CIE Components in Electronics
Cypress Semiconductor Corp. has announced its cutting-edge, dual-band 802.11ac combo solution, which delivers high-speed Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connections using advanced Bluetooth and Wi-Fi coexistence algorithms, is now in production. The solution is used in the new Nintendo Switch gaming system to support online gaming and communication to the innovative Joy-Con controllers.
The Nintendo Switch system, with its multiple configurations and portable controllers, needed a careful and innovative design to deliver the smooth user experience gamers expect. Cypress’ 802.11ac solution delivered the robust speed and multi-radio coexistence portion of that design.
Leveraging the power of the IEEE 802.11ac WLAN standard, Cypress’ CY4356EC Wi-Fi and Bluetooth combo solution provides up to 837 Mbps data rates and up to 2×2 Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) support. The high-speed solution enables fast downloads and interactive online multiplayer gaming with low latency, along with enhanced coexistence for play with multiple systems and controller units. The CY4356EC is a low-power system-on-chip, helping to prolong the battery life of the portable system.
“Nintendo Switch is a perfect example of the increasing number of emerging applications that can benefit from the high performance and advanced coexistence our dual-band 802.11ac solutions offer,” said Michael Hogan, vice president of the IoT Business Unit at Cypress. “High-speed Wi-Fi helps provide low-latency for gaming online, and our enhanced Bluetooth coexistence allows uninterrupted play with up to four pairs of the system’s unique Joy-Con controllers. At the same time, you need low power consumption to add to the system’s portability. Bringing this all together is no small feat, so we’re very pleased that our 802.11ac solution helped Nintendo Switch meet the challenge.”
Cypress is demonstrating its full portfolio of IoT solutions for connected cars, the industrial IoT, smart home appliances, wearables and a wide range of applications, along with its supporting Wireless Internet Connectivity for Embedded Devices (WICED) Studio 4 software development kit (SDK), at the Embedded World trade show in Nuremberg, Germany in hall 4A, stand 148 of the Nuremberg Exhibition Centre from March 14-16. The portfolio enables developers to combine Cypress’ state-of-the-art Wi-Fi and Bluetooth IoT connectivity solutions with its PSoC and general purpose MCUs and CapSense capacitive-sensing solutions, analog Power Management ICs (PMICs), USB-based connectivity solutions and high-performance memories to get products to market quickly.
About Cypress WICED Studio 4 IoT Development Platform
The Cypress WICED Studio 4 IoT development platform features an integrated and interoperable wireless software development kit. The kit includes rigorously tested Wi-Fi and Bluetooth protocol stacks, as well as simplified application programming interfaces that free developers from needing to learn complex wireless technologies. In line with the IoT trend toward dual-mode connectivity, the kit supports Cypress’ Wi-Fi and Bluetooth combination solution and its Bluetooth and Bluetooth Low Energy combination solution. The SDK enables cloud connectivity in minutes with its robust libraries that uniquely integrate popular cloud services such as Amazon Web Services, IBM Bluemix, Alibaba Cloud, and Microsoft Azure, along with services from private cloud partners.
Cypress’s WICED Studio 4 connectivity suite is microcontroller (MCU)-agnostic and provides ready support for a variety of third-party MCUs to address the needs of complex IoT applications. The platform also enables cost efficient solutions for simple IoT applications by integrating MCU functionality into the connectivity device. Wi-Fi and Bluetooth protocol stacks can run transparently on a host MCU or in embedded mode, allowing for flexible platform architectures with common firmware.
