VALUE ADDED SERVICE

For those off-the-thelf commodities from local market, we will evaluate them, translate key documents or reverse engineering them if necessary, with demo projects for open source platforms including Arduino and mbed. And them port them into more maker friendly pinout like Arduino shield.

• ESP8266 Datasheet in English, from Espressif.
• AT Command Set User Manual, translated by Ennovation.
• Application Note in English, translated by Ennovation.
• mbed WiFi libraries
• mbed Cellular libraries
• mbed Xbee libraries
• Cheap and Simple WiFi with ESP8266 for FRDM board

COMING SOON

• A RF Combo Shield (for Arduino and mikroBUS) support ESP8266/nRF24L01+/CC11XX/CC2540
• Demo project (for Arduino and mbed API)

What is ESP8266

ESP8266 is a highly integrated chip designed for the needs of a new connected world. It offers a complete and self-contained Wi-Fi networking solution, allowing it to either host the application or to offload all Wi-Fi networking functions from another application processor.

ESP8266 has powerful on-board processing and storage capabilities that allow it to be integrated with the sensors and other application specific devices through its GPIOs with minimal development up-front and minimal loading during runtime. Its high degree of on-chip integration allows for minimal external circuitry, and the entire solution, including front-end module, is designed to occupy minimal PCB area.

FEATURES

• SDIO 2.0, SPI, UART (usually breakout reveals UART interface only)
• 32-pin QFN package
• Integrated RF switch, balun, 24dBm PA, DCXO, and PMU
• Integrated RISC processor, on-chip memory and external memory interfaces
• Integrated MAC/baseband processors
• Quality of Service management
• I2S interface for high fidelity audio applications
• On-chip low-dropout linear regulators for all internal supplies
• Proprietary spurious-free clock generation architecture
• Integrated WEP, TKIP, AES, and WAPI engines

SPECIFICATIONS

• 802.11 b/g/n
• Wi-Fi Direct (P2P), soft-AP
• Integrated TCP/IP protocol stack
• Integrated TR switch, balun, LNA, power amplifier and matching network
• Integrated PLLs, regulators, DCXO and power management units
• +19.5dBm output power in 802.11b mode
• Power down leakage current of <10uA
• Integrated low power 32-bit CPU could be used as application processor
• SDIO 1.1/2.0, SPI, UART
• STBC, 1×1 MIMO, 2×1 MIMO
• A-MPDU & A-MSDU aggregation & 0.4ms guard interval
• Wake up and transmit packets in < 2ms
• Standby power consumption of < 1.0mW (DTIM3)

SOLUTIONS

• Supports APSD for optimal VoIP applications
• Patented spurious noise cancellation algorithm for integration in SOC applications
• Supports Bluetooth co-existence interface
• Self-calibrated RF to ensure optimal performance under all operating conditions
• Zero factory tuning
• No external RF components

What makes it special

IOT is coming, that is for sure. Espressif is a new name in semiconductor industry, even in Shenzhen, China. I don't have enough time and resources to test all WiFi modules from the market, but ESP8266 is definately the price leader, its cost is even lower than MTK.

As I know, its internal processor is Xtensa, a soft-core, instead of popular ARM cortex. You can build the firmware, but its IDE seems commercial. Therefore it requires hacks. And its TCP/IP stack comes from open source stacks.

Espressif offers all kinds of form factors which are popular in wireless modules, including pin headers, stamp module. Obviously it will spead to every wireless embedded applications only if can offer enough power supply to it.

Yes, it is an energy tiger.

International Support

More and more makers out of China has heard about this module. Up to now, all of its documents are only in Chinese. And Espressif supports its clients via QQ, an instant message service.

I don't have enough time to translate all of these documents into English by myself as well. However I make a breakdown list for all of these documents available at my hand. I will try my best to translate some key documents first.

It is designed for HACKERS. You have to depent on yourself. However I know some open source communities have started some projects on ESP8266.

Documentation

• Datasheet of ESP8266 (PDF)
• AT command set (PDF)
• Firmware upgrade (PDF)
• Pinout diagram as image files (JPG)
• Simple User Manual (docx)
• SDK (C in zip) for external microcontroller
• Android Demo App (as APK and zipped source)
• TCP/IP stack test procedure (TEXT)
• Hacks for Xtensa IDE (yes, hacks! for internal 32bit Xtensa MCU development)
• Other tools like putty, sscom for firmware upgrade and TCP/IP connection.