New Software Enables Seamless Migration of STM32 MCU Code to STM32MP1

ST has released new software to facilitate the migration of STM32 MCU Find code to the more powerful STM32MP1 microprocessors. This software is aimed at meeting the increasing demand for greater host-system performance in various industries such as process equipment, factory-automation systems, logistics and retail technology, IoT devices, and digital signage.

The STM32MP1 MPUs from ST address these trends by offering an Arm Cortex-A7 application-class architecture with enhanced processing power and memory. With the introduction of the STM32CubeMP13 software pack, users can now easily migrate their code from smaller, simpler MCUs to take full advantage of the higher-performance capabilities of the MPU in their next-generation products.

STM32CubeMP13 provides an alternative to OpenSTLinux, allowing users to run an embedded bare-metal application or RTOS on STM32MP13 SoCs. This alternative ensures faster execution times compared to typical microcontrollers. Additionally, the software enables users to maintain the hard real-time specifications of their original code, such as interrupt times and latency. The larger memory of the MPU can also be leveraged by an RTOS while preserving low power consumption.

Designed to seamlessly integrate with the STM32Cube ecosystem, STM32CubeMP13 allows designers who are already familiar with ST's STM32 embedded microcontrollers to transition to higher-performance MPU-based projects within the same development environment. This includes the use of the STM32CubeMX device configurator, STM32CubeIDE development tools, and STM32CubeProgrammer.

STM32CubeMP13 comes equipped with all the necessary components to run embedded code on STM32MP13 Arm Cortex-A7 MPUs, including the board support package (BSP) and hardware abstraction layer (HAL). As an example real-time operating system, Azure RTOS (moving to Eclipse ThreadX) is pre-integrated. The software also provides code samples to assist embedded developers in handling the additional complexity of MPU-based systems, such as booting from external memory and power management, including DDR-RAM self-refresh control.

While STM32MP13 is suitable for entry-level applications in various markets such as industrial, smart city, smart home, retail, medical, health, and wellness, developers can still utilize the established ecosystem and OpenSTLinux distribution for these applications. The software is available for free download from the official ST website: https://www.st.com/en/embedded-software/stm32cubemp13.html.