STMicro Launches STM32WB55 Bluetooth 5 and 802.15.4 MCU & Nucleo Pack

STMicro unveiled their first STM32 Wireless MCU family at Embedded World 2018 last year with STM32WB dual-core Cortex-M4/M0+ microcontroller equipped with Bluetooth 5 and 802.15.4 radios, but it was only this year at Embedded World 2019 that the company announced commercial availability of STM32WB55 family as well as the P-NUCLEO-WB55 development pack containing a classical Nucleo 64 board and a USB dongle.

STMicro STM32WB55 Bluetooth 5 & 802.15.4 MCU

STM32WB55 Block Diagram — Click to Enlarge

Key features and 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 (Thread & ZigBee 3.0 protocol supported)
- 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 channel audio)
- 1x USB 2.0 FS device, crystal-less, BCD and LPM
- Touch Sensing controller, up to 18 sensors
- 8×40 LCD 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
- 3x 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
  - 13 nA shutdown mode
  - 600 nA Standby mode + RTC + 32 KB RAM
  - 2.1 μA Stop mode + RTC + 256 KB RAM
  - Active-mode MCU + RF (SMPS ON): < 53 μA/MHz
  - Radio – Rx: 4.5 mA; Tx at 0 dBm: 5.2 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 – QFN48, QFN68, WLCSP100, and BGA129

There are now six parts in production with 256KB to 1MB flash memory, 128KB or 256KB RAM, 48-pin or 68-pin packages, and more parts are coming, now sampling, with 100-pin and 129-pin packages.

P-NUCLEO-WB55 Development Pack

The company also introduced P-NUCLEO-WB55 development pack with MB1355C board powered by STM32W55 with VFQFPN68 package, and MB1293C USB dongle based on STM32W55 MCU with a smaller UFQFPN48 package in order to easily get started with Bluetooth 5 and/or 802.15.4 (Zigbee/Thread) using the solution.

MB1355C Nucleo-68 board key features & specifications:

MCU
- STM32WB microcontroller in a VFQFPN68 package
- Radio – 2.4 GHz RF transceiver supporting Bluetooth 5.0 and IEEE 802.15.4-2011 PHY and MAC
- Dedicated Arm 32-bit Cortex M0+ CPU for real-time Radio layer
Antennas – Integrated PCB antenna or footprint for SMA connector
USB – 1x micro USB port
Expansion – Arduino UNO V3 and ST morpho headers
Debugging – On-board ST-LINK/V2-1 debugger/programmer with USB re- enumeration capability: mass storage, virtual COM port, and debug port
Misc – 3x user LEDs, 3x user buttons, and 1x reset button
Power Supply – ST-LINK USB VBUS or external sources; on-board socket for a CR2032 battery

Main features of MB1293C USB dongle:

MCU
- STM32WB microcontroller in UFQFPN48 package
- 2.4 GHz RF transceiver supporting Bluetooth 5.0 and IEEE 802.15.4-2011 PHY and MAC
- Dedicated Arm 32-bit Cortex M0+ CPU for real-time Radio layer
Antenna – Integrated PCB antenna or UFL connector
SB – 1x USB port
Misc – Switch for boot management, 1x user push-button, 3x user LEDs

The company provides free software libraries and examples available with the STM32Cube package, as well as support for various Integrated Development Environments (IDEs), including IAR Embedded, Keil, GCC-based IDEs, and Arm Mbed. STM32CubeMonRF is a GUI software tool that enables testing the performance of BLE and 802.15.4 radios in STM32WB MCU. For example, you’ll be able to measure various output powers, PER (Peak-Error-Rate), the overall signal quality, and/or to set up custom scripts to handle specific use-cases.

Pricing for STM32WB55 MCU starts at $3.24 per unit for 10k orders, and P-NUCLEO-WB55 development pack is sold for $42. For more information, including extensive hardware and software documentation, and/or to purchase samples, visit the respective product pages here and there.

Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft)

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.