Yesterday on 9th April 2021, Espressif announced another Wireless SoC ESP32-C6 which is their first SOC supporting Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5 (LE). ESP32-C6 is based on RISC-V. It is targeted for Low power IoT devices.
RISC-V
They have launched their first wireless SOC on the RISC-V platform, the ESP32-C3 last year and now their second chip is ESP32-C6, I think they are seriously considering RISC-V for their future platforms and we can see more and more of their SOC based on RISC-V.
Do they have plans for COMBO WI-FI?
Combo Wi-Fi was on my wish list for ESP32 Chips but looks like I need to wait a little bit more. I am not sure if they have plans in that direction but it will be a great SoC that can support Dual-band Wi-Fi (2.4GHz and 5Ghz).
What’s new in ESP32-C6?
ESP32-C6 supports a 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) that also supports the 802.11b/g/n standard for backward compatibility.
This Wi-Fi 6 support is optimized for IoT devices, and the SoC supports a 20MHz bandwidth for 802.11ax mode and a 20/40MHz bandwidth for 802.11b/g/n mode.
The 802.11ax mode supports a station interface, and it offers greater transmission efficiency and lower power consumption. Additionally, Bluetooth 5 (LE) radio supports long-range operation through advertisement extension and coded PHY.
It also supports 2 Mbps of high throughput PHY.
Similar to ESP32-C3?
In terms of CPU, memory, and security features, ESP32-C6 is similar to ESP32-C3.
ESP32-C6 has:
- single-core, 32-bit RISC-V microcontroller running at 160 MHz.
- 384KB ROM
- 400KB SRAM, and works with external flash.
- 22 programmable GPIOs
- ADC
- SPI
- UART
- I2C
- I2S
- RMT
- TWAI
- PWM.
Benefits of Wi-Fi 6
ESP23-C6 supports the OFDMA (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access) mechanisms for both uplink and downlink communications. It also supports MU-MIMO capability for downlink. Both of these techniques provide the ability to work with high efficiency and low latency in congested wireless environments.
One more important feature of the 802.11ax standard is the Target Wake Time (TWT), which allows the devices to sleep for an extended time period, with assistance from an 802.11ax-capable, Wi-Fi access point. This feature in ESP32-C6 will allow our customers to build battery-operated, connected devices that can last for years on battery while staying connected throughout.
Security features
Espressif continues to safeguard the security of connected devices through hardware and software features. ESP32-C6 comes with RSA-3072-based secure boot, AES-128-XTS-based flash encryption, digital signature, and an HMAC peripheral for identity protection, as well as cryptographic accelerators for improved performance. These features ensure that the devices built with ESP32-C6 can provide the desired level of security.
Development Support
ESP32-C6 SOC will be supported by ESP-IDF IoT Development Framework, so that existing customers can benefit from their familiarity with our field-proven platform that already powers millions of connected devices.
Espressif mentioned that ESP32-C6 will continue to support ESP-AT firmware as well.
If you are interested in ESP32-C6, You can contact Espressif’s customer support team.
I will try to add link to the datasheet as soon as I get it.
Do you have plans to use WI-Fi 6 in your product? Let me know in the comments below.
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Hey pallav, any idea on where I could buy esp32-C6 in India ?
No, sorry, you need to try searching online. Or contact Uchi embedded, Bangalore, they should have samples.