STM32 Bluetooth Firmware Tutorial (Bring-Up) - Phil's Lab

Firmware and bring-up tutorial for custom hardware based on STM32WB BLE microcontrollers. PCBs by PCBWay www.pcbway.com
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[LINKS]
KiCad 7 Hardware Design Videos:
• KiCad 7 STM32 Bluetoot...
• KiCad 7 STM32 Bluetoot...
STM32CubeProgrammer: www.st.com/en/development-too...
STM32CubeIDE: www.st.com/en/development-too...
STLink: www.st.com/en/development-too...
Tag-Connect: www.tag-connect.com/solutions...
Adafruit GATT: learn.adafruit.com/introducti...
BLE without LSE: community.st.com/t5/stm32-mcu...
USB fix: community.st.com/t5/stm32-mcu...
STM32WB Getting Started Playlist: • STM32WB Getting Starte...
STM32WB Copro Binaries: github.com/STMicroelectronics...
[TIMESTAMPS]
00:00 Introduction
00:39 Hardware Design Tutorials
01:07 PCBWay
01:28 Altium Designer Free Trial
02:11 Schematic Walkthrough
04:03 Software Tools and Debugger
06:20 STM32CubeProgrammer & USB DFU
09:27 FUS & BLE Stack
14:01 CubeIDE Project, SWD & HSE/LSE Set-Up
17:02 USB Set-Up
18:10 RF/BLE Set-Up
25:00 Clocking
25:45 Flashing Firmware & USB Fix
27:59 Bluetooth Test
29:44 Bluetooth & USB Test
33:02 Outro

[@user-sr6tp5rj1p]

Philip you're a life changer, I appreciate every video you put online

[@PhilsLab]

Thank you - I'm glad to hear that!

[@PattysLab]

"Blue Phil" sense of humor is on point 😂😂

[@PhilsLab]

Haha thanks

[@PeetHobby]

Thanks, Phill, for another great video! 👍 And I even learn a thing or two, never too old to learn. 😁

[@PhilsLab]

Thanks a lot, I'm very glad to hear that! 😊

[@tadebaka]

Great video! Been looking forward to this one and as usual, it didn't disappoint.

[@PhilsLab]

Thanks a lot!

[@mronesh]

Great Video for Bring Up - it will be nice to focus on this more

[@PhilsLab]

Thanks, I'm planning on making more BT firmware videos.

[@perceptron9834]

amazing, thank you, im still at part 2 of the tutorial but your videos motivates me to push it forward :)

[@PhilsLab]

Thanks a lot, I'm very glad to hear that!

[@stevemmaina779]

Great video, kindly do one on RF matching and PCB antenna design

[@zeeebrenn]

Nice video Phil. Surely still some quirks in the STM32WB stuff. For all the people doing home automation out there, would be nice to see a similar video to do the same with ZigBee, and then show your bluephil in home assistant :)

[@sebastiank686]

Ah yes, I would definately love to see some zigbee stuff😊

[@hollyizza3672]

Hey Phil, loved your video! You’ve inspired me to learn PCB design and stm32. I would like to learn more about sub-ghz using c1101. Can you make a video on that? Love you Phil ❤

[@PhilsLab]

Thank you! Yes, I've been meaning to make a video on the TI CC stuff for some time.

[@muhammadshahzaib3813]

Thank you for detailed video. Have a good day ❣️

[@PhilsLab]

Thanks a lot for watching, Muhammad!

[@wolpumba4099]

