Realtek Semiconductor RTL8188CE 802.11b/g/n RTL8188CE User Manual RTL8192 datasheet
Realtek Semiconductor Corp. 802.11b/g/n RTL8188CE RTL8192 datasheet
Contents
User Manual module

RTL8188CE   
 802.11b/g/n RTL8188CE miniCard 
User’s Manual   
  Rev. 1.0 
03 Dec 2009 
Realtek Semiconductor Corp. 
No. 2, Innovation Road II, Hsinchu Science Park, Hsinchu 300, Taiwan
Tel.: +886-3-578-0211. Fax: +886-3-577-6047 
www.realtek.com.tw 

RTL8188CE  
User’s Manual 
COPYRIGHT 
©2009 Realtek Semiconductor Corp.  All rights reserved. No part of this document may be reproduced, 
transmitted, transcribed, stored in a retrieval system, or translated into any language in any form or by any 
means without the written permission of Realtek Semiconductor Corp. 
DISCLAIMER 
Realtek provides this document “as is”, without warranty of any kind, neither expressed nor implied, 
including, but not limited to, the particular purpose. Realtek may make improvements and/or changes in 
this document or in the product described in this document at any time. This document could include 
technical inaccuracies or typographical errors. 
TRADEMARKS 
Realtek is a trademark of Realtek Semiconductor Corporation. Other names mentioned in this document are 
trademarks/registered trademarks of their respective owners. 
USING THIS DOCUMENT 
This document is intended for the software engineer’s reference and provides detailed programming 
information. 
Though every effort has been made to ensure that this document is current and accurate, more information 
may have become available subsequent to the production of this guide. In that event, please contact your 
Realtek representative for additional information that may help in the development process. 
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RTL8188CE  
User’s Manual 
Table of Contents 
1. GENERAL DESCRIPTION................................................................................................................................................1 
2. FEATURES...........................................................................................................................................................................2 
3. BLOCK DIAGRAM ............................................................................................................................................................3 
4. PRODUCT SPECIFICATIONS..........................................................................................................................................4 
4.1. MINI PCI EXPRESS PIN ASSIGNMENT..............................................................................................................................4 
4.2. MECHANICAL..................................................................................................................................................................5 
4.3. ENVIRONMENTAL ............................................................................................................................................................5 
4.3.1. Operating ...............................................................................................................................................................5 
4.3.2. Storage....................................................................................................................................................................5 
4.4. FUNCTIONAL SPECIFICATIONS .........................................................................................................................................5 
4.5. WARNING ........................................................................................................................................................................6 
4.5.1 Federal Communication Commission Interference Statement......................................................................................6 
4.5.2  Industry Canada Statement ..........................................................................................................................................8 
4.5.3  NCC
警語
......................................................................................................................................................................9 
List of Tables 
TABLE 1.   MINI PCI EXPRESS PIN ASSIGNMENT ............................................................................................................................4 
TABLE 2.   FUNCTIONAL SPECIFICATIONS .......................................................................................................................................5 
List of Figures 
FIGURE 1.   RTL8188CE MINICARD APPLICATION DIAGRAM ........................................................................................................3 
FIGURE 2.   RTL8188CE MINICARD MECHANICAL SPECIFICATION................................................................................................5 
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User’s Manual 
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1. General Description 
The Realtek RTL8188CE is a highly integrated single-chip Wireless LAN (WLAN) controller compatible 
with the IEEE 802.11n specification. It combines a MAC, a 1T1R capable baseband, and RF in a single 
chip. The RTL8188CE provides a complete solution for a high-performance wireless client. 
The RTL8188CE baseband implements Multiple Input, Multiple Output (MIMO) Orthogonal Frequency 
Division Multiplexing (OFDM) with one transmit and one receive path (1T1R). Features include one 
spatial stream transmission, short Guard Interval (GI) of 400ns, spatial spreading, and support for both 
20MHz and 40MHz channel bandwidth. 
For legacy compatibility, Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum (DSSS), Complementary Code Keying (CCK) 
and OFDM baseband processing are included to support all IEEE 802.11b, and 802.11g data rates. 
