STMicro has announced yet another family part of their STM32 portfolio with STM32WB micro-controller family featuring an Arm Cortex M4 application core, a Cortex M0+ core to offload the main core of networking tasks, as well as Bluetooth 5 and 802.15.4 radios.
The MCU’s 802.15.5 radio can run other wireless protocols concurrently, including OpenThread, ZigBee, or proprietary protocols used to connect devices to the Internet of Things (IoT).
STM32WB MCUs share the following key specifications:
- Application Core – Arm Cortex-M4 CPU @ up to 64 MHz with FPU, adaptive real-time accelerator (ART Accelerator), MPU, 80 DMIPS and DSP instructions
- Memory – Up to 256 KB RAM, including 64 KB with hardware parity check, 20×32-bit Backup Register
- Storage
- Up to 1 MB Flash with sector protection (PCROP) against R/W operations for Bluetooth Low Energy and 802.15.4 SW stack
- Quad SPI memory interface with XIP
- Radio
- 2.4 GHz RF transceiver supporting Bluetooth 5 and IEEE 802.15.4-2011 PHY and MAC
- RX Sensitivity: -96 dBm (Bluetooth Low Energy at 1 Mbps), -100 dBm (802.15.4)
- Programmable output power up to +6 dBm with 1 dB steps
- Support for 2 Mbps
- Dedicated Arm 32-bit Cortex M0 + CPU for real-time Radio layer
- Peripherals
- Up to 72 fast I/Os, 70 of them 5 V-tolerant
- 12-bit ADC 4.26Msps, up to 16-bit
- Inter Processor Communication Controller (IPCC) for communication with Bluetooth Low Energy and 802.15.4
- 2x DMA controllers (7x channels each) supporting ADC, SPI, I2C, USART, QSPI, SAI, AES, Timers
- 1x USART (ISO 7816, IrDA, SPI Master, Modbus and Smartcard mode)
- 1x LPUART (Low Power)
- 2x SPI 32 Mbit/s, 2x I2C (SMBus/PMBus)
- 1x SAI (dual channels)
- 1x USB 2.0 FS device, crystal-less, BCD and LPM
- Touch Sensing controller, up to 28 channels
- LCD 8×40 with step-up converter
- Timers – 1x 16-bit four channels, 2x 16-bits two channels, 1x 32-bits four channels,2x 16-bits (ultra-low-power)
- 1x independent Systick, 1x independent watchdog,1x window watchdog
- Security & ID
- Secure Firmware Installation (SFI) for Bluetooth® Low Energy and 802.15.4 SW stack
- Hardware Encryption AES 256-bit
- Customer key storage / key manager services
- HW Public Key Authority (PKA)
- Cryptographic algorithms: RSA, Diffie-Helman, ECC over GF(p)
- True random number generator (TRNG)
- Sector protection against R/W operation (PCROP)
- CRC calculation unit
- 96-bit unique ID
- 64-bit unique ID. Possibility to derive 802.15.5 64-bit and Bluetooth® Low Energy 48-bit EUI
- Power
- Supply – 1.71 V to 3.6 V
- Consumption
- 30 nA shutdown mode
- 600 nA Standby mode + RTC + 32 KB RAM
- 1.8 μA Stop mode + RTC + 256 KB RAM
- Active-mode MCU + RF (SMPS ON): < 50 μA/MHz
- RX: 3.8 mA
- TX at 0 dBm: 5.5 mA
- Debugging / Development – Serial wire debug (SWD), JTAG for the Application processor, application cross trigger with input and output, Embedded Trace Macrocell for application
- Temperature Range – -40°C to 85°C or -40°C to 105°C
- Package – 48-pin UQFN, 68-pin VQFN, 100-pin WLCSP
The boot loader supporting support USART, SPI, I2C and USB interfaces, and OTA (Over the Air) update for Bluetooth Low Energy and 802.15.4 are possible.
Nine SKUs are now available with variation in the amount of flash / RAM, and package size as shown in the chart above.
The company provides STM32CubeMonitor-RF for radio testing, STM32CubeMX pinout/clock configurator and code generator, as well as peripheral drivers, middleware, code examples, and a dedicated STM32 Nucleo (MB135SA) board / evaluation pack to start with the platform.
STM32WB engineering samples will be provided to lead customers in Q1 2018, with pricing starting at $1.56 for high-volume orders. More information can be found in the product page, and press presentation document (PDF).
Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011.
Support CNX Software! Donate via cryptocurrencies, become a Patron on Patreon, or purchase goods on Amazon or Aliexpress
The real cuestion here is can run Crysis?
No any WiFi/Bluetooth SOCs can catch up ESP32. From C/C++ SDK to Arduino and then MicroPython. Module cost down to $3.5 and still going on cheaper.
A tons of cheap ready-to-use ESP32 platforms can be bought from AliExpress. And still coming out more and more…
@iridiumsat
They can’t compete on price, but STM32WB has a few extra features, at least support for Bluetooth 5, and other 802.15.4 compatible standards like Zigbee. No WiFi though, so there will be used for different use cases.
The hardware key management is important for IOT devices. Shipping with a pre-install MAC ID would also be a major help in production.
Don’t getting excited about $1.56. In ST speak — if you order enough that we have to dedicate a factory to you, it will be $1.56. More likely multiply that times two for any normal volume.
One flaw — it should have had two ADC units. To do power line monitoring you have to be able to do two simultaneous samples. But maybe with 4.25Msps you can switch between two inputs quickly enough that it won’t matter. Need to experiment on the chip to see if it would work.
Are you seriously comparing ESP32 with STM32, in terms of ecosystems? You cannot say it if you have experienced my STM32F4Discovery. STM32 is by far the most popular industry MCU in the market. Do you know most of embedded open source projects, including MicroPython (its reference board is STM32, not ESP), firstly support STM32 MCUs at the beginning? There are more proven industry grade platforms than these of ESP32 without question. It is a bit shame this one has no WiFi though.