BCM4343W and Cyrpress MCU

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AnYe_1301376
Level 1
Level 1

I'm a bit confused about the WICED wifi/ble modules and cypress MCU?   Do these modules have a MCU and if so why don't they have  cypress Cortex chip?

My question is?

Do i just need  BCM4343W to create a self running wireless device?

If i need a MCU to connect to the module, can i i use a cypress chip or use a STM chip? Hence, is this supported through the Cypress IDE?

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3 Replies
SamL_71
Employee
Employee
Welcome! First reply posted

++Solomon and Romo, who are responsible for WICED product.

Solomon and Romo, Would you guys have an answer about this?

Regards,

Sam Lee

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MichaelF_56
Moderator
Moderator
Moderator
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It's important to understand that WICED™ generally indicates a black box module (simple external serial interface expected) where a Cypress wireless radio is used in conjunction with a small MCU combined with a lightweight RTOS like FreeRTOS or ThreadX. Cypress really only makes the chips that go in these production/certified partner modules.  In addition, we produce an SDK and a Dev Kit customers can use for development.  However, our module partners (see table in the 2016 IoT Solutions Guide), which build the actual production modules you would use, often will also supply their own development boards and lower barrier to entry SW development environments.

In addition to WICED, we also have partners that support Linux "Radio Only" modules.  For these modules, one develops on a higher end Cortex A type processor and uses a Linux Driver package to interface (normally SDIO) to the radio module which is provided by the CPU manufacture, which in most cases is NXP/Freescale i.MX based.

The gray area between these two is that some module partners will actually support development on your own MCU using the WICED SW stack.  Vendors like Inventek Systems refers to this type of implementation as "Virtual WICED"

There is a thread here on the topic: WICED vs Virtual WICED

For the most part, the traditional WICED MCU and pre-existing Linux implementations discussed above and represented hereWi-Fi/Bluetooth for Linux and Android and here Murata Wi-Fi/Bluetooth for Linux and Android, are really all that's supported here on the forum by Cypress AEs.  For other non traditional implementations, you will need to engage with the module partner themselves (Partners), or through one of our regional franchised Distributors

MichaelF_56
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The acquisition by Cypress of Broadcom's WICED/IoT group closed on July 5th. Until this time, most of the WICED solutions leverages ST Micro MCU solutions, but I imagine that there will be future development with Cypress MCU solutions as well.  The WICED solutions are not supported today within the PSoC development environment (PSoC Creator).

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