Differential phase shift keying modulation schemes, DBPSK and DQPSK with data scrambling capability 
are available, and CCK provides support for legacy data rates, with long or short preamble. The high speed 
FFT/IFFT paths, combined with BPSK, QPSK, 16QAM, and 64QAM modulation of the individual 
subcarriers, and rate compatible punctured convolutional coding with coding rate of 1/2, 2/3, 3/4, and 5/6, 
provide higher data rates of 54Mbps and 150Mbps for IEEE 802.11g and 802.11n OFDM respectively. 
The RTL8188CE builds in an enhanced signal detector, an adaptive frequency domain equalizer, and a 
soft-decision Viterbi decoder to alleviate severe multi-path effects and mutual interference in the reception 
of multiple streams. Robust interference detection and suppression are provided to protect against 
Bluetooth, cordless phone, and microwave oven interference.  
Efficient IQ-imbalance, DC offset, phase noise, frequency offset, and timing offset compensations are 
provided for the radio frequency front-end. Selectable digital transmit and receive FIR filters are provided 
to meet transmit spectrum mask requirements and to reject adjacent channel interference, respectively. 
The RTL8188CE supports fast receiver Automatic Gain Control (AGC) with synchronous and 
asynchronous control loops among antennas, antenna diversity functions, and adaptive transmit power 
control functions to obtain better performance in the analog portions of the transceiver. 
The RTL8188CE MAC supports 802.11e for multimedia applications, 802.11i for security, and 802.11n for 
enhanced MAC protocol efficiency. Using packet aggregation techniques such as A-MPDU with BA and 
A-MSDU, protocol efficiency is significantly improved. Power saving mechanisms such as U-APSD, and 
APSD, reduces power wasted during idle time, and compensates for the extra power required to transmit 
OFDM. The RTL8188CE provides simple legacy and 20MHz/40MHz co-existence mechanisms to ensure 
backward and network compatibility. 

RTL8188CE  
User’s Manual 
                                                                                                 2                                                                                       Rev.1.0 
2. Features 
General 
 48-pin QFN 
 CMOS MAC, Baseband PHY and RF in a 
single chip for IEEE 802.11b/g/n compatible 
WLAN 
 75Mbps receive PHY rate and 75Mbps 
transmit PHY rate using 20MHz bandwidth 
 150Mbps receive PHY rate and 150Mbps 
transmit PHY rate using 40MHz bandwidth 
 Compatible with 802.11n specification 
 Backward compatible with 802.11b/g 
devices while operating at 802.11n data rates 
Host Interface 
 Complies with PCI Express Base 
Specification Revision 1.1 / USB 2.0 
Standards Supported 
 IEEE 802.11b/g/n compatible WLAN 
 IEEE 802.11e QoS Enhancement (WMM) 
 IEEE 802.11i (WPA, WPA2). Open, shared 
key, and pair-wise key authentication 
services 
MAC Features 
 Frame aggregation for increased MAC 
efficiency (A-MSDU, A-MPDU) 
 Low latency immediate High-Throughput 
Block Acknowledgement (HT-BA) 
 Long NAV for media reservation with 
CF-End for NAV release 
 PHY-level spoofing to enhance legacy 
compatibility 
 Power saving mechanism 
 Channel management and co-existence 
 Multiple BSSID feature allows the 
RTL8188CE to assume multiple MAC 
identities when used as a wireless bridge 
 Supports Wake-On-WLAN via Magic 
Packet and Wake-up frame 
 Transmit Opportunity (TXOP) Short 
Inter-Frame Space (SIFS) bursting for higher 
multimedia bandwidth 
Peripheral Interfaces 
 General Purpose Input/Output (8 pins) 
 Three configurable LED pins 
 Configurable Bluetooth Coexistence 
Interface 
PHY Features 
 IEEE 802.11n OFDM 
