ESP32

ESP32 is a series of low-cost, low-power system on a chip microcontrollers with integrated Wi-Fi and dual-mode Bluetooth. The ESP32 series employs either a Tensilica Xtensa LX6 microprocessor in both dual-core and single-core variations, Xtensa LX7 dual-core microprocessor or a single-core RISC-V microprocessor and includes built-in antenna switches, RF balun, power amplifier, low-noise receive amplifier, filters, and power-management modules. ESP32 is created and developed by Espressif Systems, a Chinese company based in Shanghai, and is manufactured by TSMC using their 40 nm process. It is a successor to the ESP8266 microcontroller.
Features
Features of the ESP32 include the following:
Processors:
CPU: Xtensa dual-core (or single-core) 32-bit LX6 microprocessor, operating at 160 or 240 MHz and performing at up to 600 DMIPS
Ultra low power (ULP) co-processor
Memory: 520 KiB RAM, 448 KiB ROM
Wireless connectivity:
Wi-Fi: 802.11 b/g/n
Bluetooth: v4.2 BR/EDR and BLE (shares the radio with Wi-Fi)
Peripheral interfaces:
34 × programmable GPIOs
12-bit SAR ADC up to 18 channels
2 × 8-bit DACs
10 × touch sensors (capacitive sensing GPIOs)
4 × SPI
2 × I²S interfaces
2 × I²C interfaces
3 × UART
SD/SDIO/CE-ATA/MMC/eMMC host controller
SDIO/SPI slave controller
Ethernet MAC interface with dedicated DMA and planned IEEE 1588 Precision Time Protocol support
CAN bus 2.0
Infrared remote controller (TX/RX, up to 8 channels)
Pulse counter (capable of full quadrature decoding)
Motor PWM
LED PWM (up to 16 channels)
Ultra low power analog pre-amplifier
Security:
IEEE 802.11 standard security features all supported, including WPA, WPA2, WPA3 (depending on version) and WLAN Authentication and Privacy Infrastructure (WAPI)
Secure boot
Flash encryption
1024-bit OTP, up to 768-bit for customers
Cryptographic hardware acceleration: AES, SHA-2, RSA, elliptic curve cryptography (ECC), random number generator (RNG)
Power management:
Internal low-dropout regulator
Individual power domain for RTC
5 μA deep sleep current
Wake up from GPIO interrupt, timer, ADC measurements, capacitive touch sensor interrupt
ESP32-xx family
Since the release of the original ESP32, a number of variants have been introduced and announced. They form the ESP32 family of microcontrollers. These chips have different CPUs and capabilities, but all share the same SDK and are largely code-compatible. Additionally, the original ESP32 was revised (see ESP32 ECO V3, for example). See also https://gist.github.com/sekcompsci/2bf39e715d5fe47579fa184fa819f421
ESP32
Xtensa single-/dual-core 32-bit LX6 microprocessor(s)
Wi-Fi: 802.11 b/g/n
Bluetooth: v4.2 BR/EDR and BLE (shares the radio with Wi-Fi)
34 × programmable GPIOs
12-bit SAR ADC up to 18 channels
2 x 8-bit DAC
ESP32-S2
Single-core Xtensa LX7 CPU, up to 240 MHz
320 KiB SRAM, 128 KiB ROM, and 16 KiB RTC SRAM
Wi-Fi 2.4 GHz (IEEE 802.11b/g/n)
No Bluetooth
43 programmable GPIOs
2 × 13-bit SAR ADCs, up to 20 channels
USB OTG
ESP32-C3
Single-core 32-bit RISC-V CPU, up to 160 MHz
400 KiB SRAM, 384 KiB ROM, and 8 KiB RTC SRAM
Wi-Fi 2.4 GHz (IEEE 802.11b/g/n)
Bluetooth 5 (LE)
22 programmable GPIOs
2 ADC-12bit
Pin compatible with ESP8266
ESP32-S3
Dual-core Xtensa LX7 CPU, up to 240 MHz, and supporting single-precision FPU
Added instructions to accelerate machine learning applications
512 KiB SRAM, 384 KiB ROM, and 16 KiB RTC SRAM
Capable of connecting to external PSRAM and Flash via Quad SPI or Octal SPI, and share the same 32 MiB address space
Ultra-low power RISC-V (RV32IMC) coprocessor clocked at 17.5 MHz approximately
Ultra-low power FSM coprocessor similar to previous ESP32 and ESP32-S2
Wi-Fi 2.4 GHz (IEEE 802.11 b/g/n)
Bluetooth 5 (LE)
44 programmable GPIOs
No integrated ethernet MAC
2 × 12-bit SAR ADCs, up to 20 channels
USB OTG
ESP32-C6
High performance 32-bit RISC-V CPU, up to 160 MHz, implementing RV32IMAC
Low power 32-bit RISC-V CPU, up to 20 MHz, implementing RV32IMAC
512 KiB SRAM and 320 KiB ROM
IEEE 802.11ax (Wi-Fi 6) on 2.4 GHz, supporting 20 MHz bandwidth in 11ax mode, 20 or 40 MHz bandwidth in 11b/g/n mode
IEEE 802.15.4 (Thread + Zigbee)
Bluetooth 5 (LE)
30 (QFN40) / 22 (QFN32) programmable GPIOs
ESP32-H2
Single-core 32-bit RISC-V CPU, up to 96 MHz
256 KB SRAM
IEEE 802.15.4 (Thread + Zigbee)
Bluetooth 5 (LE)
26 programmable GPIOs
Announced
ESP32-C5
Single-core 32-bit RISC-V CPU, up to 240 MHz
400 KiB SRAM and 384 KiB ROM
IEEE 802.11ax (Wi-Fi 6) on 2.4 and 5 GHz, supporting 20 MHz bandwidth in 11ax mode, 20 or 40 MHz bandwidth in 11b/g/n mode
Bluetooth 5 (LE)
