ESP32 – quick overview

The ESP32 is a low cost, low power microcontroller with integrated 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi (up to 150Mbps) and dual-mode Bluetooth (classic and BLE), which employs a dual-core Tensilica Xtensa LX6 microprocessor. ESP32 is created and developed by Espressif Systems, a Shanghai-based Chinese company, and is manufactured by TSMC using their 40 nm process. It is a successor to the ESP8266 microcontroller.

I think that Espressif’s ESP32 is one of the most interesting microcontrollers on the market at the moment. This chip includes almost everything you’ll need to begin using and programming the WiFi/BT SoC and to create amazing IoT applications.

ESP32 Key Features

  • 240 MHz dual-core Tensilica LX6 microcontroller with performing at up to 600 DMIPS
  • integrated 520 KB SRAM
  • integrated 802.11/b/g/n HT40 Wi-Fi transceiver,  baseband,  stack and LWIP
  • integrated dual mode Bluetooth (classic and BLE)
  • 16 MB Flash
  • 2.2V to 3.6V operating voltage
  • -40°C to +125°C operating temperature
  • on-board PCB antenna / IPEX connector for external antenna
  • supports sniffer, station, SoftAP and WiFi direct modes

ESP32 Peripheral Interfaces

  • 12-bit ADC up to 18 channels
  • 2x 8-bit DACs
  • 10x capacitive touch interface
  • Temperature sensor
  • 3x SPI
  • 2x I²S
  • 2x I²C
  • 3x UARTs, including hardware flow control
  • SD/SDIO/MMC host
  • SDIO master/slave 50 MHz
  • Ethernet MAC interface with dedicated DMA and IEEE 1588 support
  • CAN bus 2.0
  • IR (TX/RX)
  • PWM/timer input/output available on every GPIO pin
  • Hall effect sensor
  • Ultra low power and low noise analog amplifier

ESP32 Security

  • WEP, WPA/WPA2 PSK/Enterprise
  • Hardware accelerated encryption: AES / SHA2 / Elliptical Curve Cryptography / RSA-4096

ESP32 Performance

  • Max data rate of 150 Mbps@11n HT40, 72 Mbps@11n HT20, 54 Mbps@11g, and 11 Mbps@11b
  • Maximum transmit power of 19.5 dBm@11b, 16.5 dBm@11g, 15.5 dBm@11n
  • Minimum receiver sensitivity of -98 dBm
  • 135 Mbps UDP sustained throughput
  • 2.5 μA deep sleep current

Resources

2 thoughts on “ESP32 – quick overview

  1. THANK YOU!

    For posting this image – two pins where soldered together on my ESP32, I checked on your chart to see which IO pins I’d lost…

    They are pins 3 and 4 – which turn out to be the same VDD inputs. YAY!

    The board must just have clear copper between the pins, and no mask, so the pins build up solder between them.

    • Sarah, thanks for reading this post. It also happens to me from time to time. No clean – SMD solder flux can do the magic here!
      /L

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