u-blox NORA-W10 series (ESP32-S3)
A series of modules combining Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity with enhanced security features, designed for IoT applications.
u-blox NORA-W10 series (ESP32-S3) Pinout
35 pins| Pin | GPIO | Labels | Status | Capabilities | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 0 | SW2SCL1 | strapping | - | |
| 2 | 1 | DTRT1PWM | safe | touch | |
| 3 | 2 | LED_GREEND5T2PWM | safe | touch | |
| 4 | 3 | D4T3PWM | strapping | touch | |
| 5 | 4 | D3T4PWM | safe | touch | |
| 6 | 5 | LED_REDA3T5PWM | safe | adc · touch | |
| 7 | 6 | CTSD15T6PWM | safe | touch | |
| 8 | 7 | DSRT7PWM | safe | touch | |
| 9 | 8 | T8PWM | safe | touch | |
| 10 | 9 | T9PWM | strapping | touch | |
| 11 | 10 | D7T10PWM | strapping | touch | |
| 12 | 11 | A0T11PWM | strapping | adc · touch | |
| 13 | 12 | A1T12PWM | strapping | adc · touch | |
| 14 | 13 | A2T13PWM | strapping | adc · touch | |
| 15 | 14 | D6T14PWM | strapping | touch | |
| 16 | 15 | A4PWM | safe | adc | |
| 17 | 16 | A5PWM | safe | adc | |
| 18 | 17 | SCLPWM | safe | i2c | |
| 19 | 18 | SDAPWM | safe | i2c | |
| 20 | 33 | D8PWM | safe | - | |
| 21 | 34 | SSD10PWM | safe | spi | |
| 22 | 35 | MOSID11PWM | safe | spi | |
| 23 | 36 | SCKD13PWM | safe | spi | |
| 24 | 37 | MISOD12PWM | safe | spi | |
| 25 | 43 | TXD1PWM | uart | uart | |
| 26 | 44 | RXD0PWM | uart | uart | |
| 27 | 45 | RTSD14PWM | strapping | - | |
| 28 | 46 | SW1D2 | strapping | - | |
| 29 | 47 | SW3D18 | strapping | - | |
| 30 | 48 | SW4D19 | strapping | - | |
| 31 | - | LED_BLUE | safe | - | |
| 32 | - | D9PWM | safe | - | |
| 33 | - | SDA1PWM | safe | - | |
| 34 | - | D16 | safe | - | |
| 35 | - | D17 | safe | - |
Start with these
16 pins with no boot or system involvementFreely assignable - no strapping, flash, USB or JTAG duties. Ideal first picks for buttons, sensors and LEDs.
Fine - with a little care
14 pins · 8 things to knowSW2GPIO0 Bootstrapping pin (Chip boot mode selection) Strapping
Must be pulled high (default) or low (to enter UART download mode) at reset. Using it for other functions can interfere with boot mode configuration.
D4GPIO3 Bootstrapping pin (controls JTAG signal source) Strapping
Sampled at reset to select JTAG interface (USB Serial/JTAG controller vs. external pins). Improper use can disable external JTAG or alter debug interface.
T9GPIO9D7GPIO10A0GPIO11A1GPIO12A2GPIO13D6GPIO14 General-purpose SPI2 (FSPI) IO MUX pins Other
IO MUX pin of the general-purpose SPI2 (FSPI) bus, not of the in-package flash - that sits on GPIO26-32. The datasheet lists it as a priority-2 pin ("can be freely used without restrictions"), so it is only taken if your board wires flash, an SD card or a display to FSPI.
- T9General-purpose SPI2 (FSPI) IO MUX pin - hold/data line (FSPIHD)
- D7General-purpose SPI2 (FSPI) IO MUX pin - chip select (FSPICS0)
- A0General-purpose SPI2 (FSPI) IO MUX pin - data in (FSPID)
- A1General-purpose SPI2 (FSPI) IO MUX pin - clock (FSPICLK)
- A2General-purpose SPI2 (FSPI) IO MUX pin - data out (FSPIQ)
- D6General-purpose SPI2 (FSPI) IO MUX pin - write-protect/data line (FSPIWP)
TXGPIO43 UART0 transmit pin (U0TXD), default serial console TX UART
Used for bootloader output and UART console logs. If repurposed, you will lose the default serial output (and programming via UART0).
RXGPIO44 UART0 receive pin (U0RXD), default serial console RX UART
Used for bootloader input (download mode via serial). If repurposed, you cannot use the default UART0 download mode for programming the chip.
RTSGPIO45 Bootstrapping pin (selects VDD_SPI flash voltage) Strapping
Determines flash/PSRAM power voltage (3.3 V vs 1.8 V) at boot. Must match hardware configuration; using as GPIO can upset flash supply setting.
