How ESP32's LEDC Module Uses PWM to Control LED Brightness

The ESP32 microcontroller includes a built-in peripheral called LEDC (LED PWM Controller) that dims LEDs using Pulse Width Modulation, a technique that switches LEDs on and off faster than the human eye can detect. The original ESP32's LEDC module contains 4 timers and 16 channels, all configured by writing to 32-bit peripheral registers. Dimming an LED requires three main steps: configuring a timer with the desired frequency and bit resolution, linking an LEDC channel to that timer, and writing a duty cycle value to set brightness. Once configured, the LED runs autonomously at the set brightness with no CPU involvement, and brightness can be updated at runtime by writing a new duty cycle value or triggering a hardware-managed smooth fade.