LILYGO Launches the Sub-$25 T3 S3 LR1121 ESP32-S3 LoRa Development Board
Powered by an Espressif ESP32-S3 and a Semtech LR1121 LoRa transceiver, this dinky board gives you three ways to communicate.
Embedded and hobbyist electronics specialist LILYGO has launched an affordable Espressif ESP32-S3 development board for those looking to experiment with LoRa wireless communication: the T3 S3 LR1121.
The LILYGO T3 S3 LR1121 is, as the name suggests, built around an Espressif ESP32S3 microcontroller, giving it two Tensilica Xtensa LX7 cores running at up to 240MHz and 512kB of on-board static RAM, which LILYGO has expanded with 2MB of pseudo-static RAM (PSRAM) along with 4MB of flash memory. The chip also includes integrated single-band 2.4GHz Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 5 Low Energy (BLE) radios, but they play second fiddle to the board's raison d'être: a LoRa radio for long-range low-power communication.
The development board, brought to our attention by Linux Gizmos, is focused around this radio, a third-generation Semtech LR1121 LoRa Connect transceiver. Supporting global Industrial, Scientific, and Medical (ISM) bands from 150MHz to 960MHz, though limited to 830-940MHz in LILYGO's sole available model at the time of writing, 2.1GHz S-Band, and 2.4GHz communication, the transceiver is compatible with a range of LoRa protocols — including the LoRa Alliance's own LoRaWAN specification.
In addition to breadboard-friendly general-purpose input/output (GPIO) pins brought out at either side, an on-board antenna for the Wi-Fi and BLE radios, and an antenna connector for the LoRa transceiver, the T3 S3 LR1121 includes USB Type-C connectivity for data and power, a microSD Card slot for local storage, and Qwiic-style connectors for solderless expansion, plus a connector for an optional lithium-polymer battery with charging support. There's also a 128×64 0.96" OLED display display to the front, connected over I2C.
The development board is available to order on LILYGO's official store at $23.98 including board, battery cable, two male pin headers, and a stubby dipole antenna.