This range of attributes allows developers to address diverse areas, from voice-assisted smart homes and buildings to low-power industrial entry ports and car driver monitoring systems.
Systems capable of processing data input to make intelligent decisions locally with a high degree of accuracy are essential for the growth of the edge environment. To meet these challenges, the i.MX 93 series leverages a heterogeneous multi-core architecture that includes application processors up to two 1.7 GHz Arm Cortex®-A55 and a real-time Cortex-M33 microcontroller subsystem with full access to all SoC peripherals, including the pioneering implementation of a 256 MACs/cycle Arm Ethos-U65 micro NPU. This architecture delivers best-in-class machine learning performance and energy efficiency across a wide range of applications, including compact, battery-powered IoT devices, which require highly capable and efficient processors to maintain extended battery life.
The i.MX 93 series is highly integrated, supporting a wide variety of protocols for industrial and automotive connectivity interfaces, as well as extensive multimedia interfaces. This makes it easier for designers to integrate i.MX 93 devices into multiple systems. It also reduces the need for external hardware components and additional design work, decreasing time to market and overall system costs.
"By 2030, the world will rapidly reach 75 billion connected devices, and it is crucial to ensure we develop them with energy efficiency, security, and intelligence in every single device," says Ron Martino, Executive Vice President and General Manager of Edge Processing for NXP Semiconductors. "The i.MX 93 embedded application processors will help usher in a whole new range of uses in the edge environment, where close interaction with sensor data is needed for agile decision-making. This will enable a new generation of secure, efficient, and intelligent devices in IoT, industrial IoT, and automotive applications."
Security and peace of mind with NXP EdgeLock and Azure Sphere.
NXP's EdgeLock® secure enclave, a preconfigured, self-managing, and autonomous security subsystem, is a standard feature across the i.MX 9, enabling developers to achieve their device security goals without requiring in-depth security knowledge.
Maintaining the security of edge devices long after initial deployment is a challenge that requires ongoing, loyal management support. NXP has partnered with Microsoft to offer our customers a comprehensive security solution from chip to cloud and more than ten years of continuous security updates and enhancements with the cloud-secured i.MX 93-CS series, built with Microsoft Azure Sphere.
“We are making it easier for developers to build, connect, and maintain innovative IoT devices by providing a comprehensive platform actively supported by the volume and experience of Microsoft’s software, cloud, and security experts,” said Halina McMaster, Program Director for the Microsoft Azure Sphere group. “Together with NXP, we are offering a range of Microsoft Azure Sphere-certified edge processors that provide a secure environment for business applications, critical over-the-air upgrade infrastructure, and more than ten years of continuous security enhancements for every Azure Sphere chip.” The i.MX 93-CS chips will unlock opportunities across all industries for performance optimization, sustainability, and security through new classes of secure IoT devices
The i.MX 93-CS processors with Azure Sphere are developed in conjunction with Microsoft Pluton enabled in the EdgeLock secure enclave. Pluton in the EdgeLock secure enclave is the hardware-integrated silicon foundation of trust, enabling comprehensive Azure Sphere security and laying the groundwork for developing highly secure devices for a multitude of industrial and IoT applications.
Additional Details
- Machine learning application development on the i.MX 93 series will be enabled by the eIQ® software development environment, which includes the eIQ Toolkit, the GUI-based eIQ Portal development environment, and eIQ inference engine options that incorporate the Arm Ethos-U65 microNPU as an inference target.
- The i.MX 93 application processors implement NXP's innovative Energy Flex architecture, which allows developers to optimize power usage in each operating mode to create portable devices with longer battery life while reducing the environmental footprint of the equipment.
- The i.MX 93 series will be part of NXP's Product Longevity program.
