Author Topic: Good Wifi chip?  (Read 12700 times)

0 Members and 2 Guests are viewing this topic.

Offline richardmanTopic starter

  • Frequent Contributor
  • **
  • Posts: 427
  • Country: us
Good Wifi chip?
« on: October 14, 2015, 02:31:39 am »
What is the "user-favorite" Wifi chip these days? Is the ESP8266 still "the best" or has something better comes up?

Robustness of the Wifi protocol implementation, good QA, i.e. quality over price, plus availability, are the criterions.

Thanks

// richard http://imagecraft.com/
JumpStart C++ for Cortex (compiler/IDE/debugger): the fastest easiest way to get productive on Cortex-M.
Smart.IO: phone App for embedded systems with no app or wireless coding
 

Offline ralphd

  • Frequent Contributor
  • **
  • Posts: 445
  • Country: ca
    • Nerd Ralph
Re: Good Wifi chip?
« Reply #1 on: October 14, 2015, 04:26:33 am »
Espressif has a new chip coming down the pipe, but for now nothing can beat the esp8266 at the $2 price point, or even double or triple that price.
http://nerdralph.blogspot.ca/2015/10/2-esp8266-4mb-esp-12-e-module.html
Unthinking respect for authority is the greatest enemy of truth. Einstein
 

Offline coppice

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 8605
  • Country: gb
Re: Good Wifi chip?
« Reply #2 on: October 14, 2015, 04:33:50 am »
The only really good thing about the ESP8266 is its price, and that has certainly been low enough to get people's attention. If you want good, and are less sensitive to price, there are a number of SoC and radio chip + MCU options. Some, like the TI CC3200, can achieve extremely good power consumption for applications which send data intermittently, and make long term battery operation practical. What is still rather weak across the industry is 5GHz support in wifi chips for small embedded systems.
 

Offline nowlan

  • Frequent Contributor
  • **
  • Posts: 649
  • Country: au
Re: Good Wifi chip?
« Reply #3 on: October 14, 2015, 04:54:57 am »
Dont those esp chips die after 4 connections? I didnt they were very stable from what ive read.
 

Offline ralphd

  • Frequent Contributor
  • **
  • Posts: 445
  • Country: ca
    • Nerd Ralph
Re: Good Wifi chip?
« Reply #4 on: October 14, 2015, 05:35:50 am »
Dont those esp chips die after 4 connections? I didnt they were very stable from what ive read.
I did read about memory leaks in older firmware, but nothing so bad that it failed after 4 connections.
My experience is the modules are stable, with perhaps a stronger pullup and a cap on RST to avoid possible spurios resets.
The modules can have power busts from below 80mA to near 200mA, so poor regulator circuit design can lead to problems.
Unthinking respect for authority is the greatest enemy of truth. Einstein
 

Offline richardmanTopic starter

  • Frequent Contributor
  • **
  • Posts: 427
  • Country: us
Re: Good Wifi chip?
« Reply #5 on: October 14, 2015, 05:37:42 am »
I should add that my interest is in making an M0+Wifi and an M4+Wifi board. Throw our compilers and JumpStart API at it, and Bob's your Uncle. So in that sense, a "dumb" Wifi chip that talks to a micro easily is preferred.
// richard http://imagecraft.com/
JumpStart C++ for Cortex (compiler/IDE/debugger): the fastest easiest way to get productive on Cortex-M.
Smart.IO: phone App for embedded systems with no app or wireless coding
 

Online Rasz

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 2616
  • Country: 00
    • My random blog.
Re: Good Wifi chip?
« Reply #6 on: October 14, 2015, 08:03:55 am »
Dont those esp chips die after 4 connections? I didnt they were very stable from what ive read.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10375154
Who logs in to gdm? Not I, said the duck.
My fireplace is on fire, but in all the wrong places.
 

