ESP32-C3 Wi-Fi & BLE Scanner

A simple yet effective Wi-Fi and Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) scanner for the ESP32-C3 microcontroller. This project periodically scans for nearby wireless devices and displays a formatted, sorted list of Wi-Fi networks and discovered BLE devices in the Serial Monitor.

Features

• Dual-mode Scanning: Scans for both Wi-Fi networks and BLE devices in each cycle.
• Detailed Wi-Fi Information: For each network, it displays:
  • SSID
  • RSSI (in dBm)
  • A visual signal strength bar
  • Encryption type (WPA2, WPA3, Open, etc.)
• BLE Device Discovery: Detects nearby BLE advertising devices and prints their MAC address and RSSI.
• Sorted & Formatted Output: Wi-Fi networks are sorted alphabetically by SSID for easy reading. The serial output is cleared on each scan cycle for a clean, real-time display using ANSI escape codes.
• Efficient BLE Scanning: Utilizes the NimBLE-Arduino library, which is optimized for performance and low memory usage on ESP32.
• Status Indicator: Blinks the onboard LED during each scan cycle.

Hardware Requirements

• An ESP32-C3 based development board (e.g., ESP32-C3 Super Mini, DevKitM-1).

Software & Dependencies

• PlatformIO or Arduino IDE
• ESP32 Board Package for the Arduino framework.
• NimBLE-Arduino library.

Installation with PlatformIO

The NimBLE-Arduino library will be installed automatically if you use the provided platformio.ini file.

Installation with Arduino IDE

1. Go to Sketch -> Include Library -> Manage Libraries...
2. Search for "NimBLE-Arduino" and install it.

Getting Started

1. Clone this repository or download the source code.
2. Open the project in your preferred IDE (PlatformIO is recommended).
3. If using the Arduino IDE, ensure you have installed the required library (see above).
4. Connect your ESP32-C3 board to your computer.
5. Compile and upload the firmware.
6. Open the Serial Monitor and set the baud rate to 115200 to see the scan results.

Example Output

The output in the Serial Monitor will look similar to this:

WiFi Networks Scanner
===================
MyHomeNetwork-5G                 [################....]  -52 dBm  WPA2/WPA3-PSK
NeighborNet                      [#######.............]  -81 dBm  WPA2-PSK
SomeOtherWiFi                    [#############.......]  -65 dBm  WPA2-PSK
XFINITY                          [##########..........]  -72 dBm  Open

Scanning BLE...
BLE: 3c:61:05:12:34:56, RSSI: -78
BLE: f4:12:fa:78:90:ab, RSSI: -91

Scanning WiFi...

Configuration

The built-in LED pin is defined at the top of src/main.cpp. You can change it to match your board's specific configuration if needed.

#define LED_PIN 8 // Standard pin for ESP32-C3 Super mini