An ESP32 board – the BPI:UNO32

In this article we look at another ESP32 based product, this time its called the BPI:UNO32.

The microcontroller for this board is an ESP32 with Xtensa 32bit LX6 single/dual-core processor based embedded system.

Here is a picture of the board, as you can see it would called an ‘Arduino compatible’ board with the addition of an RGB LED, a buzzer, 2 buttons.

This makes it a nice development board for beginners

Technical Information

Part Information

The board comes in at about $14

Banana PI BPI-UNO32 Board

Development

You can use the Arduino IDE, Micropython and also webbit (similar to Microbit)

Install the ESP32 support using the Boards manager

Installation instructions using Arduino IDE Boards Manager

• Stable release link: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/espressif/arduino-esp32/gh-pages/package_esp32_index.json
• Development release link: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/espressif/arduino-esp32/gh-pages/package_esp32_dev_index.json

Starting with 1.6.4, Arduino allows installation of third-party platform packages using Boards Manager. We have packages available for Windows, Mac OS, and Linux (32, 64 bit and ARM).

• Install the Arduino IDE at the 1.8 level or later. The current version is at the Arduino website.
• Start Arduino and open Preferences window.
• Enter one of the release links above into Additional Board Manager URLs field. You can add multiple URLs, separating them with commas.
• Open Boards Manager from Tools > Board menu and install esp32 platform (and don’t forget to select your ESP32 board from Tools > Board menu after installation).

In the board manager find the BPI:bit and select the correct serial port

Here is some demo code – it also had a buzzer test which I removed

[codesyntax lang=”cpp”]

#include <Arduino.h>
#include "WiFi.h"

#define LEDC_CHANNEL_0 0
#define LEDC_TIMER_13_BIT 13
#define LEDC_BASE_FREQ 450
#define Buzzer 25

const char *ssid = "SSID";
const char *password = "PASSWD";

const uint16_t PixelCount = 25;
const uint8_t PixelPin = 4;

#define colorSaturation 255
#define delay_ms 500

#define bout 3

#define LEDC_CHANNEL_1 1
#define LEDC_CHANNEL_2 2
#define LEDC_CHANNEL_3 3
#define LEDC_LED_FREQ 10000
#define LEDR 17
#define LEDG 16
#define LEDB 27

#define AD10 36 //ADC1_CH0
#define AD13 39 //ADC1_CH3
#define AD14 32 //ADC1_CH4
#define AD15 33 //ADC1_CH5
#define AD16 34 //ADC1_CH6
#define AD17 35 //ADC1_CH7

int AD_Value0 = 0;
int AD_Value3 = 0;
int AD_Value4 = 0;
int AD_Value5 = 0;
int AD_Value6 = 0;
int AD_Value7 = 0;

int adTestFreq = 0;
int wifiTestFreq = 0;
int ledTestFreq = 0;
int buzzerTestFreq = 0;

int brightness = 0;
int fadeAmount = 5;

void ledcAnalogWrite(uint8_t channel, uint32_t value)
{
// calculate duty, 8191 from 2 ^ 13 - 1 (2 ^ LEDC_TIMER_13_BIT - 1)
//value_MAX = 255
uint32_t duty = (8191 / 255) * value;
// write duty to LEDC
ledcWrite(channel, duty);
}

void setup()
{
Serial.begin(115200); //Serial Port Config 115200-8-N-1
while (!Serial)
    ; // wait for serial attach

Serial.println();
Serial.println("Initializing...");
Serial.flush();

Serial.println();
Serial.println("BPI-uno32 Function Test Demo");
Serial.println("Running...");
Serial.println();

ledcSetup(LEDC_CHANNEL_0, LEDC_BASE_FREQ, LEDC_TIMER_13_BIT);
ledcSetup(LEDC_CHANNEL_1, LEDC_LED_FREQ, LEDC_TIMER_13_BIT);
ledcSetup(LEDC_CHANNEL_2, LEDC_LED_FREQ, LEDC_TIMER_13_BIT);
ledcSetup(LEDC_CHANNEL_3, LEDC_LED_FREQ, LEDC_TIMER_13_BIT);

ledcAttachPin(Buzzer, LEDC_CHANNEL_0);
ledcAttachPin(LEDR, LEDC_CHANNEL_1);
ledcAttachPin(LEDG, LEDC_CHANNEL_2);
ledcAttachPin(LEDB, LEDC_CHANNEL_3);
}

void loop()
{
/**************************************************************
   **************************************************************
   ***Board:BPI:uno32-Webduino                                ***
   ***Function:RGB_LED Test                                   ***
   **************************************************************
   *************************************************************/
Serial.println();
Serial.println("LED test!!!");
Serial.println();
//LED_R fading
Serial.println("LED_R is fading");
for (ledTestFreq = 0; ledTestFreq < bout; ledTestFreq++)
{
    for (brightness = 0; brightness < 255; brightness++)
    {
        Serial.print(".");
        // set the brightness on LEDC channel 0
        ledcAnalogWrite(LEDC_CHANNEL_1, brightness);

        // change the brightness for next time through the loop:
        brightness = brightness + fadeAmount;

