SWRU368C May 2018 – January 2021 CC3100 , CC3100MOD , CC3200 , CC3200MOD
Wi-Fi Protected Setup (WPS) is the only industry standard available today for provisioning of headless devices. It was introduced by the Wi-Fi Alliance in 2006 as an easy and secure method to provision devices without knowing the network name and without typing long passwords. The standard defines two mandatory methods for WPS-enabled Access Points (APs): Personal Identification Number (PIN) method and PushButton-Connect (PBC) method.
Push-button: Push the W+PS button in the AP or, if the button is not available, start the WPS process using the GUI of the AP. The AP will enter the WPS provisioning process for 2 minutes. During this period, the SimpleLink device should also enter the WPS provisioning process by calling the sl_WlanConnect API with WPS parameters (see Section 7.4.3). For example, calling this API can be mapped to a push-button in the MCU. A wireless network with a network name and security is configured automatically at the end of this process.
PIN-based: Enter the pin generated by the host using the GUI of the AP. The AP will enter WPS provisioning process for 2 minutes. During this period, the SimpleLink device should also enter the WPS provisioning process by calling the sl_WlanConnect API with WPS parameters (see Section 7.4.3). A wireless network with a network name and security is configured automatically at the end of this process.
Once the WPS process completes successfully, connection with the AP is established in the correct security setting according to the configuration of the AP (Open, WEP, WPA, or WPA2). The connection parameters are saved as a profile. Using the connection policy AUTO triggers a re-connection after a reset.