M5Stack Unit PoE-P4 – A tiny PoE-powered ESP32-P4 development kit with MIPI DSI/CSI and USB-C connectors

The M5Stack Unit PoE-P4 is a tiny, PoE-powered development kit built around the ESP32-P4NRW32 SoC. The module integrates a 10/100Mbps Ethernet PHY, supports IEEE 802.3at PoE for single-cable power and data, and provides MIPI DSI/CSI display and camera interfaces.

It’s designed as a network-enabled node with built-in PoE (up to 6W output), a USB Type-C host port, and a separate USB Type-C OTG/download interface, along with an RGB LED, IR transmitter, user button, Grove (HY2.0-4P) port, Hat expansion header, and SDIO/ISP expansion interfaces, making it suitable for industrial HMI panels, PoE smart terminals, camera/vision acquisition nodes, smart home controllers, and edge computing devices.

M5Stack Unit PoE-P4: ESP32-P4 PoE development board

M5Stack Unit PoE-P4 specifications:

  • SoC – Espressif Systems ESP32-P4NRW32
    • CPU
      • Dual-core 32-bit RISC-V HP (High-performance) CPU @ up to 400 MHz with AI instructions extension and single-precision FPU
      • Single-RISC-V LP (Low-power) MCU core @ up to 40 MHz
    • Memory
      • 768 KB HP L2MEM (for dual-core CPU), 32 KB LP SRAM, 8 KB TCM (for LP MCU core)
      • 32MB PSRAM
    • Storage – 128 KB HP ROM, 16 KB LP ROM
    • GPU – 2D Pixel Processing Accelerator (PPA)
    • VPU – H.264 and JPEG codecs support
  • Storage – 16MB NOR Flash
  • Display I/F
    • MIPI DSI via 24-pin 0.5mm FPC connector (touch + backlight)
    • Supports up to 1920×1080 resolution (lane/frame-rate dependent)
  • Camera I/F – 2-lane MIPI CSI via 24-pin 0.5mm FPC connector
  • Networking – 10/100Mbps Fast Ethernet RJ45 port with PoE support via an integrated IP101GRI PHY (previously seen in Banana Pi BPI-6202)
  • USB
    • 1x USB 2.0 Type-C Host port (for USB disks, HID devices, etc.)
    • 1x USB 2.0 Type-C OTG port, also used for firmware flashing/debugging
  • Expansion
    • 4-pin HY2.0-4P Grove interface
    • 16-pin Hat2-Bus header (2.54mm pitch)
    • 9-pin SDIO-Bus header (2.54mm pitch)
    • 6-pin ISP-Bus header (2.54mm pitch)
  • Misc
    • User button
    • RGB LED indicator (NH-B2020RGBA-HF)
    • Infrared transmitter (MHS153IRCT)
  • Power
    • 5V via USB Type-C port
    • IEEE 802.3at PoE up to 6W maximum output via onboard DC-DC converter
    • Consumption
      • Normal Operation – 73.82mA @ 5V
      • Full load (display, camera, IR, RGB active) – 277.10mA @ 5V
      • Deep sleep – 19.85mA @ 5V
  • Dimensions – 64.0 x 24.0 x 20.2 mm
  • Weight – 28.2 grams
  • Temperature Range – 0°C to 40°C
M5Stack Unit PoE-P4 shown from multiple angles
M5Stack Unit PoE-P4 shown from multiple angles

In terms of software support, the Unit PoE-P4 PoE development board can be programmed with the ESP-IDF framework, the Arduino IDE, and M5Stack’s UIFlow 1 and UIFlow 2 visual programming environments. Check out the documentation page for details.

Other ESP32-P4 boards with PoE support, either built-in or through add-ons, include the Waveshare ESP32-P4-WIFI6-POE-ETH, Olimex ESP32-P4-PC, and Waveshare ESP32-P4-ETH. The design of the latter is close to the Unit PoE-P4, but it’s just a board, while the M5Stack device is a fully enclosed devkit.

M5Stack Unit PoE-P4 Pinout
M5Stack Unit PoE-P4 Pinout

The Unit PoE-P4 is available for $21.50 on AliExpress and the M5Stack store.

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