NXP UM12133 Wireless MCU With Integrated User Guide

Description: The NXP NCP Application Guide provides instructions on setting up the RW612 Wireless MCU with the i.MX RT1060 MCU host in NCP mode to offload network connectivity tasks.

Product Usage Instructions

About this Document

Purpose and Scope: This user manual covers applications related to Wi-Fi, Bluetooth Low Energy, and OpenThread for RW612.

What is NCP Mode?

In NCP mode, the RW612 Wireless MCU handles Wi-Fi, Bluetooth LE, and IEEE 802.15.4 stacks while the I. MX RT1060 manages application code, leading to power and memory savings.

Board Setup

To enable NCP mode between RW612 and i.MX RT1060, configure the NCP application on RW612 at compile time. Supported host interfaces are UART, USB, SDIO, and SPI.

FAQ

Q: What are the key features of NCP mode?
- A: NCP mode offloads network connectivity tasks to RW612, allowing i.MX RT1060 to focus on application code, resulting in power and memory efficiency.

Q: How can I switch between different host interfaces for the NCP application?
- A: You can configure the host interface (UART, USB, SDIO, or SPI) for the NCP application during compilation on the RW612.

Document information

Information	Content
Keywords	Wireless MCU RW612, RW612 EVK board, i.MX RT1060, network co-processor (NCP), hardware connection
Abstract	Describes the hardware connections/interfaces and software modifications to enable NCP mode on the NXP MCU target host.

About this document

Purpose and scope

This user manual describes:

The NXP NCP application for RW612 with MCU host platform i.MX RT1060 as example.

The hardware connections for one of the four supported interfaces to enable NCP mode on the NXP RW612 BGA V4 board (UART, USB, SDIO, or SPI).
The method to build and run the NCP applications on both the NCP host (i.MX RT1060) and the NCP device(RW612). The applications apply to Wi-Fi, Bluetooth Low Energy and OpenThread (OT).

Considerations

This document does not include details about RW612 or i.MX RT1060. It is assumed that you are familiar with the following:

RW612 wireless microcontroller:
Bring-up of Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, or 802.15.4 radios

Hardware interconnection
IDE setup

SDK download
i.MX RT1060 board:
Board settings
Flashing of the BSP
IDE setup

For information about the Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, or 802.15.4 radios, hardware interconnection, board settings, bringup, IDE setup, and SDK download for RW612, refer to [2]. For information about board settings, bring-up, IDE setup, SDK download for i.MX RT1060, refer to [3]. UM12133

What is NCP mode

Network co-processor (NCP) is a module designed to offload the network connectivity tasks from the main microcontroller to a wireless MCU. The connectivity tasks relate to Wi-Fi, Bluetooth LE, and OpenThread (OT). In this document, RW612 is the Wireless Microcontroller (MCU) and i.MX RT1060 is the application processor (MCU). RW612 is a standalone device: no external processor is required to run TCP/IP, wireless stacks and application layers, lower layers (MAC/LL/PHY), drivers, security, filesystem, and application codes. Figure 1 shows the diagram of standalone RW612.

With NCP mode, i.MX RT1060 manages the application code while RW612 handles Wi-Fi, Bluetooth Low Energy, and IEEE 802.15.4 stacks. The memory and processing power are split between RW612 and i.MX RT1060, which contributes to power and memory savings.

Board setup

This section describes how to enable NCP mode between RW612 and the MCU host (i.MX RT1060). The NCP application on the RW612 is configurable at compile time, and supports one of the following host interfaces: UART, USB, SDIO, and SPI.

UART interface

The power supply of i.MX RT1060 EVK board

Two power supply methods are available for I. MX RT1060 EVK board:

Using an external 5 V power supply.
Enabling a 5 V power supply from the USB connector.

To enable the 5 V power supply from the USB connector, implement the following changes:

Install R31 with 0 Ω.

Connect J40 Pin5–6. Keep the other pins of J40 not connected.

Note: In this document, the USB connector is used to power i.MX RT1060.

