Espressif ESP32-S2

The ESP32-S2 is a series of single-core SoCs from Espressif based on Harvard architecture Xtensa LX7 CPU and with on-chip support for Wi-Fi.

All embedded memory, external memory and peripherals are located on the data bus and/or the instruction bus of the CPU. Multiple peripherals in the system can access embedded memory via DMA.

ESP32-S2 Toolchain

The toolchain used to build ESP32-S2 firmware can be either downloaded or built from the sources. It is highly recommended to use (download or build) the same toolchain version that is being used by the NuttX CI.

Please refer to the Docker container and check for the current compiler version being used. For instance:

###############################################################################
# Build image for tool required by ESP32 builds
###############################################################################
FROM nuttx-toolchain-base AS nuttx-toolchain-esp32
# Download the latest ESP32 GCC toolchain prebuilt by Espressif
RUN mkdir -p xtensa-esp32-elf-gcc && \
  curl -s -L "https://github.com/espressif/crosstool-NG/releases/download/esp-12.2.0_20230208/xtensa-esp32-elf-12.2.0_20230208-x86_64-linux-gnu.tar.xz" \
  | tar -C xtensa-esp32-elf-gcc --strip-components 1 -xJ

RUN mkdir -p xtensa-esp32s2-elf-gcc && \
  curl -s -L "https://github.com/espressif/crosstool-NG/releases/download/esp-12.2.0_20230208/xtensa-esp32s2-elf-12.2.0_20230208-x86_64-linux-gnu.tar.xz" \
  | tar -C xtensa-esp32s2-elf-gcc --strip-components 1 -xJ

RUN mkdir -p xtensa-esp32s3-elf-gcc && \
  curl -s -L "https://github.com/espressif/crosstool-NG/releases/download/esp-12.2.0_20230208/xtensa-esp32s3-elf-12.2.0_20230208-x86_64-linux-gnu.tar.xz" \
  | tar -C xtensa-esp32s3-elf-gcc --strip-components 1 -xJ

For ESP32-S2, the toolchain version is based on GGC 12.2.0 (xtensa-esp32s2-elf-12.2.0_20230208)

Building from source

You can also build the toolchain yourself. The steps to build the toolchain with crosstool-NG on Linux are as follows

$ git clone https://github.com/espressif/crosstool-NG.git
$ cd crosstool-NG
$ git submodule update --init

$ ./bootstrap && ./configure --enable-local && make

$ ./ct-ng xtensa-esp32s2-elf
$ ./ct-ng build

$ chmod -R u+w builds/xtensa-esp32s2-elf

$ export PATH="crosstool-NG/builds/xtensa-esp32-elf/bin:$PATH"

These steps are given in the setup guide in ESP-IDF documentation.

Building and flashing NuttX

Bootloader and partitions

NuttX can boot the ESP32-S2 directly using the so-called “Simple Boot”. An externally-built 2nd stage bootloader is not required in this case as all functions required to boot the device are built within NuttX. Simple boot does not require any specific configuration (it is selectable by default if no other 2nd stage bootloader is used).

If other features are required, an externally-built 2nd stage bootloader is needed. The bootloader is built using the make bootloader command. This command generates the firmware in the nuttx folder. The ESPTOOL_BINDIR is used in the make flash command to specify the path to the bootloader. For compatibility among other SoCs and future options of 2nd stage bootloaders, the commands make bootloader and the ESPTOOL_BINDIR option (for the make flash) can be used even if no externally-built 2nd stage bootloader is being built (they will be ignored if Simple Boot is used, for instance):

$ make bootloader

Note

It is recommended that if this is the first time you are using the board with NuttX to perform a complete SPI FLASH erase.

$ esptool.py erase_flash

Building and Flashing

First, make sure that esptool.py is installed. This tool is used to convert the ELF to a compatible ESP32-S2 image and to flash the image into the board. It can be installed with: pip install esptool==4.8.dev4.

It’s a two-step process where the first converts the ELF file into an ESP32-S2 compatible binary and the second flashes it to the board. These steps are included in the build system and it is possible to build and flash the NuttX firmware simply by running:

$ make flash ESPTOOL_PORT=<port> ESPTOOL_BINDIR=./

where <port> is typically /dev/ttyUSB0 or similar. ESPTOOL_BINDIR=./ is the path of the externally-built 2nd stage bootloader and the partition table (if applicable): when built using the make bootloader, these files are placed into nuttx folder. ESPTOOL_BAUD is able to change the flash baud rate if desired.

