Silicon Labs MG26 development kits and SoCs are now available for Matter and multiprotocol Smart Home applications

Silicon Labs MG26 is a new family of Arm Cortex-M33 wireless SoCs designed for Matter or multiprotocol Smart Home applications that provide an update to the MG24 with more memory and storage, additional GPIO, a 4×40 LCD controller, and an integrated AI/ML accelerator.

We first covered the new wireless microcontroller family in April 2024, but the company has now published a new press release announcing the general availability of the MG26 microcontrollers, and I also noticed some development kits were now available, so we’ll check those out in this post.

Silicon Labs MG26 specifications

A reminder of the SoC specifications with highlights in bold showing the improvements or differences against the MG24 family:

MCU core – Arm Cortex-M33 @ 78.0 MHz with DSP instruction and floating-point unit
Memory – Up to 512 kB RAM data memory
Storage – Up to 3200 kB flash program memory
AI/ML accelerator – Matrix Vector Processor (select devices)
Wireless
- 2.4 GHz Radio Performance
  - -105.4 dBm sensitivity @ 250 kbps O-QPSK DSSS
  - -105.7 dBm sensitivity @ 125 kbps GFSK
  - -97.6 dBm sensitivity @ 1 Mbit/s GFSK
  - -95.0 dBm sensitivity @ 2 Mbit/s GFSK
  - TX power up to 19.5 dBm
- Protocols – Matter, OpenThread, Zigbee, BLE 5.3, Bluetooth Mesh, Proprietary 2.4 GHz, Multiprotocol
- Modulation Format
  - 2x (G)FSK with fully configurable shaping
  - (G)MSK
  - OQPSK DSSS
Peripherals
- Analog to Digital Converter (IADC)
  - 12-bit,16-bit, or 20-bit output
  - Select OPNs support High-Speed Mode (up to 2 Msps) and High Accuracy Mode (up to 16 bits ENOB at 3.8 ksps)
- 2x Analog Comparator (ACMP)
- 2x Digital to Analog Converter (VDAC)
- Up to 64x General Purpose I/O pins with output state retention and asynchronous interrupts
- 8-channel DMA Controller (LDMA)
- 20-channel Peripheral Reflex System (PRS)
- 6x 16-bit Timer/Counters, 4x 32-bit Timer/Counters
- 2x 32-bit Real Time Counters (SYSRTC)
- 24-bit Low Energy Timer for waveform generation (LETIMER)
- 16-bit Pulse Counter with asynchronous operation (PCNT)
- 2x Watchdog Timer (WDOG)
- 3x USART supporting UART/SPI/SmartCard (ISO 7816)/IrDA/I2S
- 4x Enhanced USART supporting UART/SPI/DALI/IrDA
- 4× I2C interface with SMBus support
- Low-Frequency RC Oscillator with precision mode to replace 32 kHz sleep crystal (LFRCO)
- Low-Energy LCD Controller supporting up to 4 x 40 segments (LCD)
- Keypad scanner supporting up to 6×8 matrix (KEYSCAN)
- Die temperature sensor
Secure Vault
- Hardware Cryptographic Acceleration for AES128/192/256, ChaCha20-Poly1305, SHA-1, SHA-2/256/384/512, ECDSA+ECDH (P-192, P-256, P-384, P-521), Ed25519 and Curve25519, J-PAKE, PBKDF2
- True Random Number Generator (TRNG)
- Arm TrustZone
- Secure Boot (Root of Trust Secure Loader)
- Secure Debug Unlock
- DPA Countermeasures
- Secure Key Management with PUF
- Anti-Tamper
- Secure Attestation
Supply voltage – 1.71 V to 3.8 V single power supply
Power consumption (MG26 vs MG24)
- 5.4 mA RX current (1 Mbps GFSK) | MG24: 4.4 mA
- 6.2 mA RX current (250 kbps O-QPSK DSSS) | MG24: 5.1 mA
- 5.9 mA TX current @ 0 dBm output power | MG24: 5 mA
- 19.5 mA TX current @ 10 dBm output power | MG24: 19.1 mA
- 152.7 mA TX current @ 19.5 dBm output power | MG24: 156.8 mA
- 53.9 μA/MHz in Active Mode (EM0) at 39.0 MHz | MG24: 33.4 μA/MHz!
- 1.4 μA EM2 DeepSleep current (16 kB RAM retention and RTC running from LFRCO) | MG24: 1.3 μA
Packages
- QFN48 – 6 x 6 x0.85 mm
- QFN68 – 8 x 8 x 0.85 mm
- BGA136 – 7 x 7 x 0.82 mm
Temperature Range – -40 to 125°C

