Can CYW20706 used with third-party Bluetooth stack on main MCU via HCI H4 UART?

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mringwal
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Associated Partner - BlueKitchen GmbH
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Hi there. I'd like to know if the CYW20706 can be used directly via HCI H4 (ignoring the WICED Bluetooth stack on the chip) with a full stack on the main MCU, and if yes, how.

In the CYW920706WCDEVAL Evaluation Kit Hardware User Guide, I found this in chapter 9.3:

"In CYW20706, it is available only for application-defined HCI commands and events; it is not for Bluetooth standard HCI commands.

In CYW20706, it is used to communicate with the external MCU and does support Bluetooth standard HCI commands."

The first sentence says it's not possible, while the second one says it is.

The product number is similar to e.g. CYW20710 which did support HCI H4, so I thought it might be an interesting Bluetooth Controller to officially support in our Bluetooth stack. There aren't many new dual-mode chipsets released by other vendors...

Best regards

  Matthias Ringwald, BlueKitchen GmbH

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MichaelF_56
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The CYW20706 supported in the broad market and here on the IoT Community leverages an internally hosted proprietary stack.

If you are interested in other limited engagement type devices within the same family that could potentially support third party BT stacks, reach out to your local CY Sales team and talk to them about the CYW20707 or CYW20704(w/USB) to see if you qualify for an engagement on either device

Laird offers a series of fully certified partner modules based on the CYW20704 (BT850/BT860), so you may want to reach out to them as well: Laird Brings Bluetooth v4.2 Dual-Mode Connectivity to Updated Line of HCI Modules | LairdTech

ryan.erickson_1709311

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MichaelF_56
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The CYW20706 supported in the broad market and here on the IoT Community leverages an internally hosted proprietary stack.

If you are interested in other limited engagement type devices within the same family that could potentially support third party BT stacks, reach out to your local CY Sales team and talk to them about the CYW20707 or CYW20704(w/USB) to see if you qualify for an engagement on either device

Laird offers a series of fully certified partner modules based on the CYW20704 (BT850/BT860), so you may want to reach out to them as well: Laird Brings Bluetooth v4.2 Dual-Mode Connectivity to Updated Line of HCI Modules | LairdTech

ryan.erickson_1709311

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mringwal
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Thanks for your answer. We're based in Switzerland and there doesn't seem to be a local CY sales office. Should we try the one in Germany?

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MichaelF_56
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Checking with my counterpart in Europe.

sarn

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mringwal
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Thanks. Also for pointing me to the Laird modules. Their perfect for what I need (ordered one dev kit and a few of the USB dongles with the CYW20704A2).

The CYW20707 seems more like the CYW20706 and not offer H4 by default. Maybe this is why you suggested to get in contact with CY sales.

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MichaelF_56
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I think the datasheet suffers from the fact that all three devices are part of the same family with slight changes to the architectural and use case models each supports (Host based USB Dongle, HCI Controller, Hosted Stack).

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It's clear to me that CYW20707 or CYW20704 are more suitable options than CYW20706 when working with external 3rd party BT stacks.

However, CYW20706 has a broader market and this may be a strong plus.

So I’m interested in knowing the answer to the OP question:
is it possible to use the CYW20706 via HCI H4, ignoring the WICED Bluetooth stack on the chip?

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