NXP announced a radio chip at CES that includes Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.2 and IEEE 802.15.4. This should make it easier for manufacturers to add these radio protocols in one go to, among other things, smart home devices.
Because manufacturers with this so-called ‘IW612’ chip now only have to build one chip in their devices for these three protocols, development is simplified and development costs are reduced, according to the manufacturer. The chip should also save space on the printed circuit board. The IW612 seems primarily intended for smart home devices such as routers and hubs, which use different radio standards such as Wi-Fi 6 and Thread. Thread is an alternative to the Zigbee protocol that also uses IEEE 802.15.4. According to NXP, the IW612 is also suitable for automotive and industrial devices.
The tri-radio chip also supports the Matter smart home standard, which should appear later this year. This standard should make it possible for smart home devices from different manufacturers to communicate with each other as standard. According to NXP, developers will more quickly apply Matter to their devices thanks to the IW612. With this chip, Matter devices are more likely to be able to connect to older devices without the smarthome standard, NXP claims.
