Atmel Introduces Wi-Fi / Bluetooth Combo SoCs for the Internet of Things

Atmel has recently announced two SoCs supporting Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.0 that target M2M and IoT applications, namely WILC3000 wireless link controller and WINC3400 network controller which both integrate a power amplifier, LNA, switch and power management unit.

WILC3000 and WINC3400 should share the following specifications:

• MCU – Cortus APS3 32-bit processor
• ROM/Flash – 256KB instruction/boot ROM (160KB for 802.11 and 96KB for Bluetooth) along with a 768 bits of non-volatile eFuse memory
• RAM – 420KB instruction RAM (128KB for 802.11 and 292KB for Bluetooth), and a 128KB data RAM (64KB for 802.11 and 64KB for Bluetooth), as well as 160KB shared/exchange RAM (128KB for 802.11 and 32 KB for Bluetooth)
• Wi-Fi
  
  • IEEE 802.11 b/g/n RF/PHY/MAC SOC (2.4 GHz)
  • IEEE 802.11 b/g/n (1×1) for up to 72 Mbps
  • Wi-Fi Direct and Soft-AP support
  • Supports IEEE 802.11 WEP, WPA, WPA2 Security, China WAPI security
• Bluetooth
  • Version 4.0 Low Energy
  • Class 1 & 2 transmission
  • HCI (Host Control Interface) via high speed UART
  • PCM audio interface
• On-chip memory management engine to reduce host load
• 1x SPI, 1x SDIO, 1x I2C, and 1x UART host interfaces
• Operating Voltage – 2.7 – 3.3 V
• Operating temperature range – -30°C to +85°C
• Package – 6x6mm QFN;  48 pins. WLCSP (Wafer Level Chip Scale Package) is also available.

According to the information available on Atmel website WILC3400 adds the following:

• Fast boot options:
  • On-Chip Boot ROM (firmware instant boot)
  • SPI flash boot (firmware patches and state variables)
  • Low-leakage on-chip memory for state variables
  • Fast AP re-association (150ms)

• On-Chip Network Stack to offload MCU:
  • Integrated Network IP stack to minimize host CPU requirements
  • Network features: TCP, UDP, DHCP, ARP, HTTP, SSL, and DNS

So as I understand it the main difference between WILC3000 and WINC3400 is that the former provides low level Bluetooth / Wi-Fi connectivity, but the IP stack must be handled on a separate MCU / processor, while the latter also embeds the IP stack and Bluetooth Smart profiles.

WILC3000 chip is available now, and a fully certified module of this chip will be available in April 2015, and WINC3400 SiP and its module will be also be available at the same time. Pricing information has not be disclosed. A WINC3400 integrated module on an Xplained Starter Kit platform is also planned for Q2 2015. A few more details can be found on WILC3000 and WINC3400 product pages, including WILC3000 datasheet.

Via Embedded.com

Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft)

Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011.

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