nRF54L15 DK

✅ Hubble Compatible - This board is fully compatible with Hubble Network

Overview

The nRF54L15 DK is Nordic Semiconductor’s development kit for the nRF54L Series — the successor to the nRF52 family. Built on an Arm Cortex-M33 core at 128 MHz with an additional 128 MHz RISC-V coprocessor, it delivers roughly double the processing power of the nRF52840 while consuming less power during BLE operations. The nRF54L15 replaces traditional flash with RRAM (Resistive RAM), which eliminates the erase-before-write requirement and speeds up sequential writes.

The DK supports development for all three nRF54L Series SoCs: the nRF54L15 sits on the board, while the nRF54L10 and nRF54L05 (cost-reduced, pin-compatible variants) can be emulated.

Quick Specifications

Specification	Details
Manufacturer	Nordic Semiconductor
SoC	nRF54L15
CPU	ARM Cortex-M33 @ 128 MHz with TrustZone, DSP, FPU
Coprocessor	RISC-V @ 128 MHz
RAM	256 KB
NVM (RRAM)	1.5 MB
Bluetooth	BLE with Channel Sounding (Bluetooth 6.0), Bluetooth Mesh
Other Protocols	IEEE 802.15.4 (Thread, Zigbee, Matter), proprietary 2.4 GHz (up to 4 Mbps)
Zephyr Board ID	`nrf54l15dk/nrf54l15/cpuapp`

Key Features

ARM Cortex-M33 @ 128 MHz with TrustZone, tamper detection, and cryptographic engine with side-channel leakage protection
128 MHz RISC-V coprocessor for offloading tasks
Bluetooth LE with Channel Sounding (Bluetooth 6.0 core specification), Mesh, PAwR, and NLC profiles
IEEE 802.15.4 radio (Thread, Zigbee, Matter)
RRAM replaces flash — no erase-before-write, faster sequential writes
On-board J-Link debugger with USB re-enumeration
Arduino Uno compatible headers
Board Configurator Tool for GPIO voltage rail and peripheral configuration
Pin-compatible with nRF54L10 and nRF54L05 for cost optimization at production

Upgrading from nRF52840 DK

If you’re currently using the nRF52840 DK, the nRF54L15 DK offers significant upgrades:

Feature	nRF52840 DK	nRF54L15 DK
Core	Cortex-M4F @ 64 MHz	Cortex-M33 @ 128 MHz + RISC-V @ 128 MHz
RAM	256 KB	256 KB
NVM	1 MB flash	1.5 MB RRAM
Bluetooth	BLE 5.0	BLE with Channel Sounding (6.0)
Security	Software-based	Hardware TrustZone, tamper detection
Protocols	BLE, 802.15.4	BLE, 802.15.4, Matter, proprietary 4 Mbps
BLE TX @ 0 dBm	~5.3 mA	~4.8 mA
BLE RX	~4.6 mA	~3.4 mA

Power Consumption

From the nRF54L15 datasheet (measured at 3.0V):

Active with Radio:

BLE TX 1 Mbps at 0 dBm: 4.8 mA
BLE TX 1 Mbps at +4 dBm: 6.6 mA
BLE TX 1 Mbps at +8 dBm: 9.8 mA
BLE RX 1 Mbps: 3.4 mA

Sleep Modes:

System ON IDLE with GRTC and 256 KB RAM: ~3.1 µA
System ON IDLE with GRTC and 192 KB RAM: ~2.6 µA

Getting Started with Hubble

Prerequisites

Before you begin, ensure you have:

nRF54L15 DK
USB cable (IMCU USB port)
Zephyr development environment or nRF Connect SDK v2.8.0+ installed
Hubble Network account

Build and Flash

Follow the Hubble Zephyr Quick Start Guide to integrate Hubble Network into your project.

Once your environment is configured, build and flash the Hubble BLE Network sample:

# Build for nRF54L15 DK
cd ~/hubblenetwork-workspace/
west build -p -b nrf54l15dk/nrf54l15/cpuapp modules/lib/hubblenetwork-sdk/samples/zephyr/ble-network

# Flash to board
west flash

Readback protection: If you see an error about readback protection, run west flash --recover to erase and unlock the device before flashing.

Verify Connection

Connect to the serial console to verify your board is communicating with Hubble:

# Linux/macOS
minicom -D /dev/ttyACM0 -b 115200

# Windows (use PuTTY or similar)
# Connect to COMx at 115200 baud

You should see output indicating successful Hubble Network initialization.

Troubleshooting

Board not detected

Use the IMCU USB port on the DK (not the nRF USB port)
Ensure USB cable supports data (not charging-only)
Try a different USB port

Flash errors

If you see a readback protection error, run west flash --recover to unlock
Ensure no other debugger software is connected
STM32CubeProgrammer is not used for Nordic boards — use west flash with the default J-Link runner

BLE not working

Verify your nRF Connect SDK is v2.8.0 or later (first version with nRF54L15 support)
Check CONFIG_BT=y is in your prj.conf
Use the Board Configurator tool to verify GPIO voltage rail settings

GPIO voltage issues

The nRF54L15 DK supports configurable GPIO voltage rails (1.8V or 3.3V)
Use Nordic’s Board Configurator tool (part of nRF Connect for Desktop) to adjust voltage settings
Default may be 1.8V, which is insufficient for some external components

Resources

Official Documentation

Zephyr Documentation

Nordic Developer Resources

Hubble Network

Purchase

Next Steps

nRF52840 DK

Previous-generation Nordic BLE board

Guides

BLE tutorials and best practices

Hubble Docs

Complete API reference

nRF52840 DK