A board adds 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz Wi‑Fi, Bluetooth, and other connections for IoT devices, letting them communicate and use power efficiently.
As IoT networks grow, 2.4 GHz Wi‑Fi is becoming a limit. Network congestion happens often, causing dropped connections, unpredictable delays, and limited support for multiple devices. 5 GHz Wi‑Fi can perform better, but most solutions are hard for developers to use because of size, power, and ecosystem limits.
The Seeed Studio XIAO ESP32‑C5 changes this. This small development board adds dual-band Wi‑Fi to the XIAO ecosystem. Using Espressif’s ESP32‑C5 chip, it supports 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz Wi‑Fi 6, providing reliable wireless connectivity for IoT applications.
The XIAO ESP32‑C5 is the first XIAO board to support 5 GHz Wi‑Fi. It allows the XIAO ecosystem to handle 5 GHz applications while keeping power use and cost low. It also supports Bluetooth, Zigbee, and Thread, making it suitable for smart home hubs, Matter devices, edge gateways, and other IoT products that need stable connections. In smart homes, it helps devices work together across ecosystems. In robotics or swarm systems, it supports communication between many devices. In industrial and commercial setups, it allows low-power nodes to work with sensors, gateways, and controllers across different networks.
The board has a 32-bit RISC-V processor at 240 MHz, 384 KB SRAM, 320 KB ROM, and up to 8 MB PSRAM. This lets it handle multiple tasks and protocols, so smart home hubs, robots, and industrial nodes can run and communicate efficiently.
It works with Arduino, PlatformIO, MicroPython, and ESP-IDF, making it easy for makers and developers to start. Documentation and resources are on the official wiki. Compared to older XIAO ESP32 boards, it includes hardware updates based on user feedback, such as a larger user button. A comparison of XIAO ESP32-C3/C5/C6/S3/S3 Sense boards is available for reference.
With dual-band Wi‑Fi 6, developers can choose the best frequency for each use, balancing range, speed, and connection stability. Knowing the trade-offs between 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz helps smart homes, robotics, and industrial IoT devices work efficiently.
