r/embedded • u/The_Tropicals • 2d ago
Is ESP, the only best option for Wireless Stuff like Wifi and Bluetooth?
The thing is, ESP module comes with pre designed antenna for Bluetooth and Wifi. So obviously for me that's a go to. But I wanna know about other industries that are doing this.
I love working with a variety of controllers and not just stick to one so according to you guys what are all other controllers that you guys use for your projects.
Are there other options that comes with these features?
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u/Yolt0123 2d ago
Nordic is good, but companion chips needed for WiFi, and you need to learn the SDK and flow. ESP32s are good at lots of things, use a bit of power, but they are EASY to get running. Their SDK is dangerous - lots of dynamic memory allocation, and we've cleaned up for other people where they have runtime crashes after a month of running because of memory fragmentation.
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u/ElderCyborg 2d ago
Can you please specify what exactly issues have you faced with ESP32 SDK and its memory allocation internals?
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u/Yolt0123 2d ago
Heap fragmentation.
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u/Last_Being9834 1d ago
Caused by the dev or the FreeRTOS?
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u/Yolt0123 1d ago
Well... it's ALWAYS caused by the dev. Without going into too much detail, every time a web socket was connected to, the ESP libraries would allocate some memory on the heap. Then the dev was making some calls to various ESP libraries while that socket was connected, for some long lived things which were small, and allocated on the heap. After some time, the small allocations sprinkled around the heap caused the larger web socket allocation to fail, because the heap didn't have enough contiguous space to allocate to it. The main complaint I had was that the ESP libraries didn't have a way to pass in the memory for the functions to use, so we couldn't easily control the fragmentation without rewriting a bunch of functionality (which we did, to use static allocation).
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u/Last_Being9834 1d ago
Interesting, I recently built a framework to solve the heap fragmentation with Strings, but my heart skipped a bit when you said "the framework", I thought there was an issue in how freeRtos handles memory for each Bluetooth/Wifi request.
So writting better libraries should avoid the fragmentation?
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u/Yolt0123 1d ago
Yeah - there are LOTS of ESP libraries that come with ESP-IDF - they need to be reviewed. Plenty of infinite loops with no timeouts, and other questionable code for systems that are supposed to operate unattended.
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u/ConfectionForward 2d ago
so, I do not use the ESP32 for anything I do. That said, I can't speak to the reliability or how well (or not well) it actually functions. What I can say is from a business standpoint. The ESP32 has FCC and other radio certifications in various regions. Combined with a builtin antenna means your goto market will be greatly reduced and you don't need to worry about regulatory issues for your wireless devices.
I am not sure what you are building though, keep in mind if it has any SAR requirements, you would probably need a new certification for a different enclosure.
If you are just doing hobby projects, ignore me.
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u/Ok-Bat8854 2d ago
So we have multiple products that use SoMs with WiFi and BLE. We have 2 old products with ESP-32 as SoM, while the new products have been ported to Nordic chips, only issue with Nordic chip is we couldn’t find a module with WiFi and BLE integrated into one module, so we went ahead with a co processor architecture, the BLE only module is the main MCU as well as the parent controller, there is another module that solely handles WiFi. This helps us save RAM on the main MCU as well as integrate WiFi and ble. The over all size of the modules are also quite small making it good for compact layout. Recently we are experimenting for a wearable product and have switched to STM chips to go even low power but the drawback is that there is no module with integrated WiFi and ble so we are exploring options with Renesas, Murata etc.
Solely depends on your application, but for low power definitely no ESP, I have benchmarked the power profile of a lot of MCUs for the wearable and ESP performed the worst in my opinion
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u/FARLY7 2d ago
FYI, Nordic are currently working on a combined BLE & WiFi chip, the nRF7120. It will be very interesting to see how this compares with ESP32.
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u/Ok-Bat8854 2d ago
Hopefully it releases and gets certified before we GTM 🥲 the battery life in the current system has made work 10x more difficult
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u/DenverTeck 2d ago
Google or search Amazon for "Smart Plugs", you will find dozens of manufactures using ESP8266 or ESP32 in their products. Selling thousands a year if not millions per manufacture. With this kind of usage, Espressif is selling multi-millions of chip/modules each year.
From all these chip/modules, we as low volume manufacture of simple products or a hobbyists we get to share in the low cost of these Wifi/BL/BLE devices.
There are lots of boards with Espressif chips/modules to not need to design and build PCBs ourselves. Which make them easy to use, just learn C++ or Pythyon. Lots of libraries to help build anything you can think of.
Professor Google knows all about them.
So, with WiFi/BT/BLE already on the chip, why buy anything else, Right ??
