COVER STORY
Simplifying low power radio implementation with wireless MCUs
In today’s ever-evolving technological landscape, wireless connectivity has become an integral part of our lives. Whether it’s in the smart home, industrial automation, or healthcare, wireless communication plays a crucial role in connecting devices and enabling the Internet of Things (IoT). This means wireless connectivity using a Low Power Radio (LPR) has become a prerequisite for most hardware designs today, traditionally these have not been easy to implement with this part of the design often left to the “RF” expert within the design department. Thankfully over the years implementing a LPR has become much easier as module solutions became available reducing the time to market vs. building a chip down solution. The next evolution of wireless connectivity is the integration of the radio into the microcontroller (MCU) to further reduce board space and time to market.
In this month’s edition, Alvin Ferlance, field application engineer for wireless and modules at Anglia,
introduces two series of wireless MCUs from STMicroelectronics which offer RF designers a fully featured multiprotocol radio solution integrated with a powerful MCU.
STM32 wireless MCU introduction STMicroelectronics, a global leader in semiconductor manufacturing, have addressed the demand for a powerful yet low power consumption wireless connectivity solution with its STM32WB and STM32WBA series of wireless MCUs. These MCUs seamlessly combine the power and flexibility of the STM32 family with integrated wireless capabilities, making them ideal for a wide range of IoT applications.
STM32WB series
The STM32WB series represents a versatile family of wireless MCUs that combine power efficiency with dual-core processing capabilities. These MCUs are engineered for applications where both Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) and 2.4GHz proprietary wireless protocols are essential.
One of the defining features of the
STM32WB series is its dual-core architecture. It combines an Arm Cortex-M4 core application processor running at 64 MHz for high-performance processing with an Arm Cortex-M0+ core network processor at 32 MHz for low-power tasks. This dual-core setup optimizes energy efficiency and facilitates efficient multitasking. It embeds connectivity features and a general-purpose MCU in a single System-on-Chip (SoC).
STM32WB MCUs natively support Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), making them exceptionally well-suited for applications such as wearable devices, health monitoring, and smart home solutions. BLE ensures efficient and fast data transfer and minimal power consumption, critical for battery-operated devices. STM32WB comes with a certified Bluetooth Low Energy 5.4 radio stack, profiles from the
10 October 2023 Components in Electronics
Bluetooth SIG, as well as a Mesh topology that is V1.0 compliant.
In addition to BLE, the STM32WB series accommodates various proprietary 2.4GHz wireless protocols including Zigbee, Thread and Matter along with an IEEE 802.15.4 MAC layer allowing designers to implement any proprietary protocols.
Zigbee network topologies with optimized footprints are supported, whilst Zigbee Reduced-Function Device (RFD) and Full-Function Device (FFD) deliveries cover end- device, coordinator, and router roles. OpenThread is supported with technology covering all Minimal Thread Device (MTD), Full Thread Device (FTD), and border router deliveries. It addresses Sleepy End-Devices (SED), routers, and leader roles, thereby also enabling gateway infrastructures. Supported by the STM32WB MCU, Matter is an application layer, which aims at making smart home devices interoperable. An open-source standard, Matter ensures seamless interactions between connected devices across different IP technologies. It is available in the Matter GitHub. In a Matter network, Bluetooth Low Energy is used to commission devices. It runs in a dynamic concurrent mode with the Thread protocol. It is also possible to run multiple protocols on the same STM32WB MCU, Bluetooth Low Energy 5.4 together with 802.15.4 wireless protocols, Zigbee, or OpenThread protocols can be used in concurrent modes. This enables more convenient device management during installation and configuration, and significantly improves overall user experience.
Energy efficiency is a hallmark of STM32WB MCUs. They incorporate advanced power management features, including multiple low-power modes, to maximize battery life and reduce energy consumption, extending the operational lifetime of battery-powered devices.
Besides the impressive integrated multiprotocol radio and energy efficiency, the STM32WB MCUs don’t scrimp when it comes to features, they come equipped with a wide array of peripherals, including USB, UART, SPI, I2C, interfaces and more. This versatility makes them suitable for a broad spectrum of IoT applications and sensor interfacing.
The flexibility of the STM32WB MCU enables developers to create custom communication solutions tailored to specific application requirements. STMicroelectronics have also developed two modules based on the STM32WB MCU which are fully supported with development boards, NUCLEO-WB55RG which is a STM32 Nucleo-64 development board with STM32WB55RG MCU installed, and the NUCLEO-WB15CC
development board with STM32WB15CC installed. Both boards support Arduino and ST Morpho connectivity and are available for ordering on Anglia Live. These modules require no RF expertise and provide the best way to speed up the application development and to reduce the associated costs. The module is completely protocol stack royalty-free.
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