STM32 for government self-service kiosk project, good choice for long-term stability?

[davidwilson]

Hi everyone,

I have one question before starting one project.

I am working on information system related to Philippines government services like NBI Clearance. We are thinking future version can also work on small self-service kiosk or information terminal, not only website.

Main requirements are:

Stable for many years
Fast boot time
Low power
Touch display support
Ethernet or Wi-Fi option
QR code scanner support
USB printer support for receipt or document
I see many people using STM32 in industrial products.

Do you think STM32 is good choice for this type of public kiosk?

Or better use Linux SBC like Raspberry Pi for easier software development?

I want something reliable because government/public service devices may run all day without restart.

Anyone already build similar public information kiosk using STM32?

Thanks for any advice.

[mƎALLEm]

Hello ​@davidwilson and welcome to the ST community,

STM32 MCUs are generally suitable for consumer and industrial applications.

 

Stable for many years

→ That depends on how much years you target? You need to estimate the lifetime of the product based on some parameters: temperature, Voltage scale used etc.. Example for STM32H5: AN6246 “Guidelines for estimating STM32H5 MCUs lifetime” and also (perhaps) need to check the MTBF (Mean Time Between Failures) of the product: How to get MTBF/FIT values on STMicroelectronics products 

 

Ethernet or Wi-Fi option

→ Many STM32 MCUs support have Ethernet instance but no WIFI , you need to add an external WIFI module.

 

USB printer support for receipt or document

→ Many STM32 MCUs have USB-OTG interface (HS/FS). That depends on the complexity of the implementation.

 

You need to study the performance needed and the memories size usage for your application.

Hope that helps and good luck.

[davidwilson]

Thank you very much for the detailed explanation.

This is very helpful, especially the information about lifetime estimation, MTBF and the need for an external Wi-Fi module. I will read the application note you mentioned before making any hardware decisions.

The project idea came from looking at how public services like NBI Clearance could provide a simple self-service information kiosk where users can check requirements, application steps and basic guidance without needing a full desktop computer.

At this stage I am still comparing different hardware options, so your points about memory usage and performance give me a better direction.

Thanks again for taking the time to explain everything.

[Andrew Neil]

Anyone already build similar public information kiosk using STM32?

Doesn’t really sound like a microcontroller project to me.

Do you really want to be developing custom hardware from scratch for this?

Why not just use a standard kiosk device - there are plenty of such things around and proven in use …

Why reinvent the wheel?

[davidwilson]

Thank you, that is a good point.

I am not planning to reinvent the wheel if an existing kiosk solution already fits the requirements. I was mainly curious whether STM32 would still make sense for a simple and reliable embedded solution instead of using a full PC-based kiosk.

The idea came from a project related to NBI Clearance, where the kiosk would mostly display application guidance, document requirements, QR codes and basic user interaction rather than running a complex application.

I am still in the early research phase, so comparing a standard kiosk with a custom embedded solution is exactly what I am trying to understand.

Thanks for sharing your perspective.

[Pavel A.]

Can’t most normal people just use their smartphones? Instead of a “kiosk”, just provide a wi-fi hotspot for the users, and everybody will be happy.

Printing paper receipts is not eco-friendly. All receipts can be sent to the users as PDF files. 

Information and QR code to the website can be displayed by a small low-cost media/video player on any LCD monitor. Or just printed on a paper poster (not eco-friendly, yep).