nRF family ACL (Access Control List)1	nordic,nrf-acl
	on-chip	Nordic nRF family MWU (Memory Watch Unit)1	nordic,nrf-mwu
Audio	on-chip	Nordic PDM (Pulse Density Modulation interface)1	nordic,nrf-pdm
Clock control	on-chip	Nordic nRF clock control node1	nordic,nrf-clock
	on-chip	Nordic nRF high-frequency crystal oscillator (nRF52 series)1	nordic,nrf52-hfxo
Comparator	on-chip	Nordic nRF COMP (analog COMParator)1	nordic,nrf-comp
Counter	on-chip	Nordic nRF timer node5	nordic,nrf-timer
Cryptographic accelerator	on-chip	Nordic ECB (AES electronic codebook mode encryption)1	nordic,nrf-ecb
	on-chip	Nordic nRF family CCM (AES CCM mode encryption)1	nordic,nrf-ccm
	on-chip	ARM TrustZone CryptoCell 3101	arm,cryptocell-310
Debug	on-chip	ARMv7 instrumentation trace macrocell1	arm,armv7m-itm
Flash controller	on-chip	Nordic NVMC (Non-Volatile Memory Controller)1	nordic,nrf52-flash-controller
	on-chip	Properties defining the interface for the Nordic QSPI peripheral1	nordic,nrf-qspi
GPIO & Headers	on-chip	NRF5 GPIOTE1	nordic,nrf-gpiote
	on-chip	NRF5 GPIO2	nordic,nrf-gpio
I2C	on-chip	Nordic nRF family TWIM (TWI master with EasyDMA)2	nordic,nrf-twim
I2S	on-chip	Nordic I2S (Inter-IC sound interface)1	nordic,nrf-i2s
IEEE 802.15.4	on-chip	Nordic nRF IEEE 802.15.4 node1	nordic,nrf-ieee802154
Interrupt controller	on-chip	ARMv7-M NVIC (Nested Vectored Interrupt Controller)1	arm,v7m-nvic
Miscellaneous	on-chip	Nordic FICR (Factory Information Configuration Registers)1	nordic,nrf-ficr
	on-chip	Nordic nRF family PPI (Programmable Peripheral Interconnect)1	nordic,nrf-ppi
	on-board	nRF9160 DK GPIO interface between nRF9160 and nRF528401	nordic,nrf9160dk-nrf52840-interface
	on-board	GPIO used to reset nRF52840 on nRF9160 DK1	nordic,nrf9160dk-nrf52840-reset
	on-board	nRF9160 DK optional routing provided by analog switch115	nordic,nrf9160dk-optional-routing
MTD	on-chip	Flash node1	soc-nv-flash
	on-chip	Fixed partitions of a flash (or other non-volatile storage) memory1	fixed-partitions
Networking	on-chip	Nordic nRF family RADIO peripheral1	nordic,nrf-radio
	on-chip	Nordic nRF family NFCT (Near Field Communication Tag)1	nordic,nrf-nfct
Pin control	on-chip	Nordic nRF family Pin Controller1	nordic,nrf-pinctrl
Power management	on-chip	Nordic nRF power control node1	nordic,nrf-power
PWM	on-chip	nRF PWM4	nordic,nrf-pwm
	on-chip	nRFx S/W PWM1	nordic,nrf-sw-pwm
Regulator	on-chip	Nordic nRF5X regulator (fixed stage of the core supply)1	nordic,nrf5x-regulator
	on-chip	Nordic nRF52X regulator (high voltage stage of the main supply)1	nordic,nrf52x-regulator-hv
Retained memory	on-chip	Nordic GPREGRET (General Purpose Register Retention) device2	nordic,nrf-gpregret
RNG	on-chip	Nordic nRF family RNG (Random Number Generator)1	nordic,nrf-rng
RTC	on-chip	Nordic nRF RTC (Real-Time Counter)3	nordic,nrf-rtc
Sensors	on-chip	Nordic nRF family TEMP node1	nordic,nrf-temp
	on-chip	Nordic nRF quadrature decoder (QDEC) node1	nordic,nrf-qdec
Serial controller	on-chip	Nordic nRF family UARTE (UART with EasyDMA)11	nordic,nrf-uarte
SPI	on-chip	Nordic nRF family SPIM (SPI master with EasyDMA)4	nordic,nrf-spim
SRAM	on-chip	Generic on-chip SRAM1	mmio-sram
Timer	on-chip	ARMv7-M System Tick1	arm,armv7m-systick
USB	on-chip	Nordic nRF52 USB device controller1	nordic,nrf-usbd
Watchdog	on-chip	Nordic nRF family WDT (Watchdog Timer)1	nordic,nrf-wdt

