Ai-BW16 Series Module

Document revision history

Version	Date	**Created/**revised	Author	Approved
V1.1.0	2023.1.14	Initial release	Zhuo Lingmin	Chen Shougao
V1.1.1	2024.12.18	Update	Han Luyao

I. Overview

BW16 is a dual-band Wi-Fi + Bluetooth SoC module based on RTL8720DN. BW16 supports dual-band (2.4 GHz or 5 GHz) WLAN and Bluetooth Low Energy 5.0. It integrates an ARM V8 (Cortex-M4F–compatible) high-performance MCU, an ARM V8M (Cortex-M0–compatible) low-power MCU, WLAN (802.11 a/b/g/n), MAC, Bluetooth baseband, and RF baseband, and provides configurable GPIOs for peripheral control. BW16 also integrates internal memory for simple application development and full Wi-Fi and BLE 5.0 protocol support.

Features

• Supports 802.11a/b/g/n 1×1, 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz
• Supports HT20/HT40 modes
• Supports low-power beacon listen, low-power receive, and low-power suspend modes
• Built-in AES / DES / SHA hardware engines
• Supports TrustZone-M and secure boot
• Supports SWD debug port access protection and disable modes
• Supports BLE 5.0
• Bluetooth high-power mode (7 dBm, shares PA with Wi-Fi)
• Wi-Fi and BLE share the same antenna
• Supports STA / AP / STA+AP modes
• Supports Android/iOS Simple Config (App) one-tap device provisioning
• Supports local UART upgrade and remote firmware upgrade (FOTA)

Cloud information

• Universal MCU_SDK for quick start

• Supports AP+BLE device provisioning (Android and iOS)

• Supports module OTA and MCU OTA

• Supports LAN and WAN communication

• The UART used for module–MCU communication is the module’s uart0; pins are RX and TX on the module. See Pin definitions. These pins are primarily for MCU communication.

• Module log output uses uart1; the pin is IO7, which outputs log information.

• You can change the module–MCU UART baud rate via AT command:

  • Format: AT+UARTCFG=9600
  • Response:
    • OK: Set successfully; takes effect after module reset
    • ERR: AT command failed; baud rate not set

• After power-on, the module outputs device information on the TX pin, as shown below:

  • Normal boot print:

    

  • Abnormal boot — device credentials not flashed

    

• To test module device provisioning independently over the UART protocol, complete the following protocol exchange.

  • Module post-boot initialization flow

    

  • Module–MCU communication protocol

    • Heartbeat reply

      5A A5 20 00 00 01 00 20

    • Product info reply (payload varies by product)

      5A A5 20 01 00 2E 7B 22 70 69 64 22 3A 22 50 4B 68 79 51 34 62 49 22 2C 22 76 65 72 22 3A 22 31 2E 30 2E 30 22 2C 22 66 6C 61 67 22 3A 22 5A 4D 58 58 22 7D F8

      Product info fields:

      Product KEY: PKhyQ4bI

      MCU version: 1.0.0

      Product flag: ZMXX

    • Module work mode reply

      5A A5 20 02 00 00 21

    • Module status query

      5A A5 20 03 00 00 22

• After entering device provisioning mode, the module enables an AP hotspot and BLE advertising concurrently. Format:

  axy_ProductFlag-ProductID_p1_MAC

II. Module & development board materials

• ​ For details, see: Ai-Thinker Realtek BW series module portal