*Summary* *Introduction to STM32 WB Custom Hardware Design* - 0:00 Introduction to the video's topic: board bring-up steps for STM32 WB based custom hardware. - 0:07 Overview of the STM32 WB 55 microcontroller and its features including chip antenna, user switch, and USB-C connector. - 0:21 Explanation of the tag connect header for programming. - 0:32 Mention of quirks in firmware setup to be addressed in the video. *Hardware Design and Supporting Tools* - 0:43 Reference to a detailed hardware design tutorial available in two videos. - 1:08 Acknowledgment of PCBWay for manufacturing the STM32 WB custom hardware. - 1:32 Use of Altium Designer for the board design and a promotion for a free trial. *Schematic Overview and Components* - 2:15 Introduction to the schematic of the STM32 WB 55 board. - 2:20 Details of the USB type-C connector and power configuration. - 2:49 Description of the programming interfaces and boot zero functionality. - 3:01 Explanation of the boot zero switch's role in firmware startup. - 3:21 Description of the 32 MHz Crystal oscillator and the absence of a low-speed external crystal. - 3:37 Overview of the integrated switch power supply and the RF front end with a chip antenna. *Microcontroller and Software Tools* - 4:03 Introduction to the STM32 WB 55C microcontroller, its features, and dual-core architecture. - 4:23 Suggestion to download STM32CubeIDE for development. - 4:47 Introduction to STM32CubeProgrammer for flashing firmware. *Debugging and Programming Hardware* - 5:01 Recommendation to use an ST debugger, specifically the STLink V3. - 5:24 Explanation of the tag connect header and its connection to the STLink V3. *STM32CubeProgrammer and USB DFU* - 6:26 Demonstration of using STM32CubeProgrammer to check device connectivity. - 7:00 Description of the boot zero functionality for USB DFU mode. - 7:47 Adjustment of option bytes to enable boot zero pin functionality. - 8:20 Demonstration of entering DFU mode using the boot zero switch. - 9:03 Connecting to the microcontroller via USB in DFU mode. *FUS & BLE Stack* - 9:27 Explanation of the need to download co-processor binaries for the wireless stack. - 10:02 Discussion on various available stacks and where to find them. *Firmware Update Service (FUS) Process* - 10:50 Explanation of the Firmware Update Service (FUS) in STM32CubeProgrammer. - 11:06 Process of starting the FUS. - 11:19 Checking FUS version information. - 11:32 Note on the typically outdated FUS version in shipped STM32 WBs. - 11:37 Steps to download and open the FUS binary file. - 11:45 Instructions on finding the correct start address for the FUS. - 12:02 Reference to the firmware upgrade service binary table for address determination. - 12:15 Identification of the correct address for STM32 WB 55 CU6. - 12:27 Steps for firmware upgrade using the STM32CubeProgrammer. - 12:40 Verification of the updated FUS version. *Adding the Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) Stack* - 12:53 Process for adding the BLE stack. - 13:00 Steps to find and change the start address for the BLE stack. - 13:21 Completion of the BLE stack firmware upgrade. - 13:34 Verification of the BLE stack version. *CubeIDE Project, SWD & HSE/LSE Set-Up* - 14:04 Transition to setting up the main firmware in STM32CubeIDE. - 14:17 Creation of a new STM32 project in CubeIDE. - 14:38 Introduction to the ioc window for selecting pinouts and peripherals. - 14:44 Basic setup for a USB and Bluetooth interface application. - 15:09 Enabling Serial Wire Debug (SWD). - 15:37 Explanation of enabling crystal oscillators, specifically HSE and LSE. - 16:04 Note on the optional nature of the LSE and its implications. - 16:29 Recommendation to include LSE in hardware design. - 16:41 Reference to a guide for configuring STM32 WB for BLE without LSE. *USB Set-Up for Application* - 17:05 Steps to enable USB for the application. - 17:23 Explanation of choosing the virtual COM port in USB middleware settings. *RF/BLE Set-Up in CubeIDE* - 18:13 Initial steps to enable Bluetooth functionality in the project. - 18:31 Suggestion to read additional resources on Bluetooth technology. - 19:17 Process of enabling various system components to access BLE middleware. - 19:48 Activation of hardware semaphores for core synchronization. - 20:01 Enabling IPCC for inter-core communication. - 20:26 Activation of RTC for BLE stack access. - 20:51 Enabling RF interface for antenna communication. - 21:04 Selection of the relevant BLE stack in middleware settings. - 21:15 Mention of various configurable parameters for the BLE stack. *Setting Up Bluetooth Communication* - 21:47 Process of sending data from phone to hardware via Bluetooth, then printing it out via USB. - 21:52 Mention of ST's BLE Toolbox app for Android and iOS for Bluetooth interaction. - 22:16 Configuration of BLE applications and services in STM32CubeIDE. - 22:23 Disabling the custom P2P server and enabling the custom template. - 22:49 Changing advertising settings to include the device's complete local name. - 23:09 Setting up a GATT service and characteristic in STM32CubeIDE. - 23:33 Creation of a service and characteristic for data transfer in BLE setup. - 24:06 Configuration of service characteristics properties, setting up a write characteristic. - 24:42 Adjusting events to trigger only on attribute write. *Clock Configuration and Firmware Flashing* - 25:01 Setting up the clock configuration in CubeIDE. - 25:35 Resolving clock issues automatically using CubeIDE's feature. - 25:46 Completion of BLE GATT, USB setup, and serial wire debug configuration. - 26:07 Generation of necessary drivers and supporting structure after saving the IOC file. - 26:19 Instructions for building and uploading the firmware using STM32CubeIDE. - 26:50 Encounter with a USB device recognition issue. - 27:02 Reference to a forum post explaining the USB recognition bug and its fix. - 27:14 Implementation of the fix by modifying the peripheral clock config function. - 27:38 Successful recognition of the USB serial device in the device manager. *Testing Bluetooth and USB Functionality* - 28:02 Confirmation of USB connectivity and Bluetooth service functionality. - 28:14 Using the ST BLE Toolbox app to detect the Bluetooth-enabled hardware. - 28:55 Connecting to the microcontroller via the app. - 29:19 Identifying the custom characteristic set up for Bluetooth communication. - 29:50 Adding functionality to the project to complete data transmission testing. - 30:03 Modifying the STM32 WPAN folder's custom service for the test. - 30:21 Description of the event handler function for Bluetooth characteristic changes. - 30:40 Inclusion of the USB CDC driver in the project. - 31:03 Adding code to transmit received Bluetooth data over USB. - 31:39 Final compilation and firmware upload for testing. - 31:51 Setting up a serial port connection on the host computer for data reception. *Conducting the Bluetooth and USB Test* - 32:03 Initiating Bluetooth connection to the hardware using the ST BLE Toolbox app. - 32:15 Testing data transmission from the app to the microcontroller, then via USB to the host computer. - 32:28 Successful transmission of a character ('H') from the phone to the hardware via Bluetooth, displayed in the PuTTY terminal. - 32:34 Verification of Bluetooth and USB CDC connections and data forwarding capability. - 32:40 Demonstration of sending various characters to showcase basic functionality. *Firmware Customization and Extension Possibilities* - 32:47 Discussion on extending the firmware's capabilities, such as increasing character value length. *Conclusion and Overview of Achievements* - 33:05 Summary of the video's achievements: basic firmware bring-up testing various peripherals of STM32 WB 55 microcontroller. - 33:10 Review of tested features: Bluetooth, Serial Wire Debug, boot zero setting, USB-C, and chip antenna functionality. - 33:17 Encouragement for viewers to use the demonstrated framework for developing their own designs. - 33:28 Invitation for feedback, questions, and encouragement to subscribe for future videos on hardware, firmware, DSP, and electronics. Disclaimer: I used chatgpt4 to summarize the video transcript. This method may make mistakes in recognizing words.