nrf9160dk@0.14.0/nrf9160 target

Type	Location	Description	Compatible
CPU	on-chip	ARM Cortex-M33F CPU1	arm,cortex-m33f
ADC	on-chip	Nordic Semiconductor nRF family SAADC node1	nordic,nrf-saadc
	on-board	ADC channels exposed on Arduino Uno (R3) headers1	arduino,uno-adc
ARM architecture	on-chip	Nordic EGU (Event Generator Unit)6	nordic,nrf-egu
	on-chip	Nordic KMU (Key Management Unit)1	nordic,nrf-kmu
	on-chip	Nordic nRF family CTRL-AP (Control Access Port)1	nordic,nrf-ctrlapperi
	on-chip	Nordic SPU (System Protection Unit)1	nordic,nrf-spu
	on-chip	Nordic UICR (User Information Configuration Registers)1	nordic,nrf-uicr
Audio	on-chip	Nordic PDM (Pulse Density Modulation interface)1	nordic,nrf-pdm
Clock control	on-chip	Nordic nRF clock control node1	nordic,nrf-clock
Counter	on-chip	Nordic nRF timer node3	nordic,nrf-timer
Cryptographic accelerator	on-chip	ARM TrustZone CryptoCell 3101	arm,cryptocell-310
Flash controller	on-chip	Nordic NVMC (Non-Volatile Memory Controller)1	nordic,nrf91-flash-controller
GPIO & Headers	on-board	PCAL6408A 8-bit I2C-based I/O expander1	nxp,pcal6408a
	on-chip	NRF5 GPIO1	nordic,nrf-gpio
	on-chip	NRF5 GPIOTE11	nordic,nrf-gpiote
	on-board	GPIO pins exposed on Arduino Uno (R3) headers1	arduino-header-r3
I2C	on-chip	Nordic nRF family TWIM (TWI master with EasyDMA)13	nordic,nrf-twim
I2S	on-chip	Nordic I2S (Inter-IC sound interface)1	nordic,nrf-i2s
Input	on-board	Group of GPIO-bound input keys1	gpio-keys
Interrupt controller	on-chip	ARMv8-M NVIC (Nested Vectored Interrupt Controller)1	arm,v8m-nvic
IPC	on-chip	Nordic nRF family IPC (Interprocessor Communication)1	nordic,nrf-ipc
LED	on-board	Group of GPIO-controlled LEDs1	gpio-leds
	on-board	Group of PWM-controlled LEDs1	pwm-leds
Miscellaneous	on-chip	Nordic DPPIC (Distributed Programmable Peripheral Interconnect Controller)1	nordic,nrf-dppic
	on-chip	Nordic FICR (Factory Information Configuration Registers)1	nordic,nrf-ficr
	on-board	nRF9160 DK GPIO interface between nRF9160 and nRF528401	nordic,nrf9160dk-nrf52840-interface
	on-board	GPIO used to reset nRF52840 on nRF9160 DK1	nordic,nrf9160dk-nrf52840-reset
MMU / MPU	on-chip	ARMv8-M MPU (Memory Protection Unit)1	arm,armv8m-mpu
MTD	on-chip	Flash node1	soc-nv-flash
	on-chip	Fixed partitions of a flash (or other non-volatile storage) memory1	fixed-partitions
	on-chip	Fixed subpartitions of a flash (or other nonvolatile storage) memory2	fixed-subpartitions
	on-board	Properties supporting Zephyr spi-nor flash driver (over the Zephyr SPI API) control of serial flash memories using the standard M25P80-based command set1	jedec,spi-nor
Pin control	on-chip	Nordic nRF family Pin Controller1	nordic,nrf-pinctrl
Power management	on-chip	Nordic VMC (Volatile Memory Controller)1	nordic,nrf-vmc
	on-chip	Nordic nRF power control node1	nordic,nrf-power
PWM	on-chip	nRF PWM13	nordic,nrf-pwm
	on-chip	nRFx S/W PWM1	nordic,nrf-sw-pwm
Regulator	on-chip	Nordic REGULATORS (voltage regulators control module) on nRF91X1	nordic,nrf91x-regulators
Retained memory	on-chip	Nordic GPREGRET (General Purpose Register Retention) device2	nordic,nrf-gpregret
RTC	on-chip	Nordic nRF RTC (Real-Time Counter)2	nordic,nrf-rtc
Serial controller	on-chip	Nordic nRF family UARTE (UART with EasyDMA)22	nordic,nrf-uarte
SPI	on-chip	Nordic nRF family SPIM (SPI master with EasyDMA)13	nordic,nrf-spim
SRAM	on-chip	Generic on-chip SRAM1	mmio-sram
Timer	on-chip	ARMv8-M System Tick1	arm,armv8m-systick
Watchdog	on-chip	Nordic nRF family WDT (Watchdog Timer)1	nordic,nrf-wdt

