New TI CC3200 LaunchPad (ARM + Wifi chip) and CC3100 BoosterPack (Wifi chip) - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: remixed123
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: June 17, 2014, 02:15:15 pm
content: Some new chips from TI, and they are available as a LaunchPad and BoosterPacks.And they look great!The CC3200 is an ARM Cortex M4 MCU and WIFI chip all in one.The CC3100 is a Wifi Chip that requires a host MCU.CC3200 LaunchPad and CC3100 BoosterPacksCC3200-LAUNCHXL - SimpleLink Wi-Fi CC3200 LaunchPad -https://estore.ti.com/cc3200-launchxl.aspx?ItemId=7942055CC3100BOOST - SimpleLink Wi-Fi CC3100 BoosterPack -https://estore.ti.com/cc3100boost.aspx?ItemId=7942061CC31XXEMUBOOST - Advanced Emulation BoosterPack for SimpleLink Wi-Fi CC3100 BoosterPack -https://estore.ti.com/cc31xxemuboost.aspx?ItemId=7942062andCC31xx & CC32xx Wiki -http://processors.wiki.ti.com/index.php/CC31xx_%26_CC32xxCC31xx Quick Start -http://processors.wiki.ti.com/index.php/CC31xx_Quick_Start_Guide?keyMatch=cc3100&tisearch=Search-ENCC32xx QuickStart -http://processors.wiki.ti.com/index.php/CC32xx_Quick_Start_Guide?keyMatch=cc3200&tisearch=Search-ENGlenn

author: westfw
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 19, 2014, 08:55:10 am
content: Interesting that the new launch pad has an ftdi based debugger circuitry. Can't they pick one design for that part of the launch pad and stick with it?

author: motocoder
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: June 19, 2014, 09:36:33 am
content: Quote from: westfw on June 19, 2014, 08:55:10 amWhat was the old design? The support in tools like openocd for the ftdi x232 parts is really good, so maybe that's why they went that route.

author: remixed123
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: June 19, 2014, 04:27:43 pm
content: Quote from: westfw on June 19, 2014, 08:55:10 amI do not believe this has changed from other LaunchPads, the Stellaris and Tiva C LaunchPads used a FTDI-based ICDI (In-Circuit Debug Interface).Of course you also have JTAG and Serial Wire Debug (SWD) available, as is GNU Debugger (GDB) support over Open On chip debugger (OpenOCD). So lots of options for programming and debugging.Surely this isn't the most interesting aspect of this announcement. How about the CC3200 being the industry's first single chip MCU and Wifi with IOT (Internet Of Things) support out of the box! Intel's Edison has been getting a lot of press, yet they still haven't released a development board.Also, you need to check out SmartConfig, this is truly amazing technology that makes joining a headless device (device without a screen) to a WiFi network simple enough for anyone to do.Glenn.

author: westfw
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 19, 2014, 05:42:37 pm
content: QuoteTiva launchpads (including the new "connected" launchpad) use a second Tiva chip to provide the debug connection.FRAM MSP430 Launchpad has a USB-capable MSP430 chip for debug.Original MSP430G Launchpads had a TUSB3410 USB chip and a non-USB MSP430.C2000 Launchpads have an FTDI circuit.I dunno. It just surprises me. You'd think the whole USB to JTAG+Serial thing would be generic enough to do one hardware implementation, and then put the firmware through some improved revisions till everything was perfect. I wouldn't be surprised if each launchpad was designed by a separate contractor, but I'd still think that the interface would be IP worth sharing.

author: Harvs
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 20, 2014, 01:08:24 am
content: Might be great, but with the amount of products out there already in this IOT space I can wait until they have actual production silicon before I start looking at it seriously.

author: remixed123
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: June 20, 2014, 04:46:31 am
content: Quote from: Harvs on June 20, 2014, 01:08:24 amProduction silicon next month (July). Depending on your purposes, you may want to wait till September for when they release the modules. These will be FCC Certified and will have a shield can (http://processors.wiki.ti.com/index.php/CC31xx_%26_CC32xx_Certifications). They will also make it even easier to design a board.You can find out more, including volume pricing here -http://newscenter.ti.com/2014-06-16-Add-Wi-Fi-to-anything-with-TIs-Internet-on-a-chipGlenn.

author: remixed123
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: June 20, 2014, 05:08:34 am
content: Quote from: westfw on June 19, 2014, 05:42:37 pmYou are right, they are using an actual FTDI chip with the CC3200, while the Tiva C LaunchPads emulated the FTDI protocol in the second Tiva C chip.I don't think they waste too much IP, as I believe they are still using the same interface protocol, so the drivers and tools remain the same. Also, FTDI is just a vendor specific implementation of USB CDC (Communications Device Class) ACM (Abstract Control Model) which emulates a serial port over USB, and hence there is a fair bit of IP available. As for the hardware, I'm thinking they likely make their decision based on BOM costs rather than IP.Glenn.

author: westfw
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 20, 2014, 06:44:40 am
content: So how is the cc3100 different from the cc3000 that's been shipping for a while now?I guess the cc3200 allows user code on the processor, which is different (and hopefully implemented in a way that will be useful.)

author: remixed123
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: June 20, 2014, 08:30:26 am
content: Quote from: westfw on June 20, 2014, 06:44:40 amThe CC3100 is different in many ways, including architecture and features. The APIs seem similar, so you can migrate code from the CC3000.Additional features include, 802.11n, increased sockets, Station and WiFi Direct, configurations options include manual and WPS (and of course SmartConfig) and it now supports 256 Bit AES for TLS and SSL, reduced power consumption and extensive power management options.Glenn.

