STMicroelectronics, a global semiconductor supplier serving customers across the spectrum of electronic applications, is helping to increase industrial productivity and reduce waste and pollution with its intelligent wireless module. Thoughtful for Industry 4.0 applicationsthis module, on STM32WB5MMGH6simplifies the use of the innovative ST wireless microcontrollers in powerful use cases such as I-care Group’s intelligent equipment health monitoring.

The module provides a complete subsystem for wireless communication using popular standards such as e.g Bluetooth Low Energy, Zigbee and Thread and comes with free-to-use protocol stacks. Alternatively, developers can use other proprietary protocols if they prefer. The module integrates several main components, including the antenna and its matching circuit, all passives and timing crystals. Pre-certificates for EMC, Bluetooth LE 5.3, Zigbee 3.0 and OpenThread simplify product-level mandatory testing and approval procedures for users, which saves development costs and accelerates time to market.

Leading customers are already embedding ST’s STM32WB5MMGH6 module into upcoming new products. One example is I-care Group, a global machine health provider whose continuous monitoring solutions improve the maintenance of industrial equipment to ensure optimal performance and avoid unexpected breakdowns and outages. The company’s Wi-care sensors are a true plug-and-play wireless and continuous asset monitoring system. When combined with I-see, I-care’s cloud-based and AI-driven analytics platform, it provides a comprehensive 4.0 maintenance solution that allows users to visualize equipment status and plan maintenance schedules. With I-care solutions, more than 99% of industrial breakdowns can be avoided, machine downtime is reduced by 10-20%, and maintenance costs are reduced by 35-45%.

Fabrice Brian, CEO of I-care, says: “I-care has the ambition to become a global leader in prescribed and predictive maintenance. The rapid and successful production and deployment of our market-leading Wi-care sensors plays a crucial role in our growth plans. ST’s STM32WB5MMGH6 wireless module provides an indispensable part of Wi-care.”

“Choosing a wireless module instead of designing a chip reduction solution is the fastest way for developers to complete their projects,” said Hakim Jaafar, general manager – BLE/802.15.4 MCU, STMicroelectronics. “The STM32WB5MMGH6 module, based on our proprietary STM32WB55 wireless MCU and fully supported by ST, now makes this approach faster, easier and more affordable than ever before.”

The STM32WB5MMGH6TR now in production and available for new designs, priced at $6 for orders of 10,000. It is backed by ST’s 10-year commitment to product longevity, which ensures long-term parts availability for industrial applications.

Additional technical information

The STM32WB55 MCU powering the STM32WB5MMGH6 has an Arm Cortex-M4 core for application-level processing and a Cortex-M0+ dedicated to managing the integrated radio, which ensures real-time performance in both domains.

The MCU contains generous on-chip RAM, which is especially useful when running the Thread protocol. Popular use cases include wireless communication and control of devices such as remote sensors, smart door locks, computer accessories including printers, and infrastructure equipment such as network gateways and smart building controllers. The radio’s multi-protocol technology provides flexibility and enables convenient device administration and fleet management.

Product designers working with the STM32WB5MMGH6 module benefit from the extensive STM32 microcontroller development ecosystem, which includes free tools such as STM32CubeMX configurator and software like STM32CubeWB MCU package. This package provides essential built-in development resources, including production-ready MISRA C and ISO/TS 16949 compliant hardware abstraction layer (HAL) and low-layer APIs, FatFS file system, FreeRTOS, communication protocol stacks, and code examples.

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STMicroelectronics accelerates development of connected objects with smart STM32 wireless module