LILYGO's T-ETH-ELite Offers Expansive Connectivity for Espressif ESP32-S3 Projects
Integrated Wi-Fi, BLE, and Ethernet connectivity can be expanded with LoRa and cellular add-on boards.
Embedded and hobbyist electronics specialist LILYGO has launched a new Espressif ESP32-S3 development board designed for use with stackable connectivity shields to expand from on-board Ethernet, Wi-Fi 4, and Bluetooth 5 Low Energy (BLE) connectivity to cellular and LoRaWAN options: the T-ETH-ELite.
"[The T-ETH ELite] can be used as LoRaWAN gateway mode, and the LoRa+GPS expansion board can be realized by stacking the LoRa Mesh mode," the company explains of its latest launch, a successor to the gumstick-style T-ETH-Lite with a chunkier footprint.
The development board, brought to our attention by CNX Software, is built around an Espressif ESP32-S3-WROOM-1 module, giving it two 32-bit Tensilica Xtensa LX7 cores running at up to 240MHz, 512kB of static RAM, and 8MB of pseudo-static RAM (PSRAM), plus 16MB of flash storage. There's on-board Wi-Fi 4 and Bluetooth 5 Low Energy (BLE) connectivity, with a WIZnet W5500 Ethernet PHY driving a physical RJ45 slot — with Power-over-Ethernet compatibility, if you need it.
Unlike the breadboard-friendly T-ETH-Lite, the T-ETH-ELite's general-purpose input/output (GPIO) connectivity is brought out to a 40-pin header, which follows the Raspberry Pi pinout as closely as possible. While this is compatible with some Raspberry Pi Hardware Attached on Top (HAT) accessories, it's primarily designed for LILYGO's own shield add-ons — stackable to boost the board's already-comprehensive connectivity.
A LoRa Shield add-on, the company explains, delivers a choice of Semtech LR1121, SX1262, SX1276, or SX1280 LoRa transceivers and GPS connectivity. The Gateway Shield, designed for use with an mPCIe module housing a Semtech SX1302 LoRa chip, delivers LoRa gateway support and GPS connectivity, plus two QWIIC connectors for additional hardware. The LTE Shield, meanwhile, is designed for use with mPCIe cellular modems and includes a SIM card slot, two QWIIC connectors, and an integrated microphone and speaker.
The company is selling the T-ETH-ELite through its official web shop at $23.99; SX1262 and SX1276 variants of the LoRa Shield are available at $19.99 each; the LoRa Gateway Shield is priced at $10.99 without the LoRa module itself; and likewise the LTE Shield is $12.99 without LTE module.