ESP8266 module selection

[pavel]

Hello,

could you please help me out with selecting correct Wi-Fi module for our new application?

The requirements for the module are these:

- controlled from host application (with STM32 over SPI, SDIO or in worst case UART)
- Access Point / Soft AP with the possibility of 4 stations to connect to it at once
- Access Point / Soft AP with station mode simultaneously (for host to be able to act as station on network)
- Zeroconf DNS Service Discovery
- 4 sockets of TCP and UDP protocol opened at once - 4 Client/Server communication at once
- Application will work with iOS devices connected to it

I'm quite new to this problematic and we need to select some good Wi-Fi module adept to start with and to learn all the Wi-Fi/Networking problematic on. So that is why I'm asking you, more experienced developers - to not to start with some module, that should be discarded from beginning for lack of some of the required features.

I guess ESP-WROOM-02 should be good adept, but I'm not sure if it meets all the requirements, especially after forum browsing for particular features and seeing all the issues with them.

Thank you a lot,

Pavel

[pratik]

I think you should start off with the ESP-12E. You may use a module built around the ESP-12E such as the NodeMCU modules available readily from Ebay and Amazon.
All ESP8266 modules are pretty much the same in terms of features and operation.

The only exception is SDIO. To use that, you need specific modules which allow access to SDIO slave pins. However, I would strongly recommend getting things working with UART first and then switching from UART to SPI/SDIO for communication. This will ensure convenience and also help work fast initially.
Get some external help if you need SPI drivers, that might help speed things up as well!