Introduction to the STM32Cube Ecosystem

STM32Cube Ecosystem

STM32Cube is an ecosystem developed by STMicroelectronics, aimed at making STM32 development simpler and is 100% open-source and free.

Before we begin the introduction, here is an official video from ST for appreciation and understanding:

It consists of two main parts:

• PC Software Tools:

• STM32CubeMX

• STM32CubeIDE

• STM32CubeProgrammer

• STM32CubeMonitor

• Software Libraries:

• STM32 Embedded Software bricks

STM32Cube PC Tools

• STM32Cube MX: Configuration tool for any STM32 device. This tool is written in Java, so it can run on Windows, Linux, and Mac. It allows users to configure the microcontroller through a graphical user interface and then generates initialization C code for the Cortex-M core or Linux device tree source for the Cortex-A core (the following two images illustrate the role of STM32CubeMX):

  

  

• STM32CubeIDE: Integrated Development Environment. This tool is based on Eclipse + GNU C/C++ toolchain. In addition to basic editing and compiling functions, it includes code compilation report features and advanced debugging capabilities. Additionally, this IDE integrates CubeMX.

  

• STM32CubeProgrammer: Programming tool (for programming the microcontroller). This tool provides an easy-to-use and efficient environment for reading, writing, and verifying memory through various available communication methods (such as JTAG, SWD, UART, USB DFU, I2C, SPI, CAN, etc.).

  

• STM32CubeMonitor: Powerful monitoring tool that helps developers debug and monitor the behavior and performance of applications in real-time.

These four tools accompany the entire STM32 development process:

STM32 Embedded Software

STM32 Embedded Software is a software package provided by STM32Cube, consisting of two main parts:

• STM32Cube MCU Packages

• STM32Cube Expansion

STM32Cube MCU Packages

STM32Cube MCU Packages are software packages for each MCU product provided by STM32Cube, which include:

• Low-level library code

• Middleware code

• User code

Low-level Library Code

The HAL or LL libraries provided by STM32Cube cover the entire STM32 series, including:

Middleware Code

The middleware code provided by STM32Cube is very rich, including:

User Code

STM32Cube provides pre-written user code, allowing developers to develop various applications based on this:

As of February 2019, the support status of STM32Cube software packages for the entire STM32 series is as follows:

STM32Cube Expansion

STM32Cube Expansion supplements the functionality of STM32Cube MCU Packages. The currently available software expansion packages include:

• Ready-to-use expansion packages for cloud connectivity (Amazon AWS, Microsoft Azure, IBM Watson, etc.)

• LoRa

• Cellular connectivity

• NFC

• Industrial communication protocols

• Cryptography libraries

• Sensor drivers

• Motor control algorithms

• Security self-test libraries

• ……

This concludes the introduction to the STM32Cube ecosystem. The next section will discuss how to obtain the PC tools and Embedded Software in the STM32Cube ecosystem, stay tuned.

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