How to Send Data between ESP32 and TouchDesigner so that my Laptop isn't visible

Hardware
1

Hi there,

I am creating an outdoor instillation using pressure sensors connected to ESP32, where the serial port inputs are run through a Serial DAT code to play Audio files in TouchDesigner. Right now, my ESP32 is connected to my laptop via USB-A for prototyping, but I’d like the laptop to be invisible for actual instillation (ex. a few meters away).

How might I send data between the two? I heard Ethernet is very reliable, but the physical wire makes me wonder if I can’t just get a really long USB to UART cable? I don’t think using Wi-Fi will be worth it since it’ll be an outdoor instillation, and TouchDesigner doesn’t need WiFi for the logic to run.

2

did you explore the ESP32 NOW protocol ? it’s a kind of lightweight WiFi that allows two ESP32’s to communicate without a full-blown WiFi setup. You might want one ESP32 close to your pressure sensors and an second one near your laptop (to be connected to the laptop with USB).

here’s a tutorial about ESP32 NOW : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEKjCDDUPaU

3

For a public installation I would always only use wires. I always use ethernet, very simple to program on the esp32 side, and it’s rocksolid and very cheap (for a few dollars you already have an esp32 module with integrated ethernet connection). And just use a TCP/IP DAT on the TouchDesigner side, which works very similar to the Serial DAT .

I would def recommend ethernet over a usb connection which is always finicky (plug it into wrong usb port and suddenly you need to reconfigure the connection in your software before it works again), and usb can only do a very limited distance until connection becomes unstable.