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NXP Introduces Robust MCX E Series for Safety
MCX E24 supports harsh electrical environments with 2.7-5.5V operation, -40°C to 125°C rating, 24/7 uptime, and a 10-year life cycle.
www.nxp.com
The MCX E series joins the broader NXP MCX portfolio as its most rugged and safety-focused offering to date. With this launch, NXP now offers the broadest portfolio of 5 V-capable MCUs in the industry, offering a consistent development experience from 3 V to 5 V designs, empowering developers to build resilient systems for a wide range of harsh edge conditions.
The edge is becoming more rugged, and that means microcontrollers must become more resilient. That is why we’re expanding our scalable MCX portfolio with the launch of the MCX E series, a new line of Arm® Cortex®-M4F–based MCUs designed for reliable control in the most electrically and thermally demanding environments. The first family in this series, the MCX E24, delivers the performance, safety and robustness needed for industrial automation, safe appliances and energy control. With the broader MCX E series, NXP is enabling long-term reliability and scalability across a wide range of harsh edge applications.
Solving Edge Challenges With MCX E
As edge computing grows more popular, designers are deploying it in increasingly varied and demanding environments. With that, developers face numerous challenges.
- Electromagnetic interference (EMI) can compromise the reliable operation of control systems
- Thermal extremes and 24/7 uptime demand components that can brace harsh conditions without failure
- Edge security threats increase as more connected devices broaden the attack surface
- Development becomes more complex when trying to integrate safety, security and performance into resource-constrained, edge devices
As a leading supplier of MCUs, NXP understands the evolving demands of edge computing. The MCX E series was purpose-built to address these challenges head-on. With a confluence of robust 5 V operation, industrial-grade temperature ratings, built-in safety diagnostics and secure provisioning, MCX E series lets developers build resilient and secure systems without compromising on performance or scalability.
Performance and Precision Where It Matters
Building on the foundation of the MCX E series, the MCX E24 family combines enhanced noise immunity, high-precision mixed-signal integration, functional safety readiness and modern embedded security—all within a scalable 5 V-capable MCU platform. Whether you're developing smart HVAC systems or industrial robots, the MCX E24 is designed to be a trusted control node at the edge, delivering reliable performance in demanding environments.
Under the hood of the MCX E24 is a 112 MHz Arm Cortex-M4 processor with floating-point and DSP extensions, supported by up to 2 MB of Flash and 256 kB of ECC-protected SRAM, plus EEPROM emulation. The robust memory architecture is supported by real-time performance features, including 8 FlexTimer modules for PWM generation and motor control, dual 12-bit ADCs that sample at 1 Msps, and analog comparators with integrated DACs.
MCX E24 Series block diagram
These components form a tightly coupled control system for closed-loop applications that require a deterministic response. When paired with NXP’s Real-Time Control Embedded Software Libraries (RTCESL), developers can implement advanced control techniques such as Field-Oriented Control (FOC) with minimal CPU loading, less than 21% at 10kHz update rates, according to in-house benchmarks using the FRDM-MCXE247 development platform.
Industrial-Grade Robustness and Safety
The MCX E24 family was designed from the ground up for harsh electrical environments. It supports full operation across a 2.7 V to 5.5 V range for direct interface with 5 V sensors and actuators to enhance noise immunity in industrial installations. Devices are rated from -40 °C to 125 °C, support 24/7 uptime, and are fully qualified for a 10-year life cycle.
In many applications, safety is required to avoid accidents related to misuse, failure or damage. For example, in devices with moving parts, electrical systems must be protected or designed to fail in a predictable manner. For such safety-conscious applications, MCX E24 provides a comprehensive functional safety architecture built for IEC 61508 systems up to SIL 2. Hardware diagnostics include program flow monitoring, clock and power supervision, flash/SRAM/register ECC, watchdog timers, CRC engines and fault logging. These features are further complemented by NXP’s SafeAssure documentation suite, with precertified libraries for IEC 60730 Class B appliance compliance and software frameworks for IEC 61508.
Built-In Security for a Connected Edge
Security is increasingly an edge requirement, and the MCX E24 addresses this with built-in support for NXP EdgeLock Essentials. Each device includes a secure bootloader, debug authentication, and a unique, immutable device identity provisioned at manufacturing. The MCX E24 also supports a preflashed flash programmer, which allows flashing firmware securely over a serial interface in manufacturing without the need for a debug interface or a secure environment.
Meanwhile, the integrated EdgeLock Accelerator (CSEc) offloads symmetric cryptography and supports AES-CBC, ECB and CMAC modes for secure key storage and data integrity. With these features, designers can rest assured that MCX E devices are trustworthy from first boot through end-of-life.
Designed for Developer Success
As part of the larger MCX Microcontroller portfolio, the MCX E series benefits from the unified MCUXpresso Developer Experience. This ecosystem includes:
Performance and Precision Where It Matters
Building on the foundation of the MCX E series, the MCX E24 family combines enhanced noise immunity, high-precision mixed-signal integration, functional safety readiness and modern embedded security—all within a scalable 5 V-capable MCU platform. Whether you're developing smart HVAC systems or industrial robots, the MCX E24 is designed to be a trusted control node at the edge, delivering reliable performance in demanding environments.
