Accelerate Wireless Connectivity with MCU Solutions

Members can download this article in PDF format.

For years, the technological base behind continuous internet connection was provided by an internet service provider or a cellular network operator. But now wireless connectivity technology is becoming the backbone of our rapidly evolving, connected world. These technologies are pushing the boundaries of communication speed, range, and integration as capabilities like smaller size, lower power, and new protocol features boost the number of wireless applications.

We’re all familiar with Bluetooth and Wi-Fi wireless technologies, but they don’t meet all connectivity needs. For example, sometimes we need a long-range link for infrastructure, while at the same time you might need a short-range link for local control and networking. The physical properties of radio signals in, for example, sub-1-GHz bands may make them more suitable for these applications.

More people and things are becoming connected than ever before, and Texas Instruments’ goal is to provide the freedom and flexibility to connect anything. The company’s view as to how wireless connectivity allows us to quickly adapt and stay productive from remote work to home-based education is explained more fully in the blog “Accelerating wireless connectivity for a changing world.”

What’s driving the wireless connectivity market and how the company is addressing the growing demand for connectivity can be seen in the Connect Video “Wireless for All.” TI’s business line managers responsible for both its sub-1-GHz and 2.4-GHz products discuss designing for wireless connectivity and where they see the traction and growth opportunities within wireless connectivity.

According to analyst firms, overall semiconductor demand growth in 2021 is higher than expected and low-power wireless microcontroller (MCU) shipments in particular are expected to double over the next four years. This massive influx of MCUs will result in more opportunities for wireless connectivity than ever before, with growth across a wide range of applications and technologies including Bluetooth Low Energy, Zigbee, Thread, Matter, Sub-1-GHz, Wi-SUN, and Amazon Sidewalk.

With the addition of 16 new wireless-connectivity devices, TI is empowering designers to innovate, scale and accelerate the deployment of wireless connectivity—no matter what or how they are connecting.

Protocol Parade

Let’s now look at these protocols one at a time (Fig. 1). These standards will reshape the way we think in the wireless space and fuel the growth of connectivity technologies.

1. The chart compares popular wireless protocols. (Source: TI)

Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) is a standards-based protocol that enables interoperability between different devices and products. TI’s BLE or dual-mode Bluetooth devices support the full spectrum of Bluetooth 5 standards such as high speed, long range, Bluetooth Mesh, direction finding, multi-protocol support, and more. TI’s portfolio of wireless microcontrollers (MCUs) offer flexible memory, performance, package, and cost options, with features including:

Pin-to-pin and software compatibility
Scalable peripherals and flash memory up to 704 kB
Systems-on-chip or modules supporting up to 105°C

Zigbee is a standards-based wireless mesh network used widely in building automation, lighting, smart city, medical, and asset tracking. TI has been a promoter member of the Zigbee Alliance for more than 10 years, providing stack delivery with the latest standards. TI’s Zigbee portfolio offers very-low-power mesh solutions, enabling multi-year coin-cell use or battery-less operation across industrial temperatures.

Thread is an IPv6-based wireless-personal-area mesh-networking protocol designed for home and building automation. Thread enables smart locks, thermostats, and other sensor or actuator devices to seamlessly integrate with existing cloud-based infrastructures and digital assistants. Explore TI’s OpenThread on the SimpleLink family of wireless MCUs offering sub-0.85-μA sleep current

Matter, formerly known as Project Connected Home over IP (CHIP), is a royalty-free connectivity standard developed within the Connectivity Standards Alliance, formerly the Zigbee Alliance. Matter runs on Thread and Wi-Fi network layers and uses BLE for commissioning. By providing a unified application layer based on proven technologies, manufacturers can leverage this open-source protocol to accelerate their development.

Matter also improves compatibility for consumers and enables interoperability across the quickly expanding Internet of Things ecosystem so that smart switches, smart hubs, and smart thermostats from different manufactures can all work together in a home. Matter simplifies the developer experience by reducing functionality specific to an ecosystem like Amazon Alexa, Apple Siri, or Google Assistant, which may limit interoperability in order for end equipment to communicate and be controlled within any ecosystem.

TI has been a promoter member of the Connectivity Standards Alliance for more than 10 years, a Thread Group contributor member, Wi-Fi Alliance contributor member, and an early adopter for Matter, where the company is actively participating in development efforts.