 One Transmit and one Receive path (1T1R) 
 20MHz and 40MHz bandwidth transmission 
 Short Guard Interval (400ns) 
 DSSS with DBPSK and DQPSK, CCK 
modulation with long and short preamble 
 OFDM with BPSK, QPSK, 16QAM, and 
64QAM modulation. Convolutional Coding 
Rate: 1/2, 2/3, 3/4, and 5/6 
 Maximum data rate 54Mbps in 802.11g, and 
150Mbps in 802.11n 
 Switch diversity for DSSS/CCK 
 Hardware antenna diversity 
 Selectable digital transmit and receive FIR 
filters 
 Programmable scaling in transmitter and 
receiver to trade quantization noise against 
increased probability of clipping 
 Fast receiver Automatic Gain Control (AGC) 
 On-chip ADC and DAC 

 RTL8188CE  
User’s Manual 
3. Block Diagram 
Antenna B 
2.4GHz 
PA
2.4GHz
Transceiver
TX I/Q
NV Memory
ADCDAC
SPS/LDO
Regulators
40MHz
Crystal
MAC
Configuration
Control and
Memory
Ext 
Interface
Baseband
(PHY)
RTL8188CE
Host
Interface
3.3V
RX I/Q
Antenna A 
LED
Radio 
on/off
40MHz 
Crystal
TX/RX 
Matching 
Circuit
Figure 1.   RTL8188CE miniCard Application Diagram 
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 RTL8188CE  
User’s Manual 
4. Product specifications 
4.1. Mini PCI Express Pin Assignment 
Table 1.   Mini PCI Express Pin Assignment 
PIN# Pin Name    PIN# Pin Name   
1 WAKE# YES 2 3.3Vaux YES 
3 COEX1 YES 4 GND YES 
5 COEX2 YES 6 1.5V NC 
7 CLKREQ# YES 8 UIM_PWR NC 
9 GND YES 10 UIM_DATA  NC 
11 REFCLK- YES 12 UIM_CLK  NC 
13 REFCLK+ YES 14 UIM_RESET  NC 
15 GND YES 16 UIM_VPP  NC 
17 RESERVED NC 18 GND YES 
19 RESERVED NC 20 W_DISABLE# YES 
21 GND YES 22 PERST# YES 
23 PERn0 YES 24 +3.3Vaux NC 
25 PERp0 YES 26 GND YES 
27 GND YES 28 +1.5V NC 
29 GND YES 30 SMB_CLK NC 
31 PETn0 YES 32 SMB_DATA NC 
33 PETp0 YES 34 GND YES 
35 GND YES 36 USB_D- YES 
37 GND YES 38 USB_D+ YES 
39 +3.3Vaux NC 40 GND NC 
41 +3.3Vaux NC 42 LED_WWAN# NC 
43 GND YES  44 LED_WLAN# YES 
45 RESERVED NC 46 LED_WPAN# NC 
47 RESERVED NC 48 +1.5V YES 
49 RESERVED NC 50 GND YES 
51 RESERVED NC 52 +3.3Vaux YES 
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 RTL8188CE  
User’s Manual 
4.2. Mechanical 
Figure 2.   RTL8188CE miniCard Mechanical Specification 
4.3. Environmental 
4.3.1. Operating 
Operating Temperature:   0 to 70 °C 
Relative Humidity:     5-90% (non-condensing) 
4.3.2. Storage 
Temperature:       -55 to 125 °C  
Relevant Humidity:       5-95% (non-condensing) 
4.4. Functional  Specifications 
Table 2.   Functional Specifications 
POWER SUPPLY   3.3Vdc±0.3Vdc , 365mA from host equipment 
MODULATION TYPE  CCK, DQPSK, DBPSK for DSSS 
64QAM, 16QAM, QPSK, BPSK for OFDM 
MODULATION Technology  DSSS, OFDM 
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 RTL8188CE  
User’s Manual 
Transfer rate  802.11b: 11 / 5.5 / 2 / 1Mbps 
802.11g: 54 / 48 / 36 / 24 / 18 / 12 / 9 / 6Mbps 
Draft 802.11n (20MHz, 800ns GI): 65 / 58.5 / 52 / 39 / 26 / 19.5 / 
13 / 6.5Mbps 
Draft 802.11n (40MHz, 800ns GI): 135 / 121.5 / 108 / 81 / 54 / 
40.5 / 27 / 13.5Mbps 
Draft 802.11n (20MHz, 400ns GI): 72.2 / 65 / 57.8 / 43.3 / 28.9 / 
21.7 / 14.4 / 7.2Mbps 
Draft 802.11n (40MHz, 400ns GI): 150 / 135 / 120 / 90 / 60 / 45 / 
30 / 15Mbps 
FREQUENCY Range  2400MHz ~ 2483.5MHz 
NUMBER OF CHANNEL  11 for 802.11b, 802.11g, draft 802.11n (20MHz) 
7 for draft 802.11n (40MHz) 
4.5. Warning   
4.5.1 Federal Communication Commission Interference Statement 
This equipment has been tested and found to comply with the limits for a Class B digital device, 
pursuant to Part 15 of the FCC Rules.  These limits are designed to provide reasonable protection against 
harmful interference in a residential installation.  This equipment generates, uses and can radiate radio 
