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Updating STM32 Over-The-Air using ESP32

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Re: Updating STM32 Over-The-Air using ESP32

#11

Post by octorian »

ComputerGuru wrote: post #6
ArgyleSound wrote: post #4

Sorry if this question sounds stupid but why not just use the ESP32 for whatever the STM32 is being used for? It can even update itself over the air.

It’s notoriously not a friendly or easy perform to develop for and despite its capabilities, the ESP32 has largely been relegated to daughterboard status in most embedded situations.

Okay, as someone who has used the ESP32 before (but not the STM32), I'm genuinely curious as to why you're stating this as an assertion. What exactly is it about the ESP32 that makes it unfriendly or difficult?

(FWIW, all my ESP32 development has been in C with FreeRTOS. I'm not one of those people who insists on shoving the Arduino stack onto everything.)

Re: Updating STM32 Over-The-Air using ESP32

#12

Post by pantalaimon »

ComputerGuru wrote: post #6
ArgyleSound wrote: post #4

Sorry if this question sounds stupid but why not just use the ESP32 for whatever the STM32 is being used for? It can even update itself over the air.

It’s notoriously not a friendly or easy perform to develop for and despite its capabilities, the ESP32 has largely been relegated to daughterboard status in most embedded situations.

On RIOT we’ve put quite some work into implementing the peripheral APIs on the esp8266/esp32 just like on any other supported platform. So no matter if you are on stm32, esp* or ATmega, you can run the same code.

Re: Updating STM32 Over-The-Air using ESP32

#13

Post by nickff »

boromi wrote: post #10
nickff wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

STM32 is available with more, and better peripherals and interfaces than the ESP32. Embedded microcontrollers perform a wide variety of tasks, aside from simple digital communication. [0] I am an embedded engineer who works with STM32 and bluetooth modules

what's your reccomendation ?

Depends on your application and requirements.

Re: Updating STM32 Over-The-Air using ESP32

#14

Post by nickff »

pantalaimon wrote: post #9
nickff wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

STM32 is available with more, and better peripherals and interfaces than the ESP32. Embedded microcontrollers perform a wide variety of tasks, aside from simple digital communication. [0] I am an embedded engineer who works with STM32 and bluetooth modules

The esp32 has quite a rich set of peripherals on its own.

I would describe the ESP32 as having a basic peripheral set. The ADCs and DACs are not great, and there are basically no other analog peripherals. The timers are meager, and low-power functionality is lacking.

The documentation is horrible, which is very important when you compare it to NXP and STM which both put out fantastic 2k-3k page reference manuals.

Re: Updating STM32 Over-The-Air using ESP32

#15

Post by LeifCarrotson »

ArgyleSound wrote: post #4

Sorry if this question sounds stupid but why not just use the ESP32 for whatever the STM32 is being used for? It can even update itself over the air.

Better support, documentation, and peripherals.

The ESP32 datasheet is 62 pages. The STM32F4 datasheet is 1729 pages, and that's not counting the reference manuals.

The ESP32 datasheet contains about 3 paragraphs about the ADC, which basically say that it has an accuracy of +/-6%, see example code for ways to calibrate it (which probably amounts to a linear interpolation between two sample counts with the pin pulled to ground and AVDD). In the STM32 manual, the section on the ADCs is much longer than the entire ESP32 datasheet, and goes into gory details about every possible nonlinearity/ missing counts/ slope/ offset/ noise/ reference voltage and other various potential sources of error you might encounter. If you wanted to build, for example, a wireless machine that included a precision scale, you can see why you'd want to use the STM32F4 ADC instead of the ESP32 ADC because a thorough understanding of that peripheral is critical to your application.

If you want to drop in someone else's ESP32 code and use it to push bytes over the air, it's a great tool. If you want to actually develop some application for it that doesn't exist yet, you're on your own.

Re: Updating STM32 Over-The-Air using ESP32

#18

Post by monocasa »

LeifCarrotson wrote: post #15
ArgyleSound wrote: post #4

Sorry if this question sounds stupid but why not just use the ESP32 for whatever the STM32 is being used for? It can even update itself over the air.

Better support, documentation, and peripherals. The ESP32 datasheet is 62 pages. The STM32F4 datasheet is 1729 pages, and that's not counting the reference manuals. The ESP32 datasheet contains about 3 paragraphs about the ADC, which basically say that it has an accuracy of +/-6%, see example code for ways to calibrate it (which probably amounts to a linear interpolation between two sample counts with the pin pulled…

If you're throwing an ESP on there anywhere, wouldn't an I2C or SPI ADC be way cheaper than a whole nother MPU for the same performance?

Re: Updating STM32 Over-The-Air using ESP32

#20

Post by nickff »

boromi wrote: post #16
nickff wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Depends on your application and requirements.

Just a basic board comparable to the ESP32 modules you can but for DIY stuff

I generally recommend going for the highest-spec board that suits your requirements. The STM32L4+, STM32L5, and STM32H7 are all amazing microcontrollers.
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