u-blox ALMA-B2 Brings Bluetooth 6.0 and Edge AI to Low-Power IoT

u-blox has recently expanded its wireless portfolio with ALMA-B2, a low-power, professional-grade wireless MCU module built on Nordic Semiconductor’s nRF54LM20 platform, designed for low-power IoT devices that require Bluetooth connectivity, local intelligence, and secure wireless communication.

The modules feature a 128 MHz Arm Cortex-M33 MCU, a 128 MHz RISC-V coprocessor, 2 MB of Flash, 512 KB of RAM, and support for Bluetooth LE 6.0, Thread, Zigbee, Matter, and NFC. The ALMA-B211 and ALMA-B216 variants add an Axon NPU for up to 15× faster Edge AI processing, while all models offer an Open CPU architecture, up to 66 GPIOs, High-Speed USB, rich peripheral interfaces, advanced security features, global certification, and options for either an integrated PCB antenna or an external antenna. The MCUs can be used for industrial automation, healthcare, smart home devices, asset tracking, robotics, and other battery-powered edge devices.

The ALMA-B2 family consists of four variants:

• ALMA-B201: nRF54LM20A with external antenna
• ALMA-B206: nRF54LM20A with integrated PCB antenna
• ALMA-B211: nRF54LM20B with external antenna and integrated Axon NPU
• ALMA-B216: nRF54LM20B with integrated PCB antenna and Axon NPU

The higher-end ALMA-B211 and ALMA-B216 integrate Nordic’s Axon Neural Processing Unit (NPU) for hardware-accelerated machine learning. According to u-blox, AI workloads can execute up to 15× faster while consuming significantly less energy than running the same algorithms solely on the Cortex-M33 CPU. These variants are designed for applications such as predictive maintenance, gesture recognition, anomaly detection, and intelligent sensing, all of which are performed directly on the device without relying on cloud processing.

In addition to Bluetooth LE 6.0, the modules support Bluetooth Channel Sounding, Thread, Zigbee, Matter, NFC, and Nordic’s proprietary 2.4 GHz protocol for a wide range of IoT applications.

u-blox ALMA-B2 Series Specifications:

• Wireless SoC: Nordic Semiconductor nRF54LM20A (for ALMA-B201 and B206) or nRF54LM20B (for ALMA-B211 and B216)
• CPU
  • Arm Cortex-M33 application processor clocked at up to 128 MHz
  • RISC-V coprocessor running at 128 MHz
• Memory: 512 kB RAM
• Storage: 2 MB of Non-Volatile Memory (NVM)
• AI Accelerator: Built-in Axon NPU for hardware-based edge machine learning (only on nRF54LM20B variants: ALMA-B211 and ALMA-B216)
• Wireless Connectivity:
  • Bluetooth LE 6.0 with PHY rates of 125 kbit/s, 500 kbit/s, 1 Mbit/s, and 2 Mbit/s
  • Bluetooth Channel Sounding (for highly accurate distance measurement)
  • Bluetooth LE long range (coded PHY), up to 1400m maximum range
  • IEEE 802.15.4 supporting Thread, Zigbee, and Matter
  • Nordic Proprietary 2.4 GHz protocol and NFC
  • +10 dBm maximum radiated output power (EIRP)
• Antenna Options:
  • External antenna connector (via pin) – ALMA-B201 and ALMA-B211
  • Internal PCB antenna – ALMA-B206 and ALMA-B216
• I/Os (via LGA pads):
  • Up to 66x GPIOs
  • 1x USB High Speed (HS-USB)
  • 1x HS-SPI + 6x SPI
  • 6x TWI/I2C
  • 1x HS-UART + 6x UART
  • 3x PWM
  • 14-bit SAADC
  • PDM, QDEC
  • 7x timers
• Security: Arm TrustZone, secure boot, secure key management, secure FOTA, hardware crypto-accelerator, physical tamper detection, and debug access port protection
• Power:
  • Supply voltage – 1.71V to 3.60V
  • Power consumption – 4.8 mA in Active TX (@ 0dBm), 4 µA in Standby, and 700 nA in Sleep mode
• Dimensions:
  • 10.4 x 11.2 x 1.9 mm (Antenna pin variants)
  • 10.4 x 14-.3 x 1.9 mm (Internal PCB antenna variants)
• Weight: < 1.0 gram
• Operating Temperature: -40°C to +85°C

The ALMA-B2 series is developed using Nordic’s nRF Connect SDK, allowing applications to run directly on the module. Its low power consumption and high performance make it suitable for healthcare, industrial automation, robotics, smart homes, and asset tracking.

u-blox will also offer EVK-ALMA-B211 and EVK-ALMA-B216 evaluation kits for development. Early samples will be available in the coming weeks, with more information on the official product page and in the press release.

Images used courtesy of u-blox