SW1GPIO46 Bootstrapping pin (used with GPIO0 for boot mode; controls ROM log output) Strapping
Must be at a defined level during reset (with GPIO0) to select normal or download boot and UART/USB print mode. This pin is input-only (no output drive), so it should be left for its intended strapping function.
SW3GPIO47SW4GPIO48 Octal SPI differential clock legs (SPICLK_P/N_DIFF), used only by the 1.8 V octal flash/PSRAM variants Other
Only the 1.8 V octal parts (ESP32-S3R8V, ESP32-S3R16V) run the differential memory clock here, and on those the pin works at 1.8 V instead of 3.3 V. On the common 3.3 V modules it is a normal GPIO - several devkits drive their RGB LED from GPIO48.
- SW3Octal SPI differential clock positive leg (SPICLK_P_DIFF), used only by the 1.8 V octal flash/PSRAM variants
- SW4Octal SPI differential clock negative leg (SPICLK_N_DIFF), used only by the 1.8 V octal flash/PSRAM variants
The u-blox NORA-W10 series (ESP32-S3) pinout brings out 35 pins - 30 usable GPIO.
Peripheral wiring is straightforward: I²C is mapped to SDA on GPIO18 and SCL on GPIO17; the SPI bus (MOSI, MISO, SCK, SS) is broken out in full; TX/RX on GPIO43 and GPIO44 cover serial logging and flashing.
Beyond plain digital I/O you get 6 ADC-capable pins for sensors and battery monitoring and 14 capacitive-touch inputs.
14 of the exposed pins carry boot-time or system duties on the ESP32-S3 (SW2, D4, T9 and 11 more) - check the guidance above before wiring anything to them. DTR, LED_GREEN, D3, LED_RED and 12 more are free of any such role - the safest first picks.
Getting started
flash your first firmware in ~2 minutesBoard: ESP32S3 Dev Module Flash Size: 4MB (32Mb) Flash Mode: DIO PSRAM: QSPI PSRAM Partition Scheme: Default 4MB with spiffs (1.2MB APP/1.5MB SPIFFS) Upload Speed: 921600
// toggle GPIO1 - wire an LED and resistor to it
void setup() {
pinMode(1, OUTPUT);
}
void loop() {
digitalWrite(1, HIGH); delay(500);
digitalWrite(1, LOW); delay(500);
}[env:nora_w10]
platform = espressif32
board = esp32-s3-devkitc-1
framework = arduino
monitor_speed = 115200
upload_speed = 921600
board_build.arduino.memory_type = qio_qspi
build_flags = -DBOARD_HAS_PSRAMesp32-s3-devkitc-1 - or type it after board =.esp32:
board: esp32-s3-devkitc-1
variant: esp32s3
framework:
type: esp-idf
psram:
mode: quad
speed: 80MHz
# blink - GPIO1
output:
- platform: gpio
pin: 1
id: led_out
light:
- platform: binary
name: "LED"
output: led_outesp32-s3-devkitc-1 (same ids as PlatformIO).esptool.py --chip esp32s3 --port /dev/ttyACM0 \
--baud 921600 write_flash 0x0 firmware.bin--port = your /dev/tty* (macOS/Linux) or COMx (Windows).Specifications
ESP32-S3 · 10.4 × 14.3 mm · vs other ESP32 chips →Dimensions
About this board
At 10.4 × 14.3 mm it's the smallest ESP32-S3 board we've measured.
Inside sits the ESP32-S3 - a dual-core Xtensa with vector extensions suited to AI workloads.
At $99.00 it's on the expensive side for an ESP32-S3 board - most land around $29.
With 30 GPIO broken out, you get more pins to play with than most ESP32-S3 boards offer.
- Three variants: NORA-W101 (external antenna), NORA-W106-00B (PCB antenna), NORA-W106-10B (PCB antenna + PSRAM)
- 8 MB embedded flash (quad SPI) on NORA-W101-00B and NORA-W106-00B
- NORA-W106-10B swaps the 8 MB flash for 8 MB embedded PSRAM (octal SPI, ECC); external flash then required
- NORA-W101 exposes a 50 Ohm ANT pin for an external antenna; u.FL connector reference design available
- NORA-W106 has an internal 2.4 GHz PCB trace antenna (Abracon-licensed)
- Globally pre-certified: RED/CE, UKCA, FCC, IC/ISED, MIC, NCC, KCC, ANATEL, ACMA, SRRC (W106)
- Industrial temperature range -40 to +85 °C; AEC-Q104 professional grade
- Wi-Fi 4 (802.11b/g/n) and Bluetooth LE 5.0, 2.4 GHz single-band
- Integrated cryptographic hardware accelerators with secure boot
- Module outline 10.4 x 14.3 x 1.9 mm; NORA form factor (migratable with NORA-B1)
Where to buy
prices are typical street pricesResources
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