NUCLEO-L496ZG-P - Keil support?

[Bogdan Golab]

Posted on May 03, 2018 at 21:38

Hi,

I know it's rather a question to Keil but maybe someone came across this issue.

The uVision cannot find STM32L496ZGTxP MCU when the IDE starts.  The current DFP is 2.0.0 (2017-10-06).

I ignored the warning and successfully compiled simple program.

It seems I have no access to peripherals during debugging session.

The project skeleton was generated using CubeMX 4.25.0

Keil uVision 5.25. I have not found never Device Pack than 2.0.0

[Szymon PANECKI · Accepted solution]

Posted on May 03, 2018 at 22:35

Hello Boghdan,

STM32L4 MCUs with extension 'P' like for example STM32L496ZGTxP are devices, that support external SMPS. The idea is to reduce current consumption of MCU by bypassing embedded LDO and providing Vcore voltage from external SMPS (DC/DC + switch). Such enhanced STM32L4 MCUs were created based on standard non 'P' versions of STM32L4 MCUs by making replacement of few GPIO pins with Vcore (VDD12) pins.

You are right that Keil MDK-ARM with up to date STM32L4 pack doesn't embed definition of STM32L4 'P' devices, including STM32L496ZGTxP, which is present on Nucleo kit. I faced this some time ago and my workaround was to open settings of Keil project and select new device - the same like the one I want to use but without 'P' at the end. In your case it will be STM32L496ZGTx. This solution should allow you to work with MCU, including access to periperals in debug session.

I am sorry for the inconvenience.

Regards

Szymon

[Bogdan Golab]

Posted on May 03, 2018 at 22:41

Thanks for help. I will follow your advice.

I bought the board just for the SMPS to experience how it works.

[Szymon PANECKI]

Posted on May 03, 2018 at 22:49

If you are in particular interested in SMPS feature, then I would suggest you to register in

http://www.st.com/content/st_com/en/about/events/events.html/ultra-low-power-stm32-extras-mooc.html

. This session guides how step by step from scratch develop a simple application for STM32L4 with SMPS enabled. Hardware platform used there is a Nucleo-64 with STM32L45x, but at least partially you can reuse it for your Nucleo.

STM32L4 'P' are really great MCUs. SMPS allows to reduce current consumption of MCU by half in active mode.

Regards

Szymon

[Bogdan Golab]

Posted on May 03, 2018 at 22:56

Nice training. Thanks for letting me know.

I wish I were embedded engineer. Very exciting times (IoT, Machine Learning, great ARM devices, etc)

[Bogdan Golab]

Posted on May 03, 2018 at 23:02

At the beginning of the lesson 1 the audio is heard in 1 channel only.

[Szymon PANECKI]

Posted on May 03, 2018 at 23:14

Yes, you are right. In addition lesson 2 (marketing) has also some audio quality/volume problems. We were recording this session when it was facilitated in live and it was not done perfectly. I am sorry for this. You can consider to skip first two sessions and jump to third session, which is hands-on.

Regards

Szymon

[Bogdan Golab]

Posted on May 03, 2018 at 23:21

Quickly reviewed the Lesson 4. It's clear how the SMPS works in the context of the MCU. I will try the shown code approach on my board.

[Bogdan Golab]

Posted on May 04, 2018 at 08:22

Of course lesson 3  -  the hands-on part is really useful.