NXP Semiconductors KW39/38/37 Wireless Microcontrollers

NXP Semiconductors KW39/38/37 Wireless Microcontrollers include KW39, KW38, and KW37 MCUs. These highly integrated single-chip devices enable BLUETOOTH® Low Energy and generic FSK connectivity for automotive and industrial embedded systems. These modules are fully AEC-Q100 Grade 2 automotive and industrial qualified and integrate an Arm® Cortex®-M0 CPU with up to 512KB flash and 64KB SRAM. Additional features include -30dBm to +5dBm programmable transmitter output power, a low external component count for low-cost applications, and an on-chip balun with a single-ended bidirectional RF port. The KW39/38/37 devices are used as a BlackBox modem and exhibit as a standalone smart wireless sensor with an embedded application where no host controller is required. The integrated DC-DC converter enables operation from a single coin cell or Li-ion battery with reduced current consumption for power-critical applications.

NXP KW39/38/37 Wireless Microcontrollers operate from 1.71V to 3.6V voltage range and -40°C to +105°C temperature range. Typical applications include sensors, asset tracking, retail trackers, building control and monitoring, file/security, and data usage collection.

Features

Multi-standard radio
- 2.4GHz Bluetooth Low Energy v5.0 compliant, supporting up to 8 simultaneous hardware connections and all optional features, including
  - High speed (2M PHY)
  - Long range
  - Advertising extension
  - High-duty cycle non-connectable advertising
  - Channel selection algorithm #2
Typical Bluetooth LE receiver sensitivity
- -95.5dBm Bluetooth LE 2Mbit/s
- -98dBm Bluetooth LE 1Mbit/s
- -101dBm Bluetooth LE LR 500kbit/s
- -105dBm Bluetooth LE LR 125kbit/s
Generic FSK modulation
- 50, 500, 1000, and 2000kbit/s data rate
- GFSK BT = 0.5, MSK modulations
- 0.32, 0.5, 0.7, and 1.0 modulation index
- Typical receiver sensitivity (250kbit/s GFSKBT=0.5, h=0.5) = -101dBm
-30dBm to +5dBm programmable transmitter output power
Low external component count for low-cost application
On-chip balun with single-ended bidirectional RF port
System peripherals
- 9x MCU low-power modes to provide power optimization based on application requirements
- DC-DC converter supporting buck and bypass operating modes
- Direct memory access (DMA) controller
- Computer operating properly (COP) watchdog
- Serial wire debug (SWD) interface and micro trace buffer
- Bit manipulation engine (BME)
Communication interfaces
- 2x SPI modules
- 2x I²C modules
- Low-power UART (LPUART) module with LIN support (2x LPUART on KW38)
- Carrier modulator timer (CMT)
- FlexCAN module (with CAN FD support up to 3.2Mbit/s baud rate) on KW38

Timers
- 16-bit low-power timer (LPTMR)
- 3 timer/PWM modules (TPM):
  - 1x 4-channel TPM and 2x 2-channel TPMs
- Programmable interrupt timer (PIT)
- Real-time clock (RTC)
Analog modules
- 16-bit analog-to-digital converter (ADC)
- 6-bit high-speed analog comparator (CMP)
- 1.2V voltage reference (V_REF)
MCU and memories
- 256KB program flash memory plus 256KB FlexNVM on KW39/38
- 512KB program flash memory on KW37
- 8KB FlexRAM supporting EEPROM emulation on KW39/38
- 8KB program acceleration RAM on KW37
- On-chip 64KB SRAM
- Up to 48MHz Arm Cortex-M0+ core
Low-power consumption
- Transceiver current (DC-DC buck mode, 3.6V supply)
- 6.3mA typical Rx current
- 5.7mA typical Tx current
- 266.6nA low-power mode current
Security
- AES-128 hardware accelerator (AESA)
- True random number generator (TRNG)
- Advanced flash security on program flash
- 80-bit unique identification number per chip
- 40-bit unique media access control (MAC) subaddress
- LE secure connections
Clocks
- 26MHz and 32MHz supported for Bluetooth LE and generic FSK modes
- 32.768kHz crystal oscillator
Operating characteristics
- 1.71V to 3.6V voltage range
- -40°C to +105°C ambient temperature range
- AEC-Q100 Grade 2 automotive qualification
- Industrial qualification

Applications

Automotive
- Car access
- Keyless entry
- Passive entry/passive start (PEPS) systems
- Car sharing
- Sensors
Smart consumer devices
- Retail trackers
- Asset tracking

Industrial
- Building control and monitoring
- Building HVAC control
- File/security
- Retail pricing management
- Data usage collection
- CAN and BLE bridges