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Orleon hw

golioth·orleon-hw

Orleon hw PCB layout, top view — open source Nordic nRF board by golioth

About the Orleon hw PCB

Orleon hw is an open source Nordic nRF PCB design by golioth, published on GitHub under the CERN-OHL-P-2.0 license. It is a 6-layer board measuring 32 × 32 mm, with 69 components from 29 distinct parts.

Its main chip is the NRF52840-CKAA-F-R, from the Nordic nRF family. Other key parts include the LIS2DH, WLA.04, ATECC608B-MAHDA, LF21115TMR and BME280. By type, the board carries 21 resistors, 20 capacitors, 13 diodes, 7 ICs, 2 crystals and 2 switches.

It belongs with the iot & wireless and sensors designs in this gallery.

From the project

well what have we here

A small round battery-powered Bluetooth LE sensor board from Golioth, built around the Nordic nRF52840 in WLCSP. Rev A.

Orleon was designed as part of Golioth's "Designing and Building an AirTag Clone" webinar series (April 2025): https://blog.golioth.io/designing-and-building-an-airtag-clone-a-new-series-from-golioth/

Rev A was manufactured by JLCPCB but never fully validated. Two issues were found before the design was set aside:

Main components on the Orleon hw

LIS2DHNRF52840-CKAA-F-RWLA.04ATECC608B-MAHDALF21115TMRBME280MP34DT05TR-A

Orleon hw bill of materials (BOM)

69 components, 29 distinct parts.

QtyPartRefs
1
LIS2DH
U10
1
NRF52840-CKAA-F-R
U101
1
WLA.04
U102
1
ATECC608B-MAHDA
U103
1
LF21115TMR
U104
1
BME280
U105
1
MP34DT05TR-A
U106
1
SBC847
Q1
1
32MHz
Y101
1
32.768K
Y102
1
Conn_ARM_JTAG_SWD_10
J103
2
CK_KMS2xxG
SW101, SW102
1
1N4148W
D3
12
RED
D101, D102, D103, D104, D105, D106, D107, D108 +4
1
3N9
L101
1
4N7
L102
2
4U7
C29, C111
7
0.1U
C101, C105, C106, C107, C110, C112, C118
1
100U
C102
1
10U
C103
Show 9 more
QtyPartRefs
2
1U
C104, C108
5
12P
C113, C114, C115, C116, C117
2
560P
C119, C120
2
0
R4, R66
3
1K
R7, R113, R114
12
R_Small
R101, R102, R103, R104, R105, R106, R107, R108 +4
1
100K
R115
1
0
R116
2
4K7
R117, R118

Orleon hw design files

The KiCad project lives in the golioth/orleon-hw repository on GitHub; these links point at the commit this page was built from.

Orleon hw: common questions

What microcontroller does the Orleon hw use?

The Orleon hw is built around the NRF52840-CKAA-F-R, from the Nordic nRF family.

How big is the Orleon hw PCB?

The Orleon hw measures 32 × 32 mm, has 6 copper layers and is 1.5584 mm thick.

How many components are on the Orleon hw?

69 components, from 29 distinct parts. The full bill of materials is listed on this page.

Where can I download the Orleon hw design files?

From the golioth/orleon-hw repository on GitHub, which has the KiCad layout and the schematic; the links under Design files point to each one.

Can I use the Orleon hw design in my own project?

Yes, under the terms of its CERN-OHL-P-2.0 license, which golioth chose for the repository.

Can I test firmware for the Orleon hw without the hardware?

Yes. HardLabs builds a simulation of the board from its netlist and BOM, so you can run and debug Nordic nRF firmware against it before you order a PCB.

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