Overview#
Getting Started with Wi-SUN#
Wireless Smart Ubiquitous Network (Wi-SUN) is the leading IPv6 sub-GHz mesh technology for smart city and smart utility applications. Wi-SUN brings Smart Ubiquitous Networks to service providers, utilities, municipalities/local government, and other enterprises, by enabling interoperable, multi-service, and secure wireless mesh networks. Wi-SUN can be used for large-scale outdoor IoT wireless communication networks in a wide range of applications covering both line-powered and battery-powered nodes.
Silicon Labs' Wi-SUN solution is certified by the Wi-SUN Alliance, a global industry association devoted to seamless LPWAN connectivity. Wi-SUN builds upon open standard internet protocols (IP) and APIs, enabling developers to extend existing infrastructure platforms to add new capabilities. Built to scale with long-range capabilities, high-data throughput, and IPv6 support, Wi-SUN simplifies wireless infrastructure for industrial applications and the evolution of smart cities.
As such, Silicon Labs provides a complete set of hardware and software solutions to help developers design their Wi-SUN wireless products:
Wi-SUN Stack#
The Wi-SUN stack API is the primary Application Programming Interface (API) for applications running on Silicon Labs EFR32 Wireless Gecko SoCs to interact with the Silicon Labs Wi-SUN FAN wireless stack. It allows the application to manage the connection to a Wi-SUN FAN network as well as to communicate with other devices in the network using a socket-based communication interface.
See the Wi-SUN Stack API for more details.
Stack Plugins#
Wi-SUN stack plugin components are software modules tightly linked to the stack that provide means to customize it: debug, manufacturing or Wi-SUN specific optional features. They can have significant impact on key capabilities and footprint.
RF Test provides low-level APIs to produce an RF tone or a modulated packet and calibrate the radio.
Stack Trace and Debug provides extended trace capabilities to the stack and stack plugin components.
Service Components#
The following software components are provided to help and accelerate Wi-SUN application developments by offering common functionalities. They can easily be added to an existing Wi-SUN application through Simplicity Studio graphical interface. The components are shared in source code in the Gecko SDK.
Application Core provides a set of high-level helper APIs designed to ease the application development.
Util Functions provides utility functions.
POSIX-compliant Socket provides a POSIX-compliant socket implementation on top of the stack socket API.
CoAP provides a CoAP (Constrained Application Protocol) implementation running on top of the Wi-SUN stack.
Ping provides a ping implementation based on the ICMPv6 protocol.
Versioning#
Silicon Labs Wi-SUN solution follows the Semantic Versioning guidelines for release cycle transparency and to maintain backward compatibility.
Silicon Labs Wi-SUN Documentation#
Getting Started#
Getting Started with Simplicity Studio 5 and the Gecko SDK - Describes downloading development tools and the Gecko SDK, which includes the Silicon Labs Wi-SUN SDK. Introduces the Simplicity Studio 5 interface.
QSG181: Silicon Labs Wi-SUN Quick-Start Guide - Describes how to get started with Wi-SUN development using the Silicon Labs Wi-SUN SDK and Simplicity Studio 5 with a compatible wireless starter kit (WSTK).
Developing with Wi-SUN#
UG495: Silicon Labs Silicon Labs Wi-SUN Developer's Guide - Reference for those developing applications using the Silicon Labs Wi-SUN SDK. The guide covers guidelines to develop an application on top of Silicon Labs Wi-SUN stack. The purpose of this document is to fill in the gaps between the Silicon Labs Wi-SUN Field Area Network (FAN) API reference, Gecko Platform references, and documentation for the target EFR32xG part.
AN1332: Silicon Labs Wi-SUN Network Setup and Configuration - Describes the test environment and methods for testing Wi-SUN network performance. The results are intended to provide guidance on design practices and principles as well as expected field performance results.
UG162: Simplicity Commander Reference Guide - Describes how and when to use Simplicity Commander's Command-Line Interface.
Security#
UG103.05: IoT Endpoint Security Fundamentals - Introduces the security concepts that must be considered when implementing an Internet of Things (IoT) system. Using the ioXt Alliance's eight security principles as a structure, it clearly delineates the solutions Silicon Labs provides to support endpoint security and what you must do outside of the Silicon Labs framework.
AN1311: Integrating Crypto Functionality Using PSA Crypto Compared to Mbed TLS - Describes how to integrate crypto functionality into applications using PSA Crypto compared to Mbed TLS.
Bootloading#
UG103.06: Bootloader Fundamentals - Introduces bootloading for Silicon Labs networking devices. Discusses the Gecko Bootloader as well as legacy Ember and Bluetooth bootloaders, and describes the file formats used by each.
UG489: Silicon Labs Gecko Bootloader User's Guide for GSDK 4.0 and Higher - Describes the high-level implementation of the Silicon Labs Gecko Bootloader for EFR32 SoCs and NCPs, and provides information on how to get started using the Gecko Bootloader with Silicon Labs wireless protocol stacks in GSDK 4.0 and higher.
Non-Volatile Data Storage#
UG103.07: Non-Volatile Data Storage Fundamentals - Introduces non-volatile data storage using flash and the three different storage implementations offered for Silicon Labs microcontrollers and SoCs: Simulated EEPROM, PS Store, and NVM3.
AN1135: Using Third Generation Non-Volatile Memory (NVM3) Data Storage - Explains how NVM3 can be used as non-volatile data storage in various protocol implementations.
Testing#
AN1330: Silicon Labs Wi-SUN Mesh Network Performance - Describes the test environment and methods for testing Wi-SUN network performance. The results are intended to provide guidance on design practices and principles as well as expected field performance results.