Wireless Tracker (V1.1)
Overview
The Heltec Wireless Tracker V1.1 is a development kit based on ESP32-S3FN8. It integrates both SX1262 LoRa transceiver and UC6580 GNSS chip to provide fast GNSS solution for IoT. [1]
Note
This board support package targets the Heltec Wireless Tracker V1.1. In this revision, the GNSS power-control pin has changed: GPIO3 must be driven HIGH to enable the GNSS module. For additional hardware differences between versions, refer to the official hardware revision logs.
Hardware
The main hardware features are:
ESP32-S3FN8 low-power MCU-based SoC (dual-core Xtensa® 32-bit LX7 microprocessor, five stage pipeline rack Structure, main frequency up to 240 MHz).
Semtech SX1262 LoRa node chip
UC6580 GNSS chip with L1 + L5/L2 dual-frequency multi-system support (GPS, GLONASS, BDS, Galileo, NAVIC, QZSS)
0.96-inch 160×80 dot matrix LCD display (ST7735) for debugging information, battery power, and other information
Type-C USB interface with a complete voltage regulator, ESD protection, short circuit protection, RF shielding, and other protection measures
Onboard SH1.25-2 battery interface, integrated lithium battery management system (charge and discharge management, overcharge protection, battery power detection, USB / battery power automatic switching)
Integrated WiFi and Bluetooth interfaces with 2.4GHz metal spring antenna and reserved IPEX (U.FL) interface for LoRa and GNSS use
Good RF circuit design and low-power design
ESP32-S3 Features
ESP32-S3 is a low-power MCU-based system on a chip (SoC) with integrated 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi and Bluetooth® Low Energy (Bluetooth LE). It consists of high-performance dual-core microprocessor (Xtensa® 32-bit LX7), a low power coprocessor, a Wi-Fi baseband, a Bluetooth LE baseband, RF module, and numerous peripherals.
ESP32-S3 SoC includes the following features:
Dual core 32-bit Xtensa Microprocessor (Tensilica LX7), running up to 240MHz
Additional vector instructions support for AI acceleration
512KB of SRAM
384KB of ROM
Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n
Bluetooth LE 5.0 with long-range support and up to 2Mbps data rate
Digital interfaces:
45 programmable GPIOs
4x SPI
1x LCD interface (8-bit ~16-bit parallel RGB, I8080 and MOTO6800), supporting conversion between RGB565, YUV422, YUV420 and YUV411
1x DVP 8-bit ~16-bit camera interface
3x UART
2x I2C
2x I2S
1x RMT (TX/RX)
1x pulse counter
LED PWM controller, up to 8 channels
1x full-speed USB OTG
1x USB Serial/JTAG controller
2x MCPWM
1x SDIO host controller with 2 slots
General DMA controller (GDMA), with 5 transmit channels and 5 receive channels
1x TWAI® controller, compatible with ISO 11898-1 (CAN Specification 2.0)
Addressable RGB LED, driven by GPIO38.
Analog interfaces:
2x 12-bit SAR ADCs, up to 20 channels
1x temperature sensor
14x touch sensing IOs
Timers:
4x 54-bit general-purpose timers
1x 52-bit system timer
3x watchdog timers
Low Power:
Power Management Unit with five power modes
Ultra-Low-Power (ULP) coprocessors: ULP-RISC-V and ULP-FSM
Security:
Secure boot
Flash encryption
4-Kbit OTP, up to 1792 bits for users
Cryptographic hardware acceleration: (AES-128/256, Hash, RSA, RNG, HMAC, Digital signature)
Asymmetric Multiprocessing (AMP)
Boards featuring the ESP32-S3 SoC allows 2 different applications to be executed. Due to its dual-core architecture, each core can be enabled to execute customized tasks in stand-alone mode and/or exchanging data over OpenAMP framework. See Inter-Processor Communication (IPC) folder as code reference.
For more information, check the ESP32-S3 Datasheet [2] or the ESP32-S3 Technical Reference Manual [3].
Supported Features
The heltec_wireless_tracker board supports the hardware features listed below.
- on-chip / on-board
- Feature integrated in the SoC / present on the board.
- 2 / 2
-
Number of instances that are enabled / disabled.
Click on the label to see the first instance of this feature in the board/SoC DTS files. -
vnd,foo -
Compatible string for the Devicetree binding matching the feature.