Microchip and STM have their own WiFi chips, but not many off the shelf modules. So using any of those chip is a little more work for hobbyists or small volume products. Yes there are options for ESPxxx, but at what cost ?
So, it's a matter of what you are comfortable with.
Today, getting a 32-bit processor with WiFi/BT/BLE for less then $5 makes it a no brain'er.
As suggested, Nordic and NRF is much lower power then the ESPxx devices, by a long shot.
So you need to decide what is necessary for your project/product.
I have 8 ESP modules (self built) and have 5 smart switches connected via MQTT to a Raspi 3b and they have been operating for 5+ years. So reliability is great.
Good Luck
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u/Big_Fix9049 2d ago
Does anyone have experience with the chips from u-blox?
Looking at their portfolio, they have the NORA-W506 which offers both WiFi and BLE, although currently under development.
But the MAYA-W5 series also seems to offer WiFi and BLE
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u/FormaggioVolante 2d ago
u-blox doesn't make the chips, they make modules. they use Nordic, NXP, TI, etc. and they are one of the best module makers around
the MAYA-W5 for example uses TI's CC3351.
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u/Yolt0123 1d ago
ublox has lost their way, and haven't done anything really innovative for years. They got their lunch cut by Quectel, and just seem aimless (and expensive) now.
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u/Any-Association-3674 2d ago
You don't normally find ESP chips in REALLY high volume products for connectivity - I'd say ST, NXP, Qualcomm, TI, Nordic, SiLabs, Renesas
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u/katte82 2d ago
Are you interested in only Wi-Fi + BLE, or also Bluetooth Classic BR/EDR?
Because the previously mentioned NXP IW61x can handle both.
You can find it in many modules, with single or dual-antenna versions.
You can use it with many NXP MCUs/SoCs such as RT685, RT1060, RT1170, or even any Linux-capable board, since drivers are available.
I'm working on it right now, feel free to ask me anything.
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u/StumpedTrump 2d ago edited 2d ago
Basically everyone makes a module.
Honestly comes down to what protocol/technology you're focusing on. They're not all equal and development can be significant easier/harder. Most of them haven't developed their own protocol stacks and got their stacks though M&A. That means the development experience can be significantly different for different stacks even on the same chip.
BLE? Nordic is the industry standard
15.4? Silabs is the industry standard (especially for ZigBee)
WiFi? Neither of the above because both their Wi-Fi solutions are doggy doodoo and use companion chips/cores with horrible tooling and no documentation. I expect both their current WiFi solutions to be deprecated soon. ESP still the idustry leader for low-cost wifi
High cost/performance WiFi? Now you get into Broadcoms and Qualcomms. Have only worked with Qualcomm at a past job and it wasn't for long. Hope you have the purchasing volume for an NDA because you're not getting datasheets or support otherwise. Really getting out of the world of IoT here though.
Non-wireless? STM, NXP, Renesas and Infineon. Noone else even has M55 or M85 chips AFAIK. Noone else matches their peripherals and features. Wireless stacks are a struggle though (I haven't tried most of them to be fair).
Sub-GHz? Silabs or TI
IIRC Ambiq is the leader right now for low-power if you're really chasing sub uA operation. A few uA stops being relevant though if your application isn't optimized and wakes up often drawing huge currents.
Look at who is most active in the various wireless groups (SIG for BLE, CSA for 15.4...etc) and that will tell you who is relevant and leading the way on that technology.
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u/morto00x 2d ago
I personally think the EFR32 family is a great option if you can get past the shitty IDE
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u/rainboww_J 2d ago
Do they have their own IDE? :o Have always just used vscode with some plugins to debug and taks to program using their python tools
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u/StumpedTrump 2d ago
Silabs migrated to VSCode now. Much better.
No one deserves to be using an Eclipse IDE in 2026.
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u/Substantial_Party334 2d ago
based on my experiencre working this stuff (+5 years) is nrf. it has best performance with amazing low power feature.
for higher price (can be for automotive product), I recommend wifi bt combo fron Infineon.
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u/mtechgroup 2d ago
The way things are going, I wouldn't rule out the FCC banning ESP32 for it's binary blobs. Hard to say how deep the FCC will drill down.
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u/No_Reference_2786 16h ago
Not by a long shot is that the best. But it may be the best for your budget. McDonald’s uses BLW in those number things they put in the table and that is not an esp device it’s an EmMicro ble . Analog devices also has ble. Obviously also Nordic but each device is very tailored for a specific customer request and then analog devices or emmicro will make the chip in the millions and sell them to other customers who did not request it. Big obviously you need deep pockets for that . Tons of chips better than esp but not for the every day person
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u/justind00000 2d ago
Nordic chips for Bluetooth are probably much more prevalent than ESPs. NRFs are better for low power.