ST energizes high-performance embedded development ecosystem for STM32F4 MCUs

GENEVA, SWITZERLAND: STMicroelectronics has unveiled a comprehensive STM32F4 development ecosystem comprising important new tools and embedded software, at the same time as commencing volume production of the new STM32F4 microcontrollers that began sampling earlier in 2013.

The development ecosystem includes a full offer from ST, including new STM32 Discovery Kits and full-featured STM32F4x9 evaluation boards as well as software solutions like STM32-JAVA Java and the STemWin free graphical stack based on the Segger emWin solution, which leverages the LCD-TFT controller and dedicated Chrom-ART accelerator of the STM32F4x7/4x9 microcontrollers. Advanced audio IP including codecs and sound-processing algorithms is also available from ST.

Extended solutions from ST partners include IAR Experiment! magnetometer and game-controller kits, as well as the Raisonance EvoPrimer ecosystem. Standard development environments are supported from Atollic, IAR, Keil/ARM, Raisonance, and Tasking. Boards will be orderable from distributors or ST's e-STore before the end of October 2013.

The high-performance STM32F429/439 series now entering production has the industry's highest-performing ARM Cortex-M4 core, at 180MHz, able to achieve 225DMIPS (Dhrystone MIPS) and 608 CoreMark (EEMBC Coremark benchmark) scores using industry-standard performance metrics thanks to the ST adaptive real-time accelerator (ART Accelerator) allowing zero-wait execution from Flash.

These devices offer up to 2Mbyte of dual-bank Flash allowing safe system upgrades in the field, ST's unique Chrom-ART Accelerator giving customers a competitive edge in graphics processing, and an integrated TFT-LCD controller.

The STM32F427/437 series is also entering full production, upgraded with the 180MHz core, dual-bank memory, and other features of the STM32F429/439 excluding the TFT-LCD controller.

Also entering volume production is the STM32F401 microcontroller announced in April 2013. The device balances high performance (105 DMIPS and 285 CoreMark, and zero-wait Flash execution with the ART Accelerator), power efficiency and high feature integration in packages as small as 3x3mm.