Click on the link to view the binding documentation.
heltec_wireless_tracker/esp32s3/appcpu target
Type |
Location |
Description |
Compatible |
|---|---|---|---|
CPU |
on-chip |
Espressif Xtensa LX7 CPU2 |
|
ADC |
on-chip |
ESP32 ADC2 |
|
Bluetooth |
on-chip |
Bluetooth HCI for Espressif ESP321 |
|
CAN |
on-chip |
ESP32 Two-Wire Automotive Interface (TWAI)1 |
|
Clock control |
on-chip |
ESP32 Clock (Power & Clock Controller Module) Module1 |
|
Counter |
on-chip |
ESP32 Counter Driver based on RTC Main Timer1 |
|
on-chip |
|||
on-chip |
ESP32 counters4 |
||
Cryptographic accelerator |
on-chip |
Espressif ESP32 SHA Hardware Accelerator1 |
|
on-chip |
Espressif ESP32 family AES Hardware Accelerator1 |
||
DMA |
on-chip |
ESP32 GDMA (General Direct Memory Access)1 |
|
Flash controller |
on-chip |
ESP32 flash controller1 |
|
GPIO & Headers |
on-chip |
ESP32 GPIO controller2 |
|
I2C |
on-chip |
ESP32 I2C2 |
|
I2S |
on-chip |
ESP32 I2S2 |
|
Input |
on-chip |
ESP32 touch sensor input1 |
|
Interrupt controller |
on-chip |
ESP32 Interrupt controller1 |
|
IPM |
on-chip |
ESP32 soft inter processor message1 |
|
Mailbox |
on-chip |
ESP32 soft mailbox1 |
|
Memory controller |
on-chip |
ESP32 pseudo-static RAM controller1 |
|
MTD |
on-chip |
Flash node1 |
|
on-chip |
Fixed partitions of a flash (or other non-volatile storage) memory1 |
||
Pin control |
on-chip |
ESP32 pin controller1 |
|
PWM |
on-chip |
ESP32 LED Control (LEDC)1 |
|
on-chip |
ESP32 Motor Control Pulse Width Modulator (MCPWM)2 |
||
RNG |
on-chip |
ESP32 TRNG (True Random Number Generator)1 |
|
SDHC |
on-chip |
ESP32 SDHC controller1 |
|
on-chip |
ESP32 SDHC controller slot2 |
||
Sensors |
on-chip |
ESP32 internal temperature sensor1 |
|
on-chip |
ESP32 Pulse Counter (PCNT)1 |
||
Serial controller |
on-chip |
ESP32 UART3 |
|
on-chip |
ESP32 UART1 |
||
SPI |
on-chip |
ESP32 SPI2 |
|
SRAM |
on-chip |
Generic on-chip SRAM2 |
|
USB |
on-chip |
ESP32 USB-OTG (DWC2 compatible controller)1 |
|
Video |
on-chip |
ESP32 LCD CAM Peripheral interface1 |
|
Watchdog |
on-chip |
ESP32 XT Watchdog Timer1 |
|
on-chip |
ESP32 watchdog2 |
||
Wi-Fi |
on-chip |
ESP32 SoC Wi-Fi1 |
heltec_wireless_tracker/esp32s3/procpu target
Type |
Location |
Description |
Compatible |
|---|---|---|---|
CPU |
on-chip |
Espressif Xtensa LX7 CPU2 |
|
ADC |
on-chip |
||
Bluetooth |
on-chip |
Bluetooth HCI for Espressif ESP321 |
|
CAN |
on-chip |
ESP32 Two-Wire Automotive Interface (TWAI)1 |
|
Clock control |
on-chip |
ESP32 Clock (Power & Clock Controller Module) Module1 |
|
Counter |
on-chip |
ESP32 Counter Driver based on RTC Main Timer1 |
|
on-chip |
ESP32 general-purpose timers4 |
||
on-chip |
ESP32 counters4 |
||
Cryptographic accelerator |
on-chip |
Espressif ESP32 SHA Hardware Accelerator1 |
|
on-chip |
Espressif ESP32 family AES Hardware Accelerator1 |
||
Display |
on-board |
Sitronix ST7735X display controller1 |
|
DMA |
on-chip |
ESP32 GDMA (General Direct Memory Access)1 |
|
Flash controller |
on-chip |
ESP32 flash controller1 |
|
GNSS |
on-board |
Generic GNSS NMEA receiver1 |
|
GPIO & Headers |
on-chip |
ESP32 GPIO controller2 |
|
