Have you done some range tests on your own? What are you results? Please, share in the comments or send me an email. I am aware, that my experiment does not feature controlled environment and a fancy setup. To conclude – even ESP32 is a great chip, I am not going to use it for long-range communication. The last thing left to do was to make the same test with an access points instead one of the ESP32s. The MH-ET LIVE module after modification The MH-ET LIVE module after modification The connection was much better, however it was still rather a disappointment.Īs a last resort I tried different hardware – I tried to cut PCB under antenna on the MH_ET LIVE D1 modules and I also tried to use the original ESP32 DevKit-C modules. However the reliability of the connection drastically improved with the LR procol. If I put the master roughly 2 meters above the ground, I could get 240 meters. Sight to sight I was able to communicate up to 200 meter. I could walk around the building and the communication was perfect. This protocol can be easily enabled by calling the following function after the WiFi peripheral has started:Įsp_wifi_set_protocol( WIFI_IF_AP, WIFI_PROTOCOL_LR )Įsp_wifi_set_protocol( WIFI_IF_STA, WIFI_PROTOCOL_LR ) By using this protocol it should be possible to sacrifice communication speed and gain increased the range. Then I found out ESP32 supports the WiFi LR protocol. On Linux systems, use the following command: iwconfig wlan0 grep -i -color signal. On Mac, the Wi-Fi indicator is located in the upper-right corner of the screen in the menu bar. Select the blue Wi-Fi link to see the signal strength. Sight-to-sight I was able to communicate on 150 meters. In Windows, go to Network and Internet > Network and Sharing Center. When I went around a corner of 4 storey building, the connection was lost. I took two MH-ET LIVE D1 modules and went outside. The MH-ET LIVE module The MH-ET LIVE module If the slave receives a packet, it toggles an LED. Basically, Master setups AP, slave connects and the master sends UDP packets. Here you can find code for the master device, and here for the slave. I wrote a simple program for two ESP32s using PlatformIO and the Arduino framework (as working with wifi in ESP-IDF is kinda hell). After all, CNLorh has shown us that ESP8266 has a surprising range – over a kilometer. Recently I got super excited about ESP32, so I thought why not to use it. This should work and you won't need to cut the base PCB.I have a project, which requires long distance (approximately 1 km) communication, in my mind. You would need to solder wires from the base PCB to the terminals of the ESP. Something else you could do is to unsolder the ESP and mount it 90 degrees to the PCB. I use to find the best price for the bare PCBs. Of course it is best to remove the ESP module first.Īlternatively, you could redesign the PCB and send it out for another manufacturing run. If there are any traces underneath the antenna you will need to fix them up with wire worms. If money is tight and new hardware is out, you could try cutting a cutout where the antenna sits using your Dremel (or other rotary tool). On other boards the antenna sits proud of the main PCB such as this one from Tronixlabs: Vistumber Nifty free WiFi analyzer that can overlay signal footprints on a Google map. It will tune your live connection and identify other surrounding wireless APs. In other pictures you can also see that the ground plane does not go past where the antenna starts. WiFi Analyzer This tool for Windows is offered for free but has a paid upgraded version. You will notice on the NodeMCU design below that they have placed a PCB cutout where the antenna is located. That is the antenna is placed right over the top of the ground plane of the PCB and your range is going to be severely limited. The very first thing I notice is that your WiFi antenna is shielded by the PCB.
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