ESP32 Bit Pirate 1.8 adds experimental SDR using internal Wi-Fi radio

ESP32 Bit Pirate 1.8 introduces experimental SDR functionality that accesses undocumented low-level radio functions on the ESP32-S3, bypassing standard Wi-Fi and Bluetooth stacks to capture raw I/Q samples. The release also adds browser-based firmware extraction tools for NVS partitions and LittleFS filesystems, improves I2C sniffing via the RMT peripheral, and expands Zigbee support for ESP32-C5 and ESP32-C6 through the companion ESP32 Bus Expander 0.3.

What's new in Bit Pirate 1.8

• Experimental SDR: Uses ESP32-S3's internal 2.4GHz Wi-Fi radio to capture raw I/Q samples by accessing undocumented low-level functions, bypassing standard protocol stacks
• Web ESP SDR tool: Browser-based interface with two modes—Wideband Analyzer for scanning frequency ranges and Live SDR for detailed narrowband signal examination; includes spectrum and waterfall visualization
• Operating range: Most reliable within 2.4GHz ISM band; practical range approximately 2.2–2.8GHz; low-level tuning possible between 100MHz–6GHz but unreliable outside intended range
• Web ESP Tool expansion: Browser-based extraction of NVS partitions and LittleFS filesystems; inspect configuration data, NVS keys/values, and browse recovered files
• I2C improvements: Sniffer now uses ESP32-S3 RMT peripheral with optional address filtering; new passive frequency measurement command reports SCL clock frequency, period, and timing
• Companion update: ESP32 Bus Expander 0.3 adds reworked Zigbee mode for ESP32-C5/C6 with IEEE 802.15.4 network scanning, device discovery, and traffic monitoring
• New hardware support: ESP32-S3 SuperMini (4MB flash), Unexpected Maker ProS3, M5Stack Cardputer ADV CC1101 accessory, ILI9341 SPI display driver, infrared on M5StickS3

Why it matters

The SDR implementation offers a low-cost entry point for signal exploration using commodity ESP32 hardware, though the developer emphasizes it complements rather than replaces dedicated SDR hardware. The browser-based tooling continues the project's trend of eliminating desktop software dependencies for embedded analysis workflows.