Offline Mr.B

  • Supporter
  • ****
  • Posts: 1237
  • Country: nz
Re: Good Wifi chip?
« Reply #7 on: October 14, 2015, 08:17:42 am »
ESP8266 gets my vote.
I have been using them for about 4 months now... R&D only at this point, nothing serious developed yet.
Prior to that I was using Roving Networks RN-171, very good, but very pricy - about USD 30 each.
The ESP8266 is peanuts for the punch it packs.
I approach the thinking of all of my posts using AI in the first instance. (Awkward Irregularity)
 

Offline westfw

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 4195
  • Country: us
Re: Good Wifi chip?
« Reply #8 on: October 14, 2015, 09:55:40 am »
There are a wide range of "wifi chips."  The ESP8266 is "smart" with a complete TCP/IP implementation and (at least initially) a rather clunky uart-based interface (has that changed?  I would have thought that adding an SPI interface, or improving the uart interface, would have been a natural thing to do given the "programabilty" of the boards.  But I haven't heard any noise to that effect.  (OTGH, I haven't been paying too much attention.))  Uarts tend to be in short supply on small microcontrollers, and less easily bit-banged than SPI/I2C.  Because of the "A" part.
TI CC3xxx have TCP/IP, but with an SPI interface.  Other modules are (I think) interfaced below the IP layer...

The ESP8266 is the only one I've heard of that is actually user-programmable in any normal sense.
 

Offline coppice

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 8605
  • Country: gb
Re: Good Wifi chip?
« Reply #9 on: October 14, 2015, 10:02:07 am »
There are a wide range of "wifi chips."  The ESP8266 is "smart" with a complete TCP/IP implementation and (at least initially) a rather clunky uart-based interface (has that changed?  I would have thought that adding an SPI interface, or improving the uart interface, would have been a natural thing to do given the "programabilty" of the boards.  But I haven't heard any noise to that effect.  (OTGH, I haven't been paying too much attention.))  Uarts tend to be in short supply on small microcontrollers, and less easily bit-banged than SPI/I2C.  Because of the "A" part.
TI CC3xxx have TCP/IP, but with an SPI interface.  Other modules are (I think) interfaced below the IP layer...

The ESP8266 is the only one I've heard of that is actually user-programmable in any normal sense.
You just listed something that is very much user programmable - the TI CC3200. MTK, Atmel and others have devices with the TCP/IP stack on board and user programmability.
 

Offline richardmanTopic starter

  • Frequent Contributor
  • **
  • Posts: 427
  • Country: us
Re: Good Wifi chip?
« Reply #10 on: October 14, 2015, 10:08:20 am »
List prices:
TI C3100 - $20
ESP8266 - $2-$3

hmmm...
// richard http://imagecraft.com/
JumpStart C++ for Cortex (compiler/IDE/debugger): the fastest easiest way to get productive on Cortex-M.
Smart.IO: phone App for embedded systems with no app or wireless coding
 

Offline nctnico

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 26751
  • Country: nl
    • NCT Developments
Re: Good Wifi chip?
« Reply #11 on: October 14, 2015, 10:51:04 am »
ESP8266 gets my vote.
I have been using them for about 4 months now... R&D only at this point, nothing serious developed yet.
Prior to that I was using Roving Networks RN-171, very good, but very pricy - about USD 30 each.
The ESP8266 is peanuts for the punch it packs.
That may be but you have to kick a device in the nuts to see if it really works in all situations and really meets FCC regulations. $3 each may seem nice but I would be very wary to use the ESP8266 in a serious product. There may be problems sourcing it and how well is the TCP/IP stack implemented? Security? Stability? I'd rather use something I can take control over (fix bugs) if necessary.
« Last Edit: October 14, 2015, 11:07:57 am by nctnico »
There are small lies, big lies and then there is what is on the screen of your oscilloscope.
 

Offline trevwhite

  • Frequent Contributor
  • **
  • Posts: 929
  • Country: gb
Re: Good Wifi chip?
« Reply #12 on: October 14, 2015, 11:01:43 am »
The problem I have found with Atmel and Microchip offerings is that you are tied into using their development software and the documentation on the actual wifi devices seems very deliberately restricted.

I would really like a wifi device myself that I can just setup over uart and have full documentation for and actually does work properly.

