ipXchange first noticed Alp Electronix through some shared content on LinkedIn, and after commenting on a post about the new RP2040-ESP32C3 development board, we soon found one in the post to us before we knew it. A massive thanks to Caner Alp for engaging with ipXchange, and while we haven’t had a chance to play with it yet, Eamon has studied it and written a technical review, so here are the highlights of this beautifully crafted board!
On the surface of it, Alp Electronix’s RP2040-ESP32C3 development board blends the dual-Arm Cortex-M0+ power of Raspberry Pi’s flagship microcontroller with the superior low-power connectivity of Espressif’s ESP32-C3 SoC for Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 5 LE, and Espressif’s other proprietary wireless technologies. As great as these key devices are, however, we at ipXchange think this barely scratches the surface of what this feature-packed solution offers to designers.
The RP2040-ESP32C3 development board also provides everything else required to build a standalone IoT node for fastest time to market if you’re basing your design around the RP2040:
- On-board battery charging circuit with protections
- JST and mini battery connectors
- 16 Mbit external NOR flash
- µSD card slot for additional storage
- 2x user buttons and 1x user LED
But why no on-board sensors? Because you don’t need board space wasted by components not required in your end product. An I/O expander allows engineers to add all the application-specific features a design requires, whether that be sensors, motor control circuitry, etc.
So, why an I/O expander? Because Alp Electronix has also included all the connectivity for an optional 1.9” 8-bit 262K IPS Colour LCD display – either via a compact FPC cable connector or a standard pin header – so that you can display information on and have a basic HMI for each node. This makes the RP2040-ESP32C3 development board ecosystem perfect for designing IoT end nodes that are commonly interacted with, such as smart electricity meters.
Alp Electronix provides ample code examples to get you started using the RP2040-ESP32C3 development board via Pico IDE, but there is also Arduino and MicroPython compatibility coming soon, and when that happens, there will be no excuse not to try developing your next smart home, building automation, or even wearable device with Alp Electronix’s solution.
Learn more about the RP2040-ESP32C3 development board by following the link to the board page below, and if you’d like to test it for integration into a commercial design, fill out the form, and ipXchange will get you connected.
Keep designing!
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