STMicroelectronics' STLINK-V3PWR is a new in-circuit programming and debugging probe that provides accurate power measurement, suitable for applications running on any STM32 microcontroller (MCU).
With a wide dynamic range to handle power-hungry projects including IoT and wireless applications, the probe measures current values from nanoamps to 500mA and remains accurate to ±0.5%. It can also supply up to 2A to the target system via a single USB cable, allowing developers to power the board without a separate source.
“Ultra-low power microcontroller applications use energy harvesting or run for years on batteries, but small design errors can create unexpected power issues,” said Reinhard Keil, senior director of embedded technology at Arm. “The new STLINK-V3PWR probe allows power profiling with Keil MDK. The µVision debugger can correlate program events with power consumption, providing analytics to help developers identify potential design errors and enabling multiple improvements in battery life.”
STLINK-V3PWR is directly compatible with the STM32CubeMonitor-Power graphical tool, which helps visualize real-time application power demands and analyze the effects of design changes to improve energy efficiency. It is also compatible with the Arm Keil development tool and the IAR integrated development environment (IDE), which allows users to synchronize code execution with power consumption measurements to optimize the application's power profile.
“Full support for the STLINK-V3PWR probe in the IAR Embedded Workbench for Arm allows developers faster and easier access to power analysis that is accurate, repeatable and with high resolution,” said Anders Holmberg, CTO at IAR. “This will certainly help realize greater energy savings and efficiency gains in ultra-low-power, ultra-efficient, next-generation connected smart devices, while dramatically accelerating their time to market.”
STLINK-V3PWR adds more power to the energy-conscious embedded developer's toolkit along with the STM32 Power Shield (X-NUCLEO-LPM01A), a programmable power supply that provides dynamic current measurement from 100nA to 50mA. It is typically used to analyze applications running on ultra-low power STM32 MCUs.
Additionally, the midboard power meter of the Discovery STM32L562E-DK kit measures dynamic current from 300nA to 150mA. The STM32CubeMonitor-Power acquires power measurements through any of these devices and allows real-time data rendering and updates of your acquisition parameters.
As a programming and debugging probe, the STLINK-V3PWR also has single-wire debugging interfaces (JTAG/SWD) to communicate with the STM32 MCU on the application board. There is also a Virtual COM port interface and a multipath bridge that allows the host PC to communicate with the target microcontroller via SPI/UART/I2C/CAN/GPIO communication to facilitate firmware upgrade as well as performance testing. field power measurement.