Are there actually some examples of people using the ESP8266 and it actually performing under any form of duress? Every time I read something about them it sounds good but then you dig deeper and find it never really remains reliable/stable and locks up, crashes, freezes you out of the communication uart. I was very much put off using them because I could see them taking up a lot of my time and ending up with something unreliable. Maybe the firmware for them will mature over time..




 

Offline Mr.B

  • Supporter
  • ****
  • Posts: 1237
  • Country: nz
Re: Good Wifi chip?
« Reply #13 on: October 14, 2015, 07:14:15 pm »
ESP8266 gets my vote.
I have been using them for about 4 months now... R&D only at this point, nothing serious developed yet.
Prior to that I was using Roving Networks RN-171, very good, but very pricy - about USD 30 each.
The ESP8266 is peanuts for the punch it packs.
That may be but you have to kick a device in the nuts to see if it really works in all situations and really meets FCC regulations. $3 each may seem nice but I would be very wary to use the ESP8266 in a serious product. There may be problems sourcing it and how well is the TCP/IP stack implemented? Security? Stability? I'd rather use something I can take control over (fix bugs) if necessary.

I agree with you 100%.
I have not designed it into any serious product yet and will not be doing so until I have proven its stability and reliability.
My current serious product is still using the RN-171.
I approach the thinking of all of my posts using AI in the first instance. (Awkward Irregularity)
 

Offline kripton2035

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 2572
  • Country: fr
    • kripton2035 schematics repository
Re: Good Wifi chip?
« Reply #14 on: October 14, 2015, 07:32:31 pm »
from what I've read (and experimented) the esp8266 can be programmed : with a lua interpreter, or like an arduino, or directly with the expressif SDK
the lua system leads to not stable esp8266 (I saw that, often the esp reboots or hangs with simple programs)
with the arduino ide programming, I have no problem so far
I did not try the expressif sdk but I've read that it seems more stable than the arduino ide system

you can also use an arduino with a wifi shield, you can get one with a fcc certification. but you will pay some $50 for it and for me it's quite the same as the $3 esp8266 !
 

Offline richardmanTopic starter

  • Frequent Contributor
  • **
  • Posts: 427
  • Country: us
Re: Good Wifi chip?
« Reply #15 on: October 14, 2015, 07:35:43 pm »
I talked to the "hardware guy", and we are definitely leaning toward the C3100. It is more robust and proven. More expensive, but at 1K+ QTY, the difference is only $4 or so.

Our target here is the OEM market, where designers can just drop the module in.
// richard http://imagecraft.com/
JumpStart C++ for Cortex (compiler/IDE/debugger): the fastest easiest way to get productive on Cortex-M.
Smart.IO: phone App for embedded systems with no app or wireless coding
 

Offline richardmanTopic starter

  • Frequent Contributor
  • **
  • Posts: 427
  • Country: us
Re: Good Wifi chip?
« Reply #16 on: October 14, 2015, 07:51:16 pm »
Finally, this chip has available hardware design that is not FCC certified, but FCC verified, so you can simply copy the design and you know it will pass the certification.

Please educate me on the difference between the two? Also, is FCC <xxx'ed> carry weight in non-US markets?

Thanks.
// richard http://imagecraft.com/
JumpStart C++ for Cortex (compiler/IDE/debugger): the fastest easiest way to get productive on Cortex-M.
Smart.IO: phone App for embedded systems with no app or wireless coding
 

Offline nctnico

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 26751
  • Country: nl
    • NCT Developments
Re: Good Wifi chip?
« Reply #17 on: October 14, 2015, 07:59:21 pm »
Finally, this chip has available hardware design that is not FCC certified, but FCC verified, so you can simply copy the design and you know it will pass the certification.
Also, is FCC <xxx'ed> carry weight in non-US markets?
Nope. Certification tests are slightly different so you'd need to certify for CE.
There are small lies, big lies and then there is what is on the screen of your oscilloscope.
 

Offline nctnico

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 26751
  • Country: nl
    • NCT Developments
Re: Good Wifi chip?
« Reply #18 on: October 14, 2015, 08:15:18 pm »
Still any sane importer will want to see proper certification papers. The importer is responsible for bringing products onto the EU market so any non-compliancy will be the importer's problem.

