Give your Arduino project a boost with the Adafruit AirLift Shield - a shield that allows you to use the powerful ESP32 as a WiFi co-processor. You probably have your favorite compatible Arduino (like the Metro M4 or the classic Arduino UNO) that comes with its own set of devices and many libraries. But he doesn't have built-in WiFi! So let's give this card a best friend, the ESP32. This chip can handle all the heavy tasks associated with connecting to a WiFi network and transferring data from a site, even if it uses the latest TLS/SSL encryption (root certificates are pre-engraved).

Having WiFi managed by a separate chip means that your code is simpler, you don't need to cache socket data, or compile and debug an SSL library. Send basic but powerful commands based on 8MHz SPI sockets for high-speed data transfer. You can use any Arduino 3V or 5V, any chip from the ATmega328 or higher (although the'328 will not be able to perform very complex tasks or store a lot of data). It also works very well with CircuitPython, a SAMD51/Cortex M4 minimum required since we need a RAM package. All you need is the SPI bus and 2 control pins plus a power supply that can provide up to 250mA during WiFi use.

We have placed an ESP32 module on a shield with a separate 3.3V controller, and a three-state chip for MOSI so that you can share the SPI bus with other shields. We have also added a micro SD card support, you can use it to host or store data that you get on the Internet. Arduino based on ATmega328 (like UNO) cannot use both the WiFi module and the SD library, they do not have enough RAM. Again, we recommend a M0 or M4 chipset for use with Arduino, M4 for CircuitPython !

Delivered fully assembled and tested, pre-programmed with the ESP32 SPI WiFi co-processor firmware that you can use in CircuitPython for use in the WiFi co-processor. We also include a connector so you can solder it and plug it directly into your Arduino compatible card, but you can also choose a set of stackable connectors.

We have tested it with all Metros cards and it should work very well with them except with the Metro M4 Airlifts (because they already have WiFi!). For use in the Arduino, the'328 and the'32u4 you can do basic connectivity and data transfer but they don't have much RAM so we don't recommend them - use the Metro M0, M4 or similar, for best results! For use with CircuitPython, a Metro M4 works better - the M0 series does not have enough RAM in CircuitPython.

The embedded firmware is a slight variant of the Arduino WiFiNINA kernel, which works perfectly! For the moment, the connection to Enterprise WiFi is not yet supported.

Consult our learning system guide for schematics, files and to start AirLift'in' in a few minutes!

Technical details

Product dimensions: 68.6 mm x 53.4 mm x 53.4 mm x 4.8 mm / 2.7 in x 2.1 in x 0.2 in

Product weight : 14.2g / 0.5oz