LoRa-Enabled SoC With Low Power Feature To Meet Wide Industrial Uses

• STMicroelectronics latest addition to its wireless SoC portfolio brings extensive features and power efficiency to industrial wireless applications 
• The new device offers Flash-memory density options in 64KB, 128KB or 256KB

STMicroelectronics has added a QFN48 package to its STM32WLE5 wireless System-on-Chip (SoC) portfolio, bringing the device’s extensive feature integration, power efficiency and multi-modulation flexibility to a wider variety of industrial wireless applications.

The STM32WLE5 combines the ultra-low-power microcontroller technology of STM32L4 and Semtech’s SX126x sub-GHz radio IP for fulfilling worldwide local radio-equipment regulations. Its unique single-silicon-die integration helps save bill-of-materials (BOM) costs and simplifies the design of connected, smart devices for applications involving metering, city management, agriculture, retail, logistics, smart buildings and environmental management. 

Energy efficient

With its low power consumption and small footprint, the STM32WLE5 enables energy-efficient, compact and lightweight new products for growing IoT markets. The new 7mm x 7mm QFN48 package option makes it suitable for a simplified two-layer board design, further easing manufacturing and reducing BOM costs.

With a claim of being world’s first LoRa-enabled SoC, the STM32WLE5 supports multiple RF-modulation schemes including LoRa spread-spectrum modulation as well as the (G)FSK, (G)MSK, and BPSK used by various sub-GHz long-range protocols including proprietary protocols. Users have the flexibility to apply their desired protocol stack, whether created in-house, sourced externally or chosen from off-the-shelf software such as the LoRaWAN and wM-Bus stacks.

Features include:

• Dual low-power (14dBm) and high-power (22dBm) transmitter modes with a highly linear performance from 150MHz to 960MHz, spanning the sub-1GHz unlicensed frequency range, which ensures technical compatibility with RF regulations in all world markets.
• Sensitivity down to -148dBm helps to maximize RF range. Only a single crystal is needed to synchronize the high-speed external (HSE) clock and the radio.

Low power MCU technology

The new QFN48 package extends the STM32WLE5 portfolio, which also includes devices in 5mm x 5mm BGA73. Three different Flash-memory density options are available per package, offering a choice of 64KB, 128KB or 256KB. 

All devices feature a high proportion of user-assignable GPIOs and ultra-low-power microcontroller technologies, including dynamic voltage scaling and proprietary adaptive real-time ART Accelerator™ that allows zero-wait execution from Flash.

STM32WLE5 SoCs, including STM32WLE5J BGA73 and the latest STM32WLE5C QFN48 devices, are in production now.

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