Moreover, there are still a lot of weaknesses in the Nordic dongle, such as the weak USB interface, the uninvolved NFC interface, and the repeated welding of the fragile stamp half-holes, which bring a lot of trouble for the developers to follow up.

Aiming to solve the various defects of Nordic USB Dongle, RF-star has launched the nRF52840-based Dongle RF-DG-40A to help users test wireless hardware devices.

What Are The Advantages of RF-star NRF52840 Dongle?

1. Solid & Reliable Meta Shell

First of all, the Nordic original nRF52840 Dongle uses a built-in USB, whose structure is a little bit loose and shaky. In contrast, the metal shell used by nRF52840 Dongle USB designed by RF-star is more solid and reliable. So, you don't worry about damage to the USB port when plugging and unplugging multiple times.

2. Convenient & Direct Pin Header for A Longer Lifetime

In terms of pins, the nRF52840 dongle launched by RF-star adopts the convenient and direct welding general-purpose pin header, which can be used on the pin header just by welding. It is convenient for users to carry out secondary development and reduce the R & D cycle. Then look at the stamp half hole used by the original factory. It is not easy to weld the pin headers, and repeated soldering can easily damage the pads, and even cause the pads to fall off, making them unusable. On the contrary, the RF-star nRF52840 dongle has a longer lifetime for development.

3. External NFC Antenna for NFC-related Products

Moreover, the RF-star nRF52840 dongle has an external NFC antenna. Customers can directly develop NFC-related products. Although the Nordic original nRF52840 Dongle supports the NFC function, it does not pull out an NFC interface and cannot perform NFC-related debugging.

4. High Consistency with the Original nRF52840 Dongle

In addition, RF-star has inherited Nordic's original nRF52840 Dongle, and the components used are almost the same as the original ones, basically maintaining high consistency with the original ones.

5. Better Support to nRF Connect Software with Plug-and-play Feature

It also has plug-and-play features, supports the original nRF Connect software, and can be easily tested and developed using official software.

6. High Compatibility And Massive Open Sources

RF-star nRF52840 USB Dongle retains all electrical connection features, supports more than 20 open-source projects on GitHub, and is compatible with the original Dongle program.

RF-star RF-DG-40A built-in USB device controller provides a high data throughput communication interface, used with nRF Connect for Desktop, it is supported by most nRF Connect for Desktop applications and will be programmed automatically as required. Additionally, you can make a custom application and download it to Dongle. It has a user-programmable RGB LED, a green LED, a user-programmable button, and 15 GPIOs that can be operated in the form of stamp half holes or pins. The sample application is provided under the name PCA10059 in the Nordic official website nRF5 SDK.

Developers can directly see the status of wireless devices through the PC desktop without purchasing a complete development kit, which further simplifies the application design and program development process. nRF52840 Sniffer can be very convenient for packet analysis of BLE data.

RF-star has been focusing on the Bluetooth field for over one decade and has rich experience in solution design. RF-star's Nordic Sniffer solution has performed well.

RF-star is a core supplier of wireless RF solutions and low-power RF devices with an excellent industry reputation and credibility. Its products include rich Nordic series products, such as nRF52840, nRF52832. The professional technical team provides you with professional customized services. For more Nordic solutions, please kindly visit www.rfstariot.com or contact at info@szrfstar.com.