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Basics: Project 070y

Project name: ESP32 Development board with WiFi and Bluetooth - How to add ESP32 add-on on Windows OS

Tags: Arduino, ESP32 Dev Module, ESP32 development board, ESP32 Development board with WiFi and Bluetooth, ESP32-DevKitC V4 development board, ESP-WROOM-32 module with ESP32‑D0WDQ6 chip, Espressif Systems, ESP32-based development board, ESP32 modules, ESP32-WROOM-32, ESP32-WROOM-32U, ESP32-WROOM-32D, ESP32-SOLO-1, USB-UART bridge, IOT, ESP-WROOM-32 Dev Module, ESP32 DEVKITV1, Installing the ESP32 Board in Arduino IDE, Uploading sketch, Windows OS

Attachments: none

In this project, you need these parts :

1. ESP32 development board with WiFi and Bluetooth and USB A / micro USB B cable 1 pc

2.Arduino IDE ( you can download it from here  )

General

We will learn  to add ESP32 add-on in Arduino IDE on Windows OS.

There are a lot of different development boards made. You can find more information about them here. 

Understanding the ESP32 Development board with WiFi and Bluetooth

We will discuss here an Espressif Systems products. Our development board is using ESP-WROOM-32 module from Espressif Systems.

Espressif offers a wide range of fully-certified Wi-Fi & BT modules powered by their own advanced SoCs.

1. Dual-core Modules with Wi-Fi & Dual-mode Bluetooth

Features

• Two independently-controlled CPU cores with adjustable clock frequency, ranging from 80 MHz to 240 MHz
• +19.5 dBm output at the antenna ensures a good physical range
• Classic Bluetooth for legacy connections, also supporting L2CAP, SDP, GAP, SMP, AVDTP, AVCTP, A2DP (SNK) and AVRCP (CT)
• Support for Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) profiles including L2CAP, GAP, GATT, SMP, and GATT-based profiles like BluFi, SPP-like, etc
• Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) connects to smart phones, broadcasting low-energy beacons for easy detection
• Sleep current is less than 5 μA, making it suitable for battery-powered and wearable-electronics applications
• Integrates 4 MB flash
• Peripherals include capacitive touch sensors, Hall sensor, low-noise sense amplifiers, SD card interface, Ethernet, high-speed SPI, UART, I2S and I2C
• Fully certified with integrated antenna and software stacks

2. Single-core Modules with Wi-Fi & Dual-mode Bluetooth

Features

• High-performance 160 MHz single-core CPU
• +19.5 dBm output at the antenna ensures a good physical range
• Classic Bluetooth for legacy connections, also supporting L2CAP, SDP, GAP, SMP, AVDTP, AVCTP, A2DP (SNK) and AVRCP (CT)
• Support for Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) profiles including L2CAP, GAP, GATT, SMP, and GATT-based profiles like BluFi, SPP-like, etc
• Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) connects to smart phones, broadcasting low-energy beacons for easy detection
• Sleep current is less than 5 μA, making it suitable for battery-powered and wearable-electronics applications
• Peripherals include capacitive touch sensors, Hall sensor, low-noise sense amplifiers, SD card interface, Ethernet, high-speed SPI, UART, I2S and I2C
• Fully certified with integrated antenna and software stacks

3. Single-core Modules with 802.11b/g/n 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi

Features

• High-performance 160 MHz single-core CPU
• +19.5 dBm output at the antenna ensures a good physical range
• Sleep current is less than 20 μA, making it suitable for battery-powered and wearable-electronics applications
• Peripherals include UART, GPIO, I2C, I2S, SDIO, PWM, ADC and SPI
• Fully certified with integrated antenna and software stacks

There are different development Boards made by Espressif Systems and other manufacturers. We will publish some information about Espressif Systems boards but you can also find out more information about other development boards here.

1. 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi & BT/BLE Development Boards

Features

• PC connectivity: USB
• Power supply options: USB (by default), or 5V/GND header pins, or 3V3/GND header pins
• SDK: ESP-IDF source code and example applications

2. 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi Development Boards

Features

• PC connectivity: USB
• SDK: ESP8266 SDK source code and example applications

3. 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi + BT/BLE + Sensor Development Boards

Features

• PC connectivity: USB
• SDK: ESP-IOT-SOLUTION source code and example applications

You can find more information (datasheets, schematics, pins descriptions, functional desgn descriptions) about each board by pressing Getting started link close to each board here.

ESP32 chip

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 a Tensilica Xtensa LX6 microprocessor in both dual-core and single-core variations and includes in-built antenna switches, RF balun, power amplifier, low-noise receive amplifier, filters, and power management modules. 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.

ESP32 can perform as a complete standalone system or as a slave device to a host MCU, reducing communication stack overhead on the main application processor. ESP32 can interface with other systems to provide Wi-Fi and Bluetooth functionality through its SPI / SDIO or I2C / UART interfaces.

ESP32 is highly-integrated with in-built antenna switches, RF balun, power amplifier, low-noise receive amplifier, filters, and power management modules. ESP32 adds priceless functionality and versatility to your applications with minimal Printed Circuit Board (PCB) requirements.

ESP32 is capable of functioning reliably in industrial environments, with an operating temperature ranging from –40°C to +125°C. Powered by advanced calibration circuitries, ESP32 can dynamically remove external circuit imperfections and adapt to changes in external conditions.

Engineered for mobile devices, wearable electronics and IoT applications, ESP32 achieves ultra-low power consumption with a combination of several types of proprietary software. ESP32 also includes state-of-the-art features, such as fine-grained clock gating, various power modes and dynamic power scaling.

