ST SensorTile development information

[Microbob µ]

Posted on September 17, 2017 at 16:17

Hello,

   Is there a current and complete documentation on how to use and program the SensorTile, preferable without needing to purchase a Nucleo board? If there is one, where can I find it? Also, if it is absolutely necessary to have a Nucleo board, which one would be the right one to purchase?

   I noticed that all manuals and 'getting-started' guides point to buying a ST Nucleo board (which is not included in the SensorTile development kit STEVAL-STLKT01V1) in order to do any programming. This is a little upsetting since I purchased this 'complete' development kit to develop, not to purchase more material. Even so, I am having trouble finding up-to-date or relevant information on how to program and use this device. All manuals I've found so far have only talked about the cool features that this device has, and how to connect the SensorTile to a Nucleo board to program it. These manuals never showed API or documentation / software getting-started guides. The small 'quick-start-guide' download from the SensorTile page explains how to get the preloaded demo running and how to download the (old) firmware, but it doesn't explain how to upload the firmware or how to program the board (with or without Nucleo). Also, after investigating more into the Nucleo boards, I found that there are about 37 different types/variation of the Nucleo board, and the manuals don't point to which one should be used to program the SensorTile.

Thank you for your help!

#sensortile

[Davide G]

Posted on September 18, 2017 at 16:17

Hello,

The SensorTile includes an STM32 microcontroller, so you can refer to the STM32 documentation for details about programming/debugging.

I confirm that you need an 'external' debugger to program the SensorTile; the 'ST-Link V2.1' included in any Nucleo board would do the trick (and it's the cheapest solution I'm aware of). The 'type' of Nucleo board is not important since the only thing you need is the embedded ST-Link V2.1 debugger which is the same in all Nucleo-64 or Nucleo-144 boards.

As a starting point, I suggest you to have a look at he following document:

'Getting started with STM32 Nucleo board software development tools'

http://www.st.com/resource/en/user_manual/dm00105928.pdf

The only difference will be that: instead of programming the STM32 on the nucleo board, you will program the STM32 on the SensorTile. In order to do that, you just need to connect the Nucleo board to the SensorTile using the provided programming cable (and remove jumpers on CN2 to disconnect the on-board STM32) as explained at page 18 of the User Manual: 

http://www.st.com/resource/en/user_manual/dm00320099.pdf