From Silicon Labs: "Zero Programming Required - IoT Wireless Development Just Got a Lot Easier"

ver and over, customers tell us they want a wireless link to just work so they can move on and focus on the application they're designing. This week, we delivered on this challenge with the introduction of Wireless Xpress, which gives designers the freedom to go from out of box to prototype within a few hours – versus months – with no software development necessary.

Wireless Xpress provides a configuration-based development experience with everything developers need, including certified Bluetooth® 5 Low Energy (LE) and Wi-Fi® modules, integrated protocol stacks and easy-to-use tools supported by the Silicon Labs Gecko OS operating system.

The new solution simplifies wireless development and eliminates the daunting task of working in numerous and complicated wireless development interfaces. Today’s IoT development teams are often burdened with importing numerous stacks of software, dealing with hundreds of APIs and complex RF integration obstacles, along with writing hundreds of hours of code. Because of these complexities, wireless development is hard to come by, and IoT companies often need to outsource the development, an extremely costly and time-intensive process that slows down time to market. Wireless Xpress removes the need for wireless development since we’ve already done the work for you.

Then there’s cloud connectivity – an onerous challenge for design teams to build from the ground up.  Wireless Xpress provides instant cloud connectivity and has built-in firmware updates, along with the ability to retrieve updates and push them out to devices in the field. This functionality removes the need for our customers to pay for subscription-based services to ensure these updates are managed.

Wireless Xpress addresses all of these challenges head-on without a big stack. We take on as much firmware responsibility as possible, with all configuration occurring in the Gecko API.  Wireless Gecko is not codeable, but configurable, freeing designers from the headache of wireless design by getting it all in one box.

Putting Application First, Versus Network

Another challenge solved by the new solution, and especially beneficial for low-power applications, is MCU processing constraints. An MCU in a typical wireless design is handling all of the network processing demands versus application needs, creating a situation where customers are often paying more than they need for an MCU. Wireless Xpress offloads the embedded host processing from the MCU and handles processing demands inside the package, reducing the processing performance required and optimizing the chip-set. With Wireless Xpress, you can use a bare bone 8-bit MCU for applications that would have otherwise needed a 32-bit because of RAM, flash, etc. demands.

Support Down to the Silicon

With the Wi-Fi and Bluetooth modules, Silicon Labs is able to go all the way down to the silicon to find a problem. When you look at other pre-programmed modules on the market, what you find is module vendors are not SoC designers – the silicon in these products is from other companies. Therefore, in the support structure, problems tend to be punted to the underlying silicon vendor. This structure really goes against the ease of use experience. Wireless Xpress gives customers one point of contact for wireless design, making it much easier for support and troubleshooting. It’s our silicon – we control every part of the flow, giving us the advantage to optimize design better than anyone on the market.

Our Bluetooth and Wi-Fi modules are pre-programmed, pre-qualified and are pin for pin compatible with our portfolio of products. And they all run through the Gecko Xpress API, which we have already tested to ensure its reliability and flexibility. We’re taking care of the wireless interface on behalf of the customer and giving them back the 3-6 months it would take to build all of the connectivity from scratch.

So many of our customers seeking wireless connectivity are long-standing, established companies in markets that don’t have the in-house resources nor budget to invest in wireless connectivity talent – these companies’ main agenda is to make exceptional products for their markets. Wireless Xpress gives these companies the opportunity to obtain the wireless expertise they need in one package – giving time back to the developers to worry about their own customer needs – instead of complex wireless scenarios that demand too much time and money.

Wireless Xpress is the latest culmination of our strong customer relationships – we listen and design accordingly. Stay tuned as Silicon Labs continues to deliver the IoT solutions designers want to get innovative and high-performing products to the market as fast as possible.

Source: https://www.silabs.com/community/blog.entry.html/2018/09/19/zero_programmingreq-CCMu

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