Board configuration

To enable NCP mode over UART interface, configure the RW612 board.

Disconnect JP19.
Connect JP9 and JP23.

Connect JP47 to GND.

Note:

The rework prevents the signal interference from SPI to UART RX.

Pin connections between RW612 and i.MX RT1060

Table 1 lists the pin connections between the Flexcomm0 UART interface on RW612 BGA V4 board and LPUART3 interface on i.MX RT1060 EVKB board.

Table 1. UART pin connections for RW612 and i.MX RT1060

Hardware connection

Figure 4 shows the hardware connection between RW612 BGA V4 board and i.MX RT1060 EVKB board with UART interface.

USB interface

Figure 5 shows the connection between RW612 BGA V4 board and i.MX RT1060 EVKB board with USB interface.

Connect the USB-OTG (J12) port on RW612 EVK board to J48 port on i.MX RT1060 EVK board via an USBto- Micro-USB converter

SPI interface

Board configuration

To enable NCP mode over SPI:

Configure the RW612 EVK board (SPI target):
Connect JP30 1-2, JP9, JP19, JP23, and JP51.

Disconnect JP47 and connect JP47-1 to GND (for example HD3 pin 5)
Remove R97, R415, R594, and R656.
Install R409, R49, R13, R43, and R520.

Configure i.MX RT1060 EVKB board (SPI controller):
- Add R356, R350, R346, and R362.
  Note: If the connection of JP19 causes UART3 to stop working, remove R101.

Pin connections

Table 2 lists the pin connections required to route RW612 SPI signals (target) to i.MX RT1060 SPI signals(controller). For instance, connect RW612 J5 Pin5 to i.MX RT1060 J17 Pin5. See Section 3.3.3.

GPIO1_17: The SPI target notifies the SPI controller to transmit.
GPIO1_16: The SPI target notifies the SPI controller that Direct Memory Access (DMA) is ready and transmit can start.

Hardware connection

SDIO interface

Board configuration

To enable NCP mode over SDIO, configure the RW612 BGA board:

Connect JP16 1-2

Note: By default, RW612 BGA board works with 3.3 V IO voltage. To change IO voltage to 1.8 V, connect JP16 1-2.

Hardware connection

Connect i.MX RT1060 board to RW612 board with the mini-SDIO cable (Figure 7).

Compile NCP host application

The NCP Application on i.MX RT1060 is called ncp_host. Download the i.MX RT1060 SDK (version 2.16.000 and above) from [4].

Path to the NCP host application example: <i.MX RT1060-SDK-top-dir>\boards\evkbmimxrt1060\ncp_examples\ncp_host.

The suggested toolchains to compile NCP applications are:

IAR: 9.50.1
ARMGCC: 12.3.1

Wi-Fi

Steps to build the NCP host application for Wi-Fi:

Step 1 – Open the example in IAR, or use ARMGCC as a compilation tool.

Step 2 – Check that CONFIG_NCP_WIFI is defined in ncp_host_config.h.

Path to ncp_host_config.h:

<i.MX RT1060-SDK-top-dir>\boards\evkbmimxrt1060\ncp_examples\ncp_host\ncp_host_config.h

Step 3 – Set the hardware interface in ncp_host_config.h based on the hardware connection.

Note: Multiple interfaces are not supported in parallel. Enable only one NCP interface at a time and disable the other interfaces.

Step 4 – Set CONFIG_NCP_SUPP to 1 or 0 according to the setting of ncp_device. The value must be the same for the host and for the device.

Step 5 – Compile the example and program the application image to i.MX RT1060. Find more details in [1].

Bluetooth Low Energy

The example for Bluetooth LE NCP host application is located in the directory: <i.MXRT1060-SDK-top-dir>\boards\evkbmimxrt1060\ncp_examples\ncp_host.

Steps to build the NCP host application for Bluetooth LE:
Step 1 – Import the NCP example to IAR, or use ARMGCC as compilation tool.
Step 2 – Make sure CONFIG_NCP_BLE is defined as 1 in ncp_host_config.h.

