4 ms·

Very useful - so does the wifi chip have faster ARM cores than the RP2040 microcontroller which has M0+ cores is what I'm wondering now.

by Zenst 4y ago

unwind 4y ago
The cores are faster/better, but the one public document I found [1] without logging in to Infineon does not specify how they are clocked. Weirdly, the document says that both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth have M3 cores, no M4 mentioned. The chapter on Wi-Fi says this: 10.1 WLAN CPU and Memory Subsystem The CYW43439 includes an integrated ARM Cortex-M3 processor with internal RAM and ROM. [...] On-chip memory for the CPU includes 512 KB SRAM and 640 KB ROM And for Bluetooth it has this: 8. Microprocessor and Memory Unit for Bluetooth The Bluetooth microprocessor core is based on the ARM Cortex-M3 32-bit RISC processor with embedded ICE-RT debug and JTAG interface units. It runs software from the link control (LC) layer up to the host controller interface (HCI). The ARM core is paired with a memory unit that contains 576 KB of ROM for program storage and boot ROM, and 160 KB of RAM for data scratch-pad and patch RAM code. Strange and confusing. Edit: quote markup, added mising section number for BT. [1]: https://www.infineon.com/dgdl/Infineon-CYW43439-Single-Chip-IEEE-802.11-b-g-n-MAC-PHY-Radio-with-Integrated-Bluetooth-5.0-Compliance-AdditionalTechnicalInformation-v03_00-EN.pdf?fileId=8ac78c8c7ddc01d7017ddd033d78594d https://www.infineon.com/dgdl/Infineon-CYW43439-Single-Chip-...
- Zenst 4y ago
  I found under the block diagram of https://www.infineon.com/cms/en/product/wireless-connectivity/airoc-wi-fi-plus-bluetooth-combos/cyw43439/ https://www.infineon.com/cms/en/product/wireless-connectivit... Does shows it does have an M4 as you stated, that is for the BT stack.
anotherhue 4y ago
Likely, the computation needed for n almost certainly exceeds that needed for basic IoT logic.
baybal2 4y ago
Yes, and that's why ESP32 can be so cheap. They just run the WiFi stack on the same core, and they got very good know-how on the side of hardware<->RTOS interaction how to make it viable (very hard.) Imho, non-wireless-intergrated MCUs will go extinct in IoT very soon. They also have the best mixed signal out of every other scrawny IoT startup who uses off-the-shelf IP.

Very useful - so does the wifi chip have faster ARM cores than the RP2040 microcontroller which has M0+ cores is what I'm wondering now.

by Zenst 4y ago

Very useful - so does the wifi chip have faster ARM cores than the RP2040 microcontroller which has M0+ cores is what I'm wondering now.

unwind 4y ago

The cores are faster/better, but the one public document I found [1] without logging in to Infineon does not specify how they are clocked. Weirdly, the document says that both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth have M3 cores, no M4 mentioned. The chapter on Wi-Fi says this: 10.1 WLAN CPU and Memory Subsystem The CYW43439 includes an integrated ARM Cortex-M3 processor with internal RAM and ROM. [...] On-chip memory for the CPU includes 512 KB SRAM and 640 KB ROM And for Bluetooth it has this: 8. Microprocessor and Memory Unit for Bluetooth The Bluetooth microprocessor core is based on the ARM Cortex-M3 32-bit RISC processor with embedded ICE-RT debug and JTAG interface units. It runs software from the link control (LC) layer up to the host controller interface (HCI). The ARM core is paired with a memory unit that contains 576 KB of ROM for program storage and boot ROM, and 160 KB of RAM for data scratch-pad and patch RAM code. Strange and confusing. Edit: quote markup, added mising section number for BT. [1]: https://www.infineon.com/dgdl/Infineon-CYW43439-Single-Chip-IEEE-802.11-b-g-n-MAC-PHY-Radio-with-Integrated-Bluetooth-5.0-Compliance-AdditionalTechnicalInformation-v03_00-EN.pdf?fileId=8ac78c8c7ddc01d7017ddd033d78594d https://www.infineon.com/dgdl/Infineon-CYW43439-Single-Chip-...

Zenst 4y ago
I found under the block diagram of https://www.infineon.com/cms/en/product/wireless-connectivity/airoc-wi-fi-plus-bluetooth-combos/cyw43439/ https://www.infineon.com/cms/en/product/wireless-connectivit... Does shows it does have an M4 as you stated, that is for the BT stack.

anotherhue 4y ago

Likely, the computation needed for n almost certainly exceeds that needed for basic IoT logic.

baybal2 4y ago

Yes, and that's why ESP32 can be so cheap. They just run the WiFi stack on the same core, and they got very good know-how on the side of hardware<->RTOS interaction how to make it viable (very hard.) Imho, non-wireless-intergrated MCUs will go extinct in IoT very soon. They also have the best mixed signal out of every other scrawny IoT startup who uses off-the-shelf IP.