Setup & Getting Started
Introduction
ESPARGOS consists of two devices, which are mounted to acrylic glass plates:Sensor Board
The antennas of ESPARGOS are mounted to the sensor board.
The ESP32 chips on the sensor board receive 802.11n packets and extract the Channel State Information (CSI).
All chips are phase-synchronized thanks to a shared input clock and an additional phase synchronization signal.
Technical Specifications
- 8× ESP32-S2FH4 with 32Mbit internal Flash Memory
- 8×RHCP ceramic patch antennas
- 8×USB ports compatible with TC2030-USB for DFU firmware update
- U.FL / SMA (not placed) reference signal input
- Barrel jack (ID 2.1mm, OD 5.5mm) 5V power input (center positive), can replace PoE
- λ / 2 antenna spacing (60mm)
Controller Board
The controller board is the brain of ESPARGOS.
The ESP32 chip on the controller takes Channel State Information (CSI) from the sensor board and streams it over Ethernet.
In addition, the sensor board provides the ESPARGOS web interface, generates the clock and phase reference signals and provides power to the sensor board if power over Ethernet (PoE) mode is selected.
Technical Specifications
- ESP32-D0WDQ6-V3 + 64Mbit external Flash Memory
- 100BASE-TX Ethernet
- IEEE 802.3at Type 1 compliant PoE (class 3)
- USB Type C for flashing ESP32 (UART)
- U.FL / SMA (not placed) reference signal output
Boot Procedure
Just connect ESPARGOS to an IEEE 802.3at-capable PoE switch (e.g., TP-Link TLSG1005P will work just fine) or connect a 5V power supply to the barrel jack and ESPARGOS will boot.
This is what a successful boot procedure looks like:
- The sensor board is first to start up. The ESP32 chips connected to the antennas start in calibration mode, the green LEDs turn on.
- The controller board starts up a bit later. The green LED on the controller board quickly flashes.
- The sensor board switches to antenna mode and all LEDs turn red. The command for switching to sensor mode comes from the controller board, so this indicates that sensor and controller board can communicate succesfully.
Web Interface
The ESPARGOS controller runs a web server, which provides a WebSocket / HTTP API for controlling ESPARGOS and streaming CSI data, as well as a user-friendly web interface to configure ESPARGOS.
The default IP address of ESPARGOS is
192.168.1.2/16.
You can access the ESPARGOS web interface by following these steps:- Connect your computer to ESPARGOS. Make sure there is no other device in the network using IP address
192.168.1.2. - Change your computer's IP address settings to:
- IP address:
192.168.1.100 - Subnet Mask:
255.255.0.0 - Open a web browser and navigate to http://192.168.1.2
If you can't connect to ESPARGOS, try to perform a factory reset (see below) to change the network settings of ESPARGOS back to their default values.
The web interface allows you to view live CSI data and change settings like:
- Network configuration and hostname (ESPARGOS supports mDNS)
- WiFi settings (channel, power) and calibration behavior
- Perform a factory reset
- Upload firmware updates
You must make sure to select a country code that matches your location. Please note that not all channels will work depending on the country code.
Factory Reset
The easiest way to perform a factory reset is to use the web interface. If you cannot access the web interface, press and hold the button labelled "Boot" on the controller board for 5-10 seconds until the controller reboots and quickly flashes its green LED as shown below. The factory reset will wipe all settings (including network settings), but it will not revert to an older firmware version.
VESA Mount
ESPARGOS is around 45mm thick and provides standard-compatible VESA mounting holes in the back-side acrylic glass plate. The following drawing may be helpful: