Chen Liang (陳亮) has found an interesting use case for the Espressif ESP32-C5: a dual-band Wi-Fi analyzer showing the signal strength of 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz WiFi access points in your area.
It works like one of the Wi-Fi analyzer apps on your phone, except it relies on an ESP32-C5 board and a display support for the Arduino_GFX libraries, for example, based on the ILI9341 driver, as it’s easier for beginners since the code does not need to be changed. Here’s what it looks like.
You can follow the instructions provided by Chen to reproduce the setup. It’s fairly straightforward. He specifically used an ESP32-C5-DevkitC-1 board (or one of the clones) along with an ILI9341 display (not sure about the exact model, but any should do) and wired them together using a breadboard as shown in the photo below.
You’ll then need to fire up the Arduino IDE, install Arduino ESP32 board support if you haven’t done so already, as well as the GFX Library for Arduino by Moon On Our Nation, and load the Example sketch named ESP32C5WiFiAnalyzer.ino or ESP32C5WiFiAnalyzerUTF8.ino in Examples->GFX Library for Arduino->WiFiAnalyzer. The latter sketch also works with non-ASCII characters but requires 2 MB for the UTF-8 fonts, so you may have to select the “Huge App (3M No OTA< 1MB SPIFFS)” option after having selected the ESP32-C5 board.
Now, connect a USB-C cable to the board, compile and flash the firmware, and profit!
But how well does that work? Not too bad based on the photos provided, the video embedded below (I like the magnetic USB-C cable too), and Chen also adds:
In my scan area, the number of 5G WiFi AP is even more than 2.4G WiFi AP. But since 5G WiFi signal is significantly weakened after passing through walls if compared with 2.4G WiFi, most signals are lower than -70 dB. So 5G WiFi should encounter lesser interference with other AP nearby. Further more, 5G WiFi have more channels available and wider bandwidth, so it is a good option for small area high speed connection.
Future battery-powered ESP32-C5 terminals or smart displays would be a good target for this application for people who’d rather not install a Wi-Fi analyzer app on their smartphone.
Via Hackster.io
Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011.
Support CNX Software! Donate via cryptocurrencies, become a Patron on Patreon, or purchase goods on Amazon or Aliexpress. We also use affiliate links in articles to earn commissions if you make a purchase after clicking on those links.
