Espressif Unveils ESP32-C61 SoC with Wi-Fi 6
Espressif has launched the ESP32-C61, a new system-on-chip that brings Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5 LE connectivity to edge devices. The SoC is designed for power-efficient applications in the smart home, industrial automation, robotics, and medical sectors. The chip continues the ESP32 family's focus on providing integrated wireless solutions for the IoT market.
- The ESP32-C61 is built around a single-core, 32-bit RISC-V processor that can be clocked at up to 160 MHz and features 320KB of on-chip SRAM and 256KB of ROM. - Its Wi-Fi 6 implementation is optimized for IoT devices, supporting features like Target Wake Time (TWT) to conserve power, and OFDMA and MU-MIMO for improved network efficiency in congested 2.4 GHz environments. - For applications requiring more memory, the SoC supports external Quad SPI pseudo-static RAM (PSRAM) at speeds up to 120MHz, a feature not present in the otherwise similar ESP32-C6. - Compared to the ESP32-C6, the ESP32-C61 is a more cost-focused variant that removes the IEEE 802.15.4 radio used for Thread and Zigbee protocols. - The chip incorporates several security features, including secure boot, flash and PSRAM encryption, and a Trusted Execution Environment (TEE) for software isolation. - Bluetooth 5 LE capabilities are enhanced for long-range applications through Coded PHY and advertisement extensions, and it supports a 2 Mbps high-throughput mode. - Espressif provides software support for the new chip through its ESP-IDF (IoT Development Framework) and a dedicated ESP-Matter-SDK, positioning it for use in Matter-compliant smart home ecosystems. - The peripheral set includes standard interfaces like SPI, I2C, and UART, as well as an Event Task Matrix (ETM) that allows peripherals to interact directly without CPU intervention.
