Espressif Goes Tri-Band with the New, Wi-Fi 6E-Capable ESP32-E22 Communications Coprocessor

Espressif has announced a new entry in its ESP32 microcontroller family, this time with its first Wi-Fi 6E-based communications coprocessor: the ESP32-E22.

"Espressif Systems is pleased to introduce the ESP32-E22, the company's first Wi-Fi 6E SoC [System-on-Chip] and the foundation of a new product line aimed at high-performance wireless connectivity," the company says of its latest design. "As a Radio Coprocessor (RCP), ESP32-E22 integrates tri-band Wi-Fi 6E and dual-mode Bluetooth into a single subsystem, offloading the entire networking stack and enabling host processors to focus exclusively on application logic."

The new ESP32-E22 follows Espressif's move to exclusively using microcontroller cores built around the free and open RISC-V architecture, featuring a pair of RISC-V cores running at up to 500MHz — though it's designed for use as a high-performance communications coprocessor rather than the only chip in the system.

On the communication side, the ESP32-E22 is Espressif's first part to feature Wi-Fi 6E support, with a triple-band Wi-Fi radio covering the traditional 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands plus 6GHz for shorter-range high-throughput tasks. It offers 160MHz channel bandwidth, 2×2 multi-user multiple-input multiple-output (MU-MIMO) support, beamforming, and link-layer scheduling for improved performance in congested environments. The chip can handle a peak data rate of 2.4Gb/s, Espressif claims.

Elsewhere, the chip includes a Bluetooth 5.4 radio supporting both Bluetooth Classic in Basic Rate (BR) and Enhanced Data Rate (BDR) modes as well as Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE). A "coexistence algorithm" is included, which Espressif says ensures that both radios work fine even when transmitting and receiving concurrently. Connectivity to external controllers can be achieved over high-speed interfaces including PCI Express (PCIe) 2.1 and Secure Digital Input Output (SDIO) 3.0.

What Espressif isn't sharing yet, however, is the price, nor when the part will be generally available. For now, interested parties are invited to contact the company's customer support team for access to engineering samples.