I2C |
on-chip |
ESP32 I2C2 |
|
I2S |
on-chip |
ESP32 I2S2 |
|
IIO |
on-board |
Description for a voltage divider, with optional ability to measure resistance of the upper leg1 |
|
Input |
on-chip |
ESP32 touch sensor input1 |
|
on-board |
Group of GPIO-bound input keys1 |
||
Interrupt controller |
on-chip |
ESP32 Interrupt controller1 |
|
IPM |
on-chip |
ESP32 soft inter processor message1 |
|
LED |
on-board |
Group of GPIO-controlled LEDs1 |
|
LoRa |
on-board |
Semtech SX1262 LoRa Modem1 |
|
Mailbox |
on-chip |
ESP32 soft mailbox1 |
|
Memory controller |
on-chip |
ESP32 pseudo-static RAM controller1 |
|
MTD |
on-chip |
Flash node1 |
|
on-chip |
Fixed partitions of a flash (or other non-volatile storage) memory1 |
||
Pin control |
on-chip |
ESP32 pin controller1 |
|
PWM |
on-chip |
ESP32 LED Control (LEDC)1 |
|
on-chip |
ESP32 Motor Control Pulse Width Modulator (MCPWM)2 |
||
RNG |
on-chip |
ESP32 TRNG (True Random Number Generator)1 |
|
SDHC |
on-chip |
ESP32 SDHC controller1 |
|
on-chip |
ESP32 SDHC controller slot2 |
||
Sensors |
on-chip |
ESP32 internal temperature sensor1 |
|
on-chip |
ESP32 Pulse Counter (PCNT)1 |
||
Serial controller |
on-chip |
ESP32 UART3 |
|
on-chip |
ESP32 UART1 |
||
SPI |
on-chip |
ESP32 SPI2 |
|
SRAM |
on-chip |
Generic on-chip SRAM2 |
|
USB |
on-chip |
ESP32 USB-OTG (DWC2 compatible controller)1 |
|
Video |
on-chip |
ESP32 LCD CAM Peripheral interface1 |
|
Watchdog |
on-chip |
ESP32 XT Watchdog Timer1 |
|
on-chip |
|||
Wi-Fi |
on-chip |
ESP32 SoC Wi-Fi1 |
Connections and IOs
Header |
Function |
Description |
|---|---|---|
J2.1 |
5V |
|
J2.2 |
GND |
|
J2.3 |
3V3 |
|
J2.4 |
GND |
|
J2.5 |
3V3 |
|
J2.6 |
GND |
|
J2.7 |
Vext |
|
J2.8 |
GND |
|
J2.1 |
RST |
Reset Switch |
J2.2 |
GPIO0 |
User Switch |
J2.3 |
ADC1_CH0 |
Battery Voltage Measurement |
J2.4 |
GPIO2 |
ADC Control |
J2.5 |
GPIO3 |
Vext Control |
J2.6 |
GPIO19 |
|
J2.7 |
GPIO20 |
|
J2.8 |
GPIO21 |
TFT Backlight Control |
J2.9 |
GPIO26 |
|
J2.10 |
GPIO48 |
|
J2.11 |
GPIO47 |
|
J2.12 |
GPIO33 |
UART2 GNSS RX |
J2.13 |
GPIO34 |
UART2 GNSS TX |
J2.14 |
GPIO35 |
|
J2.15 |
GPIO36 |
|
J2.16 |
GPIO37 |
|
J3.1 |
GPIO18 |
PWM LED Control |
J3.2 |
GPIO17 |
|
J3.3 |
GPIO16 |
XTAL_32K N |
J3.4 |
GPIO15 |
XTAL_32K P |
J3.5 |
GPIO7 |
|
J3.6 |
GPIO6 |
|
J3.7 |
GPIO5 |
|
J3.8 |
GPIO4 |
|
J3.1 |
GPIO46 |
|
J3.2 |
GPIO45 |
|
J3.3 |
GPIO44 |
UART0 RX |
J3.4 |
GPIO43 |
UART0 TX |
J3.5 |
GPIO14 |
LoRa DIO1 |
J3.6 |
GPIO13 |
LoRa Busy |
J3.7 |
GPIO12 |
LoRa RST |
J3.8 |
GPIO11 |
LoRa MISO |
J3.9 |
GPIO10 |
LoRa MOSI |
J3.10 |
GPIO9 |
LoRa SCK |
J3.11 |
GPIO8 |
LoRa NSS |
J3.12 |
GPIO42 |
TFT_SDIN (MOSI) |
J3.13 |
GPIO41 |
TFT_SCLK |
J3.14 |
GPIO40 |
TFT_RS (DC) |
J3.15 |
GPIO39 |
TFT_RES (RST) |
J3.16 |
GPIO38 |
TFT_CS |
Key Pin Assignments
GNSS (GPS) Module: - GNSS_TX (MCU UART2 TX): GPIO 34 (connects to GNSS RX) - GNSS_RX (MCU UART2 RX): GPIO 33 (connects to GNSS TX) - GNSS_Power_Control (VEXT): GPIO 3 (V1.1 specific - set to HIGH to enable GNSS)
Note
VEXT (GPIO 3) is automatically configured in board initialization code to be active at boot, ensuring the GNSS module is powered on startup.