[@thetechegg8859]

Huge fan of your work!

[@PhilsLab]

Thank you very much!

[@unknown_1337]

Great content, Phil! 👍

[@PhilsLab]

Thanks a lot!

[@PhilsLab]

Thank you very much!

[@nicoladellino8124]

Very very nice video, THX Phill.

[@PhilsLab]

Thank you, Nicola!

[@DrLamalama]

For some reason you tend to always make videos about topics I'm currently dealing with. I'm trying to add Bluetooth Audio to my car's stereo. Since buying a new stereo is boring and the current one also doesn't have an AUX IN, I decided to make an protocol emulator for an optional CD changer. That already works with an Arduino and a cable. I tired to get it BLE audio to work with an ESP32-C3, but I had no luck. I couldn't find any documentation or examples on BLE Audio, not even in the IDF. Only A2DP, which I don't want to use because it sounds quite terrible. So I guess I'll give the STM32WBs a chance now.

[@GoPaintman]

Neat! How did you find the protocol?

[@DrLamalama]

​@@GoPaintman It's a Ford RDS 6000 CD stereo. TL;DR; I found existing projects that implemented the necessary parts of the protocol, and one of them also had scans of the original specification document. I found a pinout for one of the rear connectors that was unused on my car. The names looked like AUX related. Simply feeding some audio signal into it did nothing. Looking further I found that CD Changers are a thing and I figured out that ACP+ and ACP- are supposed to be some data communication pins. Searching for Ford ACP lead me to a lot of existing projects, even dating back to the pre-arduino-era. I wasn't completely happy with the implementations I found, I even considered buying a CD Changer from Ebay to reverse engineer the protocol. Then I found the original specification document in a project named "Yampp3".

[@PhilsLab]

Glad to hear the topics are aligning well - also cool project you have going there!

[@amandioreal2293]

Great vídeo. Thank for your time

[@PhilsLab]

Thanks for watching!

