3 ms·

I still have a huge trauma coming from the ESP32 ADC. Why don't they integrate good ADCs? We are waiting for ages now. Non-linear as hell - and evil side effec

I still have a huge trauma coming from the ESP32 ADC. Why don't they integrate good ADCs? We are waiting for ages now. Non-linear as hell - and evil side effects once you use the calibration curves.

throwup238 1y ago
> Why don't they integrate good ADCs? There are a bunch of reasons but the primary reason is that good ADCs are made using a different mixed signal process than microcontrollers. MCU ADCs are capacitive charge-balancing successive-approximation type which limits their sensitivity and precision. Standalone ADCs also eliminate significant sources of noise like temperature fluctuations and electronic noise (the digital logic on the chip often runs at less than 1Mhz for example)
- 15155 1y ago
  Standalone ADCs are often SARADCs as well (and are specified as such.)
  - throwup238 1y ago
    The ones I’ve used were mostly delta sigma modulation ADCs. I think charge balancing caps out at 12 bits or so.
chillingeffect 1y ago
If hate the esp32 adc, let me introduce you to its "fpu." Or its external flash and memory...
- NoiseBert69 1y ago
  But no real competition for on-chip Wifi/BLE around. Only ugly two-chip solutions or hyper exotic stuff with no community.
  - bsder 1y ago
    > But no real competition for on-chip Wifi/BLE around. No competition or no market? I can't imagine Espressif is selling much volume of these chips. The fact that they can't even fix their SPI module would tend to indicate that their engineering staff is very thin.
    - monocasa 1y ago
      They've sold a billion of the things. https://www.espressif.com/en/news/1_Billion_Chip_Sales https://www.espressif.com/en/news/1_Billion_Chip_Sales
  - userbinator 1y ago
    I'm not sure about WiFi, but JieLi (JL) definitely has a huge marketshare for single-chip BLE/BT. They are the origin of the infamous "the Bluetooth device is ready to pair" stock prompt voice.
  - AlotOfReading 1y ago
    Not sure I'd call the silabs chips hyper exotic. The SIWG917 is intended as a direct competitor to ESP32s. It's a bit more expensive, but not unexpectedly so.
  - mrheosuper 1y ago
    oh there are a lots, it's just that they are not interested in Western market. BES, Sifli, realtek, boufallo, etc.
- 5d41402abc4b 1y ago
  Whats wrong with its external flash and memory?

I still have a huge trauma coming from the ESP32 ADC. Why don't they integrate good ADCs? We are waiting for ages now. Non-linear as hell - and evil side effects once you use the calibration curves.

throwup238 1y ago

> Why don't they integrate good ADCs? There are a bunch of reasons but the primary reason is that good ADCs are made using a different mixed signal process than microcontrollers. MCU ADCs are capacitive charge-balancing successive-approximation type which limits their sensitivity and precision. Standalone ADCs also eliminate significant sources of noise like temperature fluctuations and electronic noise (the digital logic on the chip often runs at less than 1Mhz for example)

15155 1y ago
Standalone ADCs are often SARADCs as well (and are specified as such.)
- throwup238 1y ago
  The ones I’ve used were mostly delta sigma modulation ADCs. I think charge balancing caps out at 12 bits or so.

chillingeffect 1y ago

If hate the esp32 adc, let me introduce you to its "fpu." Or its external flash and memory...

NoiseBert69 1y ago
But no real competition for on-chip Wifi/BLE around. Only ugly two-chip solutions or hyper exotic stuff with no community.
- bsder 1y ago
  > But no real competition for on-chip Wifi/BLE around. No competition or no market? I can't imagine Espressif is selling much volume of these chips. The fact that they can't even fix their SPI module would tend to indicate that their engineering staff is very thin.
  - monocasa 1y ago
    They've sold a billion of the things. https://www.espressif.com/en/news/1_Billion_Chip_Sales https://www.espressif.com/en/news/1_Billion_Chip_Sales
- userbinator 1y ago
  I'm not sure about WiFi, but JieLi (JL) definitely has a huge marketshare for single-chip BLE/BT. They are the origin of the infamous "the Bluetooth device is ready to pair" stock prompt voice.
- AlotOfReading 1y ago
  Not sure I'd call the silabs chips hyper exotic. The SIWG917 is intended as a direct competitor to ESP32s. It's a bit more expensive, but not unexpectedly so.
- mrheosuper 1y ago
  oh there are a lots, it's just that they are not interested in Western market. BES, Sifli, realtek, boufallo, etc.
5d41402abc4b 1y ago
Whats wrong with its external flash and memory?