Olimex Unveils a Low-Cost Espressif ESP32-C6 RISC-V Evaluation Board for Matter and Smart Home Work
Combining Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5 Low Energy (BLE), and Thread-compatible communications, this EVB includes four inputs and four relays.
Bulgarian open hardware specialist Olimex has announced a new board which aims at home and industrial automation, combining Espressif's ESP32-C6 Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5 Low Energy (BLE), and IEEE 802.15.4 microcontroller with four relays and opto-isolated inputs.
"ESP32-C6-EVB is [an] evaluation board with [the] ESP32-C6 module," company founder Tsvetan Usunov explains of the latest open hardware design from Olimex. "[It uses an] ESP32-C6-WROOM-1-N4 module with 32-bit RISC-V single-core microprocessor [at] up to 160MHz, Flash: 4MB, ROM: 320kB, HP SRAM [High-Performance Static RAM]: 512kB, LP [Low-Power] SRAM: 16kB."
To this, Usunov has added four relays capable of handling 10A at 240VAC, and four opto-isolated inputs good for up to 30VDC. There's a general-purpose input/output (GPIO) connector for additional hardware, along with two of Olimex's in-house UEXT connectors for solder-free expansion, a USB Type-C port for programming, and a user-programmable button. There's also support for power supplies from 6 to 50VDC, Usunov confirms.
The primary feature of the ESP32-C6 is the triple-mode radio, which combines high-performance single-band Wi-Fi 6 connectivity with Bluetooth 5 Low Energy (BLE) and IEEE 802.15.4 — the latter offering support for Zigbee, Thread, 6LoWPAN, WirelessHART, MiWi, and other low-rate wireless personal area network standards. Espressif positions it as ideal for smart home projects, in particular those using the Matter interoperability standard — thanks to its support for both Wi-Fi and Thread connectivity.
More information on the upcoming board is available on the Olimex blog, while stock is expected to reach the store at the end of the month for €15 (around $16.50).