[@undercrackers56]

Thank you so much for this video. Can anyone provide a link to a similar tutorial on how to transmit from BLE?

[@terlumunjoseph6779]

excellent tutorials

[@PhilsLab]

Thank you!

[@FRANCISCOPEREZ-eh5xs]

Amazing video

[@PhilsLab]

Thanks!

[@persupersulast2506]

where can i learn more about STM32 WPAN driver inner workings? i cant seem to find anything on stm32 wiki

[@Tagzmon]

Great video

[@PhilsLab]

Thank you!

[@engineerdanny7569]

hi phil great work ,you are an inspiration to many engineers .would you please tell me which software you use for screen recording and secondly which software you use for removing background mic noise

[@PhilsLab]

Thank you, Danny! I use OBS for screen recording and have outboard gear for noise reduction (SSL 500-Series).

[@persupersulast2506]

can you switch USB with USART to print out characters via terminal if you use nucleo and onboard stlink?

[@adityaallam6828]

Do a video on the current transmitting transducers how to read the current using micro controllers if possible:)

[@efivip93]

This is so cool!! I'm about to design my own project and bought stm32wb instead of esp32 and then you uploaded this video, i'm so happy. 😊 Btw, do you think it would be hard to update the firnware through bluetooth when i have then connected in a mesh network?

[@PhilsLab]

Awesome, hope all goes well with your design! There are some guides on how to do OTA DFU (e.g. AN5247), but I haven't given that a go myself yet.

[@escott6509]

Great content Phil. Can you do a UWB pcb bring up and firmware , it will be interesting to see your approach

[@PhilsLab]

Thank you! Not sure when I'll be doing more RF stuff on the channel I'm afraid.

[@bob_mosavo]

Thanks 👍

[@Kysen10]

I noticed that most BLE boards have a shield on, does this design not need one?

[@sanjikaneki6226]

interesting thos i would use a ESP32 since it also has WIFI on a side note do u intend to make a MPU design video?

[@codures]

Hi Phil, great video with a lot of very useful information - kudos to you. Out of curiosity, how much time have you spent before running the ble demo? I mean you have a ~34 mon video but I suspect the real time is rather months as opposed to weeks. Am I right ?

[@PhilsLab]

Thank you! Getting this up and running for the first time only took a couple of hours (less than a day).

[@codures]

@@PhilsLab Thank you for the reply. The question was asked in the sense of how much time you have spent dealing with the documentation, st support (thread digging, customer support, etc.) and assuming you have no prior knowledge of the ST's μCs (which is not the case since you're using these for a very long time now). As a hobbyist, I'm interested in the overall timeframe of the learning curve as I find their development environment very interesting. Thanks for the 2 previous videos too, they are awesome.

[@dreamcat4]

would love to see it one day using all the same st libraries and codebase.... except over on the platform io plugin ide for vscode. this also includes live native hardware debugger, courtesy of stlink and microsoft.... and i believe it operates the stlink/swd or jtag connection using openocd cmdline program under the hood. to be clear: rather than st's own proprietary stlink connection software.

[@scrubbypiss]

First, as always thank you for such a great tutorial series. I was wondering if you’ve tried Zephyr RTOS with STM32WB, and if so what you thought of it? Cheers !

[@PhilsLab]

Thank you! Haven't tried Zephyr yet but wanted to give it a go with an upcoming nRF design.

[@justinleakey9443]

What's the process in choosing the chip antenna? / Reason for the AMCA31-2R450G-S1F-T3?

[@PhilsLab]

Looking at datasheets, this one seemed very straightforward to integrate.

[@awocrf]

With all the additional files that get generated after enabling BLE what is the "proper" place to write normal code (like flashing an LED)? Is it still main.c or somwhere else?

[@PhilsLab]

Depends on what you require. In main.c while loop, you'll see that a BLE 'task' is actually run. Some code will be in main, others like shown in the video may be in event handlers.

[@nafisahmed6247]

noice! Please make a tutorial on making a very simple usb stm32 device that is not the common USB keyboard/mouse/serial hid. A custom USB device that will be detected as Phil's USB MCU. windows driver for this Phil's USB MCU and a simple C terminal program that will take user input to send 'a' or 'b' to turn on/off a led. I have already exhausted all google search results.

[@mikewhite5511]

Do you have any low-power designs where the STM32 runs from a coin cell (eg 2032), whether you need boost converter, guess for debug you'd have Schottky diode to USB power as well !

