Espressif's New High-Performance RISC-V ESP32-P4 SoC Packs in Tons of IO and Security Features

... but it does not have any wireless connectivity.

Espressif has added a new system-on-chip (SoC) to the ESP32 family. The RISC V-based ESP32-P4 has three cores, 50 programmable GPIO, and a complete set of security features. But, curiously, the chip is missing one feature synonymous with "Espressif SoC:" an RF radio!

While there are three CPU cores, Espressif configured them as a "big-little" architecture with a high-performance (dual-core) and low-power (single-core) system. The intent is to keep the high-performance cores powered down when not needed.

ESP32-P4's high-performance CPU is a dual-core RISC-V CPU running up to 400 MHz. It has 768 kilobytes of on-chip SRAM. But, if you add an external PSRAM, the on-chip RAM becomes a local cache. There are also eight kilobytes of zero-wait tightly coupled memory (TCM) for low latency buffer access.

The low-power system is a single RISC-V core running up to 40 MHz with dedicated SRAM, ROM, and peripherals. It also houses the SoC's power management unit (PMU). Its peripherals include low-speed serial interfaces, a touch interface, and a temperature sensor.

Espressif touts the ESP32-P4 as having best-in-class security. The features include secure boot, flash encryption, true-random number generator, digital signature management, access permissions, and privileged separation.

There are 50 programmable GPIOs, the most Espressif's SoCs have ever offered. Peripherals for the high-performance CPU include MIPI (Camera and Display) interfaces, hardware accelerators for h264 and JPEG, USB, Ethernet, and many others.

For user interfaces, ESP32-P4 includes CSI and DSI interfaces, capacitive touch, and speech recognition features. For graphical displays, there is a hardware-based Pixel Processing Accelerator.

Another first for the ESP32 family is that the ESP32-P4 does not have an RF radio — of any kind! There is no built-in Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, or other 2.4 GHz technology! Instead, Espressif says the ESP32-P4 can connect to another ESP32 family member with ESP-Hosted, ESP-AT, or other third-party solutions. Alternatively, wired ethernet is supported.

Overall, the ESP32-P4 targets edge computing applications that need high-performance processing, advanced human-machine interface, and strong security. At this time, ESP32-P4 details are limited to this press release. But we definitely expect to hear more about this new entry to the ESP32 family soon.

baldengineer

Electronics enthusiast, Bald Engineer, and freelance content creator. AddOhms on YouTube. KN6FGY.

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