STMicroelectronics is a global leader in the semiconductor space developing customer-centric and sustainable products. Their STM32 Portfolio is a hugely popular highly reliable and scalable solution that caters to areas including Smart homes and cities, Industrial, Medical, and Robotics. Further expanding and innovating on this series, ST has introduced a line of STM32H7R/S high-performance and graphics MCUs that leverage technology to become the best-in-class platform for graphics applications and much more.
The STM32 launch event happened at ST’s Greater Noida campus in the presence of technology experts and media.
Rashi Bajpai, Sub-Editor at ELE Times, spoke with Sridhar Ethiraj, Sr. Technical Marketing and Applications Manager, Microcontrollers- India (APeC Region), STMicroelectronics about the latest launch of STM32H7R/S Series and discussed the many features and USPs of the product portfolio.
This is an excerpt from the interview.
ELE Times: What kind of support does ST provide for IoT projects based on the STM32 platform?
Sridhar Ethiraj: ST provides large number of solutions and reference designs for IoT applications based on the STM32.
Our STM32 Open Development environment is an open, flexible, easy and affordable way to develop innovative devices and applications based on the STM32 32-bit microcontroller family combined with other state-of-the-art ST components connected via expansion boards. It enables fast prototyping with leading-edge components that can quickly be transformed into final designs.
We also offer complete reference designs for IoT applications.
An example is the cost-effective and highly integrated AWS IoT qualified Alexa Voice Service design – This Amazon-qualified solution allows the rapid integration of Alexa Voice services into embedded devices. It enables end products to deliver enhanced user experience through best-in-class natural language-based voice user interface and additional Amazon AWS based services. The solution is based on the STM32H7 high-performance MCU complemented with other ST components in a reference design.
ELE Times: What are the key features of the H7R/S microcontroller compared to other STM32H7 Series?
Sridhar Ethiraj:
- 600MHz Arm Cortex-M7
- Cost effective (lowest cost H7 to-date)
- Neochrome GPU, JPEG Codec and LTDC Accelerating MPU-like GUIs
- Cost effective boot Flash MCU with high-speed external memory interfaces for real time XiP, with state-of-the-art security.
- Advanced security: authenticated debug, life cycle, secure key storage, immutable root of trust
- I3C with DMA
- 2xUSB HS/FS with PHY & UCPD
ELE Times: How easy is it for the developers in creating applications that utilize external memory for STM32H7R/S series with STM32 Ecosystem?
Sridhar Ethiraj:
H7R/S enable simpler development thanks to our MCU ecosystem:
Free STM32CubeMX software enables to simplify development using external memories (Bootmode configurator, External memory management and External memory protection management). Additionally, the tool enables users to initialize projects by configuring pinouts, clock trees, MCU peripherals, and middleware. It also facilitates the development of a boot project, which includes access management for the selected external memory, with options for Load-and-Run or Execute-in-Place boot options.
ELE Times: How do the graphics capabilities of the STM32H7R/S series enhance user graphics applications?
Sridhar Ethiraj:
The Neochrome graphics accelerator in the STM32H7R/S series offloads graphical computations from the CPU, which frees up CPU resources and enhances performance. This series also includes a JPEG Codec for video animation. Moreover, it offers high flexibility in framebuffer strategies, supported by high-speed external memory interfaces, to accommodate growing memory needs for high-end graphical user interfaces.
