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<\/a><\/p>\nBy Hynetek Semiconductor Co., Ltd.\u00a0 08.24.2026<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t By Juan Rey, Senior Vice President, General Manager and CTO of the Calibre segment, Siemens EDA\u00a0 08.24.2026<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t By Arduino Team\u00a0 08.19.2026<\/p>\n The company\u2019s official announcement stated that integrated 10BASE-T1S Ethernet enables manufacturers to extend IP-based connectivity deeper into industrial systems, connecting more sensors, actuators, and controllers, all while reducing system cost and complexity. Topology discovery automatically identifies and maps connected devices, improving network visibility and simplifying deployment. This, NXP said, enables the MCX A5 family to turn more devices into accessible sources of real-time data for analytics, automation, and other industrial edge AI applications.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat we do with MCX A5 is we\u2019re bringing 10BASE-T1S Ethernet all the way to the endpoint, and the key is that you can see all the nodes on the network,\u201d Mortimer said.<\/p>\n Explaining further, he said, \u201cToday, when you have a field bus like RS 485, for example, it kind of becomes a little bit gray: you have a controller or a PLC, and then you have all these nodes strung out on a multi-drop bus. But you don\u2019t have an Ethernet IP address at all those endpoints, and you don\u2019t necessarily get the same level of visibility to the whole network. With the MCX A5, we have the ability to automatically discover and map industrial networks with the new technology where you can do topology discovery in the microcontroller.\u201d<\/p>\n For operators and maintenance teams, this means that a network that was previously opaque suddenly becomes visualizable: an HMI can display the entire bus layout and highlight specific devices.<\/p>\n Mortimer added that the new microcontroller family is the missing piece that brings IP networking and strong security all the way down to the smallest industrial end nodes. That visibility pays off when, for example, you are swapping a single sensor or actuator on a brownfield bus without touching the rest; or diagnosing faults such as pinched cables or unreliable nodes; and incrementally upgrading from legacy fieldbus to an IP\u2011based network over time.<\/p>\n He also stressed that topology discovery isn\u2019t meant to run continuously, it\u2019s a configuration, diagnostics, and maintenance tool, not a constant background process.<\/p>\n Maintaining device security across the entire lifecycle<\/p>\n It\u2019s obvious that once you start giving IP addresses to more nodes on a multi\u2011drop cable, then each of those nodes also add to the network\u2019s potential attack surface. Hence the new MCX A5 family not only includes PSA Certified Level 3 security, but they also have support for PQC, including a PQC-based hardware root of trust including secure boot, secure firmware updates, secure attestation, and secure debug authentication. Selected devices also support the Rust programming language, enabling developers to adopt modern, memory-safe software development practices.\u00a0<\/p>\n Mortimer repeatedly framed security as being at the core of the design, and not an afterthought. \u201cIt\u2019s not just because that\u2019s what\u2019s needed today, but it\u2019s about what\u2019s going to protect us going into the future for the next 10\u201320 years,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n For OEMs, this matters because industrial nodes often must stay in the field well beyond a decade, and regulations like the CRA (Cyber Resilience Act) are beginning to require long\u2011term updatability and security maintenance.<\/p>\n When paired with NXP\u2019s TJF1410 10BASE-T1S physical medium dependent (PMD) transceiver, the MCX A5 family provides a complete single pair Ethernet (SPE) solution for industrial and building automation applications, with the TJF1410 acting as the analog front-end to the MCX A5\u2019s integrated digital PHY. The TJF1410 is optimized for IEEE 802.3cg-compliant 10BASE-T1S networks and complements the MCX A5\u2019s integrated digital PHY, which NXP said simplifies the system design and reduces the bill-of-material costs for industrial automation, building automation, energy infrastructure, and other distributed edge applications.