nrf9160dk@0.14.0/nrf9160/ns target

Type	Location	Description	Compatible
CPU	on-chip	ARM Cortex-M33F CPU1	arm,cortex-m33f
ADC	on-chip	Nordic Semiconductor nRF family SAADC node1	nordic,nrf-saadc
	on-board	ADC channels exposed on Arduino Uno (R3) headers1	arduino,uno-adc
ARM architecture	on-chip	Nordic EGU (Event Generator Unit)6	nordic,nrf-egu
	on-chip	Nordic KMU (Key Management Unit)1	nordic,nrf-kmu
Audio	on-chip	Nordic PDM (Pulse Density Modulation interface)1	nordic,nrf-pdm
Clock control	on-chip	Nordic nRF clock control node1	nordic,nrf-clock
Counter	on-chip	Nordic nRF timer node3	nordic,nrf-timer
Flash controller	on-chip	Nordic NVMC (Non-Volatile Memory Controller)1	nordic,nrf91-flash-controller
GPIO & Headers	on-board	PCAL6408A 8-bit I2C-based I/O expander1	nxp,pcal6408a
	on-chip	NRF5 GPIO1	nordic,nrf-gpio
	on-chip	NRF5 GPIOTE1	nordic,nrf-gpiote
	on-board	GPIO pins exposed on Arduino Uno (R3) headers1	arduino-header-r3
I2C	on-chip	Nordic nRF family TWIM (TWI master with EasyDMA)13	nordic,nrf-twim
I2S	on-chip	Nordic I2S (Inter-IC sound interface)1	nordic,nrf-i2s
Input	on-board	Group of GPIO-bound input keys1	gpio-keys
Interrupt controller	on-chip	ARMv8-M NVIC (Nested Vectored Interrupt Controller)1	arm,v8m-nvic
IPC	on-chip	Nordic nRF family IPC (Interprocessor Communication)1	nordic,nrf-ipc
LED	on-board	Group of GPIO-controlled LEDs1	gpio-leds
	on-board	Group of PWM-controlled LEDs1	pwm-leds
Miscellaneous	on-chip	Nordic DPPIC (Distributed Programmable Peripheral Interconnect Controller)1	nordic,nrf-dppic
	on-board	nRF9160 DK GPIO interface between nRF9160 and nRF528401	nordic,nrf9160dk-nrf52840-interface
	on-board	GPIO used to reset nRF52840 on nRF9160 DK1	nordic,nrf9160dk-nrf52840-reset
MMU / MPU	on-chip	ARMv8-M MPU (Memory Protection Unit)1	arm,armv8m-mpu
MTD	on-chip	Flash node1	soc-nv-flash
	on-chip	Fixed partitions of a flash (or other non-volatile storage) memory1	fixed-partitions
	on-chip	Fixed subpartitions of a flash (or other nonvolatile storage) memory2	fixed-subpartitions
	on-board	Properties supporting Zephyr spi-nor flash driver (over the Zephyr SPI API) control of serial flash memories using the standard M25P80-based command set1	jedec,spi-nor
Pin control	on-chip	Nordic nRF family Pin Controller1	nordic,nrf-pinctrl
Power management	on-chip	Nordic VMC (Volatile Memory Controller)1	nordic,nrf-vmc
	on-chip	Nordic nRF power control node1	nordic,nrf-power
PWM	on-chip	nRF PWM13	nordic,nrf-pwm
	on-chip	nRFx S/W PWM1	nordic,nrf-sw-pwm
Regulator	on-chip	Nordic REGULATORS (voltage regulators control module) on nRF91X1	nordic,nrf91x-regulators
Retained memory	on-chip	Nordic GPREGRET (General Purpose Register Retention) device2	nordic,nrf-gpregret
RTC	on-chip	Nordic nRF RTC (Real-Time Counter)2	nordic,nrf-rtc
Serial controller	on-chip	Nordic nRF family UARTE (UART with EasyDMA)13	nordic,nrf-uarte
SPI	on-chip	Nordic nRF family SPIM (SPI master with EasyDMA)13	nordic,nrf-spim
SRAM	on-chip	Generic on-chip SRAM1	mmio-sram
Timer	on-chip	ARMv8-M System Tick1	arm,armv8m-systick
Watchdog	on-chip	Nordic nRF family WDT (Watchdog Timer)1	nordic,nrf-wdt

