When it comes to power consumption, WiFi is not the best wireless standard around, and even the most power efficient WiFi SoCs/modules consume several times the power required for Bluetooth LE Tx or Rx.
Yet we still have plenty of battery powered devices relying on WiFi, so companies are working on improving efficiency, and Silicon Labs has recently announced the WF200 transceivers and WFM200 modules that support 2.4 GHz 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi and are said to slash power consumption in half.
WF200 / WFM200 highlights:
- Low transmit (Tx: 138 mA) and receive (Rx: 48 mA) power
- 200 µA average Wi-Fi power consumption (DTIM = 3)
- Link budget of 115 dBm for long-range Wi-Fi transmissions
- Excellent antenna diversity and wireless coexistence in crowded 2.4 GHz environments
- Security – Secure boot and host interface, hardware cryptography acceleration supporting AES, PKE and TRNG
- Packages – 4 mm x 4 mm QFN32 transceiver and 6.5 mm x 6.5 mm LGA52 SiP module
- Certifications – Pre-certification by the FCC, CE, IC, South Korea and Japan
Few other details have been provided, but development tools and wireless starter kit with embedded and Linux host drivers will be available.
WFx200 solutions target battery operated devices such as IP security cameras, point-of-sale (PoS) terminals, and consumer health care devices.
Silicon Labs is sampling WF200 transceivers and WFM200 SiP modules to selected customers, and production parts are planned for Q4 2018. To get more info and technical details, you’ll need to join the early access program since there’s barely any info on the product page at this stage.
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.
Support CNX Software! Donate via cryptocurrencies, become a Patron on Patreon, or purchase goods on Amazon or Aliexpress
