SoftAP

Introduction

SoftAP is a traditional method. First, the IoT device to be configured establishes an AP. The user connects a smartphone, tablet, or other devices with HCIs to this AP, and sends information about the network providing device. Then, the IoT device looks for the corresponding network and connects with it. Figure 7.21 shows the steps of SoftAP network configuration.

The SoftAP mechanism connects devices directly to the LAN without routers, thereby preventing router compatibility issues. This makes it easier to successfully configure the network compared with SmartConfig. But the downside is that there is an extra step for connection, as we need to manually switch to the IoT SoftAP in the Wi-Fi list. If we want to access cloud services, we still need a router. Some smartphones may automatically switch APs, but with iOS 11.0 or previous versions, we need to do the extra settings manually.

Configuration

Figure 7.22 indicates how to configure networks via SoftAP.

In-depth introduction to SoftAP will be given later together with Wi-Fi programming.