I can help you convert the text into a well-structured article for a web page.

**ESP-NOW Wireless Protocol: A Low-Cost and Easy-to-Use Option**

As I was experimenting with different wireless communication methods, I stumbled upon the ESP-NOW protocol. At first sight, it seems to be a simple and efficient option, but I wanted to dive deeper into its capabilities and limitations.

I started by testing the ESP-NOW connection in a short range of 40 meters. To my surprise, the generic RF module connection began to struggle, while the ESP-NOW connection managed to constantly receive data up to 110 meters. I even checked this with recorded GPS coordinates.

So, at first glance, ESP-NOW seems to work well, especially considering that it requires no extra hardware beyond the ESP32 board. However, programming for it can be a bit challenging.

Despite its limitations, I wanted to push the ESP-NOW protocol to its limits by creating a one-way walkie-talkie. This is demanding because we need to constantly send a significant amount of data containing voice information.

According to the manufacturer's specifications, ESP-NOW can handle 1 Mbps of data, which should be sufficient for our needs. However, there are some drawbacks. One packet can only be 250 bytes, and if one packet is lost, the ESP32 simply doesn't care about it.

The audio quality might not be ideal due to the limitations of the ADC and DAC on the ESP32, which are required to convert analog voice signals into digital data and vice versa.

To overcome these challenges, I built an electret microphone amplifier circuit using a previous project as a reference. The circuit successfully amplifies my picked-up voice by the microphone. I also connected the power and audio lines of the ESP32 to the microphone, along with a push button.

For the receiver side, I used a premade PAM8302 amplifier board and a speaker. The power lines were directly connected to the ESP, while the audio input was connected to the digital-to-analog converter, which reconstructs the analog signal.

With the hardware in place, it was time for programming. Luckily, Elektor had already created a similar project, allowing me to adapt their code for my own use.

After uploading both the master and slave code, the connection got established correctly, and the walkie-talkie basically worked. However, there were some interference noises due to the WiFi function of the ESP board and the shared power lines with the microphone circuit and amplifier circuit.

To solve this problem, I powered all circuits with separate power supplies, which helped reduce the interference. Although the audio quality is not high-definition, it's clear that you can understand what's being said. Even moving 10 meters away from the receiver without losing significant audio quality was impressive.

In conclusion, the ESP-NOW wireless protocol is indeed a great option, and I would have used it in previous projects if I had known about it earlier. With its ease of use and low cost, it's definitely worth considering for any project that requires wireless communication.

**References:**

* Links to all videos are in the description.

* Elektor offers in the description.

**Additional Tips and Resources:**

* Like, share, subscribe, and hit the notification bell for more content like this.

* Consider supporting this show on Patreon.

WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enWireless communication is awesome!I mean with it you can for example  wirelessly control the speed of your electric skateboard or you can control the position and  speed of your drone or you can open and close your blinds from everywhere in the world. Generally speaking, we use wireless communication for tons of things nowadays and I also used  it dozens of times in previous projects.The most common method I used was probably  the WiFi connection using a router as a gateway which you know works fine for  most things; but the response time and more importantly the range is pretty limited. That is why I sometimes tried out other wireless techniques like generic RF modules, LoRa modules,  nRF24 modules and so on which all required extra hardware and came with their own pros and cons. Recently though, I realized that with the ESP microcontrollers, which were the heart  of all my WiFi projects, you can also use the ESP-NOW wireless communication protocol that is  supposedly easy to use, fast, comes with a great range and let's you transfer quite a bit of data. So in this video I want to put this (for me) new method to the test, compare it to all my  previously utilized techniques and ultimately push it to the limit by building a crude  walkie talkie with it.Let's get started! This video is sponsored by Elektor whose bi monthly magazine actually introduced me to ESP-NOW  and I will be using their Walkie Talkie prototype as a reference for my own. I have been reading  Elektor for a long time now and tried out some of their cool projects in the past. And if you  want to read their awesome electronics magazine as well then you are in luck because by using  the coupon code “greatscott0550” you get a 50% discount for their one year gold aka print or  green aka digital subscription. And if you are not in the mood to read, then you can also browse  through their store to maybe find an awesome DIY electronics kit; like the DIY LiPo supercharger  that we developed together and that is currently on sale. Check out the links in the description. Now first off, let me tell you that a simple WiFi connection is not a bad thing. With it you can send little or big data from one device to another while even grabbing data from  the internet which generally speaking is awesome.But then again, your devices can not directly  talk to one another since we need a gateway aka a router in between. And I think everyone knows that the range of most routers is not the greatest which therefore  limits the range of our wireless system.And last but not least, establishing a  WiFi connection and transferring data takes a bit of time which all in all makes this method  not ideal for small projects consisting of for example 2 boards that very quickly want to send  data to one another over a bigger distance.The perfect real life example here would be a  garage door opener or more generally any kind of remote that controls something. Now of course the ESP32 boards also come with Bluetooth which solves the gateway  problem as well as the slow response time.But then again the range with a maximum of  15m is not ideal for many applications.At this point you could of course throw  extra hardware at this problem and like mentioned before use other methods and or frequency bands. But to keep it cheap and simple we could also try ESP-NOW which needs no extra hardware  and uses the same frequency band as WiFi.But this time the devices can directly talk  to one another in both directions and you can even let multiple devices communicate with one another. All we need to address the correct one is its MAC-address which is super simple to get our  hands on by simply uploading this code here, opening the serial monitor and there we go. So for my first test setup, I got an LED with resistor on the receiver side  and a push button at the transmitter side.Next I had a look at the ESP-NOW example  codes included with the Arduino IDE which are available once you install the ESP32 boards. And I got to say that for me as a non programmer, this was not really easy to grasp. But thankfully I found a great tutorial from random nerd tutorials and thus  quickly wrote myself a transmitter code where we need to insert the MAC address  of the receiver as well as a receiver code.And after uploading all of it, you can see that  by pushing the button on the transmitter side, the LED at the receiver side lit up and we got some  data over the serial monitor which means success.And best off, the time it takes to light up the  LED is super short and the range was also way better than WiFi while doing tests in my house;  but before getting to a proper range test, I firstly prepared a comparison  setup with some generic 433MHz RF modules.Now programming for these is as simple as  it can get and my range test idea is that the receiver LED keeps blinking properly as  long as the transmitter is in range, but stays on almost constantly when the connection gets lost. I programmed pretty much the same example for ESP-NOW with the only difference here that  the receiver LED stops blinking completely as soon the transmitter gets out of range. So time to place both transmitters at a fixed position and start  walking away with the receivers.And after around 40m the generic  RF module connection started to struggle while the ESP-NOW connection did manage to  constantly receive data up to 110m which I by the way checked with recorded GPS coordinates. So yeah at first sight ESP-NOW seems to work pretty well, even though I think  programming for it is not super simple.But then again if I directly compare it  to all other wireless communication methods I tried out over the years,  links to all videos are in the description, then I got to say that it ranks pretty high up because  you simply need no extra hardware for it.So let's push it to the limit by creating  a one way walkie talkie and I think this is pretty demanding because you obviously  need to constantly send over quite a bit of data that contains your voice. Now according to the information given by the manufacturer, ESP-NOW  can do 1Mbps of data which should be plenty.But on the negative side one packet can only  be 250 bytes, if one packet is lost then the ESP32 simply does not care about it  and the ADC and DAC of the ESP32, which are required to turn our analogue voice  into a digital signal and vice versa, are not the quickest and partly come with a low resolution.What I am trying to say is that the audio quality might not be the best,  but we will see what is possible.So I firstly grabbed myself this  electret microphone amplifier circuit that I built in a previous video. By supplying 3.3V power to it and having a look at its output with an oscilloscope,  you can see that the circuit successfully amplifies my picked up voice by the microphone. And since the max voltage never exceeds 3.3V, it is suitable for the analogue to digital  converter of the ESP32 to which I connected the power and audio line as well as a push button. Now for the receiver side I grabbed myself this premade PAM8302 amplifier board along  with a speaker whose power lines I also directly connected to the ESP and the audio  input to the digital to analogue converter which will reconstruct our analogue signal. And that was basically all the hardware we need.With that complete, it was time for programming  and oh boy I was not sure how to pull this off.But thankfully like mentioned before,  Elektor already created a similar project and thus I was able to adapt their code  quite closely for my own use.And after uploading both the  master and slave code, it seems like the connection got established correctly and  the walkie talkie basically works, awesome.But you probably already noticed that there are  some interference noises and the reason for that is the WiFi function of the ESP board and the fact  that we share the power lines with the microphone circuit as well as the amplifier circuit. To solve this problem we could integrate an LC filter; but to keep it simple for  testing I powered all circuits with their separate power supplies and as  you can hear that definitely helped.Now of course the audio quality is  not high definition, but I think you can understand what I am saying here. And I was even able to move 10m away from the receiver without losing a significant amount of  audio quality, which I would say is not bad.So yeah, all in all I think the ESP-NOW  wireless protocol is pretty awesome and I would have definitely used it in previous  projects if I knew about it earlier.But you know; better late than never. And with that being said I hope you enjoyed this video and maybe learned something new. If so consider supporting this show on Patreon and check out the Elektor  offers in the description.Don't forget to like, share,  subscribe and hit the notification bell.Stay creative and I will see you next time.