Asiacom Technology AC8401 User manual

Module characteristics
Support IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n wireless
standard
Support WEP, WPA and WPA2 encryption
Support UART / PWM / ADC / GPIO / I2C
/ SPI interface
Support STA / AP and other working
modes
Support Amazon FFS distribution
network
Support TLS / SSL Protocol
Support PCB antenna
3.3V power supply
Peripheral equipment:
 2x UART
1x I2C
1x SPI
5x PWM
4x ADC
Up to 14GPIOs
Working environment temperature: -
20 ℃to + 85 ℃
Half hole SMT package supporting SMT
Application
Electrical lighting
smart home / home appliances
instrumentation
health care
Industrial automation
smart energy
MODEL
Model
Antenna type
explain
AC8401
PCB Antenna
Default
Version：1.0 Release date：2021年02 月19 日
AC8401
Embedded Wi Fi module

- 2 -
Catalog
1............................................................................................................................................. - 3 -
2. Electrical parameters......................................................................................................... - 3 -
2.1 Power consumption parameters................................................................................. - 3 -
2.2 work environment....................................................................................................... - 4 -
3. Radio Frequency Parameters ............................................................................................ - 4 -
3.1 Basic Radio Frequency Parameters ............................................................................. - 4 -
3.2 TX、RX performance................................................................................................... - 5 -
3.2.1 IEEE802.11b Mode ............................................................................................... - 5 -
3.2.2 IEEE802.11g Mode................................................................................................ - 6 -
3.2.3 IEEE802.11n Mode ............................................................................................... - 7 -
4. AC8401 essential information ......................................................................................... - 10 -
4.1 Pin arrangement........................................................................................................ - 10 -
4.2 Pin definition ............................................................................................................. - 10 -
4.2.1 Module hardware pin definition ........................................................................ - 10 -
4.3 Built in antenna ......................................................................................................... - 12 -
4.4 Mechanical dimension............................................................................................... - 13 -
4.5 Recommended package size ..................................................................................... - 14 -
5. Reference design............................................................................................................. - 15 -
5.1 UARTinterface design................................................................................................ - 15 -
5.2 Power supply requirements ...................................................................................... - 16 -
6.Certification instructions.................................................................................................. - 17 -
6.1Label diagram ............................................................................................................. - 17 -
6.2 FCC instructions......................................................................................................... - 17 -

- 3 -
1. Product introduction
AC8401 is a high cost-effective embedded WiFi module introduced by Asean that supports
802.11a/b/g/n and can communicate with other devices via UART port.The module integrates RF
transceiver, MAC, baseband processing, all WiFi protocols and configuration information, and
network protocol stack. It can be widely used in smart home devices, remote monitoring devices,
medical devices and other fields.
The module integrates Andes Technology N10 processors with a maximum primary
frequency of 160MHz, 192KB of SRAM, and a built-in 2MB Flash.
2. Electrical parameters
2.1 Power consumption parameters
The power consumption parameters are detailed in Table 1.
Table 1 AC8401 Power consumption parameters
Specifications
Min.
Typ.
Max.
Units
VDD1
3.1
3.6
V
VIL(input low voltage)
0
0.8
V
VIH(input high voltage)
2
3.6
V
VOL(output low voltage)
0.4
V
VOH(output high voltage)
2.4
V
Io
12
mA
Standby (SP mini)
80
85
mA
pulse current @TX
11b @17dBm 11Mbps
305
mA
pulse current @TX
11g @15dBm 54Mbps
250
mA
pulse current @TX
11n @14dBm 65Mbps
225
mA
networking
305
mA
Note: It is important to ensure that VDD is not less than 3.3V

- 4 -
2.2 work environment
The working environment is detailed in Table 2
Table 2 AC8401 Work Environment
Symbol
Description
Min.
Max.
Units
Ts
Storage temperature
-40
125
℃
TA
Ambient operating temperature
-20
85
℃
Vdd
Supply voltage
3.1
3.6
V
Vio
Voltage on IO pin
0
VDD
V
ESD
HBM
1000
2000
V
3. Radio Frequency Parameters
3.1 Basic Radio Frequency Parameters
RF parameters are detailed in Table 3
Table 3 AC8401 RF parameter
frequency range
2.412GHz-2.464GHz
5.15GHz-5.25GHz
Wireless Standard Support
IEEE 802.11 a/b/g/n
RF power
802.11b:17dBm±1dBm
802.11g:14dBm±1dBm
802.11n:14dBm±1dBm
5G 802.11a/n:12.5dBm±1dBm
antenna
Built in: PCB antenna/
Add in: not supported
Receive Sensitivity
802.11b<-85dBm@11Mbps
802.11a/g<-72dBm@54Mbps
802.11n<-69dBm@MCS7
Protocol stack support
IPv4, TCP/UDP/FTP/HTTP/HTTPS/TLS/mDNS
Data rate (Max)
11M@802.11b, 54M@802.11g, [email protected]
Security support
Encryption Standard:Open/WEP-Open/WPA/WPA2
Encryption algorithm:WEP64/WEP128/TKIP/AES
Network type
STA/AP/STA+AP