nrf9160dk@0.7.0/nrf52840 target

Type	Location	Description	Compatible
CPU	on-chip	ARM Cortex-M4F CPU1	arm,cortex-m4f
ADC	on-chip	Nordic Semiconductor nRF family SAADC node1	nordic,nrf-saadc
ARM architecture	on-chip	Nordic UICR (User Information Configuration Registers)1	nordic,nrf-uicr
	on-chip	Nordic EGU (Event Generator Unit)6	nordic,nrf-egu
	on-chip	Nordic nRF family ACL (Access Control List)1	nordic,nrf-acl
	on-chip	Nordic nRF family MWU (Memory Watch Unit)1	nordic,nrf-mwu
Audio	on-chip	Nordic PDM (Pulse Density Modulation interface)1	nordic,nrf-pdm
Clock control	on-chip	Nordic nRF clock control node1	nordic,nrf-clock
	on-chip	Nordic nRF high-frequency crystal oscillator (nRF52 series)1	nordic,nrf52-hfxo
Comparator	on-chip	Nordic nRF COMP (analog COMParator)1	nordic,nrf-comp
Counter	on-chip	Nordic nRF timer node5	nordic,nrf-timer
Cryptographic accelerator	on-chip	Nordic ECB (AES electronic codebook mode encryption)1	nordic,nrf-ecb
	on-chip	Nordic nRF family CCM (AES CCM mode encryption)1	nordic,nrf-ccm
	on-chip	ARM TrustZone CryptoCell 3101	arm,cryptocell-310
Debug	on-chip	ARMv7 instrumentation trace macrocell1	arm,armv7m-itm
Flash controller	on-chip	Nordic NVMC (Non-Volatile Memory Controller)1	nordic,nrf52-flash-controller
	on-chip	Properties defining the interface for the Nordic QSPI peripheral1	nordic,nrf-qspi
GPIO & Headers	on-chip	NRF5 GPIOTE1	nordic,nrf-gpiote
	on-chip	NRF5 GPIO2	nordic,nrf-gpio
I2C	on-chip	Nordic nRF family TWIM (TWI master with EasyDMA)2	nordic,nrf-twim
I2S	on-chip	Nordic I2S (Inter-IC sound interface)1	nordic,nrf-i2s
IEEE 802.15.4	on-chip	Nordic nRF IEEE 802.15.4 node1	nordic,nrf-ieee802154
Interrupt controller	on-chip	ARMv7-M NVIC (Nested Vectored Interrupt Controller)1	arm,v7m-nvic
Miscellaneous	on-chip	Nordic FICR (Factory Information Configuration Registers)1	nordic,nrf-ficr
	on-chip	Nordic nRF family PPI (Programmable Peripheral Interconnect)1	nordic,nrf-ppi
	on-board	nRF9160 DK GPIO interface between nRF9160 and nRF528401	nordic,nrf9160dk-nrf52840-interface
	on-board	GPIO used to reset nRF52840 on nRF9160 DK1	nordic,nrf9160dk-nrf52840-reset
	on-board	nRF9160 DK optional routing provided by analog switch103	nordic,nrf9160dk-optional-routing
MTD	on-chip	Flash node1	soc-nv-flash
	on-chip	Fixed partitions of a flash (or other non-volatile storage) memory1	fixed-partitions
Networking	on-chip	Nordic nRF family RADIO peripheral1	nordic,nrf-radio
	on-chip	Nordic nRF family NFCT (Near Field Communication Tag)1	nordic,nrf-nfct
Pin control	on-chip	Nordic nRF family Pin Controller1	nordic,nrf-pinctrl
Power management	on-chip	Nordic nRF power control node1	nordic,nrf-power
PWM	on-chip	nRF PWM4	nordic,nrf-pwm
	on-chip	nRFx S/W PWM1	nordic,nrf-sw-pwm
Regulator	on-chip	Nordic nRF5X regulator (fixed stage of the core supply)1	nordic,nrf5x-regulator
	on-chip	Nordic nRF52X regulator (high voltage stage of the main supply)1	nordic,nrf52x-regulator-hv
Retained memory	on-chip	Nordic GPREGRET (General Purpose Register Retention) device2	nordic,nrf-gpregret
RNG	on-chip	Nordic nRF family RNG (Random Number Generator)1	nordic,nrf-rng
RTC	on-chip	Nordic nRF RTC (Real-Time Counter)3	nordic,nrf-rtc
Sensors	on-chip	Nordic nRF family TEMP node1	nordic,nrf-temp
	on-chip	Nordic nRF quadrature decoder (QDEC) node1	nordic,nrf-qdec
Serial controller	on-chip	Nordic nRF family UARTE (UART with EasyDMA)11	nordic,nrf-uarte
SPI	on-chip	Nordic nRF family SPIM (SPI master with EasyDMA)4	nordic,nrf-spim
SRAM	on-chip	Generic on-chip SRAM1	mmio-sram
Timer	on-chip	ARMv7-M System Tick1	arm,armv7m-systick
USB	on-chip	Nordic nRF52 USB device controller1	nordic,nrf-usbd
Watchdog	on-chip	Nordic nRF family WDT (Watchdog Timer)1	nordic,nrf-wdt