MG26 development kits

There are now several Silicon Labs MG26 development kits relying on the Simplicity Studio Version 5 IDE.

The xG26-PK6028A “EFR32xG26 Wireless 2.4 GHz +10 dBm Pro Kit” combines the BRD4002A Wireless Pro Kit mainboard with the BRD4120A EFR32xG6 Wireless 2.4 GHz +10 dBm QFN68 radio board.

Key features:

Supports Radio Board EFR32xG26 2.4 GHz Wireless +10 dBm QFN68 SoC
Radio board supports a PCB trace antenna and U.FL connector for conducted RF measurements or external antenna connection
Advanced Energy Monitor (AEM)
Virtual COM port
SEGGER J-Link on-board debugger
On-board Logic Analyzer
External device debugging
Debug connectivity over Ethernet and USB
Ultra-low power 128 x 128 pixel Memory LCD TFT Display
User LEDs / pushbuttons, Temperature/Humidity sensor, joystick
20-pin EXP header
Breakout pads for Wireless SoC I/O
Packet Trace Interface (PTI)
CR2032 coin cell battery support

It’s probably the best solution for serious evaluation and development since it exposes all I/Os and features of the MG26 MCU, plus a hardware debugger and a logic analyzer. It costs $185.00 (MSRP) / $218.81 (real) and can be purchased through a link on the product page.

The xG26-DK2608A “EFR32xG26 Dev Kit” is a more compact, yet feature-packed development platform with several sensors.

Key features:

Based on EFR32xG26 2.4 GHz Wireless SoC +10 dBm, 1536 kB flash, 256 kB RAM, 6×6 QFN48
Packet Trace Interface (PTI)
Virtual COM Port
On-board SEGGER J-link Debugger Supporting
External Device Debugging
User LED and push-buttons
Sensors
- Si7021 RHT Sensor
- Intertial Sensor
- Stereo Microphones
- Pressure Sensor
- Ambient Light Sensor
- Hall-effect Sensor
Qwiic connector for expansion
CR2032 Coin Cell Battery Support

This looks to be the best option to play with sensors either on board or added through the Qwicc connector. The board sells for $89.00 (MSRP) / $114.31 (actual). You’ll find details on the xG26-DK2608A product page.

The final MG26 evaluation kit is the xG26-EK2709A “EFR32xG26 Explorer Kit” used as an inexpensive minimal development platform for rapid prototyping and concept creation of IoT applications using 2.4 GHz wireless protocols such as Bluetooth LE, Bluetooth mesh, Zigbee, Thread, and Matter.

Highlights:

Based on EFR32xG26 2.4 GHz Wireless SoC +10 dBm, 1536 kB flash, 256 kB RAM, QFN48
Two LEDs and two push buttons
Reset button
USB connector for power and debug connection
On-board SEGGER J-Link debugger
Virtual COM port
Packet Trace Interface (PTI)
Breakout pads for GPIO access and connection to external hardware
Third-party add-on connectors
- mikroBUS socket
- Qwiic connector

It just has all you need to get started plus mikroBUS and Qwiic connectors for expansion modules. It sells for $35.00 (MSRP aka Fantasy Price) or $52.09 once added to the cart. Documentation, all resources to get started, and the purchase link can be found on the product page.

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.