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3.2 TX、RX performance
3.2.1 IEEE802.11b Mode
Table 4 3.2.1 basic parameters of IEEE802.11b mode
ITEM
Specification
Modulation Type
DSSS / CCK
Frequency range
2412MHz~2462MHz
Channel
CH1 to CH11
Data rate
1, 2, 5.5, 11Mbps
Table 4 transmitting performance parameters in IEEE802.11b mode
TX Characteristics
Min
Typical
Max.
Unit
Power@11Mbps
17
dBm
Frequency Error
-10
+10
ppm
EVM@11Mbps
-30
dB
Transmit spectrum mask
Pass
Table 5 receiving performance parameters in IEEE802.11b mode
RX Characteristics
Min
Typical
Max.
Unit
Minimum Input Level Sensitivity
11Mbps (FER≦8%)
-87
dBm
Maximum Input Level (FER≦8%)
-3
dBm

- 6 -
3.2.2 IEEE802.11g Mode
Table 6 basic parameters in IEEE802.11g mode
ITEM
Specification
Modulation Type
OFDM
Frequency range
2412MHz~2462MHz
Channel
CH1 to CH11
Data rate
6, 9, 12, 18, 24, 36, 48, 54Mbps
Table 7 transmitting performance parameters in IEEE802.11g mode
TX Characteristics
Min
Typical
Max.
Unit
Power@54Mbps
14
dBm
Frequency Error
-10
+10
ppm
EVM@54Mbps
-34
dB
Transmit spectrum mask
Pass
Table 8 receiving performance parameters in IEEE802.11g mode
RX Characteristics
Min
Typical
Max.
Unit
Minimum Input Level Sensitivity
54Mbps
-71
dBm
Maximum Input Level (FER≦
10%)
-8
dBm

- 7 -
3.2.3 IEEE802.11n Mode
Table 9 basic parameters of ieee802.11n in 20MHz mode
ITEM
Specification
Modulation Type
OFDM
Frequency range
2412MHz~2462MHz
Channel
CH1 to CH11
Data rate
MCS0/1/2/3/4/5/6/7
Table 10 transmission performance parameters of ieee802.11n in 20MHz mode
TX Characteristics
Min
Typical
Max.
Unit
Power@HT20, MCS7
14
dBm
Frequency Error
-10
+10
ppm
EVM@HT20, MCS7
-30.5
dB
Transmit spectrum mask
Pass
Table 11 receiving performance parameters of ieee802.11n in 20MHz mode
RX Characteristics
Min
Typical
Max.
Unit
Minimum Input Level Sensitivity
MCS7
-69
dBm
Maximum Input Level (FER≦
10%)
-8
dBm
Table 12 basic parameters of ieee802.11n 5g 20MHz mode
ITEM
Specification
Modulation Type
OFDM
Frequency range
5.15GHz-5.25GHz
Channel
CH36 to CH48
Data rate
MCS0/1/2/3/4/5/6/7

- 8 -
Table 14 transmission performance parameters in ieee802.11n 5g 20MHz mode
TX Characteristics
Min
Typical
Max.
Unit
Power@HT20, MCS7
12.5
dBm
Frequency Error
-10
+10
ppm
EVM@HT20, MCS7
-30.5
dB
Transmit spectrum mask
Pass
Table 15 receiving performance parameters in ieee802.11n 5g 20MHz mode
RX Characteristics
Min
Typical
Max.
Unit
Minimum Input Level Sensitivity
MCS7
-69
dBm
Maximum Input Level (FER≦
10%)
-8
dBm
Table 16 basic parameters of ieee802.11n in 40MHz mode
ITEM
Specification
Modulation Type
OFDM
Frequency range
2422MHz~2452MHz
Channel
CH3 to CH9
Data rate
MCS0/1/2/3/4/5/6/7
Table 17 transmission performance parameters of ieee802.11n in 40MHz mode
TX Characteristics
Min
Typical
Max.
Unit
Power@HT40, MCS7
14
dBm
Frequency Error
-10
+10
ppm
EVM@HT40, MCS7
-29
dB
Transmit spectrum mask
Pass

- 9 -
Table 18 receiving performance parameters of ieee802.11n in 40MHz mode
RX Characteristics
Min
Typical
Max.
Unit
Minimum Input Level Sensitivity
MCS7
-68
dBm
Maximum Input Level (FER≦
10%)
-8
dBm
Table 19 basic parameters of ieee802.11n 5g 40MHz mode
ITEM
Specification
Modulation Type
OFDM
Frequency range
5.15GHz-5.25GHz
Channel
CH38 to CH46
Data rate
MCS0/1/2/3/4/5/6/7
Table 20 transmission performance parameters of ieee802.11n 5g 40MHz mode
TX Characteristics
Min
Typical
Max.
Unit
Power@HT20, MCS7
12.5
dBm
Frequency Error
-10
+10
ppm
EVM@HT20, MCS7
-30
dB
Transmit spectrum mask
Pass
Table 21 receiving performance parameters in ieee802.11n 5g 40MHz mode
RX Characteristics
Min
Typical
Max.
Unit
Minimum Input Level Sensitivity
MCS7
-67
dBm
Maximum Input Level (FER≦
10%)
-8
dBm

- 10 -
4. AC8401 essential information
4.1 Pin arrangement
AC8401 pin arrangement is shown in Figure 1.
图1 AC8401 引脚排列示意图
4.2 Pin definition
4.2.1 Module hardware pin definition
Table 15 for the definition of module hardware pins
Table 14 for AC8401 pin definition annotation
Pin
numb
er
Pin
definition
Pin function
Configurable function
1
GND
Ground
2
GPIO01
PWM1
3
GPIO02
PWM2
4
GPIO03
Debug_UART_RX
PWM3