[@mikewhite5511]

I have also had a look at AN4718 which talks about VBAT and coin cell use.

[@andymouse]

Please repeat all after " In this video I will show" ! Blimey this one's a bit of a shocker but a godsend for those starting out with this chip family as I plan to be....cheers.

[@egun5806]

Can you make a video where you design a PCB and show how you calculate the capacity or resistance of a component? If you can of course! :)

[@jeffreydijkstra3391]

you can buy his mixed signal design course. I bought it too. it's a gold mine! he will show you the full pcb design steps

[@PhilsLab]

I want to make more analog design videos, which'll go into detail on sizing passives for those circuits. But as Jeffrey said, the mixed-signal course goes into quite a bit more detail.

[@germanGGGG72]

Thanks so much. Excellent video-tutorial. Could you share the files of electrical diagrams and BOM/BILL of materials?. Thanks in advance

[@PhilsLab]

Thanks! You can check out the KiCad tutorials linked in the description, which essentially have the same schematic/BoM.

[@qbitsday3438]

Again Visiting the Genius !

[@PhilsLab]

Haha thank you!

[@RustamBazarbaev]

Hi Phil! I am interested in learning PCB and hardware design, but I don’t know where to start. Could you give me some advice and recommend some books?

[@noxagonal]

From experience I can tell, the best way to learn is by finding a project you'd like to spend the next couple of months on, then figure out each step of the way. Look up tutorials on youtube to get an idea of what to do, ask ChatGPT for specifics, be curious and experiment. You'll learn faster by doing than reading.

[@Kysen10]

This is so much better than the ESP32 platform. Had a nightmare time getting up and running on that without going the arduino route. Currently working through video #2 and will get the board fabricated soon.

[@PhilsLab]

Yeah, I'm not much of a fan of the Arduino environment, but still am planning on making a video covering ESP IDF. I'm just so used to the whole ST ecosystems, that - despite some bugs - it feels quite straightforward.

[@sanjikaneki6226]

yea some call it arduino hell since getting out requires a lot of learning but IDF is ok

[@Thats_Mr_Random_Person_to_you]

To be fair, arduino has its uses. No one can deny its been incredibly successful as bringing microcontroller project design to the 'masses'. Ie a general hobbyist who just wants something relatively quick and doesnt mind (or understand) the dirty. It is a tool to allow hobbyists to relatively 'easily' get into things etc... Is it 'pro' grade or a thing an embedded engineer would use during their day work? Of course not, but thats not the market. People who have embedded experience do it the way Phil does with STM tools and debuggers etc.. (for STM microcontrollers). Arduino is what arduino is.

[@Kysen10]

@@Thats_Mr_Random_Person_to_you For me I had no embedded experience at all but came from other high level languages (Java,C++) and was used to fully featured IDEs. This is why when presented with the Arduino IDE I just couldn't deal with how limited everything was. Thanks to this channel I discovered STM32 and love it.

[@petricabutnaru9263]

The components are soldered at home or are already soldered? What supplier are you using for pcbs? I like your projects🙂

[@PhilsLab]

Thanks! The board was fully manufactured and assembled by PCBWay.

[@oliverer3]

Am I hallucinating or did the most recent video disappear?

[@amandioreal2293]

Maybe next project could be related with IoT, like zigbee network

[@MackesLP]

Is it possible to run a language like c# on an microcontroller like a stm32?

[@PhilsLab]

Not as far as I'm aware - although there may be some dedicated compiler out there.

[@mikewhite5511]

STM32 runs ARM Cortex processors mostly, have a look in the Mono project which aims to provide cross platform .NET functionality

[@fra5715]

YES!!

[@hacksontable5850]

Nice👍

[@PhilsLab]

Thanks!

[@Onlyindianpj]

Arduino but with nrf24

[@tamaseduard5145]

👍❤🙏

[@mixguru9669]

Your voice has changed. Is everything okay?

[@PhilsLab]

I had a cold while recording, but thanks for asking 😊

[@dreamcat4]

would love to see it one day using all the same st libraries and codebase.... except over on the platform io plugin ide for vscode. this also includes live native hardware debugger, courtesy of stlink and microsoft.... and i believe it operates the stlink/swd or jtag connection using openocd cmdline program under the hood. to be clear: rather than st's own proprietary stlink connection software.

[@PhilsLab]

I've yet to try out that setup - one day hopefully, as I've heard good things about that!