October 31, 2023 /SemiMedia/ -- NXP Semiconductors today announced the AW693, a new automotive-qualified wireless connectivity solution. Designed for automotive from the ground up and part of the industry’s most complete automotive wireless connectivity portfolio, the AW693 enables concurrent dual Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth® 5.3 connections, protected by NXP’s integrated EdgeLock® secure subsystem, to deliver many secure connections in the car. Targeting telematics and in-vehicle infotainment, the AW693 supports connectivity across multiple automotive platforms when combined with NXP’s i.MX 8 and 9 series of applications processors. This not only enables secure delivery of the over-the-air software updates necessary to deliver new features and safety enhancements to software-defined vehicles, it also facilitates secure connections between various systems and mobile devices inside the car.

As automakers shift towards software-defined vehicles, secure in-car wireless connectivity is essential to deliver the over-the-air updates that characterize modern vehicle platforms, allowing OEMs to deliver new features and security updates without worrying about hardware or software tampering. Additionally, new and future vehicles will require constant connection between vehicle systems, including the secure upload and download of sensor information, camera feeds, diagnostics data, and other features, as well as communication between the vehicle and mobile devices.

This requires a change in the approach to automotive connectivity design, prioritizing low latency, simultaneous multi-band connectivity to support both legacy and new devices, and connection stability to allow seamless communication throughout a vehicle. NXP’s automotive wireless connectivity portfolio, including the AW693, recognizes this shift, incorporating an access point-like design approach that prioritizes these capabilities along with NXP’s Concurrent Dual Wi-Fi (CDW), allowing OEMs to deliver high-performance connectivity at an optimized solution cost.

“Cars have increasingly become connectivity devices, serving as entertainment hubs, network access points, and more. 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,” said Larry Olivas, vice president and general manager of wireless connectivity solutions at NXP.

The AW693 is part of a complete portfolio of automotive wireless connectivity solutions that includes 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 5-7 GHz TX power amplifiers, RX low noise amplifiers, Tx/Rx switches and a full Bluetooth radio. NXP’s integrated EdgeLock secure subsystem supports hardware crypto-accelerated secure boot, key management, firmware authentication, secure life cycle management and anti-rollback protection. The AW693 is AEC-Q100 Grade 2 compliant.

NXP’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 AW693 to enable safety-capable, secure automotive platforms and offers efficient machine learning acceleration. This helps to simplify development and reduce costs.

For more information on the family, please visit NXP.com/AW693.