ESP8266 Serial Wifi Wireless Transceiver Module

ESP8266 is a low-cost Wi-Fi chip with full TCP/IP stack and MCU (Micro Controller Unit) capability produced by Shanghai-based Chinese manufacturer, Espressif System

ESP8266 Serial Wifi Wireless Transceiver Module is a self contained SOC with integrated TCP/IP protocol stack that can give any microcontroller access to your WiFi network. ESP8266 Serial Wifi Wireless Transceiver Module is capable of either hosting an application or offloading all Wi-Fi networking functions from another application processor. Each ESP8266 module comes pre-programmed with an AT command set firmware, meaning, you can simply hook this up to your Arduino device and get about as much WiFi-ability as a WiFi Shield offers (and that’s just out of the box)! The ESP8266 module is an extremely cost effective board with a huge, and ever growing, community.

ESP8266 Serial Wifi Wireless Transceiver Module has a powerful enough on-board processing and storage capability that allows it to be integrated with the sensors and other application specific devices through its GPIOs with minimal development up-front and minimal loading during runtime. Its high degree of on-chip integration allows for minimal external circuitry, including the front-end module, is designed to occupy minimal PCB area. The ESP8266 supports APSD for VoIP applications and Bluetooth co-existance interfaces, it contains a self-calibrated RF allowing it to work under all operating conditions, and requires no external RF parts.

The first series of modules made with the ESP8266 by the third-party manufacturer AI-Thinker and remain the most widely available.They are collectively referred to as "ESP-xx modules".