Seeed Studio has just added a new member to its XIAO USB-C board family with the XIAO ESP32-C5 offering dual-band WiFi 6 (2.4 and 5.0 GHz), as well as Bluetooth 5.0 LE, Zigbee, and Thread connectivity for IoT projects and products.
It still features a u.FL antenna connector, Reset and Boot buttons, two 7-pin GPIO headers, and 8 pads for JTAG or GPIOs on the back. Compared to the earlier XIAO ESP32C6, the new model is clocked higher (240 MHz vs 160 MHz), supports dual-band Wi-Fi, and offers more memory (384KB SRAM + 8 MB PSRAM vs 512KB SRAM) and storage (8MB vs 4MB flash), but exposes fewer analog pins (5 vs 7).
XIAO ESP32-C5 specifications:
- Wireless MCU – Espressif Systems ESP32-C5HR8
- CPU
- Single-core 32-bit RISC-V processor @ up to 240 MHz
- Low-power RISC-V core @ 48 MHz acting as the main processor for power-sensitive applications
- Memory – 384 KB SRAM on-chip, 8MB PSRAM on-chip
- Storage – 320 KB ROM
- Wireless
- Dual-band (2.4/5 GHz) 802.11ax WiFi 6, 802.11b/g/n WiFi 4 backward compatibility
- WiFi modes: Station mode, SoftAP mode, SoftAP + Station mode, and promiscuous mode
- Bluetooth 5.0 Low Energy (LE) with Mesh support, up to 2Mbps data rate
- 802.15.4 radio for Zigbee 3.0, Thread 1.3, and Matter up to 250 Kbps
- CPU
- Storage – 8MB SPI flash
- Antenna – External u.FL antenna
- USB – USB Type-C port for power and programming
- Expansion I/Os
- 2x 7-pin headers (through holes and castellated holes) with 1x UART, 1x I2C, 1x SPI, 11x GPIO, 1x ADC, SDIO, 5V, 3.3V, and GND
- 8x pads with Low Power UART, Low Power I2C, 5x GPIO, 4x ADC, BOOT, JTAG, Reset, 3.3V, and GND
- Misc
- Reset and Boot buttons (larger than in previous models)
- Power/Charge and green user LEDs
- Power Supply
- 5V via USB Type-C port
- Support for 3.7V LiPo batteries via two pads on the back side of the board; SGM40567 charging chip
- Power consumption in deep sleep mode
- USB – 375 μA
- Battery – 15 μA
- Dimensions – 21 x 17.8mm
- Temperature Range – 0°C to 85°C
The XIAO ESP32-C5 is compatible with Arduino, PlatformIO, Micropython, and the ESP-IDF framework. However, the company recommends the Arduino IDE, and that’s what the Getting Started Guide focuses on, although PlatformIO and MicroPython instructions are also provided, along with tutorials to use the board with ESP-Mesh Audio and Home Assistant.
Target applications include smart sensor nodes, IoT gateways, BLE trackers, Wi-Fi buttons, secure edge devices, and home automation devices. The main benefit of 5 GHz WiFi is the higher bandwidth, lower latency, and less congested frequency bands. However, the range is usually lower, and it doesn’t penetrate walls quite as well as 2.4 GHz WiFi.
It’s by far the smallest ESP32-C5 board we’ve covered so far, and others such as the FireBeetle 2 ESP32-C5 and Olimex ESP32-C5-Devkit-Lipo are well over twice as large and offer more I/Os.
The XIAO ESP32-C5 board ships with a 2.4 GHz antenna (somehow not a dual-band 2.4/5 GHz antenna) and two 7-pin GPIO headers, all stored in a protective plastic enclosure. It sells for $6.90 on the Seeed Studio store and $7.89 on AliExpress before taxes and shipping.
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.
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