Functional Block Diagram:

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 SRAM

Wireless connectivity:

• Wi-Fi: 802.11 b/g/n
• Bluetooth: v4.2 BR/EDR and BLE

Peripheral interfaces:

• 12-bit SAR ADC up to 18 channels
• 2 × 8-bit DACs
• 10 × touch sensors (capacitive sensing GPIOs)
• Temperature sensor
• 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 IEEE 1588 Precision Time Protocol support
• CAN bus 2.0
• Infrared remote controller (TX/RX, up to 8 channels)
• Motor PWM
• LED PWM (up to 16 channels)
• Hall effect sensor
• Ultra low power analog pre-amplifier

Security:

• IEEE 802.11 standard security features all supported, including WFA, WPA/WPA2 and 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
• 5uA deep sleep current
• Wake up from GPIO interrupt, timer, ADC measurements, capacitive touch sensor interrupt

You can find ESP32 chip datasheet here, hardware design here, technical reference manual here.

Signals and connections of the ESP32 Development board with WiFi and Bluetooth

You can find more information (datasheets, schematics, pins descriptions, functional desgn descriptions) about each board (made by Espresiff Systems) by pressing Getting started link close to each board here.

Let's check our development board - ESP32 DEVKITV1 with ESP-WROOM-32 module from Espressif Systems:

Pinout diagram for the ESP Wroom 32 breakout:

ESP32-WROOM-32 - ESP32-WROOM-32 module soldered to the development board. Optionally ESP32-WROOM-32D, ESP32-WROOM-32U or ESP32-SOLO-1 module may be soldered instead of the ESP32-WROOM-32.

USB-UART Bridge - A single chip USB-UART bridge provides up to 3 Mbps transfers rates.

BOOT button - Download button: holding down the Boot button and pressing the EN button initiates the firmware download mode. Then user can download firmware through the serial port.

EN button - Reset button: pressing this button resets the system.

Micro USB Port - USB interface. It functions as the power supply for the board and the communication interface between PC and the ESP module.

TX0, TX2 - transmit pin. GPIO pin

RX0, RX2  - receive pin.  GPIO pin

3V3 (or 3V or 3.3V) - power supply pin (3-3.6V). 

GND - ground pin.

EN - Chip enable. Keep it on high (3.3V) for normal operation.

Vin - External power supply 5VDC.

Wiring

Step by Step instruction

1. Adding ESP32 platform to Arduino IDE (Windows 10 used)

The ESP32 is currently being integrated with the Arduino IDE like it was done for the ESP8266. There’s an add-on for the Arduino IDE that allows you to program the ESP32 using the Arduino IDE and its programming language.

1. Preparations

Before starting this installation, make sure that you have the latest version of the Arduino IDE installed in your PC. If you don’t have, uninstall the Arduino IDE and install it again. Otherwise, it may not work. 

If this is your first time installing the ESP32 add-on on Arduino IDE you can ignore this part. If you have already installed the ESP32 add-on using the old method, you should remove the espressif folder first. If you’ve followed the older installation procedure and you’ve manually installed the ESP32 add-on with Git GUI, you need to remove the espressif folder from your Arduino IDE. To find your espressif folder and Arduino IDE location (installation path), open your Arduino IDE and go to File -> Preferences. Copy the location from the Sketchbook location field. Go to your Arduino IDE location directory: C:\Users\User_name\Documents\Arduino and open the hardware folder.

Then right click on the espressif folder and delete it.

2. Installation of  ESP32 add-on in Arduino IDE on Windows OS.

1. Download and install the latest Arduino IDE Windows Installer from arduino.cc. 
2. Open Arduino IDE. 
3. Open the Preferences window from the Arduino IDE. Go to File -> Preferences.
4. 
5. Enter https://dl.espressif.com/dl/package_esp32_index.json to the Additional Board Manager URLs field. Then press OK button. If you already have the ESP8266 boards URL, you can separate the URLs with a comma as follows: https://dl.espressif.com/dl/package_esp32_index.json, http://arduino.esp8266.com/stable/package_esp8266com_index.json
6. 
7. Open Boards manager. Go to Tools -> Board -> Boards Manager…
8. 
   
9. Look for esp or scroll down to the esp32 entry. Select the esp32 entry. When you click it an install option will appear. Check the more info, you will see the Install button appears, and press Install button to start installation.
10. 
11. 
12. Once the installation has completed, an Arduino-blue INSTALLED will appear next to the entry.
13. 
14. Congrats!!!You have istalled it successfully. Let's check it now.

3. Testing installation

1. Plug the ESP32 development board to your PC and wait for the drivers to install (or install manually any that might be required).
2. Open Arduino IDE. 
3. Open Boards manager. Go to Tools -> Board -> Boards Manager… (in our case it’s the DOIT ESP32 DEVKIT V1)
4. Select COM port that the board is attached to (if you don’t see the COM Port in your Arduino IDE, you need to install the ESP32 CP210x USB to UART Bridge VCP Drivers)
5. 
6. Open the following example under File -> Examples -> WiFi (for DOIT ESP32 DEVKIT V1) -> WiFi Scan.
7. 
8. A new sketch opens. Compile and upload the sketch to your ESP32 development board. If everything went as expected, you should see a “Done uploading” message. (You need to hold the ESP32 on-board Boot button while uploading).
9. 
10. Open the Serial Monitor at a baud rate of 115200.
11. Press the ESP32 on-board Enable button and you should see the networks available near your ESP32.

Summary

We have learnt  to add ESP32 add-on in Arduino IDE on Windows OS.

Library

• WiFi library installed in your Arduino IDE.

Sketch

• None