Smarter Wireless Sensing at the Edge with MCX W23 MCU

The MCX W23 is a new dedicated wireless MCU platform from NXP for battery-powered sensing devices. It is designed for miniaturized, medical and smart-sensing, body-worn and portable sensors, as well as actuator applications. The MCX W23 brings a cost-effective Bluetooth® LE solution to developers, with a complete evaluation ecosystem through FRDM boards and sensor shield boards for testing and rapid development.

Putting Sensors Front and Center

To accelerate the design of medical devices that are smaller, smarter and longer lasting, NXP's new MCX W23 wireless microcontroller platform provides a complete developer-ready ecosystem. It combines compact hardware, highly versatile sensing capabilities and secure Bluetooth LE connectivity. The MCX W23 supports easy integration of multiple sensors, including accelerometers, altimeters / pressure sensors and Hall-effect magnetic switch sensors. This enables seamless wireless smart sensing at the edge, in a solution that is scalable, secure, adaptable and robust.

Made for Miniaturized Medical Applications and More

The MCX W23 MCU is built on the popular Arm® Cortex-M33 core and operates at 32 MHz. It supports up to 1 MB Flash and 128 kB RAM, in packages as small as 2.5 x 2.6 mm. Power modes support operation down to 1.1 V, extending battery life for critical applications requiring continuous sensing but minimal maintenance. The MCX W23 brings versatile battery support through a flexible power management unit, for direct operation from low-voltage silver oxide/lithium coin cells. Its compact footprint and limited external component requirements make it ideal for lightweight, miniaturized designs like medical wearables, connected home devices and asset tags.

Unlocking Sustainable Wireless Sensing

Designing sustainable wireless sensing applications requires a holistic approach that balances energy efficiency and reliability with minimal environmental impact. By leveraging Bluetooth LE MCUs and low-power wake-up sensors, the MCX W23 directly addresses these needs. It enables sensor nodes to operate on extremely low and dynamic power sources, such as small batteries or energy harvesting systems.

FRDM Board Support

The MCX W23 FRDM platform supports this shift with a combination of low-power operation and easy sensor integration, giving developers the freedom to innovate. Using the FRDM-MCXW23 board  , developers can explore new sensor use cases. Through stackable, modular expansion options, this FRDM board can be expanded with temperature, motion, pressure and magnetic switch sensors, with low-voltage operation and minimal external components. This accelerates development of compact, wireless devices that can stay in the field longer, with less servicing or downtime. New Application Code Hub (ACH) examples are being released for FRDM-MCXW23 board and sensor shield add-ons. These ready-to-run demos showcase sustainable sensing in action and are available here.

A Complete Ecosystem, Beyond the Chip

The MCX W23 FRDM platform extends beyond the chip at its center, with a stackable, modular ecosystem built around the FRDM-MCXW23 development board. This board includes an onboard 3-axis accelerometer FXLS8974CF and temperature sensor P3T1755DP, full Arduino and Mikrobus™ expansion headers, and support for stackable sensor boards including magnetic switch sensor NMH1000, pressure/altimeter sensor MPL3115A2S and more. There is also an option to add Bluetooth LE 5.3 connectivity via the MCX W23 Click Board. Together, these elements let developers quickly prototype and test a wide variety of miniaturized sensing applications. This can range from smart meters and smart home devices to wearables and asset trackers, medical patches and industrial monitoring systems.

Secure, Connected and Ready to Deploy

Built with trust in mind, the MCX W23 supports secure, private data handling, essential within connected environments such as healthcare. Accurate and trusted data is critical for patient monitoring, while secure boot, debug and OTA updates ensure reliability in medical-grade use cases. The MCX W23 also delivers strong security foundations, including SESIP Level 2 and PSA Level 2 certifications. With PUF-based key management, developers can be confident in protecting device integrity and patient privacy from day one. Beyond the health sphere, the MCX W23 also brings its robust security strengths to consumer electronics, industrial automation and smart energy systems. Here too, data integrity and device protection are cornerstones of reliable, trusted performance.

From Prototype to Product

Medical device design is bringing self-care to healthcare, moving support and treatment closer to the patient and further from the hospital. The demand for IoT devices in the medical market is rising, driven by the need to reduce pressure on healthcare providers while increasing patient comfort. While the MCX W23 is a natural fit for healthcare devices, its compact size, modularity and secure connectivity make it equally suited to edge applications in the smart home, industrial monitoring and asset tracking fields. Whether on the body or in the field, this is a platform designed for sensing everywhere, built to adapt, stack and scale. The MCX W23 brings together processing, sensing, security and connectivity to accelerate real-world deployment.

Explore the full experience, from evaluation kits and expansion boards to software examples on nxp.com.

Authors

Rakshit Grover

Technical Marketing Engineer at NXP Semiconductors

Rakshit Grover is a Technical Marketing Engineer at NXP, working in Product Marketing for Mass Market enablement. He creates technical content highlighting NXP Products in practical, real world scenarios. He completed his Masters in Engineering Management from Duke University specializing in Product Management and draws upon his past experience working in Product Management within the semiconductor Industry and as an Embedded Systems Engineer in the Medical device and Robotics Industry. Outside work, Rakshit is an avid Table Tennis player and enjoys Meditating.

Amit Purohit

Sr. Principal Staff/Sensors Ecosystem Manager, NXP Semiconductors

Amit Purohit is a Senior Principal Staff member at NXP Semiconductors, where he drives sensors enablement ecosystem strategies for industrial and medical sensors. His role emphasizes improving customer ease of use and advancing innovative technologies. With over 15 years of experience in semiconductors focused on sensors, compute and connectivity technologies, Amit leverages his extensive expertise to drive impactful solutions and differentiate NXP’s offerings.