Raspberry Pi: Raspbian Wi-Fi Lower MAC Driver Example #

Note: if you have an SD card version 2.2, please use this documentation (the version is printed on the SD card's package)

The WF200/WFM200 Wi-Fi Expansion Boards are the best to explore the capabilities of the WF(M)200 Wi-Fi Transceivers. The kits contain an expansion board that can be connected to a Rapsberry Pi 2B, 3B, 3B+ or 4B. The expansion board allows the Raspberry Pi MCU to connect to a WF(M)200 Wi-Fi part, which can connect to Wi-Fi networks, but also be an Access Point to which other devices can connect.

This document describes how to connect the WF(M)200 Wi-Fi EXP Board to a Raspberry Pi and run a demo.

Getting Started #

This demonstration runs the Wi-Fi Lower MAC driver meant to communicate with the WF(M)200 Silicon Labs Wi-Fi transceivers. The Wi-Fi Lower MAC driver is used by mac80211/cfg80211 like many other Linux Wi-Fi drivers.

Naming convention

• SoftAP : WF(M)200 configured in Wi-Fi Software-enabled Access Point mode
• Station : WF(M)200 configured in Wi-Fi Station mode
• AP : Any 'home network' or 'office network' Wi-Fi Access Point
• Device : The PC or phone used to access the demo

Requirements #

Hardware Prerequisites #

To properly use the example you need the following hardware:

• A Wi-Fi Expansion Kit

• A Raspberry Pi (if not included in your kit)
  • As from SD 3.1 onwards the SD card image is compatible with Raspberry Pi 2B, 3B, 3B+ & 4B, so any Raspberry Pi in this list is ok
• A Raspberry Pi Power Supply (if not included in your kit)
• A micro SD Card with at least 8Gbyte capacity
• A Device with Wi-Fi capability (to connect to the SoftAP)
• A home or office Wi-Fi AP you can connect to (with known credentials)

Software Prerequisites #

For initial demonstration purposes, no software is required except the SD card delivered with the kit.

Set up your Kit #

Once you have the above resources, follow the steps described below (you can refer to the image below):

• On the Wi-Fi Expansion Kit
  • Set the [POWER] switch to On Board LDO
  • Set the 'communication' switch to SDIO
• Plug the Wi-Fi Expansion Kit on top of the Raspberry Pi
• Insert the SD Card in the Raspberry Pi SD card slot

Network Security Notice #

Since the SoftAP credentials are publicly documented in the following pages, refer to our security notice .

Start the Example #

• Connect the power supply to the USB port of the Raspberry Pi

The Raspberry Pi will boot and start the SoftAP .

Note : On the very first boot, make sure to leave the Raspberry Pi powered for at least 1 minute, since it will automatically expand the file system to take advantage of the entire SD card capacity.

You're ready to move to the demonstration matching your SD card version:

• SD 3.1 Wi-Fi commissioning demonstration
• SD 3.2 Wi-Fi commissioning demonstration