LoRa Module (SX1262): - LoRa_DIO1: GPIO 14 - LoRa_Busy: GPIO 13 - LoRa_RST: GPIO 12 - LoRa_MISO: GPIO 11 - LoRa_MOSI: GPIO 10 - LoRa_SCK: GPIO 9 - LoRa_NSS: GPIO 8
TFT Display (ST7735) - Optional: - TFT_SDIN (MOSI): GPIO 42 - TFT_SCLK: GPIO 41 - TFT_RS (DC): GPIO 40 - TFT_RES (RST): GPIO 39 - TFT_CS: GPIO 38 - TFT_LED_K (Backlight): GPIO 21 - TFT_VTFT_CTRL (Power): GPIO 3 (shared with GNSS power control)
UART Interfaces: - UART0: U0RXD (GPIO 44), U0TXD (GPIO 43) - Console - UART1: U1RXD (GPIO 18), U1TXD (GPIO 17) - General purpose - UART2: U2RXD (GPIO 33), U2TXD (GPIO 34) - GNSS module
Power and Control: - VEXT Control: GPIO 3 (GNSS and TFT power, active HIGH) - ADC Control: GPIO 37 - User Button: GPIO 0 - Reset Button: RST
System Requirements
Binary Blobs
Espressif HAL requires RF binary blobs in order work. Run the command below to retrieve those files.
west blobs fetch hal_espressif
Note
It is recommended running the command above after west update.
Programming and Debugging
The heltec_wireless_tracker board supports the runners and associated west commands listed below.
| flash | debug | attach | rtt | debugserver | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| esp32 | ✅ (default) | ||||
| openocd | ✅ | ✅ (default) | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
Simple Boot
The board could be loaded using the single binary image, without 2nd stage bootloader. It is the default option when building the application without additional configuration.
Note
Simple boot does not provide any security features nor OTA updates.
MCUboot Bootloader
User may choose to use MCUboot bootloader instead. In that case the bootloader must be built (and flashed) at least once.
There are two options to be used when building an application:
Sysbuild
Manual build
Note
User can select the MCUboot bootloader by adding the following line to the board default configuration file.
CONFIG_BOOTLOADER_MCUBOOT=y
Sysbuild
The sysbuild makes possible to build and flash all necessary images needed to bootstrap the board with the ESP32 SoC.
To build the sample application using sysbuild use the command:
west build -b <board> --sysbuild samples/hello_world
By default, the ESP32 sysbuild creates bootloader (MCUboot) and application images. But it can be configured to create other kind of images.
Build directory structure created by sysbuild is different from traditional Zephyr build. Output is structured by the domain subdirectories:
build/
├── hello_world
│ └── zephyr
│ ├── zephyr.elf
│ └── zephyr.bin
├── mcuboot
│ └── zephyr
│ ├── zephyr.elf
│ └── zephyr.bin
└── domains.yaml
Note
With --sysbuild option the bootloader will be re-build and re-flash
every time the pristine build is used.
For more information about the system build please read the Sysbuild (System build) documentation.
