Low-Power Modules and Transceivers Open the Door to New Classes of Battery-Operated Wi-Fi Products
Silicon Labs has introduced a new Wi-Fi portfolio to simplify the design of power-sensitive, battery-operated Wi-Fi products including IP security cameras, point-of-sale (PoS) terminals and consumer health care devices. Optimized for exceptional energy efficiency, the WF200 transceivers and WFM200 modules support 2.4 GHz 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi while delivering the high performance and reliable connectivity necessary as the number of connected devices increases in home and commercial networks.
Revealed at Embedded World, the WFM200 system-in-package (SiP, 6.5 x 6.5mm LGA52) consumes 200µA (average, delivery traffic indication message (DTIM)= 3). It supports 2.4GHz 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi and is pre-certified to FCC, CE and IC, and in South Korea and Japan. Alongside the chip inside (WF200, available separately in 4 x 4mm QFN32), is an antenna and various discretes. An external antenna can also be added.
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| Block Diagram of the WFM200 Module. |
Developers can speed time to market and miniaturize battery-operated Wi-Fi products with the WFM200, the world's smallest pre-certified system-in-package (SiP) module with an integrated antenna. Silicon Labs' WF200 transceiver provides a cost-effective option for high-volume applications and gives developers the flexibility to meet unique system design requirements, such as using external antennas.
The energy-efficient WF200 transceiver and WFM200 module provide an array of benefits for Wi-Fi enabled IoT applications:
- Exceptionally low transmit (TX: 138 mA) and receive (RX: 48 mA) power
- 200 µA average Wi-Fi power consumption (DTIM = 3) contributing to ultra-low system power
- Superior link budget of 115 dBm for long-range Wi-Fi transmissions
- Small-footprint 4 mm × 4 mm QFN32 transceiver and 6.5 mm × 6.5 mm LGA52 SiP module, ideal for space-constrained applications
- Excellent antenna diversity and wireless coexistence in crowded 2.4 GHz environments
- Advanced security technology: secure boot and host interface, hardware cryptography acceleration supporting AES, PKE and TRNG
- Pre-certification by the FCC, CE, IC, South Korea and Japan to minimize development time, effort and risk
- Comprehensive development tools and wireless starter kit including embedded and Linux host drivers, enabling developers to get started in minutes
Security comes from secure boot within the SiP to authorise on-board firmware, and debug is also secured to block unauthorized access to debug ports. On-board hardware cryptography acceleration supports AES, PKE and TRNG.
Taking security to a further level, the bus connecting the device to a host MCU is encrypted – so requiring encryption processing in the host – which dramatically cuts the chances of a customer PCB being probed to extract secrets.
Pricing and Availability
Silicon Labs is sampling WF200 transceivers and WFM200 SiP modules to selected customers, and production parts are planned for Q4 2018.
