Hackaday · Creativity & design

ESP32 Chips Exhibit Undocumented SDR Capabilities

Certain ESP32 microcontroller chips possess an undocumented feature that allows them to function as software-defined radio (SDR) receivers, similar to the well-known RTL-SDR.

This capability was independently discovered by Espargos and a Reddit user named h0m3us3r. The feature allows access to the I/Q stream before it reaches the WiFi modem, enabling it to be processed by external SDR software.

The undocumented mode is available on ESP32 chips equipped with earlier Tensilica hardware. It does not work on Bluetooth-only or non-radio P4 variants. The functionality is limited to the receive side and supports both 2.4 and 5 GHz bands, depending on the specific microcontroller.

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