In my previous blog ESP HomeKit SDK – Flash I showed you How to Use a ESP as a HomeKit device. Now there is a new version on the market. About In 2015 the ESP8266 took the embedded IoT world by storm. For less than a few bucks, you could get a programmable, WiFi-enabled microcontroller with just enough GPIO to wiggle some LEDs and monitor some sensors. I spent a good chunk of the year working with the chip — laying out a handful of boards, and mostly wrestling with the lightly-documented SDK (to put it nicely). Fortunately, a huge community sprang up around the chip, and some amazing tools and firmwares were created to support it, like ESP8266 Arduino and NodeMCU. Espressif — the semiconductor company behind the ESP8266 — is releasing a new Internet-capable microcontroller: the ESP WROOM 32.
ESP32 VS ESP8266
The ESP32 doesn’t replace the ESP8266, but it does improve on it in every aspect. Not only does it have WiFi support, but it also features a Bluetooth 4.2 radio, making it even more versatile. The CPU is similar to the ESP8266 — it’s a 32-bit Xtensa(R) LX6, but the ESP32 has two cores! There’s also 128KB of ROM and 416KB SRAM, but Flash memory (for program and data storage) is still left up to an external chip (up to 64MB).
ESP32
The ESP-WROOM-32 is a powerful universal WiFi-BT-BLE MCU module for a variety of applications, from low-power sensor networks to the most demanding tasks such as voice coding, music streaming and MP3 decoding. ESP8266 bringing WiFi to a small and cheap package, but also has enough processing power and enough pins to complete the small things and began a small revolution.
Now you can use the ESP-WROOM-32 WiFi / Bluetooth Classic / BLE module to elevate your WiFi capabilities to a higher level! The product is just a module – it could be hard to use. You need to solder it on a board with support circuit (see Espressif’s assembled ESP32 development board for a more complete design). This module is currently available for use by developers, FCC, CE, IC, MIC (Telec), KCC and NCC certifications.
The ESP-wroom-32 module totally fits for WiFi 802.11b/g/n/e/i and Bluetooth v4.2 BR/EDR & BLE standard, and providing a series of solutions of WiFi and Bluetooth to support open real-time operating systems (RTOS). it also offers an open platform to support users to custom function flexibly in various applications.
Specifications:
- ESP32-WROOM-32 contains two low-power Xtensa 32-bit LX6 microprocessors
- 448 KBytes ROM for booting and core functions
- 520 KBytes on-chip SRAM
- 8 KBytes SRAM in RTC SLOW
- 8 KBytes SRAM in RTC FAST
- 1 Kbit of EFUSE, 256 bits MAC
- WiFi: 802.11 b/g/n/d/e/i/k/r (802.11n up to 150 Mbps)
- Bluetooth v4.2 BR/EDR and BLE specification
- Wi-Fi mode Station/softAP/SoftAP+station/P2P
- Security WPA/WPA2/WPA2-Enterprise/WPS
- Encryption AES/RSA/ECC/SHA
- IPv4, IPv6, SSL, TCP/UDP/HTTP/FTP/MQTT
- Interfaces: SD-card, UART,SPI,SDIO,I2C,LED PWM,Motor PWM,I2S ,IR,GPIO, capacitive touch sensor, ADC, DAC, Hall sensor, temperature sensor
- Operating temperature -40 + 85C
- Operating voltage: 2.2-3.6V
- Consumption: 80 mA typical
- Dimensions: 18 mm(L) x 25.5 mm(W) x 2.8 mm(H)
- Pin pitch:1.27mm
- Shielding can height: 2 mm
- PCB thickness: 0.8±0.1mm
So time to order one for some further investigation….
REFERENCE
ESPRESSIF SYSTEMS, Powerful Wi-Fi+BT/BLE MCU modules that target a wide variety of applications, ranging from low-power sensor networks to the most demanding tasks., https://espressif.com/en/esp-wroom-32/resources