Researchers from ESPARGOS have discovered an undocumented feature in Espressif's ESP32 microcontrollers that allows bypassing the fixed-function Wi-Fi/Bluetooth modems to capture raw IQ baseband samples, effectively turning these low-cost chips into software-defined radios covering 2.4 GHz (and 5 GHz on ESP32-C5). The project includes an open-source firmware, a browser-based web interface for live spectrum and waterfall visualization via Web Serial, and supports multiple ESP32 variants.
Background
ESPARGOS is a well-known research project at Saarland University focused on WiFi sensing and channel state information (CSI) extraction. This discovery leverages debug hardware left by Espressif engineers for fab testing purposes.
- Source
- Lobsters
- Published
- Sep 30, 2026 at 06:13 AM
- Score
- 7.0 / 10