STMicro, Microsoft partnership extends to STM32 MCUs and Azure RTOS

Building on Microsoft’s semiconductor collaboration announcement in April, STMicroelectronics and Microsoft have signed an agreement that allows developers designing with STM32 microcontrollers (MCUs) to use Microsoft Azure real-time operating system (RTOS) to provide ready-to-use services for managing their applications. This includes access to a FileX FAT file system, NetX and NetX Duo TCP/IP networking stacks, and USBX USB stack.

Designed to simplify and speed up the development of smart-appliance controllers and other Internet-of-Things (IoT) connected devices, the Microsoft Azure RTOS “seamlessly” connects to the  STM32Cube development ecosystem, said STMicro.

The STM32Cube ecosystem provides free development tools, software bricks, and software expansion packages that help users to select the right device and initialize their embedded projects to coding, programming, testing, and scaling and porting the design if needed. It also features an offering of embedded software libraries.

Over 1000 STM32 variants are available, covering a range of performance, feature integration, and package sizes. A few of STMicro’s latest STM32 releases include the STM32L5 series MCUs for connected industrial IoT and STM32H7 MCUs for cost-sensitive connected devices.

One of the big benefits of the Azure RTOS for embedded systems is that it offers safety and security certifications. Key features include support for IP layer security (IPsec) and socket layer security (TLS and DTLS) protocols, with future Common Criteria (CC) EAL4+ certification for TLS/DTLS and FIPS 140-2 certified software cryptographic library. It also provides safety pre-certifications including IEC 61508 SIL4, IEC 62304 Class C, and ISO 26262 ASIL-D. In addition, Microsoft is publishing the source code at GitHub as part of the agreement with MCU vendors.

Microsoft Azure RTOS is fully supported and all licenses are free for images deployed properly on STM32 microcontrollers, said STMicro, including prototyping and volume production.

STMicro makes it clear that users won’t be locked into the Azure RTOS. STM32 remains an open platform for all RTOS products, including FreeRTOS, Zephyr, Mbed, and other operating systems for embedded systems.