NXP RW612 Arm Cortex-M33 Wireless MCU offers Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.4, and 802.15.4 radios

The NXP RW612 is an Arm Cortex-M33 SoC with three radios, namely WiFi 6, Bluetooth 5.4, and 802.15.4 for Thread and Matter connectivity. It also has a small sibling called the RW610 without the 802.15.4 radio.

I first came across RW61x chips, when Debashis wrote about the Trimension SR250 UWB chip mentioning it can work with “host processors like NXP’s i.MX, RW61x, and MCX families”. I initially thought it was a typo for the iW612 tri-radio solution introduced in 2022, and the RW612 is indeed similar, but it’s a complete wireless microcontroller/SoC with an Arm Cortex-M33 application core so it can be used independently as a host instead of a companion chip.

NXP RW612 and RW610 specifications:

MCU sub-system
- Core – 260 MHz Arm Cortex-M33 with TrustZone-M
- Memory
  - On-chip 1.2 MB SRAM
  - PSRAM interface for memory expansion
- Storage – Quad FlexSPI Flash XIP with on-the-fly decryption
- Peripheral interfaces
  - Up to 5x Flexcomm (configurable as SPI/I²C/I²S/UART)
  - IEEE 1588 RMII/Fast Ethernet interface
  - LCD interface
Wi-Fi 6 Radio
- 1×1, 20 MHz, IEEE 802.11ax, 2.4 GHz/5 GHz
- Target wake time (TWT), dual carrier modulation, and extended range
- Integrated Wi-Fi PA, LNA, and T/R switch, up to +21dBm Tx power
- WPA 3 security
- Matter over Wi-Fi
Bluetooth Low Energy
- Supports Bluetooth 5.2 features
- Bluetooth 5.4 certified
- Bluetooth LE 2 Mbps high-speed mode, long-range, and advertising extensions
- I²S and PCM audio interfaces
- Integrated PA / LNA with up to +15dBm Tx output shared with 802.15.4 radio
802.15.4 Radio (RW612 only)
- 802.15.4 supporting Thread
- Matter over Thread
- Integrated PA / LNA with up to +15dBm Tx output shared with BLE radio
Security
- NXP EdgeLock Assurance program
- Hardware root of trust
- Trusted Execution Environment based on Arm TrustZone-M
- NXP EdgeLock 2GO Trust Provisioning
- Secure boot, debug, and software update
- Hardware cryptography
- Physical unclonable function (PUF) secure key management
- SESIP Assurance Level 3 (SESIP3)
- PSA Certified Level 3
Power Management
- Ability to power the entire RW612 using a single 3.3V external supply
- Integrated Buck regulators and LDOs supplying internal power domains
- Independent power modes across applications and radio subsystems
- Individual subsystem wake-up through dedicated GPIO, IRQ, and RTC
- Low-leakage always-on power domain enabling fast wake-up
Package
- TFBGA145 – 8 x 8 x 1.07 mm, with 0.5 mm ball pitch
- WLCSP151 – 4.680 x 5.165 x 0.455 mm, with 0.3 mm ball pitch
- HVQFN116 – 9 x 9 x 0.85 mm, with 0.5 mm pitch
Temperature Range – -40°C to 85°C (industrial)

Both chips are suitable for a wide range of applications such as Smart Home devices like smart outlets, light switches, security cameras, doorbells, and smart house appliances, as well as industrial building automation, point-of-sales terminals, wellness/fitness devices like air purifiers, weighing scales, glucometers, or blood pressure monitors. Finally, they can also be integrated into multi-radio hub/smart device gateways to/for Internet/IP connectivity.

NXP RW612 and RW610 SoCs can be programmed with the MCUXpresso SDK, run FreeRTOS open-source kernel and libraries, and the company also provides lwIP and mbedTLS security middleware, integration with IAR Embedded Workbench IDE, and TF-M firmware support.

NXP also offers the FRDM-RW612 (FRDM Development Board for RW612) for rapid prototyping of the RW61x series of Wi-Fi 6 + Bluetooth Low Energy + 802.15.4 tri-radio wireless MCUs giving access to ports such as Ethernet and USB-C and expansion connectors with Arduino Shields, PMod modules, and the over one thousand available MikroEletrokina Click boards that can be connected through the Mikrobus headers.

Pricing for the RW612 starts at $6.52 per piece for 1K orders. The FRDM-RW612 board sells for just $30, but it’s unclear whether stock is available now. More details, documentation, and links to development tols and resources can be found on the product page. The blog post about the launch may also have a bit more information.

Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft)

Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011.