Many people may be quite familiar with ESP32, which still holds a dominant position in its field. However, recently a brand of chips has been frequently challenging the ESP32, namely the chips from Bouliu Intelligent Technology, which can be said to be highly overlapping with Espressif’s chips.
This time I found a Sipeed M0P module that is almost at the same price point as the ESP32. Let’s see if it can replace the ESP32.
It uses Bouliu Intelligent’s BL618 chip, featuring an RV32 320MHz RISC-V core. 480KB + 4MB SRAM, 8MB SPI Flash.
Supports 2.4GHz Wi-Fi 6 (IEEE 802.11 b/g/n/ax)
Supports Bluetooth 5.x dual-mode (BT+BLE)
Supports Zigbee / IEEE 802.15.4
Supports coexistence of Wi-Fi / Bluetooth / Zigbee
Supports USB 2.0 HS OTG (480Mbps)
Supports IPEX first-generation antenna socket and PCB onboard antenna
Dimensions: 25.5mm (L) x 18mm (W)
| Interfaces supported by the M0P module |
|---|
| DVP Camera |
| Display (QSPI, DBI) |
| SPI |
| UART * 2 |
| IIC * 2 |
| IIS |
| 10bit-GPDAC |
| 12~16bit GPADC |
| ACOMP |
| PWM |
| SDIO2.0 |
| Audio Codec |
One difference between M0P and ESP32 is the support for Audio Codec, which comes with an audio codec. This is one of its advantages.
It can be seen that supporting Wi-Fi 6 is aimed at competing with Espressif’s recently released ESP32C6.
The difference is that Espressif supports Bluetooth BLE5.3, while M0P supports BT+BLE5.2. This means that M0P’s Bluetooth can perform some audio applications, such as Bluetooth playback and file receiving, while Espressif’s BLE5.3 focuses mainly on control and Bluetooth Mesh, making it more pure.
In terms of communication, ESP32C6 also supports Thread1.3 and Matter protocols, while M0P does not mention them.
M0P has another advantage in supporting USB 2.0 HS OTG (480Mbps) with a USB speed of 480Mbps, which can reach 60MB/s, making it quite strong. In contrast, ESP32C6 is 12Mbps, only 1.5MB/s. However, for control, there is actually not much difference. But for audio and video, and data transmission needs, this is still very useful.
In terms of operating frequency, M0P is 320MHz, exactly double that of ESP32C6’s 160MHz.
Its price is
24
which is on par with most ESP32 modules. The cost performance is quite good.
It also has a corresponding development board
Sipeed M0P Dock
which brings out the DVP camera interface (can connect to GC0328 camera module), also has an FPC socket to connect to a screen (can connect to a 3.92-inch 320×320 square capacitive touch screen), has a TF card slot (SDIO), and includes a WMM7027ATSN1 MEMS microphone (omnidirectional, sensitivity -38dB, SNR 59dB). Onboard battery charging management circuit, supports 4.2V lithium battery power supply.
USB2.0 HS Type-C interface (USB communication, firmware download, and USB to serial port)
Pin Diagram
It can be seen that the M0P Dock development board is also very considerate, with all interfaces brought out, self-contained SD slot, self-contained microphone, and self-contained lithium battery charging management circuit, making it more versatile.
And its price is
45
and it also comes with a Type-C cable, which can be said to be very considerate.
The price with the camera is 62
The price with the screen is 128
The price with both camera and screen is 145
Recently, Bouliu finally has a new development method in the ecosystem,
PikaPython
PikaPython is a completely rewritten ultra-lightweight Python engine with zero dependencies and zero configuration, capable of running on platforms with Flash ≤ 64KB, RAM ≤ 4KB, making it easy to deploy and expand, with a wealth of Chinese documentation and video materials.
Although I still find the documentation a bit confusing, the threshold is still a bit high, at least it is a very good start, the ecosystem is beginning to take shape.
After seeing such configuration, I think Sipeed is still very good. The computing power and expansion are quite good, and the current price has reached the same level as Espressif, the only thing lacking is still the ecosystem. But if you have strong development capabilities, you can definitely take a look at M0P, the performance is very good, and the price is affordable. If you have demands for audio and video, or fast file transfer, I also recommend you to check out this new chip. You may be surprised.
Sipeed Maix M0P
https://m.tb.cn/h.UvSGh72?tk=CaA4dNNLobH
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