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Heltec Automation

Heltec Wireless Tracker

ESP32-S3 development board with integrated SX1262 LoRa transceiver, UC6580 dual-frequency GNSS receiver, and 0.96-inch TFT display for IoT asset tracking, Meshtastic mesh networking, and LoRaWAN applications.

Starting from

$22.90

Specifications

ArchitectureXtensa LX7
CPU Cores2
Clock Speed240MHz
Flash8MB
GPIO Level3.3V
BluetoothBLE 5.0
StorageNo
Dimensions65.48 × 28.06 × 13.52mm
Weight55g

Components

Xtensa LX7 dual-core processor at 240MHz with 8MB flash, 512KB SRAM, WiFi 802.11 b/g/n and Bluetooth LE 5.0. Features hardware crypto acceleration (AES/SHA), 12-bit SAR ADC, touch sensing, and ULP co-processor for deep sleep operation.

Semtech SX1262 LoRa transceiver supporting 150-960MHz ISM bands with +22dBm transmit power and -134dBm receive sensitivity. Supports both LoRa modulation for LPWAN and (G)FSK for legacy protocols.

Unicore UC6580 GNSS receiver with 96 tracking channels supporting GPS, GLONASS, BDS, Galileo, NAVIC, and QZSS. L1+L5 dual-frequency capability delivers sub-1.5m positioning accuracy with advanced multi-path mitigation.

Sitronix ST7735 TFT controller driving the onboard 0.96-inch 160x80 pixel color LCD display via SPI interface. Supports 262K colors with built-in display RAM.

Bus Interfaces

SPI (LoRa)— SPI0
CS: GPIO8SCK: GPIO9MISO: GPIO11MOSI: GPIO10
SPI (Display)— SPI1
CS: GPIO38DC: GPIO40RST: GPIO39MOSI: GPIO42SCLK: GPIO41
UART (Console)— UART0
RX: GPIO44TX: GPIO43
UART (GNSS)— UART2
RX: GPIO33TX: GPIO34
UART (General)— UART1
RX: GPIO18TX: GPIO17
I2C
SCL: GPIO42SDA: GPIO41
PWM
ADC

GPIO Map

GPIO0
User Button (BOOT)
digital-inputdigital-outputpwmtouchrtcstrapping
GPIO1
ADC1_CH0
digital-inputdigital-outputadctouchpwmrtc
GPIO2
ADC1_CH1
digital-inputdigital-outputadctouchpwmrtc
GPIO3
Vext Control (GNSS + Display Power)
digital-inputdigital-outputadctouchpwmrtc
GPIO4
ADC1_CH3
digital-inputdigital-outputadctouchpwmrtc
GPIO5
ADC1_CH4
digital-inputdigital-outputadctouchpwmrtc
GPIO6
ADC1_CH5
digital-inputdigital-outputadctouchpwmrtc
GPIO7
ADC1_CH6
digital-inputdigital-outputadctouchpwmrtc
GPIO8
LoRa NSS (SPI CS)
digital-inputdigital-outputadctouchpwm
SPI
GPIO9
LoRa SCK
digital-inputdigital-outputadctouchpwm
SPI
GPIO10
LoRa MOSI
digital-inputdigital-outputadctouchpwm
SPI
GPIO11
LoRa MISO
digital-inputdigital-outputadctouchpwm
SPI
GPIO12
LoRa RST
digital-inputdigital-outputadctouchpwm
GPIO13
LoRa Busy
digital-inputdigital-outputadctouchpwm
GPIO14
LoRa DIO1
digital-inputdigital-outputadctouchpwm
GPIO17
UART1 TX
digital-inputdigital-outputpwm
UART
GPIO18
UART1 RX / LED
digital-inputdigital-outputadcpwm
UART
GPIO21
Display Backlight
digital-inputdigital-outputpwm
GPIO33
GNSS UART2 RX
digital-inputdigital-outputpwm
UART
GPIO34
GNSS UART2 TX
digital-inputdigital-outputpwm
UART
GPIO37
ADC Control
digital-inputdigital-outputpwm
GPIO38
Display CS
digital-inputdigital-outputpwm
SPI
GPIO39
Display RST
digital-inputdigital-outputpwm
GPIO40
Display DC
digital-inputdigital-outputpwm
GPIO41
Display SCLK / I2C SDA
digital-inputdigital-outputpwm
SPI
GPIO42
Display MOSI / I2C SCL
digital-inputdigital-outputpwm
SPI
GPIO43
UART0 TX (Console)
digital-inputdigital-outputpwm
UART
GPIO44
UART0 RX (Console)
digital-inputdigital-outputpwm
UART

Overview

The Heltec Wireless Tracker is a compact development board combining an ESP32-S3FN8 microcontroller with a Semtech SX1262 LoRa transceiver and a Unicore UC6580 dual-frequency GNSS receiver, making it a complete solution for building GPS-enabled IoT tracking devices. The board supports multi-constellation positioning (GPS, GLONASS, BDS, Galileo, NAVIC, QZSS) with L1+L5 dual-frequency capability for sub-1.5m accuracy, and can transmit position data wirelessly via LoRa, WiFi, or Bluetooth LE.

With its 0.96-inch TFT color display, onboard lithium battery management, and IPEX antenna connectors for both LoRa and GNSS, the Wireless Tracker is designed for portable and field-deployed tracking applications. It is one of the most popular boards in the Meshtastic community for building off-grid mesh communication nodes with GPS, and also supports LoRaWAN for integration with IoT gateway infrastructure.

The board exposes user-accessible GPIOs through dual 18-pin headers, supporting 3 UARTs, 2 I2C buses, 2 SPI interfaces, and multiple ADC and touch-capable pins. The ESP32-S3's native USB support enables direct firmware flashing without an external programmer, while the Heltec Arduino library and Zephyr RTOS board support make development straightforward.

Use Cases

10

Resources

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