Introduction to the STM32Cube Ecosystem

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STM32Cube Ecosystem

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

Before we start the introduction, here is a video from ST official for your appreciation:

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 Cortex-M cores or Linux device tree source for Cortex-A cores (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 also includes code compilation report features and advanced debugging capabilities. Moreover, this IDE also integrates CubeMX.

  

• STM32CubeProgrammer: Programming tool (for programming 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 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 Softwares are software packages provided by STM32Cube, which include two main parts:

• STM32Cube MCU Packages

• STM32Cube Expansion

STM32Cube MCU Packages

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

• Low-level library code

• Middleware code

• User code

Low-level Library Code

STM32Cube provides HAL or LL libraries, covering the entire STM32 series, including:

Middleware Code

STM32Cube provides a rich set of middleware code, including:

User Code

STM32Cube provides preliminary user code, and developers can develop various applications based on this:

As of February 2019, the support status of STM32Cube software packages for the entire STM32 series is shown in the table below:

STM32Cube Expansion

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

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

• LoRa

• Cellular connection

• NFC

• Industrial communication protocols

• Cryptography libraries

• Sensor drivers

• Motor control algorithms

• Security self-test libraries

• ……

Thus, the introduction to the STM32Cube ecosystem is complete. The next section will discuss how to obtain the PC tools and Embedded Software in the STM32Cube ecosystem, so stay tuned.