ESP-NOW on the Arduino Nano ESP32 - Wireless communication without Wi-Fi or Bluetooth!

The new Arduino Nano ESP32 supports ESP-NOW, a wireless communication protocol that allows two microcontrollers to share data without Wi-Fi or Bluetooth. It is easy to program using the Arduino IDE. Here are all the details you need, plus a demo and source code.
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#garyexplains

[horiciOwO]

Used esp32 on a few projects but never realized this is a thing. Amazing.

[highvis_supply]

If you're serious about implementing ESP-NOW, I recommend using the ESP-MDF framework which adds extra functionality to ESP-NOW (its called Mespnow idk who names these things...), namely retransmission filter, Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC), and data fragmentation features

[Arduino]

Great video, Gary! Thanks for sharing!

[sennabullet]

excellent, excellent, excellent explanation! THIS is the go to video on ESP NOW. Thank you for sharing your knowledge and makeing the video

[RWB]

Great overview 🎉

Glad you can use wifi normally and ESPNOW at the same time as long as they are on the same channel.

So i can use this Arduino code with the ESP32 + Platform IO as long as im compiling uisng the Arduino compiler vs the ESP Compiler right?

[AnesuC]

When you said if there was a way to do device to device without a router, you missed the fact that you can host a Wi-Fi hotspot on one of the devices (of cause needs to support it, most Wi-Fi chips nowadays do though) which is what i.e cameras do to have a fast wireless transfer of high res photos

[RixtronixLAB]

Nice video, well done, thank you for sharing it with us :)

[bazoo]

So, from the programmer's point of view, we essentially get the functionality of UDP communication between two devices with direct connection and hard-coded IP addresses. Isn't "normal" WiFi (with all the usual layers above it) capable of point-to-point communication? Also, we could have put that device featuring the LED in AP mode and connect that way, right? Granted, this protocol is more lightweight, but I fail to see what essentially new it brings.

[Dima_]

A topic suggestion/request: wifi file transfer. I've been using Windows' shared folder feature to transfer files between PC and Android phone for years, but it always annoyed me how slow it is, about 6-7 MBytes/s. Both WiFi and storage are capable of much, much more, but I haven't encountered software that could saturate even the good old WiFi 4 (n) bandwidth (300 Mbit/s for 2x2), most I saw was about 100 Mbit/s over WiFi 5. WiFi Direct often just doesn't work for no apparent reason between devices that aren't similar enough, even between two Android phones from different brands. Is there any software to transfer files over WiFi at least close to WiFi 5 bandwidth, considering properly capable WiFi modules and storage? Not even speaking of 6/6e/7 speeds or proper file management and streaming like with shared folders. I believe with modern hardware we should be able to move past the days of having to plug a cable to have a decent file transfer, and I think it might be a good QoL improvement for a fair amount of people. Thanks for your work on Gary Explains project!

[UdoHartmann]

I wonder if this will help in using less energy (certainly more than Bluetooth LE, but maybe much less than an ordinary WLAN?)

[mars]

Why do you do the SSID broadcast instead of ESP-Now broadcast?

[davepauljones]

Wish ESPNOW was out 12 years ago, then I wouldn't have had to write my own command & control protocol for my UPAS project, or a least, it would have made it easier, will have to encorporate ESPNOW into UPAS, nice easy explaination, thanks for sharing. Oh do you know if you can use ESPNOW with normal WiFi functions ?

[hectori.montano]

Great video Mr.Gary! Thank you for your knowledge. I’m a enthusiastic arduino project creator wish to speak with you soon cheers!

[simonabunker]

Is this a type of mesh network? What is the range?

[sundhaug]

Kinda sounds like it's still WiFi just not dependent on infrastructure mode

[antibulling]

thank you for your very interesting video.
but (lol) y will probably being less satisfied two months after. when i begin to make the programm....

[PhilippBlum]

So god help me. Why can't we just use some of the many IEEE standards?

[paulsimpson]

I am a little concerned that you perpetuate the term "WiFi Router" and imply that it is the same thing as an Access Point. It isn't!
A Router is a Layer 3 device. It is not necessary for a device to be operating at Layer 3 to connect between WiFi and Ethernet, as you indicate near the start of the video. It's a common mistake for an amateur to make, but you are not an amateur 😉
Now, whilst it is true that many of these devices, particularly those used on the domestic market, combine the functionality of an Access Point and a Router, it is not so common for them to Route between WiFi and Ethernet (instead, they usually have a port to connect to the ISP and route between that an the home network, Ethernet and WiFi combined.) Indeed, if they were to route between these topologies, many home devices would cease to function. (For example, if you have Roku streaming device wired in to your ethernet, and you wish to control it from the phone app, connected wirelessly, this requires both devices to be on she same IP subnet, which therefore means no Router!)
A device that merely connects WiFi and Ethernet together is a Layer 2 device, and is more correctly referred to as a Bridge, or if it has multiple Ethernet ports, a Switch.
This may seem like a petty gripe, but you are an educational channel and I believe accuracy is important - the devil is in the detail!
Otherwise, good video! (As usual.) 😁

[chrisleon]

Learn to pronounce the letter h''!