Issue link: https://resources.mouser.com/i/1520713
Beyond the Wires 18 T he STMicroelectronics STM32WL (Figure 1) is a system-on-chip (SoC) designed for long-range wireless applications consisting of a general-purpose microcontroller and sub-GHz radio. Along with these core components, the SoC also includes up to 43 general- purpose input/output (GPIO) pins and various power management/optimization features, as well as embedded security hardware functions. For security, the SoC supports AES hardware encryption, read/write protection, ST's Secure Key Management Services (SKMS), secure hardware isolation, and secure boot and firmware update capabilities. The STM32WL is supported by a robust development ecosystem—anchored by the STM32WL55 Nucleo board and the STM32Cube Ecosystem—which provides a consistent set of hardware and software development tools. The ecosystem provides preconfigured software examples, drivers, and a full set of middleware and radio stacks. It also has a dynamic and active developer community, which is a critical component for any development ecosystem to facilitate rapid learning, problem solving, and, ultimately, innovation. The radio stack provided with the STM32WL, through the STM32Cube Ecosystem, allows the SoC to support the Long-Range Wide Area Networking (LoRaWAN) protocol, along with multiple modulation schemes that include Gaussian Frequency- Shift Keying (GFSK) and Binary Phase Shift Keying (BPSK). BPSK modulation is only available on the Transmit side. Given its Figure 1: High-level block diagram of STMicroelectronics' STM32WL MCU. (Source: STMicroelectronics) STM32 Ultra-low Power Architecture Single/Dual Core Multi- Modulation Radio STM32WL Single Silicon Die Private Network Concepts Using the STM32WL Antonio Mascioli, Senior Principal Application Engineer, STMicroelectronics ability to transmit small data payloads over long distances at ultra-low power, LoRaWAN is ideal for Internet of Things (IoT) applications such as transmission of sensor data (e.g., a thermostat reporting room temperature). However, LoRaWAN may not be suitable for other types of IoT applications that require higher bandwidth. The requirement to always communicate back to a gateway and server location introduces technical challenges that the LoRaWAN network was not designed for. Utilizing the STM32Cube ecosystem, the following project provides an example of how powerful this ecosystem and the customizability of the STM32WL truly are—especially when its capabilities are used to deliver new feature sets to address expanded use cases. In this project, we use the STM32WL's customizability and GFSK capability to address use cases in smaller, centralized networks that can be expanded as required, such as monitoring and integrating various sensors within a warehouse configuration. In this case, the private network