6 Jan 2012

The new Arduino Wifi Shield from async_labs can become a new standard in bridging the gap between serial ports and wireless communications in embedded systems. It can transfer data to or from an Arduino board with an SPI interface at speeds up to 25MHz. The Arduino WiFi shield then provides 802.11b connectivity for wireless communication between an Arduino board and the Internet.

The Arduino WiFi shield is an add-on board based on the ZeroG WiFi module, which is a Wifi micro module made by H&D Wireless. This add-on board offers huge advantages over existing Wifi shields in that it has its own processor (AVR32), and it has the full TCP-IP stack which allows it to become completely hackable for use with customized protocols or other system requirements.

This device is capable of setting up its own network and/or connecting to other wireless networks. There is software available which enables a WiShield-equipped Arduino to act as a web server and a web client concurrently. This is the WiServer code, which is an easy-to-use HTTP library designed for use with the WiShield. It can use various encryption protocols, such as WEP and WPA/WPA2.

The Arduino WiFi shield is compatible with thenew Arduino 1.0 software, and it is also possible to migrate code from the Ethernet Shield with minor changes. The power needed for the shield is 165mA while transmitting and 85mA while receiving.