Conexio BLITZ Combines Dual-Band Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.4 Into a Tiny Prototyping Platform

Conexio Technologies has launched a Crowd Supply pre-campaign for a Feather-compatible development board. The Conexio BLITZ combines dual-band Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth, and other 2.4 GHz protocols into a compact development board.

On the top of the board, BLITZ has an SoC, J-Link programming header, power switch, and several connectors. USB-C provides data and power to the board. You can connect a LiPo battery to the two-pin header. A QWIIC connector allows you to expand BLITZ with a wide array of sensors and other IoT-related peripherals. Users can interact with BLITZ via a programmable push button and an LED.

The reverse side of BLITZ has pads for surface-mount header pins. The 28 pins are compatible with Feather connections. (However, the board appears slightly larger than a typical Feather.) Of the 28 pins, 22 are available for application use.

Conexio says the BLITZ contains a Nordic nPM1300 Power Management IC. This PMIC provides step-down voltages from USB and a LiPo charging manager. Visual inspection of the (currently pictured) BLITZ shows no sign of the QFN32 or WLCSP IC. However, the large module with a metal shield is clearly discernible.

A MinewSemi MS12SF1 module contains a Nordic nRF53840 SoC and nRF7002 radio. The nRF53840 has a dual-core Arm Cortex-M33 microcontroller and a 2.4 GHz radio. This radio supports proprietary protocols and standards like ANT, ZigBee, and Bluetooth. The module has a PCB antenna for Bluetooth and a uFL connector for an external dual-band Wi-Fi antenna.

In addition to the other 2.4 GHz protocols, BLITZ supports Matter. Since it has Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth LE, you can effortlessly provision a device with an existing home automation network. Additionally, since Wi-Fi 6 support comes from a Nordic nRF7002 IC, BLITZ communicates with 2.4 and 5 GHz Wi-Fi networks.

Conexio supports coding for the BLITZ through VS Code and Nordic's nRF Connect SDK. When the funding campaign is complete, Conexio plans to provide firmware examples and source files. You can already follow the BLITZ firmware and BLITZ hardware repos, even though they are currently unpopulated.

Previously, we shared another Conexio product called the Conexio Stratus. That product was a physically and electrically Feather-compatible development board based on the cellular-based Nordic nRF9160 system-in-package.

You can subscribe to the Conexio BLITZ Crowd Supply pre-campaign for notifications when pre-orders become available.