STMicroelectronics Announces Cellular IoT Discovery Development Kit for Cellular IoT

     The STMicroelectronics B-L462E-CELL1 Discovery Kit integrates key hardware and software modules required to develop cellular IoT devices, including a GSMA-certified embedded SIM (eSIM), enabling rapid development of energy-efficient cellular IoT devices , which can connect to the Internet via LTE-Cat M and NB-IoT IoT, is ideal for embedded developers and IoT enthusiasts, and is priced within the reach of OEMs and mass market customers.

     The kit development board integrates a very small all-in-one cellular communication module developed by Murata . The module houses ST's STM32L462 ultra-low-power microcontroller, GSMA-certified embedded SIM (eSIM) module ST4SIM-200M and LTE-M/NB-IOT chipset. Among them, the eSIM module is pre-installed with the bootloader connection profile of Truphone, an authorized partner of STMicroelectronics. The kit features out-of-the-box data connectivity and supports remote SIM provisioning and over-the-air SIM updates. Users connect the power supply with a USB cable or install three AAA batteries in the connector to start the development board, then activate the eSIM card, connect the board to the cellular mobile network, and start developing application projects.

     The B-L462E-CELL1 kit based on the Arm SecurCore SC300 ST4SIM-200M eSIM solution (certified by CC EAL5+ and GSMA SGP.02 v3.2) is mainly used to defend against cellular connection attacks. ST4SIM can build a Root-of-Trust small program to improve defense against cyber attacks.

     To simplify the development of motion sensing and environmental monitoring solutions, a set of sensors is also integrated on board, including ST's LSM303AGR accelerometer-magnetometer, HTS221 relative humidity and temperature sensor, and LPS22HH pressure sensor. In addition, there is a 0.96-inch OLED display on board, several LED indicators, and a USB port.

     The STM32Cube software extension package X-CUBE-CELLULAR drives this discovery kit and supports Berkeley (BSD) socket application programming interface (API). Through BSD's standardized Internet communication function calls, users can connect product prototypes to the Internet without having to develop AT command drivers to control modems. X-CUBE-CELLULAR contains the demo program and source code for the cellular framework modules, making it easy and hassle-free to import and configure expansion packages with the powerful free STM32Cube software toolset.

     ST's STM32L4 uses ultra-low-power technology, consuming about 2µA in STOP 2 mode and less than 1.4µA in cellular chipset power saving mode (PSM), the B-L462E-CELL1 Discovery Kit for developers to develop batteries IoT devices with a battery life of up to 10 years provide a platform for smart cities, smart industry, smart agriculture, smart metering and wearables. The ST4SIM-200M is manufactured and personalised at ST's GSMA-certified factory and comes preloaded with embedded SIM configuration data to simplify networking in over 160 countries.

     Hakim Jaafar, Marketing Director for Wireless MCUs at STMicroelectronics, said: "Cellular networking will have a large market share in the IoT space, which is why ST has partnered with Murata to develop cellular modules with the STM32L4 and the embedded ST4SIM eSIM. In order to achieve the best possible Out-of-the-box experience, ST has also worked closely with Truphone to launch an LTE-M free data plan, which is convenient for IoT Cellular Discovery suite users to quickly develop and test application solutions.”

     Yong Fang, Americas Cellular IoT Product Manager at Murata Corporation, added: "This announcement underscores the importance of our partnership with STMicroelectronics. Together, we have developed a solution that addresses two of the main challenges faced by developers of cellular IoT devices. Pain points - software development and cellular authentication. The module also provides great optimization and flexibility for global connectivity through a highly integrated software package."