NINA-W1 series - User Manual 
     
⚠  When taking VCC supplies from an SMPS make sure that the AC ripple voltage is kept as low as 
possible  at  the  switching  frequency.  Design  layouts  should  focus  on  minimizing  the  impact  of 
any high-frequency ringing.  
Use  an  LDO  linear  regulator  for  primary  VCC  supplies  that  have  a  relatively  low  voltage.  As  LDO 
linear  regulators  dissipate  a  considerable  amount  of  energy,  LDOs  are  not  recommended  for  the 
step down of high voltages.  
DC/DC  efficiency  should  be regarded  as  a  trade-off  between  the  active  and  idle  duty  cycles  of  an 
application. Although some DC/DC devices achieve high efficiency at light loads, these efficiencies 
typically degrade as soon as the idle current drops below a few milliamps. This can have a negative 
impact on the life of the battery. 
If decoupling capacitors are needed on the supply rails, it is best practice to position these as close 
as possible to the NINA-W1 series module. The power routing of some host system designs makes 
decoupling capacitance unnecessary. 
For electrical specifications, see the NINA-W1 series Data Sheets.  
1.5  System function interfaces 
1.5.1  Boot strapping pins 
For  normal  operation,  several  boot  configuration  pins  must  be  in  their  default  state  during  the 
module  boot.  Left  unconnected  in  the  application  design,  the  default  state  of  these  pins  is 
automatically chosen with internal pull-up or pull-down resistors in the module. See data sheet for 
more information.  
Care must be taken if an RMII interface is to be included in the application design. Pin 25 and pin 27 
connect  to  the  RMII.  It  is  important  that  both  of  these  pins  are  in  the  correct  state  during  the 
module boot and before the RMII interface turns on. For connection information, see section 1.6.2.1.  
☞  On NINA-W13/W15 modules, pin 25 and pin 27 must be in default state during the boot.  
☞  On NINA-W10 modules, pin 27 is used to enter the ESP bootloader. Consequently, this pin must 
be exposed on a pin header (or similar) to flash the module.  
Pin 32 is used to control the Universal Asynchronous Serial Interface (UART) debug printout. With 
this pin left unconnected, NINA-W1 prints some short debug information when it boots before the 
module software starts up. For u-connectXpress software, this means before +STARTUP. To disable 
the printout, this pin must be pulled low during start-up.  
1.6  Data interfaces 
1.6.1  Universal asynchronous serial interface (UART) 
For  data  communication  and  firmware  upgrade,  NINA-W1  series  modules  support  an  interface 
comprised of three UARTs. Each UART supports the following signals:  
  Data lines (RXD as input, TXD as output)  
  Hardware flow control lines (CTS as input, RTS as output)   
  DSR and DTS set and indicate the system modes 
You can use the UARTs in 4-wire mode with hardware flow control, or in 2-wire mode with TXD and 
RXD only. In 2-wire mode, CTS must be connected to the GND on the NINA-W1 module. 
For further information, see chapter 2.