nrf9160dk@0.7.0/nrf9160 target

Type	Location	Description	Compatible
CPU	on-chip	ARM Cortex-M33F CPU1	arm,cortex-m33f
ADC	on-chip	Nordic Semiconductor nRF family SAADC node1	nordic,nrf-saadc
	on-board	ADC channels exposed on Arduino Uno (R3) headers1	arduino,uno-adc
ARM architecture	on-chip	Nordic EGU (Event Generator Unit)6	nordic,nrf-egu
	on-chip	Nordic KMU (Key Management Unit)1	nordic,nrf-kmu
	on-chip	Nordic nRF family CTRL-AP (Control Access Port)1	nordic,nrf-ctrlapperi
	on-chip	Nordic SPU (System Protection Unit)1	nordic,nrf-spu
	on-chip	Nordic UICR (User Information Configuration Registers)1	nordic,nrf-uicr
Audio	on-chip	Nordic PDM (Pulse Density Modulation interface)1	nordic,nrf-pdm
Clock control	on-chip	Nordic nRF clock control node1	nordic,nrf-clock
Counter	on-chip	Nordic nRF timer node3	nordic,nrf-timer
Cryptographic accelerator	on-chip	ARM TrustZone CryptoCell 3101	arm,cryptocell-310
Flash controller	on-chip	Nordic NVMC (Non-Volatile Memory Controller)1	nordic,nrf91-flash-controller
GPIO & Headers	on-chip	NRF5 GPIO1	nordic,nrf-gpio
	on-chip	NRF5 GPIOTE11	nordic,nrf-gpiote
	on-board	GPIO pins exposed on Arduino Uno (R3) headers1	arduino-header-r3
I2C	on-chip	Nordic nRF family TWIM (TWI master with EasyDMA)13	nordic,nrf-twim
I2S	on-chip	Nordic I2S (Inter-IC sound interface)1	nordic,nrf-i2s
Input	on-board	Group of GPIO-bound input keys1	gpio-keys
Interrupt controller	on-chip	ARMv8-M NVIC (Nested Vectored Interrupt Controller)1	arm,v8m-nvic
IPC	on-chip	Nordic nRF family IPC (Interprocessor Communication)1	nordic,nrf-ipc
LED	on-board	Group of GPIO-controlled LEDs1	gpio-leds
	on-board	Group of PWM-controlled LEDs1	pwm-leds
Miscellaneous	on-chip	Nordic DPPIC (Distributed Programmable Peripheral Interconnect Controller)1	nordic,nrf-dppic
	on-chip	Nordic FICR (Factory Information Configuration Registers)1	nordic,nrf-ficr
	on-board	nRF9160 DK GPIO interface between nRF9160 and nRF528401	nordic,nrf9160dk-nrf52840-interface
	on-board	GPIO used to reset nRF52840 on nRF9160 DK1	nordic,nrf9160dk-nrf52840-reset
MMU / MPU	on-chip	ARMv8-M MPU (Memory Protection Unit)1	arm,armv8m-mpu
MTD	on-chip	Flash node1	soc-nv-flash
	on-chip	Fixed partitions of a flash (or other non-volatile storage) memory1	fixed-partitions
	on-chip	Fixed subpartitions of a flash (or other nonvolatile storage) memory2	fixed-subpartitions
Pin control	on-chip	Nordic nRF family Pin Controller1	nordic,nrf-pinctrl
Power management	on-chip	Nordic VMC (Volatile Memory Controller)1	nordic,nrf-vmc
	on-chip	Nordic nRF power control node1	nordic,nrf-power
PWM	on-chip	nRF PWM13	nordic,nrf-pwm
	on-chip	nRFx S/W PWM1	nordic,nrf-sw-pwm
Regulator	on-chip	Nordic REGULATORS (voltage regulators control module) on nRF91X1	nordic,nrf91x-regulators
Retained memory	on-chip	Nordic GPREGRET (General Purpose Register Retention) device2	nordic,nrf-gpregret
RTC	on-chip	Nordic nRF RTC (Real-Time Counter)2	nordic,nrf-rtc
Serial controller	on-chip	Nordic nRF family UARTE (UART with EasyDMA)22	nordic,nrf-uarte
SPI	on-chip	Nordic nRF family SPIM (SPI master with EasyDMA)13	nordic,nrf-spim
SRAM	on-chip	Generic on-chip SRAM1	mmio-sram
Timer	on-chip	ARMv8-M System Tick1	arm,armv8m-systick
Watchdog	on-chip	Nordic nRF family WDT (Watchdog Timer)1	nordic,nrf-wdt

