Cheap way to add Wifi+Ethernet to an STM32 project

[SLasn.1]

Hi dear community! :)

My project is based on an STM32, probably one in the F range (have not decided fully yet).

I would like to add Ethernet and WiFi to my project, ideally in a cheap way (in terms of manufacturing costs, for let's say 1000 units), I was thinking there must exist an IC which could do that? Ideally I would also like to have both 2.4GHz and 5Ghz for the WiFi chip.

So far my best solution is to use Wiznet w5500 for Ethernet (about 2$/chip) and ESP8089 for WiFi (about 1$/chip). Unfortunately the ESP can only manage 2.4GHz but it clearly seems to be the cheapest on the market.

I also know some of the STM32 have integrated Ethernet MAC, but I would still need an external PHY and another chip for the WiFi, which I was thinking will raise the cost.

So a lot of debatting, hence why I would love to hear your thoughts on this!

Thank you!

Simon

[SLasn.1]

Hi guys

I am still quite confused about how to do this (= internal Ethernet MAC + external PHY + ESP8089 for WiFi). This ESP8089 seems to have a WiFi MAC, which means I will have to write a TCP/IP stack from scratch and interface it with the Ethernet MAC and the WiFi MAC.

I am still looking at my options and I was thinking a much simpler option (but maybe slightly more expensive) would be to use an ESP32 which actually has an Ethernet MAC, I then end up with two MCU's, the ESP32 handling all Ethernet/WiFi communication and the STM32 doing the rest.

[Pavel A.]

I do not know about ESP8089, but on their site you can find documentation on their current models.

https://www.espressif.com/en/products/modules/esp8266

User of this thing sends some "AT commands" over UART and does not bother about any TCP/IP.

The Wiznet device seems to work in a similar way.

Download the documentation and have a pleasant time reading.

On the other hand, Espressif has microcontrollers with wi-fi MAC & Phy, Ethernet MAC (no PHY), BT and lot of other peripherals, and you can run the application on the same chip. But their processor is not ARM.

-- pa

[SLasn.1]

Thanks for the reply - but that's the point I could not find any info about the ESP8089, it is not even mentionned on the Espressif website! And yes the ESP8266 is much easier it seems to have the whole TCP/IP stack on it. But it is also a lot more expensive.

At the end I opted for the more complete Espressif chips (ESP32-U4WDH) with indeed the whole package in it - including an Ethernet MAC and bluetooth which I might use at the end - so it might be a bit more complicated to program (as I will have code for 2 different microcontrollers), but I will have everything I need without having to do the whole TCP/IP coding.

The interesting thing is I need to have a way to update the firmware once the product is release, this means during the update the STM32 will have to write to its own flash but also to the ESP32's flash.