There is a new kid on the block, the NL6621-Y1 Wireless Module from Nufront.  The NL6621 WiFi SOC is powered by a 160 MHz ARM Cortex-M3 (NL6621M). Everything is integrated in the NL6621M SOC including 448KB of RAM.

Here is what the NL6621-Y1 wireless module looks like:

Supposedly it is much better than the ESP8266 from Expressif. However, the ESP8266 has a lot of code and documentation for it whereas there is very little information or code for the  NL6621-Y1 wireless module (as of this post).

Nufront does have several GitHub repositories for it here:

https://github.com/NufrontIOT

The common module (NL6621-Y1) seems to have the NL6621_SerialNet_SDK installed as that is what services the serial AT command set which allows the module to be configured via a serial interface.

I have the NL6621-Y1 wireless module from Elecrow and I wanted to see if I could get it working (attached to an Arduino Leonardo) similar to how I attached an ESP8266 in an earlier post.

Hooking it up, hardware wise, is a breeze. Attach the NL6621-Y1 3.3V pin to the Arduino 3.3V pin, GND to GND, NL6621-Y1 TXD to Arduino RXD and NL6621-Y1 RXD to Arduino TXD.

At first, I used the multiserial mega Arduino script (HERE) to experiment with the AT commands. That script basically takes characters you type in the serial console and sends them to the 2nd serial port and it echos any data coming from the 2nd serial port to the 1st.  I set both serial port BAUD rates to 115200. Sending “AT+HELP” will list all the supported AT commands.

Searching GOOGLE I could not find any information on the AT command set so I took a look at the SerialNet SDK source. Here is a chart showing what I gleaned from that code:

NL6621-Y1 Wireless Module AT commands

AT 		TEST AT COMMAND
		AT

AT+HELP 	HELP 		
		AT+HELP

AT+VER 		AT commands version check
		AT+VER

AT+SVER 	SDK version 			
		AT+SVER

AT+SAVE 	SAVE CONFIGURATION 		
		AT+SAVE

AT+FACTORY 	RESTORE FACTORY SETTINGS 	
		AT+FACTORY

AT+RST 		RESET         			
		AT+RST

AT+SYSTIME	SYSTEM TIME			
		AT+SYSTIME

AT+BAUDRATE 	CHECK/SET BAUD RATE 		
		AT+BAUDRATE=?
		AT+BAUDRATE=baudrate (300 - 1250000)
		
AT+UARTFT 	CHECK/SET UART AUTO FRAME INTERVAL TIME
		AT+UARTFT=?
		AT+UARTFT=time  (30-10000) ms

AT+UARTFL 	CHECK/SET UART FRAME LENGTH
		AT+UARTFL=?
		AT+UARTFL=length (32-1400) bytes

AT+MSLP 	CHECK POWER SLEEP MODE 		
		AT+MSLP

AT+LSLPT 	SET SHALLOW SLEEP WAKEUP TIME AND MODE
		AT+LSLPT=mode,time,dtim

AT+IPCONFIG 	CHECK CURRENT IP ADDRESS
		AT+IPCONFIG

AT+PING 	PING SPECIFIC IP ADDRESS
		AT+PING=address,count

AT+MAC 		CHECK MAC ADDRESS 	
		AT+MAC

AT+WQSOPT 	CHECK/SET WIFI PARAMETERS 
		AT+WQSOPT=?
		AT+WQSOPT=mode,channel,encry,authmode,WmmEn
		mode		0:STA 1:ADHOC 2:SOFTAP
		channel	        1-13
		encry		0:none 1:wep 2:tkip
                                3:ccmp 4:auto
		authmode	0:open 1:share 2:wpa 3:wpa2
		WmmEn (wifi)	0:disable 1:enable
                               (multimedia extensions) 

AT+WPHYMODE 	CHECK/SET PHYSICAL LAYER WORK MODE
		AT+WPHYMODE=?
		AT+WPHYMODE=mode  (1: b/g 2: b)

AT+WTXRATE 	CHECK/SET TRANSMIT SPEED
		AT+WTXRATE=?
		AT+WTXRATE=rate  (0,1,2,5.5,6,9,12,18,24,36,48,54)

AT+WSCANAP 	SCAN NEAR BY AP INFO
		AT+WSCANAP=rssiFilter (0-127)

AT+WSBCN 	CHECK/SET BEACON SET CYCLE
		AT+WSBCN=?
		AT+WSBCN=period

AT+WSCAP 	CHECK CURRENT AP/ SET AP TO CONNECT
		AT+WSCAP=?
		AT+WSCAP=ssid,password,trytimes

