Mix-and-match wireless connectivity for developers

The solutions build upon Murata’s long-standing relationship with Cypress and NXP and the company’s extensive understanding of the hardware and software requirements needed to support i.MX customers designing products ranging from battery-powered IoT devices up to industrial equipment and subsystems for connected cars.

Toshifumi Oida, Director, Communications Module Division at Murata, stated: “IoT customers still face significant design challenges in getting their connected products to market. This collaborative effort solves that challenge while enabling a broad range of new applications. Together with Cypress and NXP, we are providing out-of-box solutions with a wide range of i.MX processors and connectivity options to fit any IoT systems’ application requirements.”

The platform solutions give developers a broad range of scalable processing platforms including i.MX 6, i.MX 7 and i.MX 8 Series application processors and i.MX RT crossover processors. The Murata solutions provide devices with the flexibility of the easy-to-use M.2 connector. The WiFi/Bluetooth connectivity solutions include 1x1 802.11bgn, 802.11abgn and 802.11ac up to 2x2 802.11ac, as well as Bluetooth 5.0 support.

Murata worked closely with Cypress and NXP to ensure that each hardware platform and corresponding software is validated for a streamlined experience to shorten the design cycle. Customers have direct access to the necessary software in NXP’s Linux board support package and MCUXpresso SDK. The WiFi evaluation kits will be available through NXP preferred partner Embedded Artists to support a diverse range of applications.

Michael Hogan, Senior Vice President of the IoT Compute and Wireless Business Unit at Cypress, added: “In order to address the vast breadth of applications that make up the IoT, Cypress takes the approach of giving customers flexibility for processing options to pair with our WiFi and Bluetooth combo solutions. We are giving developers of the diverse range of products served by the i.MX processor family the ability to provide the robust connectivity user experience that people expect, while cutting time to market.”

Martyn Humphries, Vice President and General Manager for i.MX applications processors at NXP, concluded: “From our experience working with a vast customer base, we know a key pain point is WiFi integration and certification. From a platform perspective, our collaboration with Murata and Cypress addresses this need, providing a simplified, system-level solution that is fully validated. Our partnership with Murata provides customers with a full range of WiFi solutions with our i.MX evaluation kits for thousands of applications across Industrial, Automotive and IoT.”