The Arduino® Nicla Sense ME is our smallest form factor yet, with a range of industrial-grade sensors packed into a tiny footprint. Measure process parameters such as temperature, humidity and movement. Dive into edge computing with powerful data fusion capabilities. Make your own industrial-grade wireless sensing network with the onboard BHI260AP, BMP390, BMM150 and BME688 Bosch sensors.

Target areas:

wireless sensor networks, data fusion, artificial intelligence, gas detection.

Features:

ANNA-B112 Bluetooth® Module

  • nRF52832 System-on-chip
  • 64 MHz ARM® Cortex-M4F microcontroller
  • 64 KB SRAM
  • 512 KB Flash
  • RAM mapped FIFOs using EasyDMA
  • 2x SPI (one is accessible via pin header)
  • 2x I2C (one is accessible via pin header)
  • 12-bit/200 ksps ADC
  • 2.400 - 2.4835 GHz Bluetooth® (5.0 via cordio stack, 4.2 via ArduinoBLE)
  • Internal antenna
  • Internal 32 MHz oscillator
  • 1.8V Operating Voltage

Bosch BHI260AP - AI smart sensor hub with integrated IMU

  • Fuser 2 CPU Core
  • 32 Bit Synopsys DesignWare ARC™ EM4™ CPU
  • floating point RISC Processor
  • 4-channel micro DMA controller/ 2-way associative cache controller
  • 6-axis IMU 16-bit 3-axis accelerometer 16-bit 3-axis gyroscope
  • Pro Features
  • Self-learning AI software for fitness tracking
  • Swim analytics
  • Pedestrian dead reckoning
  • Relative and absolute orientation
  • External 2MB FLASH connected via QSPI

Bosch BMP390 High-performance pressure sensor

  • Operation range: 300-1250 hPa
  • Absolute accuracy pressure (typ.): ± 0.5 hPa
  • Relative accuracy pressure (typ.): ± 3.33 hPa (equivalent to ±25 cm)
  • RMS noise in pressure @ highest resolution: 0.02 Pa
  • Temperature coefficient offset: ± 0.6 Pa/K
  • Long-term stability (12 months): ± 0.016 hPa
  • Max sampling rate: 200 Hz Integrated 512 byte FIFO buffer

Bosch BMM150 3-axis Magnetometer

  • Magnetic range typ.
  • X,Y axis: ±1300μT
  • Z axis: ±2500μT
  • Resolution: 0.3μT
  • Non-linearity: <1% FS

Bosch BME688 Environmental sensing with Artificial Intelligence

Operating range

  • Pressure: 300-1100 hPa
  • Humidity: 0-100%
  • Temperature: -40 - +85°C
  • eNose Gas sensor
  • Sensor-to-sensor deviation (IAQ): ± 15% ± 15 IAQ
  • Standard scan speed: 10.8 s/scan
  • Electric charge for standard scan: 0.18 mAh (5 scans - 1 min)
  • Major Sensor outputs
  • Index for air quality (IAQ)
  • bVOC- & CO2-equivalents (ppm)
  • Gas scan result (%)
  • Intensity level

ATSAMD11D14A-MUT Microcontroller

  • Serial to USB Bridge
  • Debugger interface

Application Examples

The Arduino® Nicla Sense ME is your gateway to develop wireless networking solutions with rapid development and high robustness. Get real-time insight into the operational characteristics of your processes. Take advantage of the high-quality sensors and networking capabilities to evaluate novel WSN architectures. Ultra-low power consumption and integrated battery management allow for deployment in various capabilities. WebBLE allows for easy OTA updates of the firmware as well as remote monitoring.

Warehouse & Inventory Management:

The environmental sensor of the Arduino® Nicla Sense ME can detect the ripening state of fruits, vegetables and meat allowing for intelligent management of perishable assets alongside the Arduino Cloud.

Distributed Industrial Sensing:

Identify operating conditions within your machine, factory or greenhouse remotely and even in hard-to-access or hazardous areas. Detect natural gas, toxic gases or other hazardous fumes using the AI capabilities on the Arduino® Nicla Sense ME. Improve safety levels with remote analysis. Mesh capabilities allow for simple deployment of WSN with minimal infrastructure requirements.

Wireless Sensor Network Reference Design:

The Nicla form factor has been specifically developed at Arduino® as a standard for wireless sensor networks which can be adapted by partners to develop customdesigned industrial solutions. Get a head start by developing custom end-user solutions including Cloudconnected smart wearables and autonomous robotics. Researchers and educators can use this platform to work on an industrially-recognized standard for wireless sensor research and development that can shorten the time from concept to market.

Microcontroller

The Arduino® Nicla Sense ME is powered by a nRF52832 SoC within the ANNA-B112 module (MD1). The nRF52832 SoC is built around an ARM® Cortex-M4 microcontroller with a floating point unit running at 64 MHz. Sketches are stored inside the nRF52832 internal 512 KB FLASH which is shared with the bootloader. 64 KB SRAM is available to the user. The ANNA-B112 acts as an SPI host for the data logging 2MB flash (U7) and the BHI260 6-axis IMU (U5). It is also the secondary for the BHI260 (U5) I2C and SPI connection. While the module itself runs at 1.8V, a level shifter can adjust the logic level between 1.8V and 3.3V depending on the LDO set in BQ25120 (U9). An external oscillator (Y1) provides a 32 KHz signal.

