The 32-Bit Arm Cortex-M7 is a state-of-the-art processing core by STMicroelectronics, the manufacturer of the STM32H743BIT6 MCU. The company made it available for use with the wide range of STM32 Microcontrollers (MCU) that have been optimized for use across different applications.
Our article today centers on how this core processor works and the other additional components that make STM32H743BIT6 a hallmark in the Microcontroller (MCU) industry.
The Core Processor
The Arm Cortex-M7 is one of the core processors from STMicroelectronics’ range of Cortex-M core processors. According to the manufacturer, it is one of the core processors that offer the best performances.
At the core of its operation is the integration of an optional Floating-Point Unit (FPU) with double-precision, as well as the Digital Signal Processing (DSP) blocks.
This core processor takes some features from the Cortex-M4 processor and is thus, considered for the backward-compatibility that allows for the STM32H743BIT6 to be interoperable with and leverage some of the functionalities of the Cortex-M4 processor.
Worthy of mentioning here is that the Arm Cortex-M7 core processor is based on the Armv7E-M architecture, which is exclusive to the Arm Cortex-M4 core processor.
It is against this backdrop that STM32H743BIT6’s Arm Cortex-M7 architecture offers the following:
1. An Extensive DSP
Although it integrates the Digital Signal Processing (DSP) blocks, the STM32H743BIT6’s core processor also takes a cue from the Cortex-M4 core processor basis.
It leverages that to extend the Digital Signal Processing (DSP) extensions. Some of the additional DSP blocks cum extensions provisioned by this are:
- Single-cycle MAC instructions
- Single Instruction Multiple Data (SIMD) processing
- An optional Floating-Point Unit (FPU), which supports the double-precision floating-point operations.
- Saturation arithmetic instructions
2. The Processor Assures of Higher Performances
The performance of the STM32H743BIT6 is higher, thanks to the high-performance optimization of its core processor. The higher performance is derivable from the 6-stage superscalar pipeline that has data caches, branch prediction and instruction.
Through this pipeline, the Microcontroller expands the data beyond the limitations posed by the internal resources. Through the larger code usage, the core processor also enables the addition of more advanced services and hardware that boost the MCU’s operations.
Examples of the additional integrations to make include:
- Multiprotocol support
- Artificial Intelligence (AI) models
- Cloud services and connectivity
3. Increased Caching Performance
STM32H743BIT6’s cache helps in both ways. It helps by increasing the MCU’s performance when using an external content connected to the external memory interfaces. It also increases the performance when accessing or executing the internal content.
4. Additional Peripherals’ Integrations
More (high) bandwidth peripherals are added to the STM32H743BIT6 MCU because of the support for the 64-bit AMBA4 AXI interface. This interface supports several bandwidth peripheral integrations, ranging from internal memories, external memory controllers and GPUs.
5. Increased CPU Frequency
The frequency of the Central Processing Unit (CPU) is also increased and in that regard, the increase aids the overall MCU functional improvements.
STM32H743BIT6 and the STM32H7 Family of MCUs
STM32H743BIT6 is a Microcontroller (MCU) based on the STM32H7. This is a family of Microcontrollers (MCUs) optimized to deliver different performances based on the target applications.
As such, the MCUs in this family have been further broken down into different product lines. At the time of writing, the STM32H7 MCU family supports three (3) product lines and all of these are permissioned on the STM32H743BIT6 MCU too.
The Single-Core Lines
These are the MCU product line groups designed to offer higher levels of performances. To get these desired performances, the MCUs have to either follow the pathway that promises to combine performance and power-saving at 280 MHz and 34 µA (typ) in STOP Mode; or the one that offers similar performances at the 550 MHz.
Dual-Core Lines
These product line groups are designed to integrate both the Arm Cortex-M7 and the Arm Cortex-M4 architectures.
For maximum functionality, these product line groups are also readied in the form of an embedded SMPS, which is used for improving the dynamic power efficiency of the MCU.
On the other hand, the support for the two cores (the Cortex-M7 and the Cortex-M4) allows STM32H743BIT6 to run up to 480 MHz and 240 MHz, respectively. This extent of operating capacity allows these cores to offer more application and processing partitioning.
The Value Lines
The value lines are the dedicated product lines of MCUs that are optimized for cost-savings. They are able to cut down on the costs of putting the STM32H743BIT6 Microcontroller (MCU) to goo use because of the basis on the embedded 128 kilobytes (KB) of Flash memory.
The STM32H743 Product Line
This is the primary MCU product line from where the STM32H743BIT6 is gotten from. According to the manufacturer, this product line supports the Arm Cortex-M7 core processor, which also has a double-precision, Floating-Point Unit (FPU). This product line of MCU can also run up to 480 Megahertz (MHz).
Supported here are the graphics, power efficiency, embedded peripherals and security architectures.
Let us start with the peripherals. The STM32H743 MCU product line supports different kinds of embedded peripherals, ranging from the multiple 16 and 32-bit timers that run up to 460 MHz, when used on the 16-bit high-resolution timer.
The embedded peripherals also include an easily extendable memory range that uses any of the Dual-Mode Quad SPI serial Flash memory interface, or the 32-bit parallel interface. The embedded peripherals also support up to 35 communication peripherals, including the camera interface, FD-CAN, Ethernet MAC, and the USB 2.0. High-Speed and Full-Speed peripheral.
In terms of the power efficiency, STM32H743BIT6 comfortably manages how power is to be on the MCU. It supports the low-power, standby and Run modes, even when the peripherals are off.
It is important to point out here that the Microcontroller (MCU) uses a multi-faceted power domain architecture, which is the reason why it can offer different power domains for maximum optimization of the target application’s power requirements.
Wrapping Up
STM32H743BIT6 boasts of a wide range of peripherals, connectivity options and most importantly, excellent performance. All these come together to make its optimization for different kinds of tasks and applications more enchanting.
