Along with an ARM Cortex processor, the STM32N6 has a proprietary NPU. This provides the same AI performance as a quad-core CPU with an AI accelerator for a tenth of the price and a twelfth of the...
STMicroelectronics will release the first microcontroller with a complete neural processing unit (NPU).
Along with an ARM Cortex processor, the STM32N6 has a proprietary NPU. According to Remi El-Ouazzane, President, Microcontrollers & Digital ICs Group at ST, this provides the same AI performance as a quad-core CPU with an AI accelerator at one-tenth the cost and one-twelfth the power consumption.
According to him, the chip will sample towards the end of 2022. While no specific ARM core is mentioned, the performance and power metrics hint at the M55 or potentially the M85, which was just unveiled. The M85 is ARM's highest-performing M core, capable of issuing three instructions per cycle and featuring integrated AI accelerators to further enhance performance.
The ARM M7 core is used in the dual-core M4/M7 STM32H7 and in the STM32F7 series alongside an ART AI accelerator. ST is a significant lead developer for ARM's microcontroller cores. The N6 family denotes the usage of a new core.
Supporting AI in industrial and embedded designs was a significant impetus for the company's recent acquisition of Cartesian, a French software tool developer, and is part of a plan to generate $20 billion in revenue between 2025 and 2027.
"The new STM32N6 Neural MCU lowers the cost of implementing AI technology considerably." This milestone advances our roadmap of next-generation intelligent sensors, allowing for quick deployment in Smart Cities," stated Vincent SABOT, Lacroix's Executive Managing Director.
The M55 and M85 utilize the ARMv8.1-M architecture, which is important for increased security and cloud integration. ST announced partnerships with Microsoft and Amazon to link microcontrollers to the cloud yesterday.
ST is combining its STM32U5 microcontrollers (MCUs) with Microsoft Azure real-time operating system (RTOS) and IoT Middleware, as well as a certified secure implementation of ARM, Trusted Firmware -M (TF-M) secure services for embedded systems.
The STM32U5's hardened security capabilities are combined with a STSAFE-A110 secure element's hardened key store in this integration.
The STM32U5 is also used in the integration with Amazon Web Services (AWS), this time using Amazon's FreeRTOS real-time operating system and ARM trusted firmware for embedded devices (TF-M).
ST's B-U585I-IOT02A discovery kit for IoT nodes with USB, WiFi, and Bluetooth Low Energy connections, as well as numerous sensors, is used in the reference implementation. The STSAFE-A110 secure element support comes pre-loaded with IoT object credentials, making it easier to protect and connect connected items to the AWS cloud.
FreeRTOS includes a kernel for resource-constrained embedded systems as well as software libraries for connecting various types of IoT endpoints to the AWS cloud or other edge devices. Long-term support (LTS) on FreeRTOS versions is provided by AWS for two years, giving developers a reliable platform to install and manage their IoT devices.
PSA Certified Level-3 and SESIP 3 certifications include hardware cryptographic accelerators, safe firmware installation and update, and better physical assault resistance.
In Q3 2022, ST will provide a STM32Cube-based reference implementation for both the Azure and AWS interfaces, greatly simplifying IoT device design by using close connectivity with the entire STM32 ecosystem.
Official Page: STMicroelectronics