nrf9160dk@0.7.0/nrf9160/ns target

Type	Location	Description	Compatible
CPU	on-chip	ARM Cortex-M33F CPU1	arm,cortex-m33f
ADC	on-chip	Nordic Semiconductor nRF family SAADC node1	nordic,nrf-saadc
	on-board	ADC channels exposed on Arduino Uno (R3) headers1	arduino,uno-adc
ARM architecture	on-chip	Nordic EGU (Event Generator Unit)6	nordic,nrf-egu
	on-chip	Nordic KMU (Key Management Unit)1	nordic,nrf-kmu
Audio	on-chip	Nordic PDM (Pulse Density Modulation interface)1	nordic,nrf-pdm
Clock control	on-chip	Nordic nRF clock control node1	nordic,nrf-clock
Counter	on-chip	Nordic nRF timer node3	nordic,nrf-timer
Flash controller	on-chip	Nordic NVMC (Non-Volatile Memory Controller)1	nordic,nrf91-flash-controller
GPIO & Headers	on-chip	NRF5 GPIO1	nordic,nrf-gpio
	on-chip	NRF5 GPIOTE1	nordic,nrf-gpiote
	on-board	GPIO pins exposed on Arduino Uno (R3) headers1	arduino-header-r3
I2C	on-chip	Nordic nRF family TWIM (TWI master with EasyDMA)13	nordic,nrf-twim
I2S	on-chip	Nordic I2S (Inter-IC sound interface)1	nordic,nrf-i2s
Input	on-board	Group of GPIO-bound input keys1	gpio-keys
Interrupt controller	on-chip	ARMv8-M NVIC (Nested Vectored Interrupt Controller)1	arm,v8m-nvic
IPC	on-chip	Nordic nRF family IPC (Interprocessor Communication)1	nordic,nrf-ipc
LED	on-board	Group of GPIO-controlled LEDs1	gpio-leds
	on-board	Group of PWM-controlled LEDs1	pwm-leds
Miscellaneous	on-chip	Nordic DPPIC (Distributed Programmable Peripheral Interconnect Controller)1	nordic,nrf-dppic
	on-board	nRF9160 DK GPIO interface between nRF9160 and nRF528401	nordic,nrf9160dk-nrf52840-interface
	on-board	GPIO used to reset nRF52840 on nRF9160 DK1	nordic,nrf9160dk-nrf52840-reset
MMU / MPU	on-chip	ARMv8-M MPU (Memory Protection Unit)1	arm,armv8m-mpu
MTD	on-chip	Flash node1	soc-nv-flash
	on-chip	Fixed partitions of a flash (or other non-volatile storage) memory1	fixed-partitions
	on-chip	Fixed subpartitions of a flash (or other nonvolatile storage) memory2	fixed-subpartitions
Pin control	on-chip	Nordic nRF family Pin Controller1	nordic,nrf-pinctrl
Power management	on-chip	Nordic VMC (Volatile Memory Controller)1	nordic,nrf-vmc
	on-chip	Nordic nRF power control node1	nordic,nrf-power
PWM	on-chip	nRF PWM13	nordic,nrf-pwm
	on-chip	nRFx S/W PWM1	nordic,nrf-sw-pwm
Regulator	on-chip	Nordic REGULATORS (voltage regulators control module) on nRF91X1	nordic,nrf91x-regulators
