STMicro Launches Software to Help You Make the Most of Its Intelligent Sensor Processing Unit IMUs
Latest software bundle includes tutorials and examples for making the most of the ISPU for tinyML and sensor fusion workloads.
STMicroelectronics has announced a software bundle designed to help developers get to grips with its latest intelligent inertial measurement units (IMUs) and their intelligent sensor processing unit (ISPU) hardware — and will be showing it off at Sensor+Test 2023 next week.
The company's new development toolchain and accompanying software is designed for use with the ISM330IS and LSM6DSO16IS, a pair of MEMS inertial measurement unit (IMU) sensors which include an on-board processor capable of handling everything from activity recognition to anomaly detection directly on-device — without having to pass the load on to a host processor. In addition to improving performance, STMicroelectronics says the design saves power and decreases latency — but only, of course, if you can actually get to grips with the core.
That's where the company's new toolchain and software bundle comes in. The ISPU toolchain includes everything required to write and compile C code for the ISPU hardware in the sensors, while the companion X-CUBE-ISPU bundle includes ready-to-use libraries, templates, and example projects alongside prebuilt files which can be loaded directly onto the sensor as a quick-start project. The company proclaims the ISPU's suitability for running "any type of algorithm," including signal processing and on-device artificial intelligence (AI).
Designed for use in everything from wearables to robotics and industrial systems, STMicroelectronics's range of new intelligent IMUs promise always-on 3D accelerometer and gyroscope readings in a device which draws as little as 0.46mA in its lowest power mode. Where additional sensors are required, the IMUs can act as "sensor hubs" for up to four external sensors, too, the company says.
The new toolchain and software bundle are now available on the STMicroelectronics website, while the ISM330IS and LSM6DSO16IS can be ordered as free samples from the company or purchased in the channel starting at $3.97 and $3.92 respectively. The company has also released tutorials and examples on GitHub under the permissive BSD three-clause license and the company's own SLA0094 software license agreement respectively.