author: jeremy
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 20, 2014, 10:09:18 am
content: WPA2 enterprise, wow! This might actually work in corporate environments

author: Scrts
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: June 20, 2014, 10:50:16 am
content: Who knows the maximum bandwidth? I've heard somewhere that it's 12Mbps max?

author: jeremy
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 20, 2014, 11:10:08 am
content: fromhttp://www.ti.com/lit/ds/swas032d/swas032d.pdfpage 50:TCP: 12 MbpsUDP: 16 MbpsMore than enough for the target market I think.

author: Scrts
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: June 20, 2014, 11:38:07 am
content: Well... It dependsLet's say 12Mbps should be fine for FullHD h264 encoded video, but could be not enough sometimes.

author: jeremy
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 20, 2014, 11:41:38 am
content: FullHD video? I think these are designed to send you a message when your toast is cooked

author: Scrts
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: June 20, 2014, 11:50:52 am
content: It has camera interface. You can easily use that interface to send encoded/compressed video instead of uncompressed camera stream

author: remixed123
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: June 20, 2014, 04:03:04 pm
content: Quote from: Scrts on June 20, 2014, 11:50:52 amThere is a camera booster pack on the way (VGA) -http://processors.wiki.ti.com/index.php/CC32xx_Camera_Application

author: JTR
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: June 21, 2014, 08:26:03 pm
content: Quote from: jeremy on June 20, 2014, 11:41:38 amYeah, but some of us arereallyinpatient for our toast.

author: Scrts
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: June 22, 2014, 02:23:33 pm
content: And did someone think of what GUI+compiler to use? CCS is free only up to 16kb of code. IAR isn't free also. Eclipse+GCC? Anyone using this on TiVa?

author: remixed123
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: June 22, 2014, 02:52:04 pm
content: Quote from: Scrts on June 22, 2014, 02:23:33 pmI'm using TI's Code Composer Studio v6 (CCS) which is free when using with a LaunchPad or their entry level debugger/programmer, and it also comes with TI-RTOS which is a great real-time OS when working with TI's stuff.The only thing I wish TI would release is a Macintosh version of CCS! They currently have a version for Windows and Linux.More details on CCS here -http://www.ti.com/tool/ccstudioHere are the licensing details:Pricing and availabilityFree licenses of Code Composer Studio are available when using a development board with an integrated debug interface or when using the ultra-low cost XDS100 debug probe (priced at $79). MSP430 users can use a free 16KB code size limited license with the TI compiler or unlimited code size with GCC. The full platinum license for all TI embedded processors is available at the price of $495. Code Composer Studio v6 is also free for Linux and Android application developers who do not require a JTAG debugger.

author: Scrts
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: June 22, 2014, 07:24:52 pm
content: Hmm, my bad, I thought it's limited to all micros @ 16kb of code.

author: remixed123
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: June 23, 2014, 03:02:29 am
content: It has become free since CCS v6.There are many improvements with CCS v6, everything you could need is available via the IDE. So it is simple to find and install additional resources like libraries, examples, SDKs, real-time operating systems (RTOSs), etc.And of particular interest to new developers, CCS v6 now supports the Energia platform, which brings the Wiring and Arduino frameworks to TI MCUs. There is also a "simple mode", which turns off all the complexity usually found in an IDE, which makes it easier for a new user to learn and use.

author: jeremy
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 23, 2014, 03:06:09 am
content: http://www.ti.com/tool/ccstudio#buy?

author: remixed123
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: June 23, 2014, 03:27:20 am
content: Quote from: jeremy on June 23, 2014, 03:06:09 amYou will need to buy it for a custom board you have developed when using a programmer/debugger other than the entry level XDS100.When developing against the LaunchPad or when using the XDS100 programmer/debugger on a custom board it is free.So basically you will need to purchase CCS when using a faster and expensive programmer/debugger on your own custom board. If you just need to program your custom boards during production, you can use the free UniFlash software with a fast programmer/debugger.Basically, TI have made it completely free if you want it to be free.

author: Scrts
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: June 23, 2014, 10:39:53 am
content: Well, then there's a question if it's worth tying up with TI-RTOS and make the code hardly portable to other devices...

author: remixed123
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: June 23, 2014, 11:34:37 am
content: Quote from: Scrts on June 23, 2014, 10:39:53 amYou certainly don't need to use TI-RTOS, you could just as easily use FreeRTOS or one of the many other RTOSes out there, or if you don't need the features provided by an RTOS, you could just go bare-metal.As for portability, well it really depends on what you are developing, and since embedded programming is all about programming for hardware, I don't think the portability argument is the same as those for higher level programming like web development. For example, I need to use a SPI peripheral in my code, some of this code is going to be specific to the MCU and it will not matter if I use an RTOS or not, it just will not be easily ported to another chipset, even another chip of the same family can contain a lot of differences in code. The algorithms on the other hand, that I have created that perform the SPI communication are just C code, and these can be ported to what ever device quite easily, and most of the work is in these algorithms and not the hardware specific code.From my perspective, if you don't need the code to be portable, it's just quicker and easier to use a completely integrated tool chain.Anyway, these are just my thoughts, I know there are many arguments for both sides of this debate!

author: LukeW
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: September 04, 2014, 03:07:07 am
content: Any idea how long it will take for us to see decent stock availability for the 3100/3200 silicon? (Just the chips themselves, not the Launchpad/Boosterpack etc dev boards.) DigiKey currently has stock of the dev boards, but no stock of silicon for either of them.