Retained memory	on-chip	Nordic GPREGRET (General Purpose Register Retention) device2	nordic,nrf-gpregret
RTC	on-chip	Nordic nRF RTC (Real-Time Counter)2	nordic,nrf-rtc
Serial controller	on-chip	Nordic nRF family UARTE (UART with EasyDMA)13	nordic,nrf-uarte
SPI	on-chip	Nordic nRF family SPIM (SPI master with EasyDMA)13	nordic,nrf-spim
SRAM	on-chip	Generic on-chip SRAM1	mmio-sram
Timer	on-chip	ARMv8-M System Tick1	arm,armv8m-systick
Watchdog	on-chip	Nordic nRF family WDT (Watchdog Timer)1	nordic,nrf-wdt

Programming and Debugging

Applications for the nrf9160dk/nrf52840 board configuration can be built and flashed in the usual way (see Building an Application and Run an Application for more details).

Make sure that the PROG/DEBUG switch on the DK is set to nRF52.

Flashing

Follow the instructions in the Nordic nRF5x Segger J-Link page to install and configure all the necessary software. Further information can be found in Flashing. Then build and flash applications as usual (see Building an Application and Run an Application for more details).

Remember to set the PROG/DEBUG switch on the DK to nRF52.

See the following example for the Hello World application.

First, run your favorite terminal program to listen for output.

$ minicom -D <tty_device> -b 115200

Replace <tty_device> with the port where the nRF52840 SoC is connected to. Usually, under Linux it will be /dev/ttyACM1. The /dev/ttyACM0 port is connected to the nRF9160 SiP on the board.

Then build and flash the application in the usual way.

# From the root of the zephyr repository
west build -b nrf9160dk/nrf52840 samples/hello_world
west flash

Debugging

Refer to the Nordic nRF5x Segger J-Link page to learn about debugging Nordic boards with a Segger IC.

Remember to set the PROG/DEBUG switch on the DK to nRF52.

Board controller firmware

The board controller firmware is a small snippet of code that takes care of routing specific pins of the nRF9160 SiP to different components on the DK, such as LEDs and buttons, UART interfaces (VCOMx) of the interface MCU, and specific nRF52840 SoC pins.

Note

In nRF9160 DK revisions earlier than v0.14.0, nRF9160 signals routed to other components on the DK are not simultaneously available on the DK connectors.

