One of the key challenges to developers is in integrating the Wi-Fi component into the application. This is not just limited to hardware integration challenges but also other requirements like regulatory certifications, co-existence with other 2.4 GHz radios, SW integration and device provisioning, and so forth.

WiLink8 family of devices are offered in both chip and module form to meet these challenges. The modules and corresponding evaluation boards are certified for various regulatory standards (FCC, CE, IC, TELEC, Bluetooth SIG, and so forth) and these certificates are transferable to the end devices with little or no effort. The modules are pin to pin compatible with each other and thus offer greater scalability in upgrading the end system for additional functionality based off one PCB design. This makes WiLink8 a good choice for any industry sector for usage and adoption without the risk of complicated certifications and costs associated with them. Wilink8 modules are also certified for AP DFS (Dynamic Frequency Selection radar detection) enabling them to operate over most of the 5GHz spectrum. Further, to aid rapid prototyping, various evaluation board options are available from Texas Instruments. WiLink 8 modules are pre-verified for complete functionality along with corresponding software components. The modules also offer seamless integration with TI Sitara™ microprocessors and other host processors.

Another challenge that is solved through WiLink8 modules is configuration flexibility. The modules are offered both with consumer and industrial grade temperature ranges. The modules can support single or multiple antennas for 2.4 GHz, 2.4 GHz 2x2 MIMO and 5 GHz bands. Additionally, the modules support antenna diversity in the 5 GHz band. The dual antenna diversity configuration is useful for applications demanding high throughput (up to 100 Mbps UDP) and to improve the quality and reliability of the network. Also, 2.4 GHz band offers Maximum ratio combining (MRC) to increase the range of communication.

WiLink8 chips and modules offer inbuilt co-existence mechanisms between the integrated Bluetooth/Bluetooth low energy and Wi-Fi subsystems. This avoids the need for external software or hardware handling of the co-existence mechanism. Further, the same feature is extended to ZigBee devices as well and TI provides a reference design for the same that includes both hardware and software.

WiLink8 solutions offer pre-integrated and tested royalty free open source stacks for Wi-Fi drivers and a Linux BlueZ stack for Bluetooth/Bluetooth low energy. The WLAN stack includes the hostap and wpa_supplicant along with the standard IEEE802.11 Linux based stack. The device and software also supports open IEEE802.11s mesh protocol for additional network topologies discussed later. The driver solution is also available for Android, Windows, QNX and RTOS platforms through a third party network. The tools required for device certification are integrated with the software package. For standalone evaluation of the device for performance a WiLink™ Wireless Tools package is provided at no cost to the designer.

The complete WiLink8 solution is tested by Texas Instruments against 200+ Access points and other Wi-Fi equipment for interoperability and compatibility, thus ensuring the robustness of the solution. The software drivers are Wi-Fi Alliance pre-certified.