NXP has made significant contributions to the Zephyr community, strengthening of the portfolio and enhancing Zephyr’s wireless capabilities. We will examine the NXP products that support Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and Thread within the Zephyr ecosystem as well as highlight the major Zephyr contributions made by NXP to the Wi-Fi and Bluetooth subsystem.
As a founding member of the Zephyr project , NXP continues its strong commitment as a Platinum Board member, having Zephyr as part of mainstream enablement for microcontrollers, entry level i.MX 9 products and wireless connectivity transceivers. NXP supports a diverse set of boards and shield , all backed by feature-rich software primarily enabled in the upstream and complemented by downstream offerings.
NXP has been steadily expanding Zephyr enablement across platforms. Learn more about why NXP is all in on Zephyr and how this is changing the real-time operating system (RTOS) landscape.
From a Wi-Fi and narrowband capability perspective, NXP has contributed multiple devices to the Zephyr upstream . This includes RW612, a Tri-Radio Wi-Fi 6 wireless MCU and the latest generation of wireless transceivers, including the IW612 and IW610 Wi-Fi 6 solutions. This gives developers the flexibility to design wireless solutions tailored to their needs in terms of of cost, performance and advanced features. RW612 is available as a supported board and likewise the transceivers are available under the shields category.
| Board/Shield Listing in Zephyr Project | NXP Part |
|---|---|
| FRDM-RW612 | RW612 |
| NXP M.2 Wi-Fi and BT Shield (Murata 1XK) | IW416 |
| NXP M.2 Wi-Fi and BT Shield (Murata 2EL) | IW612 |
| NXP M.2 Wi-Fi and BT Shield (Murata 2LL) | IW610 |
The release notes1 in NXP's GitHub provide a detailed list of features including performance results and a comparison of upstream to downstream offerings. NXPs shields have been validated with NXP's RT1060 EVKC as the host platform for a wide range of features and applications. The shields can be integrated with other host platforms running Zephyr with minimal effort given the hardware abstraction approach provided by the Zephyr ecosystem.
To better facilitate devices, NXP is at the forefront in expanding the scope of Wi-Fi and Bluetooth offering. This includes substantial contributions to the Zephyr community with these key advancements:
Get started with developing wireless connectivity with Zephyr. Explore NXP Wi-Fi driver support in the Zephyr upstream.
NXP delivers a comprehensive multiprotocol solution that includes Wi-Fi, Bluetooth Dual-Mode, Thread and Matter. These protocols leverage Zephyr community middleware—such as the transmission control protocol/internet protocol (TCP/IP) stack, Wi-Fi control plane interface, Bluetooth stack and 802.15.4 Thread support—helping reduce technical debt while benefiting from open source development and long-term maintenance. Multiprotocols operate seamlessly, powered by an advanced proprietary coexistence solution.
| Protocol Support | IW416 | IW612 | IW610 | RW612 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wi-Fi | ||||
| Bluetooth LE | ||||
| Bluetooth Classic² | - | - | ||
| Open Thread | - | Planned | Planned | |
| Matter3 over Wi-Fi | - | - | - |
In addition to the Zephyr documentation upstream, NXP provides comprehensive documentation and sample applications to accelerate development with Zephyr. Resources also include getting started guides, user manual (available in the Zephyr downstream GitHub), release notes and sample applications.
NXP provides documentation to support development with Zephyr. Explore NXP's downstream GitHub for documentation.
NXP and Zephyr together deliver a powerful foundation for connected devices—combining open-source flexibility, robust security, and rich protocol support to accelerate your IoT development.
NXP’s Zephyr enablement strategy includes support for tools such as MCUXpresso and Visual Studio Code (VS Code). Watch the Getting Started with Zephyr using VS Code demo.
Mayur Arakere has over 10 years of experience in the semiconductor industry working in Applications Engineering and Product Management. He is based in San Jose, CA and is currently a Sr. Software Product Manager for NXP's Wireless Connectivity Solutions, defining software offerings for Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and Thread/Zigbee combo SoCs. Outside work, Mayur spends his weekends hiking in the Bay Area.