> 20 programmable GPIOs
ESP32-P4
High performance dual-core 32-bit RISC-V CPU, up to 400 MHz
Low performance single-core 32-bit RISC-V CPU, up to 40 MHz
768 KB SRAM on high-performance core system.
Integrated hardware accelerators for various media encoding protocols, including H.264.
Wi-Fi and Bluetooth are not implemented.
If a wireless connection is required, it can be easily connected to the ESP32-C/S/H series.
More than 50 programmable GPIOs
QFN packaged chip and module
ESP32 is housed in quad-flat no-leads (QFN) packages of varying sizes with 49 pads. Specifically, 48 connection pads along the sides and one large thermal pad (connected to ground) on the bottom.
Chips
The ESP32 system on a chip integrated circuit is packaged in both 6 mm × 6 mm and 5 mm × 5 mm sized QFN packages.
In 2020, chips ESP32-D0WDQ6 and ESP32-D0WD also got a V3 version (ESP32 ECO V3), which fixes some of the bugs and introduces improvements over the previous versions.
Module
The ESP32-PICO-D4 system in package module combines an ESP32 silicon chip, crystal oscillator, flash memory chip, filter capacitors, and RF matching links into a single 7 mm × 7 mm sized QFN package.
In 2020, a similar module ESP32-PICO-V3 was introduced which is based on the ESP32 ECO V3.
Printed circuit boards
Surface-mount module boards
ESP32 based surface-mount printed circuit board modules directly contain the ESP32 SoC and are designed to be easily integrated onto other circuit boards. Meandered inverted-F antenna designs are used for the PCB trace antennas on the modules listed below. In addition to flash memory, some modules include pseudostatic RAM (pSRAM).
Development and other boards
Development & break-out boards extend wiring and may add functionality, often building upon ESP32 module boards and making them easier to use for development purposes (especially with breadboards).
† ESP32 SoC incorporated directly onto development board; no module board used.
Programming
Programming languages, frameworks, platforms, and environments used for ESP32 programming:
ESP-IDF – Espressif’s official IoT Development Framework for the ESP32, ESP32-S, ESP32-C and ESP32-H series of SoCs.
Arduino-ESP32 – Arduino core for the ESP32, ESP32-S2, ESP32-S3 and ESP32-C3.
Espruino – JavaScript SDK and firmware closely emulating Node.js
MicroPython (and CircuitPython) – lean implementation of Python 3 for microcontrollers
Lua Network/IoT toolkit for ESP32-Wrover
Moddable SDK - modern JavaScript and TypeScript with networking, graphics, and ECMA-419 APIs
Mongoose OS – an operating system for connected products on microcontrollers; programmable with JavaScript or C. A recommended platform by Espressif Systems, AWS IoT, and Google Cloud IoT.
mruby for the ESP32
NodeMCU – Lua-based firmware
PlatformIO
Rust
Visual Studio Code with the officially supported Espressif Integrated Development Framework (ESP-IDF) Extension
Zerynth – Python for IoT and microcontrollers, including the ESP32
Matlab
Matlab Simulink
Reception and use
Commercial and industrial use of ESP32:
Use in commercial devices
Alibaba Group's IoT LED wristband, used by participants at the group's 2017 annual gathering. Each wristband operated as a "pixel", receiving commands for coordinated LED light control, allowing formation of a "live and wireless" screen.
DingTalk's M1, a biometric attendance-tracking system.
LIFX Mini, a series of remotely controllable, LED based light bulbs.
Pium, a home fragrance and aromatherapy device.
HardKernel's Odroid Go, an ESP32 based handheld gaming device kit made to commemorate Odroid's 10th anniversary.
Playdate, a handheld video game console jointly developed by Panic Inc. and Teenage Engineering.
Octopus Energy Mini, an ESP32-C6 based real-time energy monitor.
Use in industrial devices
TECHBASE's Moduino X series X1 and X2 modules are ESP32-WROVER / ESP32-WROVER-B based computers for industrial automation and monitoring, supporting digital inputs/outputs, analog inputs, and various computer networking interfaces.
NORVI IIOT Industrial Devices with ESP32-WROVER / ESP32-WROVER-B SOC for industrial automation and monitoring with digital inputs, analog inputs, relay outputs and multiple communications interfaces. Supports LoRa and Nb-IoT as expansion modules.
See also
Internet of things
References
External links
Espressif ESP32 Overview
Espressif ESP32 Resources
Espressif ESP-IDF Programming Guide
Espressif ESP32 Forums
Microcontrollers
Microprocessors made in China