Manual Build
During the development cycle, it is intended to build & flash as quickly possible. For that reason, images can be built one at a time using traditional build.
The instructions following are relevant for both manual build and sysbuild. The only difference is the structure of the build directory.
Note
Remember that bootloader (MCUboot) needs to be flash at least once.
Build and flash applications as usual (see Building an Application and Run an Application for more details).
# From the root of the zephyr repository
west build -b <board> samples/hello_world
The usual flash target will work with the board configuration.
Here is an example for the Hello World
application.
# From the root of the zephyr repository
west build -b <board> samples/hello_world
west flash
Open the serial monitor using the following command:
west espressif monitor
After the board has automatically reset and booted, you should see the following message in the monitor:
***** Booting Zephyr OS vx.x.x-xxx-gxxxxxxxxxxxx *****
Hello World! <board>
Board variants using Snippets
ESP32 boards can be assembled with different modules using multiple combinations of SPI flash sizes, PSRAM sizes and PSRAM modes.
The snippets under snippets/espressif provide a modular way to apply these variations at build time without duplicating board definitions.
The following snippet-based variants are supported:
Snippet name |
Description |
|---|---|
Flash memory size |
|
|
Board with 4MB of flash |
|
Board with 8MB of flash |
|
Board with 16MB of flash |
|
Board with 32MB of flash |
PSRAM memory size |
|
|
Board with 2MB of PSRAM |
|
Board with 4MB of PSRAM |
|
Board with 8MB of PSRAM |
PSRAM utilization |
|
|
Relocate flash to PSRAM |
|
Wi-Fi buffers in PSRAM |
To apply a board variant, use the -S flag with west build:
west build -b <board> -S flash-32M -S psram-4M samples/hello_world
Note
These snippets are applicable to boards with compatible hardware support for the selected flash/PSRAM configuration.
If no FLASH snippet is used, the board default flash size will be used.
If no PSRAM snippet is used, the board default psram size will be used.
Debugging
OpenOCD
As with much custom hardware, the ESP32 modules require patches to OpenOCD that are not upstreamed yet. Espressif maintains their own fork of the project. The custom OpenOCD can be obtained at OpenOCD for ESP32 [4].
The Zephyr SDK uses a bundled version of OpenOCD by default. You can overwrite that behavior by adding the
-DOPENOCD=<path/to/bin/openocd> -DOPENOCD_DEFAULT_PATH=<path/to/openocd/share/openocd/scripts>
parameter when building.
Further documentation can be obtained from the SoC vendor in JTAG debugging for ESP32 [5].
Here is an example for building the Hello World application.
# From the root of the zephyr repository
west build -b <board> samples/hello_world -- -DOPENOCD=<path/to/bin/openocd> -DOPENOCD_DEFAULT_PATH=<path/to/openocd/share/openocd/scripts>
west flash
You can debug an application in the usual way. Here is an example for the Hello World application.
# From the root of the zephyr repository
west build -b <board> samples/hello_world
west debug
Applications
This board is suitable for:
GPS tracking applications
IoT sensor monitoring with location data
LoRaWAN networks with positioning
LoRa mesh networks with positioning (e.g., Meshtastic)
Display-based user interfaces (optional)
Battery-powered tracking devices
Asset tracking and monitoring
Environmental monitoring with GPS coordinates
Specifications
Parameters |
Description |
|---|---|
Master Chip |
ESP32-S3FN8 (Xtensa(R) 32-bit lx7 dual core processor) |
LoRa Chipset |
SX1262 |
GNSS Chipset |
UC6580 |
LoRa Frequency |
470~510MHz, 863~928MHz |
Max. TX Power |
21+/-1dBm |
Max. Receiving Sensitivity |
-134dBm |
Wi-Fi |
802.11 b/g/n, up to 150Mbps |
Bluetooth LE |
Bluetooth 5, Bluetooth mesh |
Hardware Resource |
10xADC1 + 10xADC2; 12xTouch; 3xUART; 2xI2C; 2xSPI; etc. |
Interface |
Type-C USB; 2x1.25 lithium battery interface; LoRa ANT(IPEX1.0); 2x18x2.54 Header Pin |
Battery |
3.7V lithium battery power supply and charging |
Operating Temperature |
-20 ~ 70 degrees C |
Dimensions |
65.48 × 28.06 × 13.52mm |