Step 3 – Set the hardware interface in ncp_host_config.h based on the hardware connection.

Note: Multiple interfaces are not supported in parallel. Enable only one NCP interface at a time and disable the other interfaces

Step 4 – Compile the example and program the application image to i.MX RT1060. Find more details in [1].

Thread

The NCP host application for Thread located is available at: https://github.com/NXP/ot-nxp/.

Note: For Thread, only ARMGCC can be used to compile NCP host (i.MX RT1060) and device (RW612) application.

Step 1 – Clone the repository, update the SDK and compile the OT NCP host example:

Step 2 – Move to the ot-nxp directory and build the NCP host application for different interfaces. Command for the UART interface:

The OT NCP host application binary ot-cli-rt1060.bin is located in the build_rt1060/rw612_ncp_host/bin directory.

Compile NCP device application

The NCP Application on RW612 is called ncp_device. The path to the source code of the application in RW612 SDK is: <RW612-SDK-top-dir>\boards\rdRW612bga\ncp_examples\ncp_device.

The suggested toolchains to compile NCP device applications are:

IAR: 9.50.1
ARMGCC: 12.3.1

Wi-Fi

Steps to compile the ncp_device application for Wi-Fi:

Step 1 – Import the example to IAR, or use ARMGCC as a compilation tool.
Step 2 – Make sure CONFIG_NCP_WIFI is defined as 1 in app_config.h.

The path to app_config.h file is: <RW612-SDK-top-dir>\boards\rdRW612bga\ncp_examples\ncp_device\app_config.h

Step 3 – Choose the hardware interface in app_config.h file based on the hardware connection

Note: Multiple interfaces are not supported in parallel. Enable only one NCP interface at a time and disable the other interfaces.

Step 4 – Define CONFIG_NCP_SUPP to 1 or 0 according to the setting of NCP host side. The value should be the same on the host and on the device sides.

CONFIG_NCP_SUPP is defined in wifi_config.h file.

The path to wifi_config.h file is: <RW612-SDK-top-dir>\boards\rdRW612bga\ncp_examples\ncp_device\wifi\wifi_config.h

Step 5 – Compile the example and program the application image to RW612. Find more details in [2]. UM12133

Bluetooth Low Energy

The path to the source code of the Bluetooth LE application in RW612 SDK is: <RW612-SDK-top-dir>\boards\rdRW612bga\ncp_examples\ncp_device

Steps to compile the ncp_device application for Bluetooth LE:
Step 1 – Import the example to IAR, or use ARMGCC as a compilation tool.

Step 2 – Make sure CONFIG_NCP_BLE is defined in app_config.h.

Step 3 – Choose the hardware interface in app_config.h file based on the hardware connection.

Note: Multiple interfaces are not supported in parallel. Enable only one NCP interface at a time and disable the other interfaces.
Step 4 – Compile the example and program the application image to RW612. Find more details in [2].

Thread

The NCP device application for Thread is located at: https://github.com/NXP/ot-nxp/

Note: For Thread, only ARMGCC can be used to compile NCP host (i.MX RT1060) and device (RW612) application.

Step 1 – Clone the repository, update the SDK and compile the OT NCP device example:

Step 2 – Move to the ot-nxp directory and build the NCP device application for the different interfaces.Command for the UART interface:

Run NCP host application

Wi-Fi

Step 1 – Load the NCP device image on RW612 board with the specified interface (Section 3). Table 3 shows the image load addresses.

Table 3. Image load addresses for Wi-Fi NCP device application

Image Load address

Bluetooth LE/802.15.4 combo firmware 0x085e0000
NCP device application binary 0x08000000

Step 2 – Program the NCP host image on i.MX RT1060 board with the specified interface.
Step 3 – Connect RW612 to i.MX RT1060 with the specified interface. Refer to section 3.
Step 4 – Power on i.MX RT1060 board and RW612 board.

