Swiss semiconductor firm ST Microelectronics has signed an agreement with Microsoft to simplify and accelerate the development of smart-appliance controllers and other IoT devices.

Developers working with STM32 microcontrollers (MCU) can now leverage Microsoft Azure RTOS (real-time operating system) to provide ready-to-use services for managing their application. Seamlessly connected to the STM32 Cube development ecosystem, which consolidates tools and software to support projects from start to finish, Azure RTOS will be fully supported and all licences are free for images deployed properly on STM32 microcontrollers, including prototyping and volume production.

“STM32 and Azure RTOS create a powerful combination for our customers to unleash their creativity,” said Ricardo de Sa Earp, group vice president at STM. “We are making it easier and faster than ever to bring imaginative new IoT products to market that are high-performing, feature-rich, reliable, and secure.”

The STM32 Cube ecosystem provides free development tools, software bricks and software expansion packages for users to handle everything from selecting the right device and initialising the project to coding, programming, testing, scaling and porting the design. More than 1000 STM32 variants are available, covering a spectrum of performance, feature integration and package sizes.

The ecosystem also has a broad offering of embedded software libraries. The user can pick and choose in a portfolio of more than 100 software packages from STM and partners, now enriched with Azure RTOS to accelerate development of the final application.

The collaboration between STM and Microsoft lets users leverage the services of Azure RTOS, which meet the needs of tiny, smart, connected devices. This includes Azure RTOS Thread X real-time operating system, which has a compact memory footprint suited to deeply embedded applications. Also included are the File X FAT file system, Net X and Net X Duo TCP/IP networking stacks, and USB X USB stack.

Value-added features of the Azure RTOS integrated and industrial-quality middleware components include support for IP layer security (IPsec) and socket layer security (TLS and DTLS) protocols, with future Common Criteria (CC) EAL4+ certification for TLS/DTLS and FIPS 140-2 certified software cryptographic library. Microsoft will also provide safety pre-certifications including IEC 61508 SIL4, IEC 62304 Class C, and ISO 26262 Asil-D.

While ensuring a consistent look and feel across Azure RTOS components and products, which promotes ease of use, Microsoft is also providing extra flexibility for embedded developers by publishing the source code at GitHub as part of the agreement with MCU vendors.

“As a global leader in the MCU market, STM is a valuable collaborator in our mission to consolidate Azure RTOS as the go-to platform for designers of smart, connected devices,” said Sam George, corporate vice president at Microsoft. “Moreover, Azure RTOS accessed through the STM32 Cube tools integrates seamlessly with our Azure IoT platform, providing an easy and convenient means of connecting IoT endpoints and edge devices to the cloud.”

• STM has expanded availability of its STM32WL long-range sub-GHz wireless system-on-chip (SoC) family, adding flexible configurations and package options for diverse mass-market applications.

As the only SoC ICs featured to connect devices to LoRa-based low-power wide-area networks (LPWANs), the STM32WL series lets users create IoT devices that are compact, energy efficient and reliable. LPWANs provide connectivity over large geographical areas and in remote locations, extending the IoT’s reach and enabling smart technologies to add value in industries from utilities and agriculture to shipping, transportation, and others.

“Long-range IoT networks like LoRaWan or Sigfox now cover the globe, ready to connect innovative and highly useful smart devices in applications such as environmental monitoring and asset tracking,” said de Sa Earp. “Mass-market access to our unique single-chip integrated microcontroller and multi-modulation radio will broaden development of exciting new products that leverage these networks and deliver unparalleled functionality, usability and value.”

The STM32WL series combines the STM32 architecture with a sub-GHz radio subsystem that supports multiple modulation schemes. These include both LoRa, which allows high receiving sensitivity at low RF signal power, and (G)FSK, (G)MSK and BPSK modulation used by Sigfox and wireless M-Bus protocols for instance as well as other proprietary protocols or sub-GHz standards. The radio has a selectable dual-power output that helps users comply with RF-power restrictions for unlicensed frequency bands in all territories worldwide.

The STM32WL models include the dual-core STM32WL55, based on an Arm Cortex-M4 core and a Cortex-M0+ MCU core, which can both be used in an open and flexible way. The dual-core architecture effectively ensures hardware isolation that enhances cyber security, allows application updates without the need to re-certify the device as a new radio product, and enhances real-time performance of both the radio and application.