NORA-W10 is the successor of the NINA-W10 module, with key feature additions such as Wi-Fi 4 and Bluetooth LE 5.0, improved RF performance, built-in high-capacity flash memory, and low power consumption. The compact module builds on the Espressif ES32-S3 chipset, which hosts a powerful dual-core MCU with artificial intelligence hardware acceleration capable of enabling speech and face recognition applications at the edge. It offers a wide range of hardware interfaces, including USB, CAN, SDIO, and display and camera interfaces.

Offering single-band 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi 4 (802.11b/g/n), NORA-W10 targets lower-end Wi-Fi segments that do not require the higher performance of higher-priced Wi-Fi 5 and Wi-Fi 6 modules. With robust Wi-Fi connectivity in the field and data rates that are sufficient for many industrial applications, Wi-Fi 4 is projected to be the most widely used Wi-Fi technology in IoT applications until at least 2025 and remain on this level for foreseeable future.

Even when communicating over Wi-Fi, NORA-W10 can concurrently transmit data over Bluetooth low energy 5.0, which offers data rates up to 2 Mbps or, using Bluetooth Long Range, can increase signal propagation distances up to four-fold compared to standard Bluetooth LE. Bluetooth mesh support further extends achievable coverage by relaying messages from node to node until they reach their intended destination.

The module’s dual-core Xtensa LX7 MCU is complemented by 8 MB of flash memory, 512 kb of RAM, and a total of 38 programmable GPIOs. Advanced security features, including accelerated cryptographic flash encryption capabilities and secure boot, allow the globally certified NORA-W10 to securely run sensitive applications in a trusted and isolated environment, without requiring any additional components.

With sufficient flash to support over-the-air updates, the module offers a vast range of integration possibilities. When deployed in connected fitness equipment, for example, the NORA-W10 can concurrently collect data from the equipment and from the user’s smartphone via Bluetooth LE 5.0. This data can then be transmitted over the on-premises Wi-Fi network for central storage.