Finally, this chip has available hardware design that is not FCC certified, but FCC verified, so you can simply copy the design and you know it will pass the certification.
Unfortunately getting your board / product certified is not as simple as copying a design an expect it to pass verification. It is highly likely it passes certification but you can still mess things up and fail certification or there can be different rules applying to your particular product. For example: I'll be spending the next couple of days at a test house to re-certifiy the modifications to an existing design. Because it can be used in both industrial and domestic situations the most strict limits for each situation (domestic/industrial) applies. If Espressif only tested their design in an industrial or commercial environment it is likely not to pass in the other.
« Last Edit: October 14, 2015, 08:26:23 pm by nctnico »
There are small lies, big lies and then there is what is on the screen of your oscilloscope.
 

Offline richardmanTopic starter

  • Frequent Contributor
  • **
  • Posts: 427
  • Country: us
Re: Good Wifi chip?
« Reply #19 on: October 14, 2015, 08:32:16 pm »
OK, lets imagine this scenario:

Company X (i.e. us :-) ) wants to provide a drop-in OEM wifi-micro module for designers to use. Let's say we have a choice of using a Verified chipset or a Certified chipset.

Our end user, Company Y, takes our module and makes a Widget Z. Regardless our board's status, they will need to get their product Z FCC and other agency's certifications.

If we want to give them the "best chance" to succeed, is it better for us to use a chip that is Verified, or Certified, or does it not really matter?

It looks like the ESP8266 is Verified and the TI C3100 is certified.

Thanks.
// richard http://imagecraft.com/
JumpStart C++ for Cortex (compiler/IDE/debugger): the fastest easiest way to get productive on Cortex-M.
Smart.IO: phone App for embedded systems with no app or wireless coding
 

Offline neslekkim

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 1305
  • Country: no
Re: Good Wifi chip?
« Reply #20 on: October 14, 2015, 09:10:18 pm »
List prices:
TI C3100 - $20
ESP8266 - $2-$3

hmmm...

Depends on what you want to do, I'm not sure if ESP can handle SSL?, or multiple simultaneous sockets?
CC3100 is $6.7 at 1k units, CC3200 is $7.99 at 1k units, where did you find $20?

cc3200 is on same die as an cortex m4..  whereas cc3100 is just alone.
 

Offline richardmanTopic starter

  • Frequent Contributor
  • **
  • Posts: 427
  • Country: us
Re: Good Wifi chip?
« Reply #21 on: October 14, 2015, 10:22:34 pm »
All signs point to C3100 then :-) Thanks.
// richard http://imagecraft.com/
JumpStart C++ for Cortex (compiler/IDE/debugger): the fastest easiest way to get productive on Cortex-M.
Smart.IO: phone App for embedded systems with no app or wireless coding
 

Online Rasz

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 2616
  • Country: 00
    • My random blog.
Re: Good Wifi chip?
« Reply #22 on: October 14, 2015, 10:33:44 pm »
I'm not sure if ESP can handle SSL?

180MHz ...
Who logs in to gdm? Not I, said the duck.
My fireplace is on fire, but in all the wrong places.
 

Offline jnz

  • Frequent Contributor
  • **
  • Posts: 593
Re: Good Wifi chip?
« Reply #23 on: October 14, 2015, 10:46:47 pm »
FWIW... I'm went through the idea of certifying bluetooth smart, and stopped. Even at 10k units it wasn't worth my time compared to a module.

I like the BLE stuff from BlueGiga (Now SiliconLabs) and their Wifi line looks pretty good as well.
 

Offline ralphd

  • Frequent Contributor
  • **
  • Posts: 445
  • Country: ca
    • Nerd Ralph
Re: Good Wifi chip?
« Reply #24 on: October 14, 2015, 11:09:46 pm »
All signs point to C3100 then :-) Thanks.
Only if you don't like Realtek.  RTL8189ETV modules like the one used on the Banana Pi 2 are about $3.
Unthinking respect for authority is the greatest enemy of truth. Einstein
 


Share me

Digg  Facebook  SlashDot  Delicious  Technorati  Twitter  Google  Yahoo
Smf