Two Station Example Using ESP Hosted (IDFGH-16874)

[JonRobo]

Checklist

• Checked the issue tracker for similar issues to ensure this is not a duplicate.
• Described the feature in detail and justified the reason for the request.
• Provided specific use cases and examples.

Feature description

I think there are amazing use cases for a Two Stations example using Full Duplex SPI ESP Hosted now with the ESP32-C5 becoming available.

I attempted to adapt the existing 'Two Stations' Example to work on an ESP32-S3 as the host and an ESP32-C5 running esp-hosted slave code using ESP IDF 5.5.1 but there seems to be linker problems and it does not compile properly.

I intend for the C5 to connect to my local wifi on 5GHz and for the S3 to open a 2.4GHz AP for my other ESP32 devices to connect to this system and in a way to the 5GHz STA so they can be controlled via MQTT. Encryption is not required and speed is quite important which is why ESP Hosted is ideal

Use cases

The end goal would be to have any 2 ESP32 modules linked over ESP Hosted for max speeds and be able to have each module able to connect to a station or put up an access point. This way, such a system can connect to a 5GHz STA with the C5 for example, and offer a hotspot on 2.4GHz for other 2.4GHz modules to connect to.

Alternatives

No response

Additional context

No response

[david-cermak]

Hi @JonRobo

The usecase you described looks very interesting 👍
You can use eppp-link implementation for now for PoC and experimenting and once resolved you can switch to esp-hosted.
cc @mantriyogesh

[JonRobo]

Hey @david-cermak

Thanks, yes I have been trying to get the eppp-link 'Two Stations' example to work but I'm having issues with the certificates and TLS setup. I made some self signed certs with openssl and they can be read by the ESPs but the connection is not completing. There is a broken link in the MQTT example that supposedly showed how to configure the certifications, can you share a guide for setting up the certifications? Or better yet, is there a way to disable the need for certs? I even tried to 'Allow potentially insecure options' etc in the ESP TLS settings in menuconfig but the 'Two Stations' example still isn't working for me.

Any help here would be great.

@mantriyogesh also replied to my email. I would like to know more about the architecture of ESP WIFI Remote and ESP Hosted so that I can try to add this feature so I can use remote + hosted to get my 2.4GHz AP working alongside a 5GHz STA from the C5.

As for the C5's capabilities can you speak to its capabilities? Is it impossible to achieve a 2.4GHz AP and 5GHz STA on the C5 alone simultaneously?

Thanks

[david-cermak]

About the eppp-link connection:

It should be quite easy to generate test keys and certs: https://github.com/espressif/esp-wifi-remote/tree/main/components/wifi_remote_over_eppp/scripts#test-certificate-generation
(just run the script and copy the output to both sdkconfig's -- for host and slave side)

I even tried to 'Allow potentially insecure options'

That's not supported, but adding here: #95

[JonRobo]

Thank you David for adding the insecure option in #95.
Once this is merged and available in a release I think this can be my solution for now. I would rather not manage certificates in production when it's not really needed.

Ultimate goal would still be to achieve simultaneous 2.4GHz AP and 5GHz STA on the C5, but if that's simply impossible then adding full duplex SPI with ESP Hosted between a C3 and C5 would be excellent as well.

The UART connection for eppp is quite a bit slower, but I believe it will be okay for me initially.