IRIS-W10 Series MCU Modules

The u-blox IRIS-W10 series are small, stand-alone, dual-band Wi-Fi and Bluetooth® Low Energy wireless microcontroller units (MCU). Several Wi-Fi 6 features improve network efficiency, latency, range, and power consumption compared to earlier Wi-Fi generations. An NXP® RW612/RW610 wireless MCU, Bluetooth Low Energy 5.4, and Thread mesh networking protocol make IRIS-W10 suited to advanced IoT applications. The Matter application protocol is supported over Thread, Wi-Fi, and Ethernet, allowing interoperability with various products within a growing ecosystem. The MCU system is centered around an Arm® Cortex®-M33 core with 1.2 MB of SRAM and up to 16 MB of Flash memory embedded in the module.

Security is a key focus of the IRIS-W10 series. The design includes hardware security features like secure boot with a hardware Root of Trust, Arm TrustZone® processor security technology, NXP EdgeLock® hardware crypto engine, encrypted Flash, and protection of the debug port. Wireless communication can be secured with WPA2/WPA3 authentication, Wi-Fi enterprise security, TLS encryption, HTTPS, and Bluetooth LE secure connection pairing.

In terms of connectivity and interfacing, the IRIS-W10 modules are highly versatile. They include a rich set of interfaces such as UART, SPI, I²C, USB, Ethernet RMII, SDIO, and up to 64 GPIOs. This flexibility allows seamless integration with a wide variety of sensors, actuators, and other peripherals.

There are two main variants in the series: IRIS-W101 and IRIS-W106. The IRIS-W101 features an antenna pin for external antennas, while the IRIS-W106 includes an internal PCB antenna. Both variants offer multiple configurations with different memory sizes and radio combinations, allowing developers to choose the best fit for their application. These modules are compact, with dimensions ranging from 14.6 mm x 16.8 mm to 14.6 mm x 20.9 mm, and are globally certified, simplifying integration into commercial products.

For development with the IRIS-W1 module series, several options are available. For the most detailed evaluation and optimal radio performance of the IRIS-W1 modules, and/or evaluation of an external antenna, use the EVK-IRIS-W1 evaluation kits. The EVK-IRIS-W1 evaluation kit provides stand-alone use of the IRIS-W1 module series featuring the NXP RW610/612 chipset. The four mikroBUS™ connectors allow for easy use of Click boards™ from the mikroE ecosystem.

The evaluation kits include:

• EVK-IRIS-W101 board with IRIS-W101-10B or EVK-IRIS-W106 with IRIS-W106-10B module
• External antenna with U.FL connector (only for EVK-IRIS-W101)
• Four mikroBUS sockets for add-on boards
• RJ45 Ethernet connector for RMII-PHY interface
• USB cable

A small USB evaluation tool for IRIS-W1 is also available in the USB-IRIS-W106 for the IRIS-W106 series, open CPU dual-band Wi-Fi 6, and Bluetooth LE with on board PCB antenna.