Wi-Fi SoC features versatile sensor interface

G2 Microsystems has released the G2C543 low-power Wi-Fi SoC, a module (the G2M5437), and a development kit, to make it easy for designers to connect consumer electronic devices directly to the Internet or to future Wi-Fi Personal Area Network (PAN) systems. This includes such applications as home energy management and health monitoring, and laptop PAN peripherals like mice, wireless speakers and headphones.

The G2C543 SoC includes a 32bit CPU, OS, network stack, crypto accelerators, power-management subsystem, a real-time clock, and a versatile sensor interface, which allows it to serve as a networking slave or a standalone host subsystem. It draws just 4?A in standby mode and can wake up and transmit a packet in less than 11ms. It's housed in a 72-pin QFN package and is priced at $4.80 in volumes of one million units.

The G2M5437 module comes with a power amplifier and antenna, the G2C543 SoC, and 4Mbits of flash memory. It comes pre-certified for FCC and CE regulations and is tested for Wi-Fi Alliance WMM and WMM power-save modes. The module is sampling now, and is priced at $13 in 10,000-unit volumes.

The Icon development kit lets developers easily add Wi-Fi to an applications processor-based design. The kit, dubbed the G2-IDK, includes a small board with standard interfaces (UART, SPI, SDIO) and an Epsilon module pre-loaded with the Icon application. Hence, a G2 module can become a Wi-Fi networking interface for mains- and battery-powered devices. The platform is suited for use with 8- or 16bit host applications processors that can't connect to other Wi-Fi ICs, or for use with 32bit host processors that don't have the bandwidth needed to run a network stack. The kit sells for $129.

- Richard Nass
Embedded.com