        // reverse the direction of the fading at the ends of the fade:
        if (brightness <= 0 || brightness >= 255)
        {
            fadeAmount = -fadeAmount;
        }
        // wait for 30 milliseconds to see the dimming effect
        delay(30);
    }
    Serial.println();
    ledcAnalogWrite(LEDC_CHANNEL_1, 0);
}
//LED_G fading
Serial.println("LED_G is fading");
for (ledTestFreq = 0; ledTestFreq < bout; ledTestFreq++)
{
    for (brightness = 0; brightness < 255; brightness++)
    {
        Serial.print(".");
        // set the brightness on LEDC channel 0
        ledcAnalogWrite(LEDC_CHANNEL_2, brightness);

        // change the brightness for next time through the loop:
        brightness = brightness + fadeAmount;

        // reverse the direction of the fading at the ends of the fade:
        if (brightness <= 0 || brightness >= 255)
        {
            fadeAmount = -fadeAmount;
        }
        // wait for 30 milliseconds to see the dimming effect
        delay(30);
    }
    Serial.println();
    ledcAnalogWrite(LEDC_CHANNEL_2, 0);
}
//LED_B fading
Serial.println("LED_B is fading");
for (ledTestFreq = 0; ledTestFreq < bout; ledTestFreq++)
{
    for (brightness = 0; brightness < 255; brightness++)
    {
        Serial.print(".");
        // set the brightness on LEDC channel 0
        ledcAnalogWrite(LEDC_CHANNEL_3, brightness);

        // change the brightness for next time through the loop:
        brightness = brightness + fadeAmount;

        // reverse the direction of the fading at the ends of the fade:
        if (brightness <= 0 || brightness >= 255)
        {
            fadeAmount = -fadeAmount;
        }
        // wait for 30 milliseconds to see the dimming effect
        delay(30);
    }

    Serial.println();
    ledcAnalogWrite(LEDC_CHANNEL_3, 0);
}
Serial.println("--Over--");

/**************************************************************
   **************************************************************
   ***Board:BPI:uno32-Webduino                                ***
   ***Function:ADC(channel_1) Test                            ***
   **************************************************************
   *************************************************************/
Serial.println();
Serial.println("ADC test!!!");
Serial.println();
for (adTestFreq = 0; adTestFreq < bout; adTestFreq++)
{
    // turn the LED on (HIGH is the voltage level)
    AD_Value0 = analogRead(AD10);
    AD_Value3 = analogRead(AD13);
    AD_Value4 = analogRead(AD14);
    AD_Value5 = analogRead(AD15);
    AD_Value6 = analogRead(AD16);
    AD_Value7 = analogRead(AD17);

    //AD10-Pin:IO36
    Serial.print("AD10:");
    Serial.print(AD_Value0);
    Serial.println();

    //AD13-Pin:IO39
    Serial.print("AD13:");
    Serial.print(AD_Value3);
    Serial.println();

    //AD14-Pin:IO32
    Serial.print("AD14:");
    Serial.print(AD_Value4);
    Serial.println();

    //AD15-Pin:IO33
    Serial.print("AD15:");
    Serial.print(AD_Value5);
    Serial.println();

    //AD16-Pin:IO34
    Serial.print("AD16:");
    Serial.print(AD_Value6);
    Serial.println();

    //AD17-Pin:IO35
    Serial.print("AD17:");
    Serial.print(AD_Value7);
    Serial.println();

    Serial.println();
    Serial.println();
    delay(1000);
}

Serial.println("--Over--");

/**************************************************************
   **************************************************************
   ***Board:BPI:uno32-Webduino                                ***
   ***Function:Wi-Fi Test                                     ***
   **************************************************************
   *************************************************************/
Serial.println();
Serial.println("Wi-Fi test!!!");
Serial.println();

// //Wi-Fi connect
// Serial.print("Connecting to ");
// Serial.println(ssid);
// WiFi.begin(ssid, password);
// while (WiFi.status() != WL_CONNECTED)
// {
//     delay(500);
//     Serial.print(".");
// }
// Serial.println("WiFi connected");
// Serial.println("IP address: ");
// Serial.println(WiFi.localIP());
// Serial.println("Setup done");
// Serial.println("");
// WiFi.disconnect();

for (wifiTestFreq = 0; wifiTestFreq < 1; wifiTestFreq++)
{
    Serial.println("scan start");

    // WiFi.scanNetworks will return the number of networks found
    int n = WiFi.scanNetworks();
    Serial.println("scan done");
    if (n == 0)
    {
        Serial.println("no networks found");
    }
    else
    {
        Serial.print(n);
        Serial.println(" networks found");
        for (int j = 0; j < n; ++j)
        {
            // Print SSID and RSSI for each network found
            Serial.print(j + 1);
            Serial.print(": ");
            Serial.print(WiFi.SSID(j));
            Serial.print(" (");
            Serial.print(WiFi.RSSI(j));
            Serial.print(")");
            Serial.println((WiFi.encryptionType(j) == WIFI_AUTH_OPEN) ? " " : "*");
            delay(10);
        }
    }
    Serial.println("");

    // Wait a bit before scanning again
    delay(2000);
}

Serial.println("--Over--");


Serial.println("--Over--");

Serial.println();
Serial.println("---------Test Over !!!---------");
}

[/codesyntax]