SimpleLink WiFi connects IP with “Internet on a chip”
In the move towards a “connected-everything” environment Texas Instrument sees a trend to re-use of existing infrastructure and specifically, the pervasiveness of WiFi. Also, the company adds, in industrial environments where Ethernet and WiFi are already widely used, new service models and new areas of connectivity are emerging; and WiFi is also being contemplated for applications that might have otherwise been fulfilled with other technologies, such as asset tracking and location-based services.
WiFi has been difficult to use, TI says, and offers the 3100 and 3200 to remedy that. Both contain a complete, integrated, WiFi function with the protocol entirely in ROM: the 3100 has a interface to an off-chip MCU – the 3200 has an integrated ARM Cortex-M4 MCU, fully-available for users to add their own code. In either case, you get what amounts to a standard API to the wireless IP connection, with Berkeley interface sockets and following the model that TI has established with SimpleLink. There is also an on-chip cryptography engine to establish secure connections to access points. All of this is in hardware, with very short power-up times (150 ms), enabling short wake-up-to-sleep cycles for low average power.
The devices offer low power consumption for battery operated devices with a low power radio and advanced low power modes.
A key feature is the flexibility to use any microcontroller (MCU) with the CC3100 solution or use the CC3200’s integrated programmable ARM Cortex-M4 MCU, allowing customers to add their own code.
The devices also benefit from development for the IoT with quick connection, cloud support and on-chip Wi-Fi, Internet and robust security protocols, requiring no prior Wi-Fi experience to get a product connected.
The ability to simply and securely connect to Wi-Fi is available using a phone or tablet app or a web browser with multiple provisioning options including SmartConfig Technology, WPS and AP mode.
Current draw while listening to an access point is 37 mA; shut down, the device consumes 120 microamperes. Stable timing allows it to hold a connection open, despite being ina low-power “almost-inactive” mode, for up to 2 seconds. The air-interface hardware is adaptively adjusted to optimise the connection for the environment it finds itself operating in.
With a QFN package and fully integrated RF and analogue, the CC3100 and CC3200 allow developers to create a low cost, compact and easy to use system by placing the device directly on a PCB. The SimpleLink Wi-Fi family comes with cloud connectivity support through TI’s IoT cloud ecosystem members. The company also provides various kits and software tools, a certified TI module (coming soon), reference designs, sample applications, development documentation, and TI E2E community support.
Building on its MCU ecosystem of low-cost LaunchPad evaluation kits and BoosterPack plug-in modules, TI provides developers an easy way to design and evaluate Wi-Fi and Internet applications. The BoosterPack allows a host PC to double as host development environment.
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