Note:

If RW612 board and i.MX RT1060 EVKB are connected over UART, i.MX RT1060 EVKB must be powered on first. The requirement for i.MX RT1060 EVKB power-on timing is that the core must be powered on before the I/O.
If RW612 is powered on first, RW612 UART TX drives the voltage to the IO of the i.MX RT1060 EVKBUART RX.
If I/O is powered on before the core on the i.MX RT1060 SOC, the startup of i.MX RT1060 is affected.
If RW612 and i.MX RT1060 EVKB are connected over SDIO, RW612 must be powered on first.

Step 5 – Run the NCP host application on i.MX RT1060 board and get the list of supported Wi-Fi commands (Figure 8).

Step 6 – Issue the Wi-Fi commands on the NCP host side.

The commands are sent to the NCP device. The command response shows on the NCP host side. Figure 9 shows an example of wlan-version command issued on the NCP host side.

Bluetooth Low Energy

Step 1 – Load the NCP device image on RW612 board with the specified interface (section 3).

Table 4 shows the load address for Bluetooth LE NCP device application

Step 2 – Program the NCP host image on i.MX RT1060 board with the specified interface.
Step 3 – Connect RW612 to i.MX RT1060 with the specified interface (section 3).
Step 4 – Power on i.MX RT1060 board and RW612 board.
Step 5 – Run the NCP host application on i.MX RT1060 board and get the list of supported Bluetooth LE commands (Figure 10).

Thread

Step 1 – Load the NCP device image to RW612 on RW612 board with the specified interface (section 3). Table 5 shows the image load addresses

Step 2 – Program the NCP host image on i.MX RT1060 board with the specified interface.
Step 3 – Connect RW612 to i.MX RT1060 with the specified interface (Section 3.
Step 4 – Power on i.MX RT1060 board and RW612 board.
Step 5 – Run the NCP host application on i.MX RT1060.

Input help to get the list of supported commands.
Input version to get the current OpenThread version and check that NCP feature is working (Figure 11).

Acronyms and abbreviations

Table 6. Acronyms and abbreviations

Acronym Definition

CITO Controller input target output[1]
CLI Command line interface
COTI Controller output target input[1]
EVK Evaluation kit
FW Firmware
HW Hardware
IDE Integrated development environment
NCP Network co-processor
SDK Software development kit
SW Software

[1] The master/slave replacement in this document follows the recommendation of NXP.

Note about the source code in the document The example code shown in this document has the following copyright and BSD-3-Clause license: Copyright 2024 NXP Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are met:

Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the documentation and/or other materials must be provided with the distribution.
Neither the name of the copyright holder nor the names of its contributors may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software without specific prior written permission.

THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS “AS IS” AND ANYEXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COPYRIGHT HOLDER OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCHDAMAGE.

References

[1] User guide – Getting Started with MCUXpresso SDK for MIMXRT1060-EVKB (available in the docs directory in i.MX RT1060 SDK)
[2] User manual – UM11798 – Getting Started with Wireless on RW61x Evaluation Board Running RTOS (link)
[3] Web page – i.MX-RT1060: Crossover MCU with Arm® Cortex®-M7
[4] Web page – NXP MCUXpresso SDK Builder (link)

Revision history

Table 7. Revision history

Document ID Release date Description

UM12133 v.1.0 24 September 2024 • Initial version

Contact us

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Home Page: nxp.com
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NXP Community: https://community.nxp.com/

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Documents / Resources

NXP UM12133 Wireless MCU With Integrated [pdf] User Guide
UM12133 Wireless MCU With Integrated, UM12133, Wireless MCU With Integrated, MCU With Integrated, With Integrated, Integrated

References

User Manual

NXP UM12133 Wireless MCU With Integrated

Product Usage Instructions

FAQ

About this document

What is NCP mode

Board setup

Compile NCP host application

Compile NCP device application

Run NCP host application

Acronyms and abbreviations

Contact us

Legal information

Documents / Resources

References

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