ESP32 Walkie Talkie

ESP32 ESP-NOW Walkie Talkies

For full firmware, wiring details, documentation, and project files, see the GitHub repository: github.com/GuzziFlipFlops/ESP32-Walkie-Talkie

The Project

This is a ESP32 walkie talkie that uses WIFi (ESPNOW) for long range communication. It uses the esp32-wroom-32-U with an external U.fl connector, OLED 0.96 I2C display, I2S INMP441 microphone, I2S MAX98357A 3W speaker amplifier, 10k volume potentiometer, PTT button + 5 menu buttons, LASER, and LED. The aim of this walkie talkie was to not just serve as a walkie talkie, but sort of like a custom flipper zero that was more wireless oriented, although the walkie talkie comes with 3 female dupont pins that can be plugged in externally for a UART connection.

This device was framed as a walkie talkie but it can be used as a Wi-Fi/IoT device handheld controller platform. This is the main advantage with WIFI on esp32s as you can connect to a lot of places.

Watch the demo video:

Features

• ESP-NOW DIRECT VOICE (No router needed, multiple devices can connect)
• U.FL antenna for maximum range
• Tested to 600 meters of distance
• No acknowledge on ESPNOW, just shout and listen
• 16 kHz mono voice capture with IMA ADPCM compression
• No acknowledgement can be a problem with dropped packets so at weak ranges packets are automatically duplicated
• Built in black box logging with telemetry that can be uploaded to computer.
• OLED GUI with many features to control the walkie talkie and use as a remote for other wifi things.

The same hardware can also be reused as a wireless controller for other ESP32 or Wi-Fi projects. Since each unit already has a screen, buttons, battery power, and radio capability, it can be adapted for robots, RC systems, lights, or other IoT devices.

Hardware

Each walkie talkie is built around an ESP32-U style development board with an external antenna. The supporting hardware includes:

• SSD1306 OLED display
• I2S microphone
• I2S speaker amplifier
• internal speaker
• potentiometer for volume
• six push buttons
• LED
• 3.3 V laser module
• battery voltage monitoring
• lithium battery power system
• custom 3D-printed enclosure

You can build it yourself

This project is open source and designed so other people can study it, modify it, and build their own versions.

If you want to make one yourself, the full GitHub repository includes the firmware, wiring details, documentation, and project structure needed to get started:

GitHub Repository - Full build instructions, code, cad

Soldering is quite hard, so I have also gave the option of PCB fabrication with PCB gerber files in the github repo for anyone wanting to go that route.

Because the firmware already supports multiple hardware profiles, it is also a good base for custom versions. You can adapt the same idea for different enclosures, different GPIO layouts, or new wireless control features without starting from scratch.