Mistral Unveils WLAN Solution for DaVinci
By CXOtoday Staff
Mumbai, Mar 8, 2007

Mistral Software, a product realization company specializing in real-time embedded solutions announced the availability of their WLAN solution for Da Vinci.

The WLAN solution, ideal for product developers building wireless products developers building wireless products like feature phones, smart phones, PDAs, gaming devices, medical devices, VoIP, security cameras, video conferencing and network projectors.

"The DaVinci ships with both Windows CE and Linux. There are some customers who are working with Linux and others with WinCE. Our solution enables Wireless LAN irrespective of the approach that the final customer takes," said Samyeer Metrani, VP- Product Development, Mistral software. It consists of rich, small footprint WLAN module from Murata - WLAN6101EB bundled with a comprehensive software package comprising of the WLAN and SDIO drivers available on Linux or Windows CE.

Made available using the WLAN6101 from SyChip, Inc. a subsidiary of Murata, the host interface for the WLAN module is provided via the 4-bit SDIO slot on the DaVinci DVEVM. The software comprising of WLAN and SDIO drivers is available for both Microsoft's Windows Embedded CE and Linux platforms.

The solution provides a significant advantage in development time and ultimately time to market for a host of devices where fast design cycles, minimum package volumes and ultra low power consumption are required.

In addition to the SDIO and WLAN drivers, the WLAN Solution for DaVinci consists of WLAN6101 based Evaluation Kit for SDIO (WLAN6101SD-EVK) from Murata to begin development on TI's DVEVM. It also includes WLAN 6101EB Modules from Murata to help customers implement their wireless application on their hardware.

When asked whether, this was Mistral's first tryst with Linux, Metrani said," This is the first comprehensive WLAN solution for the DaVinci Processor. We have both hardware and software working with the DaVinci board. We are providing a one-stop solution where people can also purchase low volume WLAN chipsets from us. Usually it is difficult for somebody building a design to get the larger WLAN chipset manufacturers to sell to them."

Metrani concluded that both Linux solution and Windows CE solution have a neck-to-neck demand. The choice is usually made based on application software availability.