The provisioning process provides the SimpleLink Wi-Fi device with the information (network name, password, and more) needed to connect to a wireless network. The process usually occurs only once, letting end users connect their devices to their local networks for the first time. Providing this information may become challenging because all Internet of Things (IoT) devices are not equipped with conventional input peripherals such as keyboards or touch screens.

The CC3x20 and CC3x3x SimpleLink Wi-Fi Internet-on-a chip™ solutions from Texas Instruments offers smart and fast built-in Wi-Fi provisioning capabilities with security options, which allows end users to wirelessly configure their IoT devices, using a smartphone or tablet running a dedicated provisioning app. The provisioning capabilities are provided as a comprehensive end-to-end solution, and easily embedded by developers on their own wireless applications.

The solution offers several built-in provisioning modes as follows:

• Access point provisioning, a provisioning method in which the device creates a wireless network of its own, allowing a PC or smartphone to connect to it directly, and provide its initial configuration.
• SmartConfig™ technology provisioning, a proprietary provisioning method from TI, that uses a smart phone or tablet to broadcast the network credentials to the unprovisioned device.
• WPS provisioning

Because the provisioning logic is fully integrated inside the SimpleLink Wi-Fi device, developers can easily use it in their embedded wireless applications without any prior provisioning knowledge.

The CC3135 and CC3235x devices are dual-band, Wi-Fi 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz. The provisioning process in these devices supports both 2.4-GHz and 5-GHz channels.