frequency energy and, if not installed and used in accordance with the instructions, may cause harmful 
interference to radio communications.  However, there is no guarantee that interference will not occur in a 
particular installation.  If this equipment does cause harmful interference to radio or television reception, 
which can be determined by turning the equipment off and on, the user is encouraged to try to correct the 
interference by one of the following measures: 
-  Reorient or relocate the receiving antenna. 
-  Increase the separation between the equipment and receiver. 
-  Connect the equipment into an outlet on a circuit different from that 
to which the receiver is connected. 
-  Consult the dealer or an experienced radio/TV technician for help. 
This device complies with Part 15 of the FCC Rules. Operation is subject to the following two conditions: 
(1) This device may not cause harmful interference, and (2) this device must accept any interference 
received, including interference that may cause undesired operation. 
FCC Caution: Any changes or modifications not expressly approved by the party responsible for 
compliance could void the user's authority to operate this equipment. 
IMPORTANT NOTE: 
FCC Radiation Exposure Statement: 
This equipment complies with FCC radiation exposure limits set forth for an uncontrolled environment. 
This equipment should be installed and operated with minimum distance 20cm between the radiator & your 
body. 
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 RTL8188CE  
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This transmitter must not be co-located or operating in conjunction with any other antenna or transmitter. 
IEEE 802.11b or 802.11g operation of this product in the U.S.A. is firmware-limited to channels 1 through 
11. 
This device is intended only for OEM integrators under the following conditions: 
The antenna must be installed such that 20 cm is maintained between the antenna and users, and  
The transmitter module may not be co-located with any other transmitter or antenna,  
For all products market in US, OEM has to limit the operation channels in CH1 to CH11 for 2.4G band by 
supplied firmware programming tool. OEM shall not supply any tool or info to the end-user regarding to 
Regulatory Domain change. 
As long as 3 conditions above are met, further transmitter test will not be required. However, the OEM 
integrator is still responsible for testing their end-product for any additional compliance requirements 
required with this module installed (for example, digital device emissions, PC peripheral requirements, 
etc.). 
IMPORTANT NOTE: In the event that these conditions can not be met (for example certain laptop 
configurations or co-location with another transmitter), then the FCC authorization is no longer considered 
valid and the FCC ID can not be used on the final product. In these circumstances, the OEM integrator will 
be responsible for re-evaluating the end product (including the transmitter) and obtaining a separate FCC 
authorization. 
End Product Labeling 
This transmitter module is authorized only for use in device where the antenna may be installed such that 20 
cm may be maintained between the antenna and users. The final end product must be labeled in a visible 
area with the following: “Contains FCC ID: TX2-RTL8188CE”. 
Manual Information To the End User 
The OEM integrator has to be aware not to provide information to the end user regarding how to install or 
remove this RF module in the user’s manual of the end product which integrates this module. 
The end user manual shall include all required regulatory information/warning as show in this manual. 