Debugging

This section describes debugging techniques for the ESP32-S2.

Debugging with openocd and gdb

Espressif uses a specific version of OpenOCD to support ESP32-S2: openocd-esp32.

Please check Building OpenOCD from Sources for more information on how to build OpenOCD for ESP32-S2.

ESP32-S2 has dedicated pins for JTAG debugging. The following pins are used for JTAG debugging:

ESP32-S2 Pin

JTAG Signal

MTDO / GPIO40

TDO

MTDI / GPIO41

TDI

MTCK / GPIO39

TCK

MTMS / GPIO42

TMS

Some boards, like ESP32-S2-Kaluga-1 Kit v1.3 have a built-in JTAG debugger.

Other boards that don’t have any built-in JTAG debugger can be debugged using an external JTAG debugger being connected directly to the ESP32-S2 JTAG pins.

Note

One must configure the USB drivers to enable JTAG communication. Please check Configure USB Drivers for configuring the JTAG adapter of the ESP32-S2-Kaluga-1 board and other FT2232-based JTAG adapters.

OpenOCD can then be used:

openocd -c 'set ESP_RTOS hwthread; set ESP_FLASH_SIZE 0' -f board/esp32s2-kaluga-1.cfg

Once OpenOCD is running, you can use GDB to connect to it and debug your application:

xtensa-esp32s2-elf-gdb -x gdbinit nuttx

whereas the content of the gdbinit file is:

target remote :3333
set remote hardware-watchpoint-limit 2
mon reset halt
flushregs
monitor reset halt
thb nsh_main
c

Note

nuttx is the ELF file generated by the build process. Please note that CONFIG_DEBUG_SYMBOLS must be enabled in the menuconfig.

Please refer to Debugging for more information about debugging techniques.

Stack Dump and Backtrace Dump

NuttX has a feature to dump the stack of a task and to dump the backtrace of it (and of all the other tasks). This feature is useful to debug the system when it is not behaving as expected, especially when it is crashing.

In order to enable this feature, the following options must be enabled in the NuttX configuration: CONFIG_SCHED_BACKTRACE, CONFIG_DEBUG_SYMBOLS and, optionally, CONFIG_ALLSYMS.

Note

The first two options enable the backtrace dump. The third option enables the backtrace dump with the associated symbols, but increases the size of the generated NuttX binary.

Espressif also provides a tool to translate the backtrace dump into a human-readable format. This tool is called btdecode.sh and is available at tools/espressif/btdecode.sh of NuttX repository.

Note

This tool is not necessary if CONFIG_ALLSYMS is enabled. In this case, the backtrace dump contains the function names.

Example - Crash Dump

A typical crash dump, caused by an illegal load with CONFIG_SCHED_BACKTRACE and CONFIG_DEBUG_SYMBOLS enabled, is shown below:

xtensa_user_panic: User Exception: EXCCAUSE=001d task: backtrace
_assert: Current Version: NuttX  10.4.0 2ae3246e40-dirty Sep 19 2024 14:15:50 xtensa
_assert: Assertion failed user panic: at file: :0 task: backtrace process: backtrace 0x400a0aa8
up_dump_register:    PC: 400a0ad8    PS: 00060730
up_dump_register:    A0: 8009312c    A1: 3ffbaf90    A2: 00000000    A3: 3ffba008
up_dump_register:    A4: 3ffba01e    A5: 3ffb95c0    A6: 00000000    A7: 00000000
up_dump_register:    A8: 800a0ad5    A9: 3ffbaf60   A10: 0000005a   A11: 3ffb9dc0
up_dump_register:   A12: 00000059   A13: 3ffb9710   A14: 00000002   A15: 3ffb9bb4
up_dump_register:   SAR: 00000018 CAUSE: 0000001d VADDR: 00000000
dump_stack: User Stack:
dump_stack:   base: 0x3ffba028
dump_stack:   size: 00004040
dump_stack:     sp: 0x3ffbaf90
stack_dump: 0x3ffbaf70: 00000059 3ffb9710 00000002 3ffb9bb4 80091fbc 3ffbafb0 400a0aa8 00000002
stack_dump: 0x3ffbaf90: 3ffba01e 3ffb95c0 00000000 00000000 00000000 3ffbafd0 00000000 400a0aa8
stack_dump: 0x3ffbafb0: 3ffba008 3ffb9bf8 00000000 3ffb637c 00000000 3ffbaff0 00000000 00000000
stack_dump: 0x3ffbafd0: 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000
stack_dump: 0x3ffbaff0: 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000
sched_dumpstack: backtrace| 2: 0x4009f930 0x4009d94a 0x40094f7d 0x400945cd 0x400228e1 0x400a0ad8 0x4009312c 0x40091fbc
sched_dumpstack: backtrace| 2: 0x40000000 0x4009312c 0x40091fbc 0x40000000
dump_tasks:    PID GROUP PRI POLICY   TYPE    NPX STATE   EVENT      SIGMASK          STACKBASE  STACKSIZE   COMMAND
dump_task:       0     0   0 FIFO     Kthread - Ready              0000000000000000 0x3ffb7720      3056   Idle_Task
dump_task:       1     1 100 RR       Task    - Waiting Semaphore  0000000000000000 0x3ffb8d20      3024   nsh_main
dump_task:       2     2 255 RR       Task    - Running            0000000000000000 0x3ffba028      4040   backtrace task
sched_dumpstack: backtrace| 0: 0x40091327
sched_dumpstack: backtrace| 1: 0x4009dde1 0x4009dce3 0x4009dd1c 0x400969fa 0x40096200 0x400964d8 0x400955f4 0x4009547c
sched_dumpstack: backtrace| 1: 0x4009544d 0x4009312c 0x40091fbc 0x40000000
sched_dumpstack: backtrace| 2: 0x4009f930 0x4009d6cc 0x4009db72 0x4009d97c 0x40094f7d 0x400945cd 0x400228e1 0x400a0ad8
sched_dumpstack: backtrace| 2: 0x4009312c 0x40091fbc 0x40000000 0x4009312c 0x40091fbc 0x40000000

The lines starting with sched_dumpstack show the backtrace of the tasks. By checking it, it is possible to track the root cause of the crash. Saving this output to a file and using the btdecode.sh:

./tools/btdecode.sh esp32s2 /tmp/backtrace.txt
Backtrace for task 2:
0x4009f930: sched_dumpstack at sched_dumpstack.c:69
0x4009d94a: _assert at assert.c:691
0x40094f7d: xtensa_user_panic at xtensa_assert.c:188 (discriminator 1)
0x400945cd: xtensa_user at ??:?
0x400228e1: _xtensa_user_handler at xtensa_user_handler.S:194
0x400a0ad8: assert_on_task at backtrace_main.c:158
 (inlined by) backtrace_main at backtrace_main.c:194
0x4009312c: nxtask_startup at task_startup.c:70
0x40091fbc: nxtask_start at task_start.c:75
0x40000000: ?? ??:0
0x4009312c: nxtask_startup at task_startup.c:70
0x40091fbc: nxtask_start at task_start.c:75
0x40000000: ?? ??:0

Backtrace dump for all tasks:

Backtrace for task 2:
0x4009f930: sched_dumpstack at sched_dumpstack.c:69
0x4009d6cc: dump_backtrace at assert.c:418
0x4009db72: nxsched_foreach at sched_foreach.c:69 (discriminator 2)
0x4009d97c: _assert at assert.c:726
0x40094f7d: xtensa_user_panic at xtensa_assert.c:188 (discriminator 1)
0x400945cd: xtensa_user at ??:?
0x400228e1: _xtensa_user_handler at xtensa_user_handler.S:194
0x400a0ad8: assert_on_task at backtrace_main.c:158
 (inlined by) backtrace_main at backtrace_main.c:194
0x4009312c: nxtask_startup at task_startup.c:70
0x40091fbc: nxtask_start at task_start.c:75
0x40000000: ?? ??:0
0x4009312c: nxtask_startup at task_startup.c:70
0x40091fbc: nxtask_start at task_start.c:75
0x40000000: ?? ??:0