AT+WSMTCONF 	ENTER INTO DIRECT CONFIG MODE 
		AT+WSMTCONF

AT+WSTOP 	CLOSE CURRENT WIFI FUNCTION 	
		AT+WSTOP

AT+NQSCNN 	CHECK/SET TRANSPARENT TRANSMISSION PARAMETERS
		AT+NQSCNN=?
		AT+NQSCNN=protocol,type,port,ip  
                     (protocol: 0=udp 1=tcp
                      type: 0=client 1=server)

AT+NLOCIP	CHECK/SET IP ADDRESS and DHCP enable/disable
		AT+NLOCIP=?
		AT+NLOCIP=ip,mode,trytimes
                 (mode: 0=DHCP disable 1=DHCP enable)

AT+WSACONF      SOFTWARE AP Config
		AT+WSACONF

AT+AIRKISS      AirKiss Configuration
		AT+AIRKISS

AT+BCTTXSTART   UDP Broadcast Switch Start on Port
		AT+BCTTXSTART=port  (1 to 65535)

AT+BCTTXSTOP    UDP Broadcast Stop
		AT+BCTTXSTOP

AT+BCTTXDATA    UDP Broadcast Data
		AT+BCTTXDATA=length,data

AT+BCTRXSTART   UDP Broadcast Receive
		AT+BCTRXSTART=port

AT+BCTRXSTOP    UDP Broadcaset Receive Stop
		AT+BCTRXSTOP

AT+QUIT 	QUIT (quits command mode)
                DATAMODE: Runs TCP Server on port 8101
                +++ exits back to CMDMODE

Example: Enter DataMODE

============================================================

AT+QUIT

(then telnet to the IP address of the NL6621 on port 8101)

+++ (exits back to CMD Mode)

Example: Scan for Wireless APs
============================================================

AT+WSCANAP=127

Example: Set NL6621-Y1 to be an AP
============================================================

AT+WQSOPT=2,11,3,3,0                     //SOFTAP,11,ccmp,wpa2,disable
AT+WSCAP=nufront,123abcdef,0        //SSID,password,retries
AT+IPCONFIG                                      //Show IP configuration

Example: Set NL6621-Y1 to STATION mode and connect to an AP
============================================================

AT+WQSOPT=0,11,3,3,0                                //Station,11,ccmp,wpa2,disable
AT+WSCAP=your_ap_ssid,yourpassword,5   //SSID,Password,retries
AT+IPCONFIG                                                 //Show IP configuration

Here is an Arduino sketch which sets the wireless options and connects the NL6621-Y1 wireless module to my TP-Link router. Note: If you use this code make sure to change the SSID and PASS variables to match your router!

The NL6621-Y1 Wireless Module Arduino Sketch

/*
Arduino Leonardo <--> NL6621-Y1 
Email:  earl@microcontrollerelectonics.com
*/

#define SSID "TP-LINK_2.4GHz_4463DB"
#define PASS "44620"
#define CONNECT_ATTEMPTS 2

void setup() {

  Serial.begin(115200);
  Serial1.begin(115200);

  Serial1.println("AT+RST");
  delay(3000);
  
  Serial1.println("AT");
  delay(1000);

  if (Serial1.find("+OK")) Serial.println("Module is ready");
  else {
    Serial.println("NL6621 Module did not respond.");
    Serial.println("Enter Commands Manually.");
    while (1) chk_serial_io();
  }
  
  boolean connected = false;
  for (int i = 0; i < CONNECT_ATTEMPTS; i++) {
    if (connectWiFi()) {
      connected = true;
      break;
    }
  }
  if (!connected) Serial.println("Enter Commands Manually.");
  else {
    Serial.println("AT+IPCONFIG");
    Serial1.println("AT+IPCONFIG");
  }
}

void loop() {
  while (1) chk_serial_io();
}

void chk_serial_io() {
  while(Serial1.available()) {
    int inByte = Serial1.read();
    Serial.write(inByte);
  }
  while(Serial.available()) {
    int inByte = Serial.read();
    Serial1.write(inByte);
  }
}

boolean connectWiFi() {
  String cmd = "AT+WQSOPT=0,11,3,3,0";
  Serial.println(cmd);
  Serial1.println(cmd);
    
  if (Serial1.find("+OK")) {
    Serial.println("Station Mode Set OK!");
  }
  else {
    chk_serial_io();
    return false;
  }
  
  cmd = "AT+WSCAP=";
  cmd += SSID;
  cmd += ",";
  cmd += PASS;
  cmd += ",";
  cmd += CONNECT_ATTEMPTS;
  Serial.println(cmd);
  Serial1.println(cmd);
  
  return true;
}

One thing I don’t like about the NL6621-Y1 is that it does not have a unique (i.e. official)  MAC address. When you send this:  AT+MAC  the result is +OK=MAC:00:01:02:03:04:05.

Anyway, it will be interesting to see what the open source community comes up with to do with this new wireless chip.