NINA-W1 series - User Manual 
     
The u-connectXpress software adds the DSR and DTR pins to the UART interface. Not used as they 
were originally intended, these pins are used to control the state of NINA modules.  
Depending on the configuration, DSR can be used to: 
  Enter command mode 
  Disconnect and/or toggle connectable status 
  Enable/disable the rest of the UART interface 
  Enter/wake up from sleep mode 
The functionality of the DSR and DTR pins are configured by AT commands. For further information 
about these commands, see the u-blox Short Range Modules AT commands manual. 
Table 1 shows the default settings of UART ports when using u-connectXpress software. 
Interface  Default configuration 
UART interface  115200  baud, 8 data bits, no parity, 1 stop bit, hardware flow control 
Table 1: UART port default settings    
It is advisable to make UART0 available either for test points or connect it to a header for firmware 
upgrade. The IO level of the UART follows VCC_IO. 
For information about UART interface characteristics, see the NINA-W1 series Data Sheets. 
1.6.2  Ethernet (RMII+SMI) 
⚠  On NINA-W13, RMII is supported from software version 2.0.0 onwards.  
⚠  On  NINA-W15,  direct  MAC  to  MAC  connection  will  be  supported  when  the  module  reaches 
Engineering Sample status.  
NINA-W1  series  modules  include  a  full  RMII  for  Ethernet  MAC  to  PHY  communication  using  the 
included  Station  Management  Interface  (SMI).  The  RMII  and  SMI  uses  nine  signals  in  total.  The 
interface requires an external 50 MHz  clock source  either  from a compatible PHY  chip  or from an 
external oscillator.  
The two-wire SMI is used to configure the PHY chip. It uses a clock line and a data line to setup the 
internal registers on PHY chip.  
The pin multiplexing of the RMII interface imposes limitations in the functionality of NINA-W13/W15 
series  module  when  using  the  interface.  The  following  functions  are  turned  off  when  RMII 
communication is initiated: 
  Red, Green and Blue LEDs are disabled 
  UART is run without flow control as CTS and RTS functionality is disabled  
  DSR and DTR functionality is disabled 
A 1.5 kΩ pull up resistor must be added to MDIO pin.  
1.6.2.1  Startup precautions  
To  ensure  that  the  boot  mode  is  not  entered  inadvertently,  the  RMII_CLK  input  (GPIO27)  is 
multiplexed with the ESP boot pin and must be held high 1.2 ms after the reset signal is released.  
EVK-NINA-W1  uses  two  buffers  and  a  low  pass  filter  to  delay  the  reset  signal  going  to  the  PHY 
circuit, as shown in Figure . 
This delays the clock so that it starts a short time after the module is released from reset.