- The new MCX MCU range consists of four new series of devices based on a common platform, fully supported by NXP's popular suite of MCUXpresso software and development tools to simplify product development.
- The MCX range based on the Arm core® Cortex®-M consists of the high-performance MCX N series, the low-cost MCX A series focused on analog processing, the MCX W of wireless connectivity and low consumption, and the series MCX L of very low consumption
- The new range incorporates for the first time a specialized machine learning accelerator designed by NXP that enables high performance for applications involving Edge Computing.
NXP Semiconductors has announced its new range of MCX microcontrollers, purpose-built to deliver a higher level of innovation in smart homes, factories and cities, as well as many emerging industry and IoT Edge Computing applications. This range consists of four series of devices based on a common platform and is supported by the popular MCUXpresso suite of software and development tools. This combination of software and tools allows developers to reuse a large portfolio of available software, thus speeding up development. This range also incorporates for the first time NXP's new specialized Neural Processing Unit (NPU) to provide better performance in Edge Computing applications, processing data from machine learning algorithms 30 times faster compared to a single CPU core.
Driven by the proliferation of smart devices, the MCU has undergone a dramatic evolution over the past few decades. While microcontrollers are at the heart of intelligent applications, the next generation of applications will demand a new class of microcontrollers that allow developers to navigate a complex environment determined by power, performance, and security requirements, as well as hardware options. connectivity, as well as balancing total system cost and energy efficiency. The MCX range, made up of a common technological core and supported by a unified software portfolio for maximum use, will provide the flexibility that this challenge demands. MCX's broad portfolio allows developers to select the devices that best fit their application needs and gives them the freedom to invest in differentiating aspects of their design.
“We are approaching a new starting point, 75.000 billion connected devices, entering a new era of Edge Computing that requires us to rethink how best to design a microcontroller architecture that is flexible, scalable, optimized, and serves as the foundation for low-power Industrial and IoT Edge Computing applications, both today and in the decades to come,” said Ron Martino, Executive Vice President and General Manager of Edge Processing at NXP Semiconductors. "Built on our strong heritage of microcontrollers, this new family will offer the levels of performance and integration needed to take on real-time workloads in the new wave of innovations."
The four series that make up the MCX range are designed for ease of use, as well as easy migration and scalability, in order to get the most out of the software and minimize the cost of development. The range is based on high-performance Arm Cortex-M cores and integrates a rich set of peripherals for further design flexibility. MCX devices integrate up to 4MB of flash memory, low-power cache and advanced memory management controllers, as well as up to 1MB of SRAM to further enhance real-time performance for applications that require Edge Processing.
Machine learning and runtime inference will be supported by the eIQ software development environment® NXP ML. Developers can use easy-to-use tools offered by eIQ to train machine learning models built specifically for the NPU or CPU for use in the microcontroller. MCX families are built following NXP's security-by-design approach that offers immutable secure boot, hardware-accelerated cryptography, and some families incorporate a secure EdgeLock subsystem®.
About the MCX range:
- The MCX N Advanced series is designed for secure and intelligent applications, with families integrating the EdgeLock security module and a dedicated NPU with a high-efficiency computing architecture for real-time inference.
- The MCX A Essential series is optimized to provide functionality under critical circumstances in a wide variety of applications, such as motor control, that require limited cost and advanced analog capabilities such as high-precision data converters, as well as fast time-to-market. .
- The MCX W Wireless series offers low-energy, narrowband connectivity, including Bluetooth Low Energy. It's designed to make it simple to add wireless connectivity to IoT devices, and its low-power radio helps extend battery life in small systems.
- The MCX L Ultra-Low Power series is designed for applications where power is at a premium. With some of the lowest static and dynamic consumption on the market, these devices will help extend battery life significantly compared to traditional microcontrollers.
For more information about the series, visit the nxp website or contact the NXP sales network worldwide.
Visit the NXP booth at Embedded World 2022 (4A-222) to see a demo of the MCX W series, part of the MCX range.
