The China-based embedded electronics specialist, Lilygo, has released a low-cost development board, the T-Zigbee board that combines the ESP32-C3 microcontroller and the Telink TLSR8258 multi-protocol wireless SoC.
The ESP32-C3 is a single-core Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 5 (LE) microcontroller SoC, which includes a 32-bit RISC-V core running at up to 160MHz alongside 400kB of SRAM. It achieves the ideal cost-effective solution for connected devices by striking the proper power, I/O capabilities, and security combination. Due to the device’s availability of Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 5 (LE) connectivity, it not only simplifies configuration but also allows for some use-cases based on dual connectivity.
The board also features Telink’s TLSR8258, a multi-protocol radio controller operating at 48MHz. It extends its support for the Zigbee 3.0 connectivity along with RF4CE BLE 5 Mesh, Thread, HomeKit, ANT, 6LoWPAN, and 2.4GHz proprietary connectivity.
Specifications of the T-Zigbee Board
- MCU: ESP32-C3 RISC-V processor that supports Wi-Fi 4 and Bluetooth 5.0 LE connectivity and TLSR8258 multi-protocol radio controller
- Antennas: Features 2x PCB antennas and 2x u.FL antenna connectors
- USB: 1xUSB Type-C port for programming and power
- Misc: Provides reset and user keys and for UART/programming selection between the ESP32-C3 and TLSR8258, the board provides a DIP switch
- Power supply: 5V via the USB Type-C port
- Dimensions: 7.5 x 2.9 cm
The MCU development board provides 21 general-purpose input/output (GPIO) pins shared between the two processors. It offers four analog inputs, three UART, two I2C, two SPI, a digital MIC, PWM, and I2S buses. The board also offers three user-controllable LEDs, a reset, and a single-user addressable button.
However, this isn’t Lilygo’s first board to feature the ESP32-C3 SoC. Lilygo’s TTGO T-OI PLUS, released last year, was built around this chip, followed by the surface-mounted T-32C3 module a few months later. Despite employing an identical system-on-chip, the T-Zigbee does not use the T-32C3 module, most likely to save footprint on the compact development board.
Priced at $13.27, the T-Zigbee development board can be purchased from AliExpress, excluding the taxes and shipment costs. Further information on the dual MCU development board can also be found on the product page.
