February 24, 2014, Seoul - STMicroelectronics (hereinafter ST), a global semiconductor company serving customers across diverse electronic applications and a leading provider of microcontrollers based on ARM® Cortex®-M processors, has introduced a new prototyping board for all STM32 product lines. The newly launched Nucleo board features easily expandable characteristics at a reasonable price point, and is expected to enhance accessibility and flexibility for the STM32 product line.

The STM32 Nucleo board operates with mbed and supports Arduino connectivity, while providing the ST Morpho expansion header that enables access to all on-chip peripherals of the STM32 microcontroller. As an mbed-based board, it allows utilization of the mbed open-source software platform, online tools, and collaboration infrastructure from mbed.org. The Arduino header enables shields from the extensive Arduino ecosystem to be easily integrated for faster and simpler feature implementation. Leveraging its expertise in MEMS microphones and capabilities in proximity sensing and wireless control, ST provides dedicated shields for functions such as Bluetooth® LTE connectivity, Wi-Fi connection, GPS, and voice recording.

The STM32 Nucleo fully supports all STM32 product families, enabling rapid fine-tuning of necessary hardware and software at each stage of the prototyping process. Application-specific shields in which customers have invested are also protected. All shields can be reused across STM32 Nucleo boards and various projects.

Michel Buffa, Business Unit Director of the Microcontroller division at ST, stated, "The STM32 Nucleo is an ideal platform for embedded developers, offering excellent price competitiveness, ease of use, flexibility, connectivity, and compatibility with well-known tools and resources. It enables more flexible design changes by leveraging the diversity and scalability of the STM32 product family and allows hardware and software reuse across various projects."

Simon Ford, Director of ARM IOT Platform, said, "The STM32 Nucleo hardware powered by mbed benefits from the extensive advantages of the mbed ecosystem, which consists of software, tools, and community, enabling the development of intelligent electronic products at a new level."

The initial four Nucleo board variants (supporting STM32 F1, L1, F4, and F0 value lines) will be unveiled at Embedded World 2014. The exhibition will be held in Nuremberg from February 25 to 27, and ST plans to distribute STM32 Nucleo boards one per person to 2,200 visitors who pre-register on the ST homepage. Future availability is scheduled for the second quarter of 2014, and support for STM32 F3, LO, and FO lines will also be provided.