STM32F4 Discovery kit with 3-axis MEMS microcontroller
Manufacturer: stm
# Introduction to the STM32F401CDISCOX Product Series
## 1. Overview
The STM32F401CDISCOX is a remarkable product series within STMicroelectronics' extensive portfolio of microcontroller development boards. These boards are specifically designed to provide developers, hobbyists, and engineers with a powerful and accessible platform for exploring and implementing a wide range of applications. Based on the STM32F401 microcontroller, the STM32F401CDISCOX series offers a perfect balance of performance, features, and cost - effectiveness.
## 2. Key Features
### 2.1 Microcontroller Core
- **ARM Cortex - M4 Core**: At the heart of the STM32F401CDISCOX series lies the ARM Cortex - M4 core with a floating - point unit (FPU). This core operates at a maximum frequency of up to 84 MHz, enabling high - performance processing for complex algorithms and real - time applications. The FPU allows for efficient handling of floating - point arithmetic, which is crucial in applications such as signal processing, robotics, and industrial automation.
- **Memory Configuration**: The STM32F401 microcontroller on these boards comes with 256 KB of flash memory, which is sufficient for storing application code, libraries, and data. Additionally, it has 64 KB of SRAM, providing ample space for variables, buffers, and stack operations during runtime.
### 2.2 Peripherals
- **Communication Interfaces**: The STM32F401CDISCOX series is equipped with a rich set of communication interfaces. It includes multiple UARTs (Universal Asynchronous Receiver - Transmitter) for serial communication, SPI (Serial Peripheral Interface) for high - speed data transfer with external devices like sensors and displays, and I2C (Inter - Integrated Circuit) for connecting to low - speed, multi - master devices. There is also a USB interface, which can be used for both device and host communication, facilitating easy connection to a PC or other USB - enabled devices.
- **Analog and Digital Input/Output**: The boards feature a variety of analog - to - digital converters (ADCs) and digital - to - analog converters (DACs). The ADCs can be used to sample analog signals from sensors such as temperature sensors, light sensors, and pressure sensors. The DACs, on the other hand, can generate analog output signals, which are useful in applications like audio signal generation and motor control. In addition, there are numerous general - purpose input/output (GPIO) pins that can be configured for various digital input and output functions.
- **Timers and Counters**: A set of advanced timers and counters are available on the STM32F401CDISCOX. These timers can be used for a wide range of applications, including pulse - width modulation (PWM) for motor control, generating accurate time delays, and measuring time intervals.
### 2.3 Development Tools and Ecosystem
- **STM32Cube Software**: STMicroelectronics provides the STM32Cube software package, which includes a comprehensive set of libraries, middleware, and tools for the STM32F401CDISCOX series. The STM32CubeMX tool allows developers to easily configure the microcontroller's peripherals, generate initialization code, and manage project settings. This significantly reduces the development time and complexity.
- **Integrated Development Environments (IDEs)**: The STM32F401CDISCOX series is compatible with popular IDEs such as Keil MDK, IAR Embedded Workbench, and the open - source GCC - based toolchains.