The device supports multiple connection policies. These policies define how the device initiates the connection, and helps to maintain a specific connection configuration after reset, which is appropriate for the desired use case. The WLAN connection policy supports four options for connecting the SimpleLink Wi-Fi device to a given AP.

The four options for the connection policy:

• Auto – The device tries to connect to an AP from the stored profiles based on priority. Up to seven profiles are supported. On the connection attempt, the device selects the highest priority profile. If several profiles are within the same priority, the decision is made based on the security type (WPA3>WPA2+PMF>WPA\WPA2>WEP>OPEN). If the security type is also the same, the selection is based on the received signal strength.

  Set the Auto policy with the following macro: SL_WLAN_CONNECTION_POLICY(1,0,0,0)

• Fast – The device tries to connect to the last connected AP. In this mode, the probe request is not transmitted before the authentication request, as both the SSID and channel are known from previous successful connection.
  • If the Auto policy is also enabled (Auto and Fast), then a profile exists and previous successful connection was performed to this profile. After reset, the device tries to connect to the same profile with no scan (no probe request transmission). If this connection fails, the device starts scanning according to stored profile priority.
  • If the Fast policy is enabled independently and a previous successful connection exists, after reset the device tries to connect to the same AP with no scan (no probe request transmission). If this connection fails, no further scan is performed.

    Set the Auto and Fast policy with the following macro: SL_WLAN_CONNECTION_POLICY(1,1,0,0)

  • If Fast policy is enabled and the last connection was WPA2+PMF\WPA3, the device connects successfully after reset only if the last connection terminated gracefully, meaning, sl_stop with timeout was called before shutdown. This is because the AP expects to get an encrypted deauthentication message from the device before leaving (sent during sl_stop with timeout), or it rejects the association after reset.
• AnyP2P – Relevant for Wi-Fi-Direct mode only. The device immediately tries to connect to the first Wi-Fi direct device available, supporting push-button only.

  Set the Auto and AnyP2P with the following macro: SL_WLAN_CONNECTION_POLICY(1,0,1,0)

• Auto Provisioning – The device automatically starts the provisioning process if 2 seconds have passed since reset without receiving any command from the host, while no saved profiles exist. Or the device automatically starts the provisioning process after 2 minutes of disconnection, while saved profiles exist (for more information, refer to Section 10.4.6).

  Set the Auto and Auto Provisioning with the following macro: SL_WLAN_CONNECTION_POLICY(1,0,0,1)

  More than one connection policy can be set, for example Auto and Fast and Auto provisioning. The connection policy enabled by default is Auto and Auto Provisioning. Setting the connection policy takes effect immediately. For example, if setting the Auto policy and profiles exists, a connection attempt to the highest priority profile is immediately triggered. This configuration is persistent according to the system-persistent configuration, or can be non-persistent upon flag configuration (see example below).

  Set persistent connection policy example:

  _i16 Status;
  Status = sl_WlanPolicySet(SL_WLAN_POLICY_CONNECTION,SL_WLAN_CONNECTION_POLICY(1,1,0,1),NULL,0);
  if( Status )
  {
  /* error */
  }

  Set non-persistent connection policy example:

  _i16 Status;
  uint32_t flags = 0;
          flags |= SL_WLAN_CONN_POLICY_NON_PERSISTENT_FLAG;
          Status= sl_WlanPolicySet(SL_WLAN_POLICY_CONNECTION,SL_WLAN_CONNECTION_POLICY(1,0,0,0),&flags,sizeof(flags));
  if( Status )
  {
  /* error */
  }