Silicon Labs has unveiled a new portfolio of Wi-Fi solutions to simplify the design of power-sensitive, battery-operated Wi-Fi products. 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.
The market for Wi-Fi devices in low-power IoT end node applications is forecast to grow from 128 million units per year in 2016 to 584 million units per year by 2021. Silicon Labs believes that this delivery of the first low-power Wi-Fi portfolio designed specifically for the IoT, will enable breakthroughs in secure, battery-powered connected device designs that simply weren't possible until now; they will see strong customer demand for Wi-Fi technology that fits within the tight power and space budgets of battery-operated devices, freeing end users from the need to connect to ac power sources.
Developers can speed up 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 x 4 mm QFN32 transceiver and 6.5 mm x 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
Silicon Labs is sampling WF200 transceivers and WFM200 SiP modules to selected customers, and production parts are planned for Q4 2018.
