Espressif ESP32-C3 Function Introduction (Preview: ESP32-C3-DevKitM-1 Review will be launched on May 17)[Copy link]
Espressif launched the ESP8266 and ESP32 chips in 2014 and 2016 respectively. The ESP8266 is a single Wi-Fi MCU suitable for simple IoT application scenarios; the ESP32 supports both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth/Bluetooth LE, which can meet the needs of products that require high computing power or strong security performance. Both chips have been successfully applied to hundreds of millions of IoT devices and have become indispensable IoT chips in the international market.At the same time, with the rapid development of the IoT market, users' functional definition and cost expectations of IoT chips have become increasingly clear. We realize that a competitive IoT chip must strike a good balance between performance and cost. At the same time, the market also needs a variety of IoT chips to meet the needs of different users. Therefore, Espressif designed and developed ESP32-C3 to meet the functional requirements of common IoT products while greatly improving the security performance of the product.
In designing ESP32-C3, we focused on the following points:
Security is of paramount importance. Even low-cost connectivity solutions need to provide protection against common security threats to ensure the hardware and software security of customer IoT products.
Bluetooth LE 5.0 can improve the end-user experience in aspects such as network configuration, and also help device manufacturers to diagnose and analyze IoT devices.
Sufficient memory (400 KB SRAM + 384 KB ROM) and low cost. For IoT product development, sufficient available memory and cost advantages are equally important. When chip memory is limited, device memory optimization and management are great challenges for manufacturers.
ESP32-C3 is equipped with a RISC-V 32-bit single-core processor with a clock frequency of up to 160 MHz, built-in 400 KB SRAM, integrated 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi and Bluetooth LE 5.0 with long-range support, with industry-leading RF performance and low power consumption. It has 22 programmable GPIO pins and supports ADC, SPI, UART, I2C, I2S, RMT, TWAI and PWM. Click here to view
esp32-c3_datasheet_cn.pdf(1.04 MB, downloads: 7)
ESP32-C3 Functional Block DiagramNext, we will detail several key advantages of ESP32-C3:
Security
Attacks on IoT devices usually refer to:
Stealing sensitive data
Unauthorized control of the device
Stealing device identities and gaining unauthorized access to the device cloud
There are many ways to attack IoT devices: remote attacks can be carried out by exploiting software and protocol vulnerabilities; physical attacks can also be carried out through direct access to flash and "fault injection". Subsequently, malicious firmware is installed on the device as the default firmware, making the attack permanent.IoT devices must provide adequate protection against various malicious attacks. ESP32-C3 has a comprehensive security mechanism that can effectively resist the above threats:
Secure Boot :
ESP32-C3 uses a standard authentication scheme based on RSA-3072 to ensure that trusted applications are running on the device. This feature prevents the device from running malicious programs burned into the flash. Secure boot needs to be fast and efficient to meet the needs of instant-on devices (such as light bulbs). ESP32-C3's secure boot scheme only adds less than 100 ms of time overhead during the device boot process.
Flash Encryption :
ESP32-C3 uses a flash encryption scheme based on the AES-128-XTS algorithm to ensure that application and configuration data remain encrypted in the flash. The flash controller supports the execution of encrypted application firmware, which not only provides the necessary protection for sensitive data stored in the flash, but also prevents TOCTTOU (time-of-check-to-time-of-use) attacks caused by firmware changes at runtime.
Digital Signature and HMAC Peripheral :
ESP32-C3’s digital signature peripheral can generate digital signatures using private keys that are not accessible to the firmware. Similarly, its HMAC peripheral can generate cryptographic digests that are not accessible to the firmware. Currently, most IoT cloud services use X.509 certificate-based authentication, and the digital signature peripheral protects the private key that defines the device’s identity. This provides strong protection for device identity even in the presence of software vulnerabilities.
World Controller Module :
ESP32-C3 adds a new world controller module, which provides two execution environments that do not interfere with each other. Depending on the configuration, the world controller uses a trusted execution environment (TEE) or a privilege separation mechanism. If the application firmware needs to process sensitive security data (such as DRM services), it can use the world controller module to process data in a secure area.
Bluetooth LE 5.0 with long range support
IoT devices typically use Wi-Fi to connect to cloud services, but devices with only Wi-Fi capabilities can make network provisioning difficult: they cannot provide reliable configuration feedback to the network provisioning program; at the same time, iOS and Android network provisioning programs also create additional complexity when connecting to the network. However, Bluetooth LE makes device network provisioning simple, and Bluetooth LE is also easy to discover and control in the local environment.Early versions of the Bluetooth LE protocol had a relatively short transmission distance and were not suitable for local point-to-point direct control in large spaces. ESP32-C3 adds support for the Bluetooth LE 5.0 protocol, including Coded PHY (Long Range) and extended advertisement functions. It introduces technologies such as FEC encoding and decoding, which increases data redundancy but greatly increases the device communication distance (usually 100 meters). In addition, ESP32-C3 also supports the Bluetooth Mesh protocol, making it one of the strong candidates for controlling local network devices and communicating directly with other Bluetooth LE 5.0 sensor devices.
Plenty of memory
Different application scenarios have different memory requirements, so it is difficult to define the most appropriate memory size for an SoC. According to our experience, while keeping Bluetooth LE working, users usually need to connect to the cloud with one or two TLS links, while also retaining a reasonable amount of space for applications. The built-in 400 KB SRAM of ESP32-C3 not only meets these requirements, but also keeps the chip cost within a reasonable budget. In addition, ESP32-C3 has dynamic partitioning for instruction (IRAM) and data (DRAM) storage, which effectively maximizes the available memory. It should also be noted that compared to ESP32, we have optimized the memory usage of the Bluetooth subsystem, and more details will be provided when the new version of ESP-IDF is released.
Mature software support
ESP32-C3 uses Espressif's mature IoT development framework ESP-IDF. A large part of the software used by IoT devices consists of software components that are relatively independent of the hardware. ESP-IDF has successfully enabled hundreds of millions of IoT devices and has undergone rigorous testing and release cycles. Based on ESP-IDF's mature software architecture, developers will find it easier to build ESP32-C3 applications with their familiarity with APIs and tools. In addition, software components based on ESP-IDF (such as cloud agents) can be used directly on ESP32-C3 without any changes.ESP32-C3 also supports working in slave mode, providing Wi-Fi and Bluetooth LE connectivity to external host microcontrollers and microprocessors through the ESP-AT and ESP-Hosted SDKs.ESP32-C3 is a cost-comparable ESP8266. To simplify client hardware design, it also has a sub-model ESP32-C3F with built-in flash. In addition, we also provide users with a series of low-cost modules that have passed various certifications to facilitate users to build IoT devices. The ESP32-C3-MINI-1 module is small in size (13×16.6 mm) and can support a maximum operating temperature of 105°C. The ESP32-C3-WROOM-1 module also supports a maximum operating temperature of 105°C. It is also pin-compatible with the ESP-WROOM-02D and ESP-WROOM-02 modules, making it easy for users to upgrade to ESP32-C3.In summary, ESP32-C3 is designed for common IoT application scenarios. At the same time, we continue to develop new solutions to meet the diverse IoT application needs of the industry. In this process, Espressif will also listen to and absorb feedback and suggestions from the community. Thank you to all maker friends, partners and customers for their support.
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