If you stack the boards like Lego blocks, you can develop a prototype product in no time.

On July 7th, STMicroelectronics held a webinar with E4ds.com for approximately 1 hour and 20 minutes on ST's prototype development environment, the 'STM32 Open Development Environment (STM32 ODE)'.

With over 200 participants and over 300 questions asked, the interest and thirst for practical open hardware among Korean engineers was confirmed. We met with Deputy Director Yoon Ki-seok, who was in charge of the Q&A session on the day of the event, for an interview.

Q. A significant number of developers participated in today's webinar. Could you briefly introduce the STM32 open development environment?

These days, the line between hardware and software engineers is blurred. As a result, traditional hardware and software engineers are increasingly seeking to move beyond their traditional fields and engage in complex development. The biggest challenge, however, is the unfamiliarity of interdisciplinary expertise and knowledge. STM32 ODE can be seen as a development environment that helps developers develop cheaper and easier prototypes.
By stacking the Nucleo development board, which is an STM32 microcontroller board, and the expansion board (X-Nucleo) that can be expanded with various functions like Lego blocks and applying modular software at all stages from the driver to the application, the main function blocks are provided in open source form, allowing for faster and easier implementation of embedded designs.

STM32 Open Development Environment Introduction Video
Q. Where should I start with the STM32 open development environment?
First, select a suitable STM32 Nucleo development board (MCU) and an X-Nucleo expansion board with the required functions. Currently, 26 expansion boards are available, including sensors, connectivity, audio, and motor control. Next, select the development environment most familiar to each developer (IAR EWARM, Keil MDK, GCC-based IDE).
Install the STM32Cube tools and software provided free of charge by ST, and then download the software required to implement the functions of your chosen X-Nucleo expansion board.

Once this basic environment is established, the developer compiles the design containing their ideas and uploads it to the STM32 Nucleo development mainboard. This allows them to develop and test their desired applications on single or multi-board configurations. As many of you know, software developed on the STM32 Open Development Environment hardware can be directly used in the final development product by migrating it to the same ST product or STM32 Nucleo board.

Q. As a developer, you're probably interested in hardware components. Could you please introduce the components of the STM32 open development environment?

This product is the base of the STM32 ODE and is equipped with an STM32 microcontroller that uses the ARM® Cortex®-M 32-bit microcontroller core (M0, M0+, M3, M4, M7). The STM32 family has a wide range of products, so you can choose the MCU that is most suitable for your project during development, and you can easily port your application even if you change the MCU. There are two types of connectors for the expansion board for functional expansion: an Arduino connector (compatible with Arduino UNO3 or NANO standard) and a 76-pin morpho connector (accessible to all pins of the STM32 MCU).
You can now visit the ST website ( www.st.com/stm32nucleo ) to see and choose from all 26 STM32 Nucleo boards. As mentioned earlier, the STM32 Nucleo expansion board can complete a stable connection between systems by connecting various functions pin to pin like Lego stacking.

STM32 X-Nucelo (expansion boards: sensors, connectivity, audio, motor control, etc.)


- Five different board types currently available. Excerpt from ST website ( www.st.com/x-nucleo ) -
- Sense: MEMS motion 9-axis, pressure/environment sensor/proximity sensor, MEMS microphone
- Connectivity: Bluetooth LE, Wi-Fi, NFC tag, Sub-GHz RF wireless
- Movement/Operation: DC, stepper, 3-phase DC brushless motor driver
- Input/Output: I/O modules (for factory automation and industrial use)
- Signal conditioning: operational amplifier, sound terminal

Q. As a developer, you might be curious about software and other technical support. Do you need to purchase programming/debugging tools separately?
ST offers a variety of support programs to help developers achieve faster time-to-market through more stable, easier, and faster development. First, if you need to port software between more than 20 different STM32 Nucleo boards, you can utilize the STM32Cube library, which is based on the STM32Cube HAL API (Hardware Abstraction Layer), and can do so with simple coding. It also has onboard programming/debugging tools, so you don't have to purchase expensive tools separately.
STM32CubeMX ( www.st.com/stm32cubemx ) is a software library configurator. Applying it to your development workflow allows you to configure STM32 peripherals in just a few steps and generate a complete software project compatible with your preferred tool chain (e.g., IAR, Keil, Eclipse).

Q. What is supported by the included expansion software package?
Software also takes up a significant portion of the design time, accounting for 70-80%. STM32Cube minimizes the complexity of the development structure by applying the same Lego-like approach to the software level as to the hardware, maintaining consistency with the hardware. Furthermore, each STM32Cube expansion software package provides user-friendly implementation examples, and the expansion software packages include various libraries for motor control, Bluetooth LE, and NFC wireless processing, all available in open-source format.
If you need more than one feature block, a tip is that the feature pack SW source code is very useful. This is because the feature packs are fully integrated project units that allow you to use the SW libraries of various X-Nucleo devices right away. For example, you can download the feature pack for NFC and BLE pairing using the LEX-Nucleo board connected to the STM32 Nucleo development board.
For wearable or Internet of Things applications, the size of the evaluation board itself can be a challenge. ST is expanding its portfolio with an ultra-compact demo board that uses the same devices as the STM32 Nucleo board. Of course, it is possible to port SW projects developed in the STM32 open development environment tool 100% identically.

Q. Finally, could you briefly introduce the advantages of the STM32 development environment?
For developers, the most important factors are long-standing product expertise and market reliability. Using ST microcontrollers in your embedded application will allow for more stable development, leveraging ST's long-standing expertise and trust, including its MCU architecture, technological capabilities, multi-source manufacturing, and long-term supply.
Above all, the STM32 Open Development Environment is designed to make development easier, making it easy to customize both basic and complex hardware and software functional blocks. For example, if you need an RF connection, you can simply connect the X-Nucleo board to your system and customize the available software project without requiring complex RF knowledge. Finally, the STM32 Open Development Environment is the best development environment to help development engineers bring their ideas from driver to application level as quickly and smoothly as possible when designing product prototypes.