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feat: ESP32-C5 hardware target for dual-band (2.4 + 5 GHz) WiFi scanning #97

@dougborg

Description

@dougborg

Summary

The ESP32-C5 is Espressif's first chip with native 5GHz WiFi support. Many surveillance devices (Flock Safety, some Ring cameras, corporate tracking APs) operate on 5GHz bands. AirHound currently only scans 2.4GHz channels 1–13, missing a significant portion of the wireless landscape.

Inspired by ESP32DualBandWardriver, which ships on the ESP32-C5-DevKitC-1 v1.2.

Key Points

  • ESP32-C5-DevKitC-1 v1.2 is available now
  • esp-hal C5 support is maturing — RISC-V architecture (not Xtensa), simpler toolchain
  • Promiscuous mode on C5 covers both 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands natively
  • Channel list expands from 13 to 13 + ~25 5GHz channels (36–165)
  • scanner.rs frame parsing is band-agnostic (802.11 is 802.11) — no changes needed
  • board.rs needs a new board variant with C5 pin definitions
  • Build system needs a third Docker target (esp32c5)

Implementation Considerations

  • Channel hopping strategy (lib: channel strategy module (channel.rs) #30) needs a 5GHz channel plan — dwell time allocation across ~38 channels matters more than with 13
  • May want configurable band selection (2.4 only, 5 only, both) in FilterConfig
  • C5 is RISC-V, so no Xtensa toolchain needed — could simplify CI

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