Bosch BHI260 Smart Sensor System with Built-in 6-Axis IMU

The Bosch BHI260 is an ultra-low power programmable sensor, combining a Fuser2 core processor, 6-axis IMU (gyroscope and accelerometer) together with a sensor fusion software framework. The BHI260 is a smart sensor core (hosting a programmable recognition system), that handles communication with other sensors on the Arduino Nicla Sense ME via I2C and SPI connections. There is also a dedicated 2MB Flash (U2) used to store execute-in-place (XiP) code as well as data storage, such as Bosch sensor fusion algorithm (BSX) calibration data. The BHI 260 is capable of loading custom algorithms that can be trained on a PC. The generated smart algorithm then operates on this chip.

Bosch BME688 Environmental Sensor

The Arduino Nicla Sense ME is able to perform environmental monitoring via the Bosch BME688 sensor (U6). This provides capabilities for pressure, humidity, temperature as well as Volatile Organic Compound (VOC) detection. The Bosch BME688 performs gas detection via an eNose metal oxide semiconductor array with a typical gas scan cycle of 10.8 seconds.

Bosch BMP390 Pressure Sensor

Industrial grade accuracy and stability in pressure measurements are provided by the BMP390 (U3) designed for prolonged use, with a relative accuracy of ±0.03 hPa and an RMS of 0.02 Pa in high-resolution mode. The Bosch BMP390 is suitable for rapid measurements with a sampling rate of 200 Hz, or for low-power use with a sampling rate of 1 Hz, consuming less than 3.2 µA. U3 is controlled via an SPI interface to the BHI260 (U2), on the same bus as the BME688 (U6).

Bosch BMM150 3-Axis Magnetometer

The Bosch BMM150 (U4) provides accurate 3-axis measurements of the magnetic field with compass-level accuracy. Combined with the BHI260 IMU (U2), Bosch sensor fusion can be used to obtain high-accuracy spatial orientation and motion vectors for the detection of heading in autonomous robots as well as predictive maintenance. There is a dedicated I2C connection to the BHI260 (U2), acting as the host.

RGB LED

An I2C LED driver (U8) drives the RGB LED (DL1) and is capable of a maximum output of 40 mA. It is driven by the ANN-B112 (U5) microcontroller.

USB Bridge

The SAMD11 microcontroller (U1) is dedicated to act as both the USB bridge as well as the JTAG controller for the ANNA-B112. A logic level translator (U13) acts as an in-between to translate 3.3V logic to 1.8V for the ANNA-B112. The 3.3V voltage is generated from the USB voltage by an LDO (U14).

The Arduino Nicla Sense ME can be powered via micro USB (J7), ESLOV (J5) or VIN. This is converted into the relevant voltages via the BQ2512BAYFPR IC (U9). A Schottky diode provides reverse polarity protection to the USB and ESLOV voltages. When voltage is supplied via the micro USB, a linear 3.3V regulator also provides power to the SAMD11 microcontroller used for programming the board as well as for JTAG and SWD. The LED driver (U8) and RGB LEDs (DL1) are driven by a boost voltage of 5V. All other components operate off the 1.8V rail regulated by a buck converter. PMID acts as an OR switch between VIN and BATT and operates the LED driver. All I/O broken out to the pins are fed through a bi-direction voltage translator running at VDDIO_EXT.

Additionally, the BQ25120AYFPR (U9) also provides support for a single cell 3.7V LiPo/Li-ion battery pack connected to J4, allowing the use of the board as a wireless sensor network. The battery charging current is set to 40mA with a termination current of 4mA (10%).

Board Operation 

  • Getting Started - IDE

If you want to program your Arduino® Nicla Sense ME while offline you need to install the Arduino® Desktop IDE [1] To connect the Arduino® Nicla Sense ME to your computer, you’ll need a micro USB cable. This also provides power to the board, as indicated by the LED. The Arduino core is operated on the ANNA-B112 while the Bosch Smart Sensor framework operates on the BHI260.

  • Getting Started - Arduino Web Editor

All Arduino® boards, including this one, work out-of-the-box on the Arduino® Web Editor [2], by just installing a simple plugin.

The Arduino® Web Editor is hosted online, therefore it will always be up-to-date with the latest features and support for all boards. Follow [3] to start coding on the browser and upload your sketches onto your board.

  • Getting Started - Arduino Cloud

All Arduino® IoT enabled products are supported on Arduino® Cloud which allows you to log, graph and analyze sensor data, trigger events, and automate your home or business.

  • Getting Started - WebBLE

The Arduino Nicla Sense ME provides the capability for OTA updates to the NINA-B112 and BHI260 firmware using WebBLE.

  • Getting Started - ESLOV

This board can act as a secondary to an ESLOV controller and have the firmware updated through this method.

  • Sample Sketches

Sample sketches for the Arduino® Nicla Sense ME can be found either in the “Examples” menu in the Arduino® IDE or in the “Documentation” section of the Arduino® Pro website

  • Online Resources

Now that you have gone through the basics of what you can do with the board you can explore the endless possibilities it provides by checking exciting projects on ProjectHub [5], the Arduino® Library Reference [6] and the online store [7] where you will be able to complement your board with sensors, actuators and more.

  • Board Recovery

All Arduino® boards have a built-in bootloader that allows flashing the board via USB. In case a sketch locks up the processor and the board is not reachable anymore via USB, it is possible to enter bootloader mode by doubletapping the reset button right after the power-up.