ST launches STM32MP1 microprocessor and Linux distribution to accelerate iot and smart industrial innovation

     STMicroelectronics leverage years of Arm Cortex development knowledge to expand the capabilities of the STM32 MCU, bringing this market-leading microcontroller portfolio to applications with higher processing performance and resource requirements that require large open source software. The new STM32MP1 multi-core microprocessor family offers computing and graphics processing capabilities, coupled with energy-efficient real-time control and high functional integration, to help simplify the development of high-performance solutions for industrial manufacturing, consumer electronics, smart home, and medical applications.

     The STM32MP1 family of microprocessors (MPU) products rely on the robust and mature STM32 * family ecosystem that ST and its partners have built together, including development tools and technical support. The STM32 series is mainly used to solve the important requirements of customers for real-time tasks and power limits, and OpenSTLinux is released as the mainstream open source Linux distribution in the market, expanding the STM32 series from real-time tasks and power limits to a wider market. With the combined support of MPU and software, ST offers a holistic solution to meet the supply needs of many industrial and professional applications. Of course, the STM32MP1 is included in ST's 10-year rolling renewal supply commitment list.

     Ricardo De Sa Earp, General Manager, MicroController Product Division at STMicroelectronics, said: "The STM32MP1 brings the product benefits of the STM32 to applications that require MPU computing and graphics processing, as well as energy-efficient real-time control and high functional integration. "Our increased support for open source Linux software and microcontrollers, coupled with long-term supply guarantees not available in consumer microcontrollers, gives developers confidence in their embedded MPU projects using the STM32MP1."

     Now, with STMicroelectronics' new STM32MP1 microprocessor family (MPU) integrating Arm® Cortex-A and Cortex-M cores, customers can develop A range of new application designs on this new STM32 heterogeneous computing architecture. This flexible heterogeneous computing architecture performs fast data processing and real-time tasks on a single chip, always achieving the highest energy efficiency. For example, by stopping the Cortex-A7 from executing instructions and leaving only the more energy-efficient Cortex-M4 running, power consumption can typically be reduced to 25%. From this mode to standby, power consumption is further reduced to 1/2500(2,500th), while still supporting the recovery of Linux execution in 1 to 3 seconds, depending on the actual application.

     The STM32MP1 is embedded with a 3D graphics processor (GPU) to support Human Machine interface (HMI) displays; External memory supports a variety of DDR SDRAM and flash memory. In addition, the STM32MP1 is embedded with a large number of peripherals that can be seamlessly assigned to Cortex-A/Linux or Cortex-M/real-time operations. The STM32MP1 series is available in a variety of BGA packages to support the lowest cost PCB board structure with minimal board space.

     STMicroelectronics is making good on its promise to strengthen software development. To speed up project development, ST has released OpenSTLinux Distribution, a major open source Linux distribution. OpenSTLinux has been approved by the Linux Foundation, Yoctoproject ®, Linaro and other Linux communities. This distribution contains all the basic components needed to run the software on the application processor core.

     The Enhanced STM32Cube tool is A special upgrade of the Cortex-M microcontroller STM32Cube package with all the functions and features needed to accelerate the development of Arm Cortex-a-core MPU projects. The STMicroelectronics solution simplifies MPU project creation and on-chip resource allocation.