Support for ESP32-WROOM-32 (ESP32-D0WD-V3) as a CSI node

[ChinmayLale]

Hi,

First of all, thank you for the amazing work on RuView. I've been exploring the project and would like to use it with an ESP32-WROOM-32 (ESP32-D0WD-V3) instead of an ESP32-S3.

My board information:

Chip: ESP32-D0WD-V3
Revision: v3.1
Flash: 4 MB
Wi-Fi + Bluetooth

I understand that the current firmware targets the ESP32-S3. I wanted to ask a few questions before attempting a port.

1. Is there any technical reason why the original ESP32 cannot be used as a CSI node?
2. Which parts of the firmware specifically depend on ESP32-S3 features (PSRAM, S3-specific APIs, etc.)?
3. Would it be possible to use the ESP32-WROOM-32 only for CSI acquisition and streaming, while moving all heavy processing (DSP, FFT, breathing, heart-rate estimation, etc.) to the host (Rust sensing server)?
4. Does the Rust sensing server expect raw CSI frames, or does it rely on features already computed by the firmware?
5. If I implement a compatible CSI source for the ESP32-WROOM-32 that produces the same packet/protocol, would the existing Rust pipeline and dashboard work without major changes?

I'm interested in contributing support for the original ESP32 if this architecture is feasible. Any guidance on the best integration point or the modules that would need to be adapted would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you!

[ruvnet]

Thanks for the detailed questions — these are good ones.

Short answer: the original ESP32 (ESP32-D0WD-V3) is not currently supported. This is documented in the project: only the ESP32-S3 and ESP32-S3 SuperMini are supported as CSI nodes.

Why the S3 is required:

• The firmware uses ESP-IDF v5.x APIs and the S3's Wi-Fi driver to capture raw CSI frames. The original ESP32's Wi-Fi driver exposes CSI differently and the existing firmware won't cross-compile for the xtensa-esp32 target without significant rework.
• The edge DSP pipeline (FFT, breathing, phase alignment) was sized for S3's dual-core Xtensa LX7 + 8 MB PSRAM. The original D0WD-V3 has 520 KB SRAM and no PSRAM, which is not enough headroom for the DSP tasks that run concurrently with the Wi-Fi stack.

On your Q3 (raw streaming only): In principle, a minimal firmware that only captures and streams raw CSI frames over UDP could be written for the original ESP32, and the Rust sensing server does accept raw CSI frames. However, this is not a supported configuration today and would require you to write the firmware yourself against the older ESP32 CSI API. See firmware/esp32-csi-node/main/ for the existing implementation as a reference.

Recommended path: The ESP32-S3 SuperMini (~$6) is the cheapest supported option and is a drop-in replacement for your use case. See issue #34 for the full end-to-end setup guide.

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