Communication modules for Arduino and ESP32
17 parts, each with its pinout, wiring per board, code that compiles and the mistakes to avoid.
MFRC522 RFID ReaderA 13.56 MHz contactless RFID reader/writer module built on NXP's MFRC522 IC, reading and writing ISO/IEC 14443A MIFARE cards over a 3.3V SPI bus.
HC-05 Bluetooth ModuleThe HC-05 is a Classic Bluetooth 2.0 serial port module: pair a phone or PC and it turns the link into a 9600 baud UART.
HM-10 BLE ModuleThe HM-10 is a Bluetooth 4.0 Low Energy UART bridge on TI's CC2541 that works with iPhones, Android phones and Web Bluetooth.
KY-005 IR TransmitterThe KY-005 is a 940 nm infrared LED on a 3-pin board for sending TV and air-conditioner remote codes from an Arduino.
MicroSD Card ModuleThe Catalex microSD card module puts a push-push microSD socket on SPI with a 3.3 V regulator and a 74LVC125A level shifter, ready for 5 V and 3.3 V boards.
NEO-6M GPS Module (GY-NEO6MV2)The GY-NEO6MV2 board carries u-blox's NEO-6M GPS receiver, a regulator and a patch antenna, and streams NMEA position sentences at 9600 baud.
nRF24L01+ PA+LNANordic's nRF24L01+ 2.4 GHz transceiver behind an RFX2401C power amplifier and low-noise amplifier, with an SMA antenna for long links over SPI.
DFPlayer MiniA thumbnail-sized MP3 and WAV player that reads a microSD card and drives a small speaker directly, controlled by serial commands or buttons.
ENC28J60 EthernetA low-cost 10 Mbps Ethernet module built on Microchip's ENC28J60 MAC and PHY, with the TCP/IP stack run by the microcontroller.
HC-12A 433 MHz radio that acts as a wireless serial cable: bytes written to one module come out of the other, up to about 1 km apart.
MCP2515 CANA CAN bus interface module pairing Microchip's MCP2515 SPI CAN controller with a TJA1050 transceiver, for cars, robots and industrial networks.
nRF24L01+A low-cost 2.4 GHz radio module with a PCB antenna that links microcontrollers over SPI, with automatic acknowledgements and retries.
PN532 NFCNXP's PN532 13.56 MHz NFC/RFID controller on the red V3 module, reading and writing MIFARE, NTAG and FeliCa cards over I2C, SPI or UART.
Ra-02 LoRaAi-Thinker's 433 MHz LoRa radio module built on Semtech's SX1278, for kilometre-range links at low data rates over SPI.
RFM95W LoRaAn 868/915 MHz LoRa packet radio on Adafruit's breakout, with a 3.3 V regulator and level shifting so it wires to 3.3 V and 5 V boards alike.
SIM800LA tiny quad-band 2G modem board that sends SMS, makes calls and opens GPRS data links from AT commands over a serial port.
W5500 EthernetA wired 10/100 Ethernet module whose WIZnet W5500 runs the TCP/IP stack in hardware, giving any SPI microcontroller a network connection.