ESP-NOW is a kind of connectionless Wi-Fi communication protocol that is defined by Espressif. In ESP-NOW, application data is encapsulated in a vendor-specific action frame and then transmitted from one Wi-Fi device to another without connection.
CTR with CBC-MAC Protocol(CCMP) is used to protect the action frame for security. ESP-NOW is widely used in smart light, remote controlling, sensor, etc.
ESP-NOW uses a vendor-specific action frame to transmit ESP-NOW data. The default ESP-NOW bit rate is 1 Mbps. The format of the vendor-specific action frame is as follows:
- Category Code: The Category Code field is set to the value(127) indicating the vendor-specific category.
- Organization Identifier: The Organization Identifier contains a unique identifier (0x18fe34), which is the first three bytes of MAC address applied by Espressif.
- Random Value: The Random Value filed is used to prevents relay attacks.
- Vendor Specific Content: The Vendor Specific Content contains vendor-specific fields as follows:
- Organization Identifier: The Organization Identifier contains a unique identifier(0x18fe34), which is the first three bytes of MAC address applied by Espressif.
- Type: The Type field is set to the value (4) indicating ESP-NOW.
As ESP-NOW is connectionless, the MAC header is a little different from that of standard frames. The FromDS and ToDS bits of FrameControl field are both 0. The first address field is set to the destination address. The second address field is set to the source address. The third address field is set to broadcast address (0xff:0xff:0xff:0xff:0xff:0xff).
ESP-NOW uses the CCMP method, which is described in IEEE Std. 802.11-2012, to protect the vendor-specific action frame. The Wi-Fi device maintains a Primary Master Key (PMK) and several Local Master Keys (LMK). The lengths of both PMK and LMk are 16 bytes.
* LMK of the paired device is used to encrypt the vendor-specific action frame with the CCMP method. The maximum number of different LMKs is six. If the LMK of the paired device is not set, the vendor-specific action frame will not be encrypted.
Encrypting multicast vendor-specific action frame is not supported.
Call :cpp:func:`esp_now_init()` to initialize ESP-NOW and :cpp:func:`esp_now_deinit()` to de-initialize ESP-NOW. ESP-NOW data must be transmitted after Wi-Fi is started, so it is recommended to start Wi-Fi before initializing ESP-NOW and stop Wi-Fi after de-initializing ESP-NOW.
When :cpp:func:`esp_now_deinit()` is called, all of the information of paired devices will be deleted.
Call :cpp:func:`esp_now_add_peer()` to add the device to the paired device list before you send data to this device. If security is enabled, the LMK must be set. You can send ESP-NOW data via both the Station and the SoftAP interface. Make sure that the interface is enabled before sending ESP-NOW data.
A device with a broadcast MAC address must be added before sending broadcast data. The range of the channel of paired devices is from 0 to 14. If the channel is set to 0, data will be sent on the current channel. Otherwise, the channel must be set as the channel that the local device is on.
Call :cpp:func:`esp_now_send()` to send ESP-NOW data and :cpp:func:`esp_now_register_send_cb()` to register sending callback function. It will return `ESP_NOW_SEND_SUCCESS` in sending callback function if the data is received successfully on the MAC layer. Otherwise, it will return `ESP_NOW_SEND_FAIL`. Several reasons can lead to ESP-NOW fails to send data. For example, the destination device doesn't exist; the channels of the devices are not the same; the action frame is lost when transmitting on the air, etc. It is not guaranteed that application layer can receive the data. If necessary, send back ack data when receiving ESP-NOW data. If receiving ack data timeouts, retransmit the ESP-NOW data. A sequence number can also be assigned to ESP-NOW data to drop the duplicate data.
Note that too short interval between sending two ESP-NOW data may lead to disorder of sending callback function. So, it is recommended that sending the next ESP-NOW data after the sending callback function of the previous sending has returned. The sending callback function runs from a high-priority Wi-Fi task. So, do not do lengthy operations in the callback function. Instead, post the necessary data to a queue and handle it from a lower priority task.
Call :cpp:func:`esp_now_register_recv_cb()` to register receiving callback function. Call the receiving callback function when receiving ESP-NOW. The receiving callback function also runs from the Wi-Fi task. So, do not do lengthy operations in the callback function.
Call :cpp:func:`esp_wifi_config_espnow_rate()` to config ESPNOW rate of specified interface. Make sure that the interface is enabled before config rate. This API should be called after :cpp:func:`esp_wifi_start()`.
