Alp Electronix’s RP2040-ESP32C3 development board provides product designers with a robust, compact (approx. 33 x 72.5 mm) platform for integrating or exploring the benefits of both Raspberry Pi’s RP2040 dual-Arm Cortex-M0+ microcontroller (running at up to 133 MHz) and Espressif’s ESP32-C3 radio module, which features a single-core RISC-V microcontroller (running at up to 160 MHz) in addition to Espressif’s top-tier Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5 LE, and mesh networking capabilities, with high data throughput and low power modes to support long battery life.
The RP2040-ESP32C3 development board features a wide range of easy-to-access peripherals, including an optional 1.9” 8-bit 262K IPS Colour LCD display and an onboard 1100-mAh Li-Po battery charger with battery protection circuitry, enabling fast prototyping of connected devices for applications ranging from smart home/building automation to wearables. Additional interfaces/devices on the board include:
- 16 Mbit external NOR flash
- µSD card slot for additional storage
- 2x user buttons and 1x user LED
- JST and mini battery connectors
- LCD display connection via pins or FPC cable connector
- LCD backlight dim control IC
- USB-C power, charging, and programming interface, with power switch
A key feature is the SLG46826 GreenPAK programmable mixed-signal matrix, an FPGA-like I/O expander for interfacing additional components required by your build – sensors, motor control circuitry, LED lighting, etc. – while minimising hardware changes to your design. The pinout of the RP2040-ESP32C3 development board is shown in the diagram below:
As you can see, most of the I/Os are available through the I/O expander, but an I2C interface is provided using the RP2040 (the main heart of the board), and USB and UART interfaces are provided through the ESP32-C3 module. The circuit operating voltage is 3.3 V, and power to the board is also regulated to 3.3 V via an LDO.
Currently, the RP2040-ESP32C3 development board is best programmed through Pico SDK with Alp Electronix’s wide set of examples to get you started, but with Arduino and MicroPython support coming soon, this board will make it even easier to quickly develop IoT devices for fastest time to market. The board is supplied with female headers as default for direct interfacing with larger systems, but Alp Electronix can also supply male headers to suit your project requirements. STL files are also available on Alp Electronix’s GitHub for 3D-printing a small case for immediate testing of the RP2040-ESP32C3 development board with a battery in the field.
For more information and a get started guide, follow this link to the official documentation.
If you like the look of Alp Electronix’s full-featured IoT development solution for your next commercial project, fill out the form below, and ipXchange will facilitate evaluation.
