12
SWRU455A – February 2017 – Revised March 2017
Copyright © 2017, Texas Instruments Incorporated
Overview
SimpleLink, Internet-on-a chip, Texas Instruments, SmartConfig are trademarks of Texas Instruments.
ARM, Cortex are registered trademarks of ARM Limited.
Bluetooth
is a registered trademark of Bluetooth SIG, Inc.
Google is a registered trademark of Google, Inc.
Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi Direct are registered trademarks of Wi-Fi Alliance.
All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
Chapter 1
SWRU455A – February 2017 – Revised March 2017
Overview
The CC3120 and CC3220 devices are part of the SimpleLink™ microcontroller (MCU) platform which
consists of Wi-Fi
®
,
Bluetooth
®
low energy, Sub-1 GHz and host MCUs, which all share a common, easy-
to-use development environment with a single core software development kit (SDK) and rich tool set. A
one-time integration of the SimpleLink platform enables you to add any combination of the portfolio’s
devices into your design, allowing 100 percent code reuse when your design requirements change. For
more information, visit
.
The SimpleLink Wi-Fi Internet-on-a chip™ family of devices from Texas Instruments™ provides a suite of
integrated protocols for Wi-Fi and Internet connectivity, to dramatically simplify the implementation of
Internet-enabled devices and applications.
This document provides software (SW) programmers with all of the required knowledge for working with
the networking subsystem of the SimpleLink Wi-Fi devices. This guide provides basic guidelines for writing
robust, optimized networking host applications, and describes the capabilities of the networking
subsystem. The guide contains some example code snapshots, to give users an idea of how to work with
the host driver. More comprehensive code examples can be found in the formal software development kit
(SDK). This guide does not provide a detailed description of the host driver APIs.
This chapter gives a brief introduction to the networking subsystem, lists the key features of the device,
and provides an overview of the host driver.
1.1
Introduction
The SimpleLink Wi-Fi CC3120 wireless network processor allows the connection of any low-cost, low-
power microcontroller (MCU) to the Internet of Things (IoT), using standard communication interfaces
such as SPI or UART.
The SimpleLink Wi-Fi CC3220x is a wireless MCU with an integrated high-performance ARM
®
Cortex
®
-M4
MCU, built-in Wi-Fi, and a networking subsystem, allowing developers to write an entire application with a
single-chip solution.
The CC3120 and CC3220 devices are the second generation of TI’s Internet-on-a chip solutions. This
generation introduces new features and capabilities that further simplify connectivity of devices to the
Internet. The new capabilities include:
•
Support for IPv6
•
Improved Wi-Fi provisioning
•
Improved power consumption
•
More concurrent opened BSD and SSL/TLS sockets
•
HTTPS – Integrated secure http server
•
File system security capabilities
•
Image programming
•
Wi-Fi access point (AP) with support of up to four stations