Automotive wireless connectivity portfolio expanded with Wi-Fi 6E solution

NXP Semiconductors has released the AW693, a new automotive-qualified wireless connectivity solution. Developed for automotive from the ground up and part of the industry's most complete automotive wireless connectivity portfolio, the solution allows concurrent dual Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3 connections, protected by the company's integrated Edgelock secure subsystem, to supply many secure connections in the car. Targeting telematics and in-vehicle infotainment, the solution supports connectivity across multiple automotive platforms when combined with the company's i.MX 8 and 9 series of applications processors. This not only facilitates secure delivery of the over-the-air software updates required to deliver new features and safety enhancements to software-defined vehicles, it also enables secure connections between various systems and mobile devices inside the car.

As automakers move towards software-defined vehicles, secure in-car wireless connectivity is crucial to provide the over-the-air updates characterising modern vehicle platforms, allowing OEMs to supply new features and security updates without worrying about hardware or software tampering. Also, new and future vehicles will need constant connection between vehicle systems, including the secure upload and download of sensor information, camera feeds, diagnostics data, other features, and communication between the vehicle and mobile devices.

This necessitates a change in the approach to automotive connectivity design, prioritising low latency, simultaneous multi-band connectivity to support both legacy and new devices, and connection stability to allow seamless communication throughout a vehicle. The company's automotive wireless connectivity portfolio, including the solution, recognises this shift, including an access point-like design approach that prioritises these capabilities and Concurrent Dual Wi-Fi (CDW), allowing OEMs to deliver high-performance connectivity at an optimised solution cost.

"Cars have increasingly become connectivity devices, serving as entertainment hubs, network access points, and more," said Larry Olivas, Vice President and General Manager of Wireless Connectivity Solutions at NXP. "By combining our automotive-focused access point design philosophy with our long history of connectivity innovation, we're delivering a portfolio of automotive wireless connectivity solutions designed to advance the future of the connected car."

The solution is part of a complete portfolio of automotive wireless connectivity solutions, including the AW692, the AW690, the AW611 and the Q9098. The highly integrated AW693 offers concurrent dual Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3 operation, with integrated 2.4 GHz and 5-7GHz TX power amplifiers, RX low noise amplifiers, Tx/Rx switches and a full Bluetooth radio. Its integrated EdgeLock secure subsystem supports hardware crypto-accelerated secure boot, key management, firmware authentication, secure life cycle management and anti-rollback protection. The solution is AEC-Q100 Grade 2 compliant.

The company's automotive wireless connectivity portfolio is designed to scale with the i.MX 8 and 9 series of applications processors, including the i.MX 95 family, as the basis of automotive platforms such as connectivity domain controllers or infotainment applications. The i.MX 95 family quickly and easily integrates the solution, allowing safety-capable, secure automotive platforms and delivering efficient machine learning acceleration. This helps to simplify development and lower costs.