New portfolio of 32-bit MCUs offers scalability and easy migration of application software

NXP Semiconductors has started shipping the first parts in the new MCX portfolio of Arm^® Cortex^®-M core-based microcontrollers for advanced industrial and IoT edge applications. 

The MCX portfolio is designed for ease of use, to simplify migration and to scale up or down as needed: supporting software re-use between series, the scalability of the MCX MCUs reduces development time and cost. 

The parts available now are from the MCX N series and the MCX A series.  

• The MCX N series is designed for secure, intelligent edge applications, with families that include a multi-core design, on-chip accelerators and an integrated EdgeLock^® secure enclave 
• The MCX A series supports the key functions for a broad range of applications such as motor control, in which cost constraints, advanced analog capabilities such as high-precision data converters, and fast time-to-market are key considerations

NXP will be releasing additional devices in the MCX N, MCX A and other series throughout 2024, providing scalability for families of intelligent edge products.

The MCX N series offers particularly strong support for machine learning and run-time inference. Certain MCX N parts include NXP’s eIQ^® Neutron neural processing unit (NPU) for machine learning applications. These secure MCUs include an EdgeLock secure enclave, secure boot with an immutable root-of-trust, and hardware-accelerated cryptography.  

Designers can develop machine learning applications using the eIQ ML software development environment. The easy-to-use eIQ tools enable engineers to train ML models to run on either the NPU or the CPU core, and to deploy them on the MCU. 

The MCX A series of all-purpose MCUs addresses a wide range of applications with scalable device options, low power consumption, and intelligent peripherals. MCX A series MCUs are a foundation for intelligent edge applications. The MCUs offer an optimized and cost-effective balance of performance and autonomous peripherals.

The MCX portfolio is supported by the MCUXpresso Developer Experience. This includes a suite of software, tools and hardware prototyping platforms: 

• Integrated development environments:  
  • MCUXpresso for VS Code
  • MCUXpresso integrated development environment 
  • IAR^® Embedded Workbench
  • Arm KEIL^®
• MCUXpresso software development kit (SDK)
  • Extensive suite of robust peripheral drivers, stacks, and middleware
  • Includes software examples demonstrating the use of peripheral drivers and middleware
• MCUXpresso config tools
  • Includes pins, clocks, and peripheral tools for generation of MCUXpresso SDK code

For rapid prototyping, NXP offers a low-cost and scalable FRDM development platform. FRDM development boards come with a standard form factor and headers, easy access to MCU I/Os, on-board MCU-Link debugger, and a USB Type-C cable. 

The NXP GitHub also provides access to application examples, which can be accessed using the Application Code Hub (ACH) portal. The MCUXpresso IDE from version 11.9.0 and MCUXpresso for VS Code have ACH built-in, so developers can easily browse available examples, and filter by device, application technology or peripheral/feature before loading the project directly for use.

The expansion board hub is an extension to the NXP SDK Builder site, where developers can find a range of add-on boards from NXP and partners to extend the capabilities of evaluation boards. This hub enables intuitive filtering to quickly find what is needed and locate available supporting software. Developers can pair the board with different kinds of shields for rapid prototyping for specific use cases or applications.