NXP Semiconductors Belgium NV

NXP Semiconductors maakt veilige verbindingen en infrastructuur mogelijk voor een slimmere wereld, en bevordert oplossingen die het leven eenvoudiger, beter en veiliger maken. Als wereldleider in veilige connectiviteitsoplossingen voor embedded applicaties, stimuleert NXP innovatie op het gebied van beveiligde voertuigen, end-to-end security & privacy en smart connected solutions. Gebouwd op meer dan 60 jaar gecombineerde ervaring en expertise, heeft het bedrijf 31.000 werknemers in meer dan 35 landen.

NXP België: Overzicht activiteiten

De PL Personal Health richt zich op de ontwikkeling en verkoop van producten in verschillende Healthcare marktsegmenten:

1. Hearing Aid segment: chips (tailormade) specifiek ontwikkeld voor de fabrikanten van hoorappraten en hoorimplantaten
2. Hearables segment: audio gerelateerde hearable producten voor de consumentenmarkt (bijvoorbeeld wireless earbuds)
3. Ntag Smart sensors (slimme sensoren) en gezondheidsmonitoring
4. Medical imaging (chips voor radiologie, MRI toepassingen)
5. Healthcare IoT: Slimme sensor toepassingen, bijvoorbeeld het ontwikkelen van een smart disposable insuline pen: De pen registreert de insuline doses en de gegevens kunnen via de smartphone geüpload worden naar de cloud.

De producten zijn ontwikkeld op basis van bepaalde bouwstenen: Connectiviteit (NFMI, BLE, NFC), Processing (microcontroller, DSP Cool Flux), Sensoren (temperatuur, X-ray ...) en non-volatile memory. Het hoofdkantoor van deze Health business is in Leuven. Naast Leuven heeft deze business medewerkers in Nijmegen, Eindhoven en Bangalore. Er worden zowel chips ontwikkeld voor een specifieke klant (ASIC-model) als chips voor meerdere klanten en toepassingen (ASSP's). Security groep (CTO Office): De security groep focust zich op het opstellen van referentiesysteemarchitecturen om klanten te helpen met de beveiliging van hun producten. De leden van de Security-groep (cryptografen en systeemarchitecten) die in het Leuvense kenniscentrum werken, behoren tot meerdere engineeringgroepen binnen de Technology Office-organisatie (met groepen in Eindhoven, Glasgow, Hamburg, Gratkorn en San Jose). Ze helpen verschillende bedrijfsgroepen met hun kennis om de meest veilige oplossingen te bouwen, om te voorkomen dat iemand ongewenst privacygegevens kan lezen of bijvoorbeeld een creditcard kan imiteren. Ze voorzien ook de toekomstige behoeften op vlak van beveiliging. Deze groep is ook het expertisecentrum van alles wat betreft systeemsoftwarebeveiliging voor alle NXP producten. In de afgelopen jaren heeft de halfgeleiderindustrie een duidelijke evolutie doorgemaakt van pure IC-productie naar de productie en verkoop van additionele systeemtoepassingen. Dit gecombineerd met het steeds complexer worden van producten leidt tot toenemende problemen i.v.m. veiligheid. Daarnaast is er een kleine groep die, in nauwe samenwerking met de beveiligingsgroep, producten en oplossingen definieert voor het beveiligen van slimme meters, industriële apparaten en IoT-apparaten.

NXP activities in Belgium are located on one site in Haasrode, Leuven. We have world-class R&D teams in the following areas: Audio, Sound & Acoustics, Connectivity Systems, Security & Privacy, Communication SW, and Ultra Low Power Solutions for Medical Devices. In addition, the headquarters of NXP Product Line "Personal Health" is in Leuven. All our employees use their knowledge and skills to develop products for NXP businesses and customers worldwide.