Wi-SUN wireless MCUs and transceivers: Within smart-grid and smart-city applications, a long-range, reliable mesh topology is critical when creating a wide-area network that’s more immune to interference than other topologies. A self-healing mesh network provides added network redundancy. This year, TI is deploying the Wi-SUN stack for the first time. The company’s Wi-SUN solutions include a pin-to-pin compatible wireless MCU family that enables low-power, cost-effective communication for large-scale outdoor networks with thousands of nodes.

Amazon Sidewalk is a shared network that helps products like Amazon Echo devices, Ring security, outdoor lights, and motion sensors work better at home and beyond the front door. Amazon Sidewalk can extend the range of low-bandwidth devices and ensure a subscription-free internet connection. When enabled, Sidewalk can unlock unique benefits for your end product, support other Sidewalk devices in the community, and even open the door to new innovations like locating items connected to Sidewalk.

Amazon Sidewalk is one example that will benefit sub-1-GHz technology. In addition, this year the MIOTY Alliance was formed to serve as the governing body of the MIOTY LPWAN (low-power wide-area network) solution for large-scale networks.

The TI Amazon Sidewalk toolkit provides all you need to start developing Amazon Sidewalk-enabled devices. The toolkit includes the TI tools necessary for the development (hardware, software, and documentation) as well as a direct link to the Amazon developer site.

Wireless MCU Benefits

Products such as asset trackers, consumer wearables, and long-range security systems require a varying range of features from an MCU platform as do those in the medical field and location-based end equipment, in addition to building-automation and home-automation equipment. When selecting a wireless MCU, you’re not only choosing the platform and radio for your current design, but also preparing for future designs. TI’s portfolio covers cutting-edge technologies with intuitive development tools and software, facilitating the connection of any device with the right features.

As requirements evolve or the end products multiply, it becomes difficult to update devices and software to keep up with the wireless landscape. Therefore, it’s best to select a wireless MCU that will work for both the first and future generations of a product.

For example, in a security system for a large apartment building, several wireless devices work together to protect residents. As shown in Figure 2, a range of wireless MCUs are needed to address the various memory, power, and cost requirements in a design.

2. Shown is the building security system in a large apartment building. (Source: TI)

In the security system for the example large apartment building in Figure 2, several wireless devices work together to protect residents as explained in “Seamlessly connect your world with 16 new wireless MCUs for the 2.4-GHz and Sub-1-GHz bands,” which includes more details about TI’s 16 wireless MCUs being released throughout 2021. With these new products you can go from a sub-1-GHz or 2.4-GHz product with 352 kB of flash up to 704 kB of flash while maintaining the same package footprint and application programming interfaces.

More Details on SimpleLink Solutions

Connected-device developers are being pressured on all sides to get to market quickly. By using SimpleLink solutions, you have help from drop-in modules, an IoT cloud ecosystem, extensive interoperability testing, transferable certifications, and many development tools.

With the number of connected devices and online users continuing to rise, the need for embedded security is becoming critical. To protect the end user’s assets, TI’s SimpleLink wireless MCUs integrate a host of multilayered software- and hardware-based security features, providing tools to help protect products from local packet sniffing, man-in-the-middle server emulation, hostile takeovers via OTA updates, remote file manipulation, data and software theft, intellectual-property (IP) cloning, and more.

TI has a wide array of software offerings to go along with each of these parts. Moreover, there are pin-to-pin compatibility options for customers to migrate from the lower end of the portfolio to a more comprehensive wireless MCU that can basically put the application together with the protocol stack in one silicon part.

The SimpleLink MCU software development kit (SDK) is a complete set of validated, fully documented drivers, stacks, and code examples. It enables engineers to develop innovative and differentiated applications with the SimpleLink connected-MCU family from TI. Everything that’s needed to quickly and efficiently develop new applications using an Arm Cortex-M-based MCU from TI is included in the SDK, from the drivers and communication stacks to an OS kernel.

The SimpleLink MCU SDKs also feature common components and device-specific middleware to speed up time-to-market and provide a unified development experience across the entire SimpleLink MCU device portfolio.

Anyone can make two nodes talk to each other over a certain distance, but can you scale it up to a successful and large deployment? TI was one of the first to drive the BLE in the Bluetooth SIG alliance, and the company had the first Bluetooth SIG product more than a dozen years ago. It also had the first Zigbee product back in 2009.

It should not be surprising, then, that TI is at the forefront of pushing newer standards forward. When pairing the wireless technology evolution with the right level of hardware offerings, dev tools, and RF expertise, it adds up to a quicker time-to-market.