Backtrace for task 1:
0x4009dde1: nxsem_wait at sem_wait.c:217
0x4009dce3: nxsched_waitpid at sched_waitpid.c:165
0x4009dd1c: waitpid at sched_waitpid.c:618
0x400969fa: nsh_builtin at nsh_builtin.c:163
0x40096200: nsh_execute at nsh_parse.c:652
 (inlined by) nsh_parse_command at nsh_parse.c:2840
0x400964d8: nsh_parse at nsh_parse.c:2930
0x400955f4: nsh_session at nsh_session.c:246
0x4009547c: nsh_consolemain at nsh_consolemain.c:79
0x4009544d: nsh_main at nsh_main.c:80
0x4009312c: nxtask_startup at task_startup.c:70
0x40091fbc: nxtask_start at task_start.c:75
0x40000000: ?? ??:0

Backtrace for task 0:
0x40091327: nx_start at nx_start.c:772 (discriminator 1)

The above output shows the backtrace of the tasks. By checking it, it is possible to track the functions that were being executed when the crash occurred.

Peripheral Support

The following list indicates the state of peripherals’ support in NuttX:

Peripheral

Support

NOTES

ADC

No

AES

No

CAN/TWAI

Yes

DMA

Yes

eFuse

No

Ethernet

No

GPIO

Yes

I2C

Yes

I2S

Yes

LED_PWM

No

Pulse_CNT

Yes

RMT

No

RNG

Yes

RSA

No

RTC

Yes

SHA

No

SPI

Yes

SPIFLASH

Yes

SPIRAM

Yes

Timers

Yes

Touch

Yes

UART

Yes

Watchdog

Yes

Wifi

Yes

Memory Map

Address Mapping

BUS TYPE

START

LAST

DESCRIPTION

NOTES

.

0x00000000

0x3EFFFFFF

Reserved

Data

0x3F000000

0x3F3FFFFF

External Memory

Data

0x3F400000

0x3F4FFFFF

Peripheral

Data

0x3F500000

0x3FF7FFFF

External Memory

.

0x3FF80000

0x3FF9DFFF

Reserved

Data

0x3FF9E000

0x3FFFFFFF

Embedded Memory

Instruction

0x40000000

0x40071FFF

Embedded Memory

.

0x40072000

0x4007FFFF

Reserved

Instruction

0x40080000

0x407FFFFF

External Memory

.

0x40800000

0x4FFFFFFF

Reserved

Data / Instruction

0x50000000

0x50001FFF

Embedded Memory

.

0x50002000

0x5FFFFFFF

Reserved

Data / Instruction

0x60000000

0x600BFFFF

Peripheral

.

0x600C0000

0x617FFFFF

Reserved

Data / Instruction

0x61800000

0x61803FFF

Peripheral

.

0x61804000

0xFFFFFFFF

Reserved

Embedded Memory

BUS TYPE

START

LAST

DESCRIPTION

PERMISSION CONTROL

NOTES

Data

0x3FF9E000

0x3FF9FFFF

RTC FAST Memory

YES

Data

0x3FFA0000

0x3FFAFFFF

Internal ROM 1

NO

Data

0x3FFB0000

0x3FFB7FFF

Internal SRAM 0

YES

DMA

Data

0x3FFB8000

0x3FFFFFFF

Internal SRAM 1

YES

DMA

Boundary Address (Embedded)

BUS TYPE

START

LAST

DESCRIPTION

PERMISSION CONTROL

NOTES

Instruction

0x40000000

0x4000FFFF

Internal ROM 0

NO

Instruction

0x40010000

0x4001FFFF

Internal ROM 1

NO

Instruction

0x40020000

0x40027FFF

Internal SRAM 0

YES

Instruction

0x40028000

0x4006FFFF

Internal SRAM 1

YES

Instruction

0x40070000

0x40071FFF

RTC FAST Memory

YES

Data / Instruction

0x50000000

0x50001FFF

RTC SLOW Memory

YES

External Memory

BUS TYPE

START

LAST

DESCRIPTION

PERMISSION CONTROL

NOTES

Data

0x3F000000

0x3F3FFFFF

ICache

YES

Read

Data

0x3F500000

0x3FF7FFFF

DCache

YES

Read and Write

Boundary Address (External)

