STM32 in real consumer products

[Bogdan Golab]

Posted on June 05, 2018 at 13:25

I believe I do not violate any forum policy here. I do not want anyone to break any secrets here.

I am a hobbyist & STM32 enthusiast but I have never seen any real products where the STM32 was embedded (besides Sony SmartWatch a few years ago, and Primer / EvoPrimer Tools).

I think such information might be interesting for many STM32 enthusiasts.

If you could share some information about real products where we can find the STM32 MCUs.

[David SIORPAES]

Posted on June 05, 2018 at 13:47

If you browse iFixit public databases you can find, for example:

• https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/AirPods+Teardown/75578

• https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Apple+TV+4th+Generation+Teardown/49046

• https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Asus+Chromebook+Flip+C100P+Teardown/72454

• https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/MacBook+Pro+15-Inch+Touch+Bar+Teardown/73395

• https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Xiaomi+MiJia+QiCycle+Folding+Electric+Bike+Teardown/67654

• https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Google+Pixel+C+Teardown/62277

• https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Fitbit+One+Teardown/19889

• http://www.mateksys.com/?portfolio=f722-std

[Bogdan Golab]

Posted on June 05, 2018 at 14:14

Thank you for pointing out such great tool as iFixit

[AvaTar]

Posted on June 05, 2018 at 14:30

The site looks more like 'open and dissect it', rather than 'fix it'...

My last company used a STM8 in a 'electronic ballast' device for LED lighting. Not yet a STM32.

[Tilen MAJERLE]

Posted on June 05, 2018 at 13:50

I would also add Xiaomi Amazefit 2 smart watch.

[Tesla DeLorean]

Posted on June 05, 2018 at 14:54

The NIKE Fuelband used an L15x part as I recall.

[Bogdan Golab]

Posted on June 05, 2018 at 22:07

Nice device. Just googled interesting pdf:

http://jin.ece.ufl.edu/papers/EMBC2016_IoT.pdf

 

From the security standpoint it's an issue. But from the hobbyist perspective it's an opportunity to add new feature to real product

[AVI-crak]

Posted on June 05, 2018 at 14:57

Modern car radio with large screens - almost all have chips st. A huge variety of home appliances - where there are small LCD screens, industrial automation (chastotnik for a three-phase electric motor), and so on.

Another thing is important.

Virtually all products with st chips have second-level protection + almost always raw software. It is not subject to repair and restoration in case of failure. For this reason, information about st chips (firmware replacement) is completely absent from repairers' forums.

A good chip to sell, and very bad to buy.

[Bogdan Golab]

Posted on June 05, 2018 at 16:20

>A good chip to sell, and very bad to buy

Not sure why the chip is bad to buy.

I guess the ST does not make the designer protect the code at the level 2. It's a product vendor choice.

[Carlos Diaz]

Posted on June 05, 2018 at 21:54

IIRC the controllers on the Nintendo Switch have a STM32 device in it.

[Bogdan Golab]

Posted on June 05, 2018 at 21:57

Yes, great example. There is a bunch of ST ICs in this device:

http://www.st.com/content/st_com/en/about/media-center/press-item.html/t3934.html

 

[Nicholas Yunker_2]

Posted on June 08, 2018 at 14:13

Very cool article, thank you.  This is a good way to show kids in STEM programs at school that what we do is cool and fun.  A good way to get them interested so that they will want to become engineers and fill desperately needed embedded coding positions.

[Alex S]

Posted on June 07, 2018 at 10:34

Oventrop radiator controllers / valves. Kärcher products.

ST is more common than AVR or PIC controllers

[AvaTar]

Posted on June 07, 2018 at 10:58

For PIC controllers, this is definitely not true, you just don't know or see the applications.

This PIC14/16/18 controllers are dirt cheap for commercial customers, and millions end up in dirt cheap consumer products.

[Oliver Sedlacek]

Posted on June 07, 2018 at 10:52

I've recently designed an STM32F7 into an infrared imaging microscope to handle the Ethernet. I think the company also use a bunch of them in PID temperature control loops. The company adopted an 'ARM only' policy a few years ago to cut down on code maintenance costs, which means no more new PIC designs. The low cost STM32 parts tend to get used in those places.

[Bogdan Golab]

Posted on June 07, 2018 at 11:19

For me (a hobbyist) the most interesting commercial products with embedded STM32 are those which can be easily modded (firmware not protected, nice case, small size, availability of onboad sensors).

[Ronan Gaillard_2]

Posted on June 07, 2018 at 12:51

Formlabs' printer, the Form 2, embeds a STM32 controller for real-time processing.

[David Annett]

Posted on June 07, 2018 at 15:40

When I worked a Garmin I deployed a marine stereo and a high end infotainment system that used them in support roles.  Currently do a lot of interactive shop displays for places like Best Buy.  I can't say which companies I do them for but should be safe to say If you are at a Best Buy about 20% of the interactive displays are my designs and most use STM32 processors in a supporting role.

[Matthew Staben]

Posted on June 07, 2018 at 17:08

We're currently ramping up a custom board with a STM32F767II on it for use in industrial controllers.  (Fire Alarm Control Panel, Security Systems).  We're actually switching from a Luminary Stellaris LM3S9B96 and LM3S5732 combo due to the LM3S9B96 having a problem and sudden end-of-life due to flash that can't be trusted (it can lose data if left unpowered for 6 months!). 

Imagine that, finishing a product, pushing it through UL, and getting word from TI that the primary part will soon be obsolete so better sign this agreement and buy as many as you may need and expect no support or warranty!  Fortunately, we're able to sell copies of what we have already passed through the labs.

EDIT: Wanted to add, my project's a pure HAL centric port!  Running: FreeRTOS, LWIP, CAN, Ethernet MII, 2 I2C, QuadSPI, SDMMC, SPI, 5 Uarts, USB (slave+FatFS), 4 ADCs, DAC (PWM), DMA, IWDG, WWDG, TIMERs - all this stuff together with HAL with very few HAL tweaks.  It really is a VERY NICE PLATFORM - just have to understand how to run the HAL!

[Bogdan Golab]

Posted on June 07, 2018 at 17:19

I know what you mean.

Working for public safety systems where we have vendors for our system components we face the same issues related to sudden product End Of Life announcements.

I do not want to mention particular vendor name but believe me they are Fortune 500 companies.They say that their sub-vendors announced EOL as well, so they are simply victims of the supply chain. At least the say it.

Diversification of vendors sometimes help but it a huge cost to develop pararelly solution where the system cost is 500+ staff months...

[Tesla DeLorean]

Posted on June 07, 2018 at 19:08

A lot of factors impact these things, and in current market conditions people aren't going to carry water for uneconomic lines of products. They aren't going to warehouse wafers and ICs for decades, or speculatively build things.

The tsunami in Japan destroyed a lot of facilities. Samsung has committed old IC lines to LEDs. When old production equipment, especially test equipment (IC/Wafer testers, etc) breaks it may either be impossible to get spares or replacement equipment, or the costs are simply unjustifiable. Similarly IC packaging methods or lead-frames may be obsoleted.

Fabs get sold, fabs get closed, companies merge or go bankrupt.

Ten year commitments are a start, but they are hardly iron-clad/bullet-proof guarantees.