Below an overview of the NXP Belgium activities

1. NXP Audio Innovation Center (CTO)

The Audio Innovation Center is developing innovative audio algorithms. These are integrated by the business lines into their products, allowing the business to differentiate from competition with new or improved audio features. The Audio Innovation Center is part of the CTO (Chief Technology Officer) organization. Leuven is the only CTO site working on audio innovation. Some areas on which the Audio Innovation Center has worked in recent years or may work on in the near future: • Improvements on radio reception in the car: blending between digital and analog radio, reduction of interferences caused by electrical engines in electrical vehicles. • Three-dimensional sound alerts in the car: e.g. sound appearing to come from the left when the navigation system tells you to turn left. • Noise cancellation and keyword recognition for headsets using machine learning.

2. Competence Center Crypto & Security (CCC&S - CTO)

Semiconductor solutions for smart cards, e-passports, RFID (Radio Frequency Identification), NFC (Near Field Communication), IoT (Internet of Things) in recent years have changed our lives considerably, and it is only a beginning: "security" is now everywhere and gets the necessary attention. Everyone now thinks it's normal taking the subway with a contactless ticket, or opening the door of your workplace with your badge, or starting your car with the keycard in your pocket. Soon, RFID technology makes it possible for each object to cleverly interact with its surroundings, and to make life easier for the user. This includes medicines that tell you how to properly ingest them, food with built-in sensors on the packaging that define whether they are consumable, or accessories that automatically configure. Moreover, the rise of Near Field Communication allows (NFC) technology in just about any cell phone ensures that consumers always have a portable terminal on hand to interact with their surroundings. This for example can be used to determine whether your expensive bottle of Chateau Petrus wine is indeed real. You can also use your mobile phone for contactless payments, or as an entrance ticket for events. Finally, the security products also find their entrance into all kinds of embedded applications, ranging from smart energy meters to tunable LED lamps. Because a large part of the embedded applications need security measurements and guarantees, the security business has already been active for many years in highly sensitive areas such as banking, eGovernment, etc. It has solutions available that have demonstrated their effectiveness and attack resistance and can be used in this "new" domains.

3. PL Personal Health (BL RFP)

The Product Line (PL) Personal Health is involved in developing application specific integrated circuits and sales in four key market segments: Hearing Health, Wireless Personal Audio, Medical Imaging and Health care Internet of Things (IoT). The products are developed based on certain building blocks: Connectivity (NFMI, BLE, NFC), Processing (microcontroller, DSP Cool-Flux), Sensors (temperature, X-ray, …), Audio (CODEC, ADC/DAC, ..), non-volatile memory, security, and power management. Personal Health has multiple segments

• Hearing Health o Ultra-low power DSP for the advanced audio processing e.g. noise cleaning, active noise cancellation, beamforming o Connectivity solutions, both LE Audio for phone connectivity as Near-Field-Magnetic-Induction radio based for ear-to-ear communication
• Wireless personal audio o Develops connectivity solutions for consumer audio applications like Hearables but as well wireless Gaming Headsets and Home Audio o Our products are designed in the most advanced technology nodes and are industry-leading in terms of power consumption and audio latency o Our wireless connectivity solutions rely on both 2,4GHz Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) radios as well Near-Field-Magnetic-Induction radios, in order to create a ‘body area network’ for synchronized audio and data streaming
• Health IoT: Innovating solutions to monitor health condition and to support therapy adherence. A few example applications are temperature logging or continuous glucose monitoring. Advanced technologies for vital signs sensing, sensor processing, security and connectivity enable these emerging markets.
• Medical Imaging: Different to the other segments, this segment doesn’t design the products them self. We serve as wafer foundry for image sensors to external customers. These customers develop the image sensors chips for medical applications, like X-Ray detectors or PET scanners. NXP’s CMOS Image Sensor are equipping X-Ray equipment, replacing traditional CCD or a-Si image sensors. The chips are produced in NXP fab ICN8 in Nijmegen, The Netherlands. The processes have been defined and optimized in close cooperation with the customers.