BUS TYPE

START

LAST

DESCRIPTION

PERMISSION CONTROL

NOTES

Instruction

0x40080000

0x407FFFFF

ICache

YES

Read

Linker Segments

DESCRIPTION

START

END

ATTR

LINKER SEGMENT NAME
FLASH mapped data:

  • .rodata

  • Constructors /destructors

0X3F000020

0X3F000020 + FLASH_SIZE - 0x20

R

drom0_0_seg (NOTE 1)
COMMON data RAM:

  • .bss/.data

0X3FFB0000

0x3FFDE000

RW

dram0_0_seg (NOTE 2)
IRAM for PRO cpu:

  • Interrupt Vectors

  • Low level handlers

  • Xtensa/Espressif libraries

0x40022000

0x40050000

RX

iram0_0_seg
RTC fast memory:

  • .rtc.text (unused?)

0x40070000

0x40072000

RWX

rtc_iram_seg
FLASH:

  • .text

0x40080020

0x40080020 + FLASH_SIZE (NOTE 3)

RX

irom0_0_seg (actually FLASH)
RTC slow memory:

  • .rtc.data/rodata (unused?)

0x50000000

0x50002000

RW

rtc_slow_seg (NOTE 4)

Note

  1. The linker script will reserve space at the beginning of the segment for MCUboot header if ESP32S2_APP_FORMAT_MCUBOOT flag is active.

  2. Heap starts at the end of dram_0_seg.

  3. Subtract 0x20 if ESP32S2_APP_FORMAT_MCUBOOT is not active.

  4. Linker script will reserve space at the beginning and at the end of the segment for ULP coprocessor reserve memory.

64-bit Timers

ESP32-S2 has 4 generic timers of 64 bits (2 from Group 0 and 2 from Group 1). They’re accessible as character drivers, the configuration along with a guidance on how to run the example and the description of the application level interface can be found in the timer documentation.

Watchdog Timers

ESP32-S2 has 3 WDTs. 2 MWDTs from the Timers Module and 1 RWDT from the RTC Module (Currently not supported yet). They’re accessible as character drivers, The configuration along with a guidance on how to run the example and the description of the application level interface can be found in the watchdog documentation.

I2S

The I2S peripheral is accessible using either the generic I2S audio driver or a specific audio codec driver. Also, it’s possible to use the I2S character driver to bypass the audio subsystem and develop specific usages of the I2S peripheral.

Note

Note that the bit-width and sample rate can be modified “on-the-go” when using audio-related drivers. That is not the case for the I2S character device driver and such parameters are set on compile time through make menuconfig.

Please check for usage examples using the ESP32-S2-Saola-1.

Wi-Fi

Tip

Boards usually expose a wifi defconfig which enables Wi-Fi.

A standard network interface will be configured and can be initialized such as:

nsh> ifup wlan0
nsh> wapi psk wlan0 mypasswd 3
nsh> wapi essid wlan0 myssid 1
nsh> renew wlan0

In this case a connection to AP with SSID myssid is done, using mypasswd as password. IP address is obtained via DHCP using renew command. You can check the result by running ifconfig afterwards.

Tip

Please refer to ESP32 Wi-Fi Station Mode for more information.

Wi-Fi SoftAP

It is possible to use ESP32-S2 as an Access Point (SoftAP).

Tip

Boards usually expose a sta_softap defconfig which enables Wi-Fi (STA + SoftAP).

If you are using this board config profile you can run these commands to be able to connect your smartphone or laptop to your board:

nsh> ifup wlan1
nsh> dhcpd_start wlan1
nsh> wapi psk wlan1 mypasswd 3
nsh> wapi essid wlan1 nuttxap 1

In this case, you are creating the access point nuttxapp in your board and to connect to it on your smartphone you will be required to type the password mypasswd using WPA2.

Tip

Please refer to ESP32 Wi-Fi SoftAP Mode for more information.

The dhcpd_start is necessary to let your board to associate an IP to your smartphone.

Secure Boot and Flash Encryption

Secure Boot

Secure Boot protects a device from running any unauthorized (i.e., unsigned) code by checking that each piece of software that is being booted is signed. On an ESP32-S2, these pieces of software include the second stage bootloader and each application binary. Note that the first stage bootloader does not require signing as it is ROM code thus cannot be changed. This is achieved using specific hardware in conjunction with MCUboot (read more about MCUboot here).