Industry Canada Statement 
This device complies with RSS-210 of the Industry Canada Rules. Operation is subject to the following two 
conditions: 
1) this device may not cause interference and 
2) this device must accept any interference, including interference that may cause undesired operation of 
the device 
This device has been designed to operate with an antenna having a maximum gain of  3.45dBi. 
Antenna having a higher gain is strictly prohibited per regulations of Industry Canada. The required 
antenna 
impedance is 50 ohms. 
To reduce potential radio interference to other users, the antenna type and its gain should be so chosen that 
the EIRP is not more than required for successful communication. 
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 RTL8188CE  
User’s Manual 
IMPORTANT NOTE: 
IC Radiation Exposure Statement: 
This equipment complies with IC radiation exposure limits set forth for an uncontrolled environment. This 
equipment should be installed and operated with minimum distance 20cm between the radiator & your 
body. 
4.5.2  Industry Canada Statement 
This device complies with RSS-210 of the Industry Canada Rules. Operation is subject to the 
following two conditions: 
1) this device may not cause interference and 
2) this device must accept any interference, including interference that may cause undesired operation of 
the device 
 This device has been designed to operate with an antenna having a maximum gain of 3.45dBi. 
Antenna having a higher gain is strictly prohibited per regulations of Industry Canada. The required 
antenna 
impedance is 50 ohms. 
To reduce potential radio interference to other users, the antenna type and its gain should be so chosen that 
the EIRP is not more than required for successful communication. 
  IMPORTANT NOTE: 
IC Radiation Exposure Statement: 
This equipment complies with IC radiation exposure limits set forth for an uncontrolled environment. This 
equipment should be installed and operated with minimum distance 20cm between the radiator & your 
body. 
This device is intended only for OEM integrators  
under the following conditions: 
The transmitter module may not be co-located with any other transmitter or antenna. 
As long as conduction above is met, further transmitter test will not be required. However, the OEM 
integrator is still responsible for testing their end-product for any additional compliance requirements 
required with this module installed (for example, digital device emissions, PC peripheral requirements, 
etc.). The antenna must be installed such that 20 cm is maintained between the antenna and users. 
IMPORTANT NOTE: In the event that these conditions can not be met (for example certain laptop 
configurations or co-location with another transmitter), then the IC authorization is no longer considered 
valid and the IC ID can not be used on the final product. In these circumstances, the OEM integrator will be 
responsible for re-evaluating the end product (including the transmitter) and obtaining a separate IC 
authorization. 
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 RTL8188CE  
User’s Manual 
End Product Labeling 
The final end product must be labeled in a visible area with the following: “Contains IC : 
6317A-RTL8188CE”. 
Manual Information That Must be Included 
The OEM integrator has to be aware not to provide information to the end user regarding how to install or 
remove. 
This RF module in the user’s manual of the end product which integrates this module. 
The user’s manual for OEM Integrators must include the following information in a prominent location 
“IMPORTANT NOTE: To comply with FCC RF exposure compliance requirements. The antenna must not 
be co-located or operating in conjunction with any other antenna or transmitter”. 
4.5.3  NCC 警語 
經型式認證合格之低功率射頻電機,非經許可,公司、商號或使用者均不得擅自變更頻率、加大功
率或變更原設計之特性及功能。  
低功率射頻電機之使用不得影響飛航安全及干擾合法通信;經發現有干擾現象時,應立即停用,並
改善至無干擾時方得繼續使用。前項合法通信,指依電信法規定作業之無線電通信。低功率射頻電
機須忍受合法通信或工業、科學及醫療用電波輻射性電機設備之干擾。 
本模組於取得認證後將依規定於模組本體標示審合格籤,並要求平台上標示「本產品內含射頻模
組:ID編號」 
Realtek Semiconductor Corp. 
Headquarters 
No. 2, Innovation Road II, Hsinchu Science Park, 
Hsinchu, 300, Taiwan, R.O.C. 
Tel: 886-3-5780211  Fax: 886-3-5776047 
www.realtek.com.tw 
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