Massimo Banzi —

The Arduino Wifi Shield is finally here!

We’ve been working for a while on this new wifi shield for Arduino that is quite different from what you can find already on the market.

Instead of just getting the usual pre-made module we decided to build a product that would encourage hacking and modifications so we decided to use an AVR32 processor running an open source version of TCP/IP and the WIFI software stack. The Arduino communicates over SPI with the AVR32 and this in turn controls the WIFI module, an HDG104 from H&D Wireless. Following the Arduino tradition the full software stack running on the AVR32 is released as open source as well as the Arduino library that controls the shield.

Having the full source for the software stack allows adding more complex protocols directly on the AVR32 without using the limited code space of the atmega328 on the Arduino. On top of this, skilled C developers can re-program the shield to operate as a standalone device without the need of an Arduino connected to it. Since we expect that there will be amazing new features created by the community we made updating its firmware very easy, just connect a usb cable to the shield. We believe this opens up to a lot of hacking potential.

Here are some of its features:

Connection via: 802.11b/g networks

Encryption types: WEP and WPA2 Persoanl

Connection with Arduino on SPI port

on-board micro SD slot

ICSP headers

FTDI connection for serial debugging of WiFi shield

Mini-USB for updating WiFi shield firmware

HDG104 Wireless LAN 802.11b/g System in-Package

Atmega 32UC3 32bit microcontroller

open source firmware.

For more details see the product page and on the wifi-shield on the Arduino Store.

We hope you will enjoy creating with the new member of the Arduino family.