When compiling a project for nrf9160dk/nrf52840, the board controller firmware will be compiled and run automatically after the Kernel has been initialized.

By default, the board controller firmware will route the following:

nRF9160 pins	Routed to
P0.26, P0.27, P0.28, and P0.29	VCOM0
P0.01, P0.00, P0.15, and P0.14	VCOM2
P0.02	LED1
P0.03	LED2
P0.04	LED3
P0.05	LED4
P0.08	Switch 1
P0.09	Switch 2
P0.06	Button 1
P0.07	Button 2
P0.17, P0.18, and P0.19	Arduino pin headers
P0.21, P0.22, and P0.23	Trace interface
COEX0, COEX1, and COEX2	COEX interface

For a complete list of all the routing options available, see the nRF9160 DK board control section in the nRF9160 DK User Guide [7].

If you want to route some of the above pins differently or enable any of the other available routing options, enable or disable the devicetree node that represents the analog switch that provides the given routing.

The following devicetree nodes are defined for the analog switches present on the nRF9160 DK:

Devicetree node label	Analog switch name
vcom0_pins_routing	nRF91_UART1 (nRF91_APP1)
vcom2_pins_routing	nRF91_UART2 (nRF91_APP2)
led1_pin_routing	nRF91_LED1
led2_pin_routing	nRF91_LED2
led3_pin_routing	nRF91_LED3
led4_pin_routing	nRF91_LED4
switch1_pin_routing	nRF91_SWITCH1
switch2_pin_routing	nRF91_SWITCH2
button1_pin_routing	nRF91_BUTTON1
button2_pin_routing	nRF91_BUTTON2
nrf_interface_pins_0_2_routing	nRF_IF0-2_CTRL (nRF91_GPIO)
nrf_interface_pins_3_5_routing	nRF_IF3-5_CTRL (nRF91_TRACE)
nrf_interface_pins_6_8_routing	nRF_IF6-8_CTRL (nRF91_COEX)

When building for the DK revision 0.14.0 or later, you can use the following additional nodes (see Building for a board revision for information how to build for specific revisions of the board):

Devicetree node label	Analog switch name
nrf_interface_pin_9_routing	nRF_IF9_CTRL
io_expander_pins_routing	IO_EXP_EN
external_flash_pins_routing	EXT_MEM_CTRL

For example, if you want to enable the optional routing for the nRF9160 pins P0.17, P0.18, and P0.19 so that they are routed to nRF52840 pins P0.17, P0.20, and P0.15, respectively, add the following in the devicetree overlay in your application:

&nrf_interface_pins_0_2_routing {
        status = "okay";
};

And if you want to, for example, disable routing for the VCOM2 pins, add the following:

&vcom2_pins_routing {
        status = "disabled";
};

A few helper .dtsi files are provided in the directories boards/nordic/nrf9160dk/dts/nrf52840 and boards/nordic/nrf9160dk/dts/nrf9160. They can serve as examples of how to configure and use the above routings. You can also include them from respective devicetree overlay files in your applications to conveniently configure the signal routing between nRF9160 and nRF52840 on the nRF9160 DK. For example, to use uart1 on both these chips for communication between them, add the following line in the overlays for applications on both sides, nRF52840:

#include <nrf52840/nrf9160dk_uart1_on_if0_3.dtsi>

nRF9160:

#include <nrf9160/nrf9160dk_uart1_on_if0_3.dtsi>

References

[1]

https://developer.arm.com/docs/100690/latest/attribution-units-sau-and-idau

[2] (1,2)

https://www.nordicsemi.com/Software-and-Tools/Development-Kits/nRF9160-DK

[3]

https://www.trustedfirmware.org/projects/tf-m/

[4]

https://www.nordicsemi.com/Products/Low-power-cellular-IoT

[5] (1,2)

https://docs.nordicsemi.com/bundle/ps_nrf9160/page/nRF9160_html5_keyfeatures.html

[6]

https://docs.nordicsemi.com/bundle/ps_nrf52840/page/keyfeatures_html5.html

[7]

https://docs.nordicsemi.com/bundle/ug_nrf9160_dk/page/UG/nrf91_DK/hw_description/nrf9160_board_controller.html