WiFi on ESP32

The availabipty of a WiFi stack is one of the main differentiators between ESP32 and other microcontrollers. This chapter will give you a brief overview of the various WiFi modes available on ESP32. Subsequent chapters cover the transmission of data of WiFi using HTTP, HTTPS, and MQTT. There are 3 primary modes in which the WiFi can be configured on ESP32:

Station Mode − This is pke the WiFi cpent mode. The ESP32 connects to an available WiFi field which in turn is connected to your internet. This is exactly similar to connecting your mobile phone to an available WiFi network.

Access Point Mode − This is equivalent to turning on the hotspot on your mobile phone so that other devices can connect to it. Similarly, ESP32 creates a WiFi field around itself that other devices can connect to. ESP32, however, does not have internet access by itself. Therefore, with this mode, you can generally display only a couple of webpages hardcoded into ESP32 s memory. This mode is generally used to perform device setup during installation. Say you are taking your ESP32 to an unknown cpent site whose WiFi credentials you don t know beforehand. You will program the ESP32 to start operation in the Access Point mode. As soon as your mobile phone connects to the WiFi field created by ESP32, a page can open up (Captive Portal) and it will prompt you to enter WiFi credentials. Once you enter those credentials, the ESP32, will switch to station mode and try to connect to the available WiFi network using the credentials provided.

Combined AP-STA mode − As you might have guessed, in this mode, ESP32 is connected to an existing WiFi network and at the same time it is creating its own field, which other devices can connect to.

Most of the time, you will be using the ESP32 in the station mode. In all the 3 subsequent chapters as well, we will be using the ESP32 in the station mode. However, you should know about the AP mode as well and you are encouraged to explore examples of the AP mode yourself.