Under the hood of the MCX E24 is a 112 MHz Arm Cortex-M4 processor with floating-point and DSP extensions, supported by up to 2 MB of Flash and 256 kB of ECC-protected SRAM, plus EEPROM emulation. The robust memory architecture is supported by real-time performance features, including 8 FlexTimer modules for PWM generation and motor control, dual 12-bit ADCs that sample at 1 Msps, and analog comparators with integrated DACs.
MCX E24 Series block diagram
These components form a tightly coupled control system for closed-loop applications that require a deterministic response. When paired with NXP’s Real-Time Control Embedded Software Libraries (RTCESL), developers can implement advanced control techniques such as Field-Oriented Control (FOC) with minimal CPU loading, less than 21% at 10kHz update rates, according to in-house benchmarks using the FRDM-MCXE247 development platform.
Industrial-Grade Robustness and Safety
The MCX E24 family was designed from the ground up for harsh electrical environments. It supports full operation across a 2.7 V to 5.5 V range for direct interface with 5 V sensors and actuators to enhance noise immunity in industrial installations. Devices are rated from -40 °C to 125 °C, support 24/7 uptime, and are fully qualified for a 10-year life cycle.
In many applications, safety is required to avoid accidents related to misuse, failure or damage. For example, in devices with moving parts, electrical systems must be protected or designed to fail in a predictable manner. For such safety-conscious applications, MCX E24 provides a comprehensive functional safety architecture built for IEC 61508 systems up to SIL 2. Hardware diagnostics include program flow monitoring, clock and power supervision, flash/SRAM/register ECC, watchdog timers, CRC engines and fault logging. These features are further complemented by NXP’s SafeAssure documentation suite, with precertified libraries for IEC 60730 Class B appliance compliance and software frameworks for IEC 61508.
Built-In Security for a Connected Edge
Security is increasingly an edge requirement, and the MCX E24 addresses this with built-in support for NXP EdgeLock Essentials. Each device includes a secure bootloader, debug authentication, and a unique, immutable device identity provisioned at manufacturing. The MCX E24 also supports a preflashed flash programmer, which allows flashing firmware securely over a serial interface in manufacturing without the need for a debug interface or a secure environment.
Meanwhile, the integrated EdgeLock Accelerator (CSEc) offloads symmetric cryptography and supports AES-CBC, ECB and CMAC modes for secure key storage and data integrity. With these features, designers can rest assured that MCX E devices are trustworthy from first boot through end-of-life.
Designed for Developer Success
As part of the larger MCX Microcontroller portfolio, the MCX E series benefits from the unified MCUXpresso Developer Experience. This ecosystem includes:
- IDE support for Visual Studio Code, MCUXpresso IDE, IAR and Keil
- SDKs with peripheral drivers, middleware and RTOS integration (FreeRTOS, Zephyr)
- Secure provisioning tools (MCUXpresso SEC and SPSDK)
- Application Code Hub with high-level examples and demos
Whether your workflow is GUI-based or CI/CD integrated, the toolchain adapts to your development style.
Rapid Prototyping with the FRDM-MCXE247 Platform
To accelerate application development, NXP is also releasing the FRDM-MCXE247 development board. A compact, low-cost hardware platform, FRDM-MCXE247 features:
Rapid Prototyping with the FRDM-MCXE247 Platform
To accelerate application development, NXP is also releasing the FRDM-MCXE247 development board. A compact, low-cost hardware platform, FRDM-MCXE247 features:
- USB Type-C power and debug interface
- 10/100 Mbit/s Ethernet PHY
- 3x CAN FD transceivers
- Onboard sensors and 8MB external flash
- Support for Arduino®, Pmod™ and mikroBUS™ add-on boards
FRDM-MCXE247 development board.
Out of the box, developers can explore motor control, industrial networking and secure boot use cases using software from the Application Code Hub and GitHub, as well as Application Notes on the NXP website. To immediately see the precision of the MCX E series, developers can deploy ready-made sensorless PMSM demos that come preintegrated with the Real-Time Control Embedded Software Libraries (RTCESL) library, which is a group of algorithms that can be easily incorporated into real-time control applications and used in our motor control reference designs.
Industrial-Grade Control Meets Edge Scalability
The MCX E series brings industrial robustness, embedded safety, and secure connectivity to the MCX MCU portfolio. Complementing other series optimized for everything from mainstream performance to ultra low-power and wireless connectivity, the MCX E series empowers embedded designers to select the right controller for every node across their edge architecture—without sacrificing software reuse or development efficiency.
And, we’re not stopping here. Be on the lookout for our upcoming MCX E31, arriving later this year. With much more to come, we’re committed to pushing the boundaries of what’s possible, delivering the industries most advanced and complete MCU solutions so engineers can lead the future of innovation.
www.nxp.com
