Nova Semiconductor Inc., has announced a strategic collaboration with Microchip Technology. The collaboration delivers a complete and validated battery management reference platform that pairs Nova’s advanced NB1600 Battery Management System (BMS) silicon with Microchip’s industry-proven MCUs and firmware ecosystem.

Traditionally, battery developers have been burdened with the complex task of developing low-level infrastructure from scratch. Engineering teams frequently spend months writing firmware, configuring communication protocols and validating the interface between a separate BMS chip and an MCU before they can begin focusing on their actual application. This fragmented process consumes significant R&D resources and delays time-to-market.

Nova and Microchip are eliminating this initial development barrier. Through this collaboration, the two companies co-validate a hardware and software blueprint. By matching Nova’s NB1600 BMS IC with Microchip’s variety of MCUs and deployable firmware, the platform will deliver a fully synchronised system right out of the box. This allows engineering teams to bypass low-level communication and integration hurdles, enabling them to start developing at the application layer on day one.

Nova brings its NB1600 BMS silicon, powered by proprietary DAA (Digitally Assisted Analog) technology that simplifies battery management architecture by eliminating much of the complexity, processing overhead, and specialised hardware traditionally required to achieve advanced functionality. Microchip provides the MCU hardware and the core firmware stack required to manage and control the system.

Key technical capabilities of the combined reference architecture include:

  • Complete battery management functionality, with minimal firmware development effort
  • Simultaneous cell and current measurement with industry-leading accuracy
  • 0.02 per cent coulomb counting repeatability for highly precise state-of-charge tracking
  • Dedicated ADC and reference per cell to ensure maximum signal integrity
  • NovaEIS — Practical EIS (Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy) for Real Battery Systems
  • Reduce integration risk by using a solution that helps simplify safety-oriented design decisions, fault handling and system validation
  • Support functional safety goals with a solution that helps detect faults early, communicate critical events and enables timely protective action

Key benefits for developers:

  • Pre-validated hardware pairing reduces integration risk and system complexity by combining Nova’s BMS device with Microchip’s MCU software platforms in a proven reference design
  • Operational firmware and communication drivers from Microchip help streamline early software development, enabling engineers to evaluate the platform more quickly and accelerate the path to develop a differentiated battery monitoring system
  • Accelerated Time-to-Market: Streamlines development cycles, allowing faster deployment of next-generation battery systems
  • Advanced performance, minimal burden: Delivers premium BMS capabilities without requiring specialised hardware design or extensive low-level firmware development
  • Enable safer battery pack designs with coordinated monitoring, control and shutdown behaviour across the BMS and MCU

“This collaboration demonstrates what happens when advanced battery management architecture is paired with a world-class MCU and firmware ecosystem,” said Ahmad Ashrafzadeh, CEO/CTO at Nova Semiconductor. “By executing a close engineering collaboration with Microchip, we’ve built a validated foundation that lets our customers bypass infrastructure headaches and focus entirely on their unique product differentiation.”

Nova has long challenged conventional approaches to battery management. By combining that innovation with Microchip’s industry-leading MCU platform and ecosystem, this collaboration represents another step toward delivering complete, streamlined solutions that allow customers to focus on their products rather than the infrastructure beneath them.

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