IOT platform FUSION AS : version 3.9 released!

IoT : STMicroelectronics now distributes the STM32WL: first SoC LoRa. Good news for the Smart City and the Smart Building!

STMicroelectronics markets the first System-on-Chip (SoC) comprising both a microcontroller (Arm Cortex M4 and M0+) and the radio-frequency part (Semtech SX126x).

This chip makes it possible to integrate the LoRaWAN and Sigfox protocols, which are widely used in connected objects with very low consumption and long range. It should therefore be widely used in the Smart City and Smart Building.

It is a real masterstroke for this Franco-Italian multinational to have succeeded in convincing Semtech to integrate their component into the STM32WL: if the success of this chip is confirmed, SEMTECH would probably be largely dependent on ST for the sale of their Radio chips .

• The innovation here lies in the fact of integrating these 2 components on the same chip. Indeed, existing solutions are based on the use of 2 separate chips (a microcontroller and a radio chip). This makes it possible to :
• To reduce manufacturing costs, thus offering a product that is less expensive than the competition,
  To have an even more integrated solution, thus optimising the size of the connected objects,
  To improve the management of the Radio. As the two components are on the same chip, there is no longer any communication constraint between them.
  Better communication security,
  To have a product that uses less energy.
  To have a greater number of inputs/outputs (IO) on the chip.

As you will have understood, this product strongly contributes to the optimisation of the connected objects produced (energy consumption, space requirement, cost).

ST is not content to simply offer this disruptive technology, it has made it accessible by offering a set of libraries and tools to enable its integration.

A victim of its success when it was opened to the general public (early December 2020), the development cards are out of print. It will be necessary to wait for the next productions to hope to exploit them.

To be continued…