The Secure Boot process on the ESP32-S2 involves the following steps performed:

  1. The first stage bootloader verifies the second stage bootloader’s RSA-PSS signature. If the verification is successful, the first stage bootloader loads and executes the second stage bootloader.

  2. When the second stage bootloader loads a particular application image, the application’s signature (RSA, ECDSA or ED25519) is verified by MCUboot. If the verification is successful, the application image is executed.

Warning

Once enabled, Secure Boot will not boot a modified bootloader. The bootloader will only boot an application firmware image if it has a verified digital signature. There are implications for reflashing updated images once Secure Boot is enabled. You can find more information about the ESP32-S2’s Secure boot here.

Note

As the bootloader image is built on top of the Hardware Abstraction Layer component of ESP-IDF, the API port by Espressif will be used by MCUboot rather than the original NuttX port.

Flash Encryption

Flash encryption is intended for encrypting the contents of the ESP32-S2’s off-chip flash memory. Once this feature is enabled, firmware is flashed as plaintext, and then the data is encrypted in place on the first boot. As a result, physical readout of flash will not be sufficient to recover most flash contents.

Warning

After enabling Flash Encryption, an encryption key is generated internally by the device and cannot be accessed by the user for re-encrypting data and re-flashing the system, hence it will be permanently encrypted. Re-flashing an encrypted system is complicated and not always possible. You can find more information about the ESP32-S2’s Flash Encryption here.

Prerequisites

First of all, we need to install imgtool (a MCUboot utility application to manipulate binary images) and esptool (the ESP32-S2 toolkit):

$ pip install imgtool esptool==4.8.dev4

We also need to make sure that the python modules are added to PATH:

$ echo "PATH=$PATH:/home/$USER/.local/bin" >> ~/.bashrc

Now, we will create a folder to store the generated keys (such as ~/signing_keys):

$ mkdir ~/signing_keys && cd ~/signing_keys

With all set up, we can now generate keys to sign the bootloader and application binary images, respectively, of the compiled project:

$ espsecure.py generate_signing_key --version 2 bootloader_signing_key.pem
$ imgtool keygen --key app_signing_key.pem --type rsa-3072

Important

The contents of the key files must be stored securely and kept secret.

Enabling Secure Boot and Flash Encryption

To enable Secure Boot for the current project, go to the project’s NuttX directory, execute make menuconfig and the following steps:

  1. Enable experimental features in Build Setup ‣ Show experimental options;

  2. Enable MCUboot in Application Configuration ‣ Bootloader Utilities ‣ MCUboot;

  3. Change image type to MCUboot-bootable format in System Type ‣ Application Image Configuration ‣ Application Image Format;

  4. Enable building MCUboot from the source code by selecting Build binaries from source; in System Type ‣ Application Image Configuration ‣ Source for bootloader binaries;

  5. Enable Secure Boot in System Type ‣ Application Image Configuration ‣ Enable hardware Secure Boot in bootloader;

  6. If you want to protect the SPI Bus against data sniffing, you can enable Flash Encryption in System Type ‣ Application Image Configuration ‣ Enable Flash Encryption on boot.

Now you can design an update and confirm agent to your application. Check the MCUboot design guide and the MCUboot Espressif port documentation for more information on how to apply MCUboot. Also check some notes about the NuttX MCUboot port, the MCUboot porting guide and some examples of MCUboot applied in NuttX applications.

After you developed an application which implements all desired functions, you need to flash it into the primary image slot of the device (it will automatically be in the confirmed state, you can learn more about image confirmation here). To flash to the primary image slot, select Application image primary slot in System Type ‣ Application Image Configuration ‣ Target slot for image flashing and compile it using make -j ESPSEC_KEYDIR=~/signing_keys.

When creating update images, make sure to change System Type ‣ Application Image Configuration ‣ Target slot for image flashing to Application image secondary slot.

Important

When deploying your application, make sure to disable UART Download Mode by selecting Permanently disabled in System Type ‣ Application Image Configuration ‣ UART ROM download mode and change usage mode to Release in System Type –> Application Image Configuration –> Enable usage mode. After disabling UART Download Mode you will not be able to flash other images through UART.

Supported Boards