Wireless MCU packs up to 512KB Flash, 128KB SRAM

Article By : NXP Semiconductors

Powered by the ARM Cortex-M0+ core, the Kinetis KW41Z MCU family offers certified BLE and pre-certified Thread stacks.

Supporting concurrent operation of Bluetooth low energy v4.2 and IEEE 802.15.4 based Thread protocols, NXP's single-chip multi-protocol wireless Kinetis KW41Z MCUs are packed with up to 512KB Flash and 128KB SRAM to run full applications.

With the growing requirement for IoT devices to reliably communicate with one another, Thread offers a robust IP based mesh networking technology for a dedicated secure, scalable and reliable network. At the same time, there is also a growing demand for these connected devices to include BLE protocols, so that they can be controlled and monitored directly using a smart device—such as a smart phone or a tablet—and participate in a Thread network for indirect control and monitoring in the home and through the cloud. In addition, BLE provides an easy way to securely commission an IoT device into the Thread network.

Powered by the ARM Cortex-M0+ core, the Kinetis KW41Z MCU family offers certified BLE and pre-certified Thread stacks, and is designed to simplify development challenges in creating a seamless connected network of smart devices.

__Figure 1:__ *Kinetis KW41Z MCU block diagram (Source: NXP)*

Ecosystem partners and developers, such as Rigado, are leveraging the Kinetis KW41Z MCU to offer regulatory certified and ready-to-implement modules, which come with hardware and firmware tools, engineering design support and customisation services that significantly speed development and time-to-market.

The Kinetis KW41Z, KW31Z and KW21Z wireless MCUs as well as tools, including the Freedom development platform (FRDM-KW41Z) and a USB dongle (USB-KW41Z) for sniffer and other applications, are now available.