Category Archives: STM32 Tutorials


STM32 GPIO Ports Insights

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In any microcontroller there is at least one general purpose input-output port. STM32 is a not different breed and as expected it also has several GPIO ports. These ports are usually named GPIOA, GPIOB, etc. but unlike most 8/16-bit micros these ports are 16 bit wide. Thus, in general, every port has 16 IO pins. Port pins have several modes of operation and this is what that makes them both robust and complex at first. In development boards the IO port pin naming is cut short and so we’ll find PA0, PB12, etc. instead of GPIOA0, GPIOB12, etc. Even in

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STM32 Programming Tips and Tricks

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I remember that once in the beginning I said that I don’t want to buy a programmer/debugger hardware for learning a new MCU like the STM32 and also STM32s already come with built-in bootloader to facilitate programming via USART just like Arduino. Still the second is true. Well what about the first? To my own surprise I actually acquired a number of STM32-related stuffs since the time I started playing and exploring them. I actually bought both ST-Link 1 and 2 programmer-debuggers and several STM32 boards from Waveshare Electronics (http://www.wvshare.com). I believe learning new stuffs is more valuable than anything

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STM32 Internals

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STM32 micros as we know are high-end micros and this high-end tag is not only due to its memory, speed and hardware richness. An advanced micro like this also needs advanced internal supporting hardware. Most of us know about watchdog timers from previous experiences with common 8 bit MCUs like AVR and PIC. However when it comes to STM32 the idea of watchdog circuitry is elaborated. The options available for clock are also enhanced in the STM32 micros. In this post, we will see some of these supporting internal hardware. We will examine the use and operation of two different

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STM32 External Interrupt

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In my earlier post on STM32 GPIOs I showed how to flash a LED with variable delay times. That example was based on polling method where the code continuously monitored the logic state of a GPIO input pin attached to a push button to determine the delay amount. Obviously that won’t be an efficient technique when a program will be of a considerable size and complexity. This is simply so because the CPU will have to check the GPIO’s logic state every time the super-loop (while (1) loop in the main function) repeats and the push button will also not

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STM32 Serial Communication

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STM32 micros just like any other micro provide hardware for serial communication. As we all know serial communication is a very important tool for debugging, connecting with external hardware like RFID, GPS, GSM modems, etc. and for performing other communication-related tasks. STM32s have several hardware serial (USART) ports. The number of ports available in a STM32 micro is dependent on device family type and the device itself. Typically there are at least 5 serial ports. Apart from the basic serial communication needs, STM32’s USART hardware also have support for LIN, one-wire, smart card protocols, SPI and IrDA. We can even

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