<\/p>\n Driving real-world adoption in industrial and commercial spaces<\/p>\n While MCX A5 is a general\u2011purpose industrial MCU family, Mortimer highlighted several early focus areas. These include logistics and warehousing, building automation, and robotics and physical AI.<\/p>\n For example, he said one of its logistics partners regularly expands its warehouse conveyors and sorting systems in stages. As each new conveyor segment is added, with the new MCU and 10BASE-T1S, that partner can add IP\u2011based nodes along each conveyor section, and conduct incremental expansion and replacement without having to re\u2011wire the entire system.<\/p>\n Building automationis a particularly strong early adopter vertical, according to Mortimer. Many existing systems still use RS\u2011485 fieldbuses for HVAC dampers, sensors, actuators, and small HMIs. The topology discovery capability in the new MCUs offers a drop\u2011in wiring model (single pair, multi\u2011drop) that installers understand, and a path to IP\u2011addressable endpoints without moving to bulky 10\/100 Ethernet hardware.<\/p>\n Mortimer said the company is actively sampling and in design discussions with large OEMs and smaller subsystem vendors in this segment.<\/p>\n Robotics and physical AI<\/p>\n The robotics and physical AI themes were a larger part of the discussions at NXP Tech Days last week, in which the speakers extended the story<\/a> that NXP\u2019s CEO, Rafael Sotomayor, talked at Computex in Taiwan earlier this year, about deploying \u201cright-sized intelligence\u201d for scalable physical AI.<\/p>\n In this video conversation, Saloni Gankar, principal analyst for industrial semiconductors at analyst firm Omdia, offers her perspectives on some of the key discussions and announcement at NXP Tech Days, and discusses broader trends in the industrial and physical AI market for semiconductors.<\/p>\n An integral part of those systems are the distributed microcontrollers controlling everything like the motors, joints, grippers, and tactile sensors. While currently those MCUs are often connected by short\u2011reach buses that don\u2019t offer good global visibility, Mortimer said its new microcontroller can become a standard building block for those distributed controllers, in that each limb or section of a robot\u2014arms, hands, fingers\u2014can be wired with 10Base\u2011T1S single\u2011pair Ethernet. As a result, every actuator and sensor node would gain an IP address and secure identity. This way, the top\u2011level AI controller can see and manage the entire topology, rather than treating downstream MCUs as opaque islands.<\/p>\n He indicated that at least one robotics customer is already actively designing with related technology and looking seriously at 10BASE\u2011T1S for end\u2011node connectivity.<\/p>\n The MCX A5 family is built on an Arm Cortex-M33 core, running up to 240 MHz. It offers up to 2 MB Flash, 640 KB RAM, and connectivity interfaces including UART, I\u00b2C, I3C, SPI, CAN FD, High-Speed USB, and FlexIO. Along with support from NXP\u2019s FRDM development boards, the MCX A5 family is supported by the MCUXpresso developer ecosystem, including Rust support, comprehensive SDKs, Visual Studio Code integration, and LTS software releases. The MCX A5 family is sampling now.<\/p>\n Read also:<\/p>\n Andes Condor Closure Came Amid Broader Cost-Cutting Effort<\/a><\/p>\n Agentic AI, Multi\u2011Physics, and Standards Will Redefine Chips Design<\/a><\/p>\n electronica 2026: Electronics as the Basis of the All-Electric Society<\/a><\/p>\n Jamie Urquhart (1957-2026): Friendly, Supportive, Right to the End<\/a><\/p>\n INDUSTRIAL IOT<\/a>, IOT<\/a>, IOT DESIGN<\/a>, MCUS<\/a>, MICROCONTROLLER<\/a>\n <\/p>\n![\"Welcome](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Siemens-thmbnail-image-600x340-1.jpeg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Running](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/UNOQ-LLM-ADV-Supply-Frame-600x340-1.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Diagram](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/image_5fced1.jpeg\")
According to NXP\u2019s Mortimer, the new MCX A5 microcontroller can automatically discover and map industrial network topology on-chip.(Source: NXP Semiconductors)<\/p>\n