STMicroelectronics introduces the STM32WB wireless microcontroller with a new ultra-power saving mode

     STMicroelectronics has expanded its STM32WB Bluetooth LE Microcontroller (MCU) offering with new devices that combine entry-level features and additional power savings for longer-lasting performance.

     The dual-core STM32WB15 and STM32WB10 Value Line pair an Arm® Cortex-M4 processor with a Cortex-M0+ processor to run primary applications and use the Cortex-M0+ processor to handle Bluetooth 5.2 connections, ensuring real-time performance for each processor. The radio stage has a link budget of 102dBm to ensure reliable connections over long distances and incorporates balun circuitry to save board space and reduce the bill of materials.

     The new devices feature a new ultra-power-saving mode that keeps the radio in working condition and carefully customizes peripherals and memory for cost-sensitive, power-focused embedded applications, including wearables, beacons, smart circuit breakers, trackers, iot terminals and industrial automation devices.

     The software development Kit (SDK) for each MCU includes a standardized radio protocol stack and openness to proprietary protocols, with a set of security mechanisms to ensure secure software updates to protect brand and device integrity, and Proprietary Code Read Protection (PCROP) to protect intellectual property.

     With these new devices, the STM32WB family can be expanded across different packages, offering options including extended GPIOs and pin-to-pin compatibility between similar packages in the portfolio. Customers can easily migrate designs between devices to take advantage of different features and memory densities, and take advantage of pin compatibility across packages.

     The development ecosystem includes the STM32Cube certified radio stack with support for various profiles, software extension packs and sample code, the STM32CubeMX configurator and initialization code generator, the STM32CubeIDE development environment, the powerful STM32CubeMonitor-RF evaluation tool, and the associated N ucleo hardware tools.