If I want to use the ESP32-C5, what should I do?

[zhq183560]

The ESP32-S3 only supports Wi-Fi 4 and has a limited number of subcarriers. I’d like to use the ESP32-C5, which supports Wi-Fi 4, 5, and 6. Could you please tell me how to do this?

[ruvnet]

The ESP32-C5 is not currently supported. The firmware is built and tested against the ESP32-S3 (both 8MB and 4MB variants), which is the only chip where the CSI DSP pipeline has been validated.

Currently supported hardware:

Board	Role
ESP32-S3 (8MB flash)	WiFi CSI sensing node
ESP32-S3 SuperMini (4MB)	WiFi CSI (compact)
ESP32-C6 + Seeed MR60BHA2	mmWave HR/BR/presence (not CSI)

Adding C5 support would require porting the firmware's CSI capture, TDM protocol, and channel-hopping logic to the C5's different WiFi/CSI driver API. The Wi-Fi 5/6 subcarrier increase is theoretically beneficial, but Espressif's CSI API on C5 differs from S3, and that work hasn't been done yet.

If you have C5 hardware and want to contribute a port, the relevant firmware entry points are in firmware/esp32-csi-node/main/. For buying hardware to get started today, the ESP32-S3 is the safe choice. See #301 for setup guidance.

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Generated by Claude Code

[ruvnet]

Good question — ESP32-C5 is genuinely interesting for CSI work because of HE (Wi-Fi 6) support and a wider subcarrier count. Honest status:

Current support matrix in v0.6.5-esp32

Target	CSI capture	Supported?	Notes
ESP32-S3	802.11n (HT20/40), 64-128 subcarriers	✅ Yes	Primary target; COM7 reference build
ESP32-C6	802.11ax (HE)	✅ Pre-wired (untested on real hw)	PR #522 (krish2718) added #if CONFIG_SOC_WIFI_HE_SUPPORT branch in csi_collector.c using the new wifi_csi_acquire_config_t bitfield layout (acquire_csi_he_stbc_mode, acquire_csi_force_lltf, etc.).
ESP32-C5	802.11ax (HE), dual-band 2.4 + 5 GHz	⚠ Not yet	The HE config branch from #522 would likely apply, but C5 is so new that ESP-IDF support landed in v5.4+ and we haven't validated it. The CONFIG_SOC_WIFI_HE_SUPPORT macro should already gate the right code path.
ESP32, ESP32-C3	n/a	❌ Not supported	Single-core — can't run the CSI DSP pipeline

What it would take to add C5

1. Build target: idf.py set-target esp32c5 — needs ESP-IDF v5.4+ which we already require. Should work out of the box now that PR firmware/esp32-csi-node: IDF 6 build, HE CSI config, unicore DSP, provision chip detect #522 made the firmware target-agnostic (provision.py --chip auto, target-aware banner, etc.).
2. Verify the HE CSI path actually compiles for C5 — PR firmware/esp32-csi-node: IDF 6 build, HE CSI config, unicore DSP, provision chip detect #522 conditional-compiled the new bitfield layout against CONFIG_SOC_WIFI_HE_SUPPORT. C5 should hit that branch. The S3-only legacy boolean layout is correctly fenced out.
3. Validate SOC_WIFI_MAC_VERSION_NUM handling — firmware/esp32-csi-node: IDF 6 build, HE CSI config, unicore DSP, provision chip detect #522 added a >= 3 branch for the latest MAC version with extra fields like acquire_csi_force_lltf and acquire_csi_vht. C5's MAC version probably matches; if not, you'd need a small adjustment to the bitfield init.
4. Flash + boot + verify CSI callback fires — single-board test, similar to what I just did for the v0.6.5-esp32 release on COM7. Look for csi_collector: CSI collection initialized and csi_collector: CSI cb #N: … in the serial log.
5. Verify partition table — current 8 MB / 4 MB tables in partitions_display.csv / partitions_4mb.csv assume ESP32-S3-style flash maps. C5 has a different flash layout — may need a new partitions_c5.csv.

If you want to try it yourself

git clone https://github.com/ruvnet/RuView.git
cd RuView/firmware/esp32-csi-node

# In Docker (Linux/macOS):
docker run --rm -v "$(pwd):/project" -w /project \
  espressif/idf:v5.4 bash -c \
  "rm -rf build sdkconfig && idf.py set-target esp32c5 && idf.py build"

If the build succeeds:

• Flash with python -m esptool --chip esp32c5 … (note --chip esp32c5, not esp32s3)
• Provision with provision.py — it should auto-detect chip since firmware/esp32-csi-node: IDF 6 build, HE CSI config, unicore DSP, provision chip detect #522 wired chip auto-detect in
• Watch the serial monitor for the CSI callback

If you hit build errors, please paste the full error here — most likely candidates:

• CONFIG_SOC_WIFI_HE_SUPPORT not set on C5 build — would mean the HE code branch isn't being picked up; the S3 fallback would then be used and probably fail to compile against C5's API
• Partition table mismatch — fixable with a custom partitions_c5.csv
• Missing C5 target in ESP-IDF v5.4 — need ESP-IDF v5.5+ where C5 support is officially in mainline (not sure of exact version)

We'd love a C5 board in the supported matrix — if you get it working, a PR with the small build delta + a fresh-clone walkthrough in [docs/user-guide.md#esp32-c5] would be very welcome.

Related

• PR #522 — IDF 6 build + HE CSI config + provision chip auto-detect (the foundation for non-S3 targets)
• PR #524 — esp32-hello-world ESP32-C6 target (similar shape — adding a third target should follow the same pattern)
• ESP-IDF C5 docs: https://docs.espressif.com/projects/esp-idf/en/latest/esp32c5/