Before we study stm32f4 we have to know a little about the micro-controller.
Micro-controller is a small computer on a small single integrated circuit, containing a processor, memory and programmable input-output prefers. Micro-controllers are designed for embedded applications. The majority of micro-controllers are used today by embedding in other machinery .such as automobiles, computer systems, telephones etc.
Stm32f4 board is made by SD-microelectronics company .first it was made in 2011. In this board we have microcontrollers having the ARM Cortex-M4 architecture.it has stm32f407vgt6 micro-controller and 32 bit ARM cortex m4, flash memory( can be of 512.1024.2048) 192 kb RAM, debugging interface. It’s a lqfp100 package. Each chip contains an identification number programmed by the manufacturing company. We can give power to this board by two ways. Either through USB cable or by some external 5-volt power supply, which can be given on the pins. 3 volt will also work. This board has also micro electromagnetically system, in short, they are generally called MEMS. It is LIS302Dl or LIS3DSH depending upon the version of discovery board. MEMS are generally used for gravity, acceleration, tilled direction.
It’s one real-world use is on the laptops and tablets.it is also used to sense free falling e.g. if some laptop has fallen from some height. Before touching the ground stm32f4 senses the free-falling and instantly it locks the external hardware and saves it from the damage. This board contains four LEDs red, green, orange, blue. The purpose of these lights is to make the testing and working of this board easy. It has a reset button which can reset the whole programme of the board.Also has a user button used for testing. There are pins on this board aligned on both sides which are connected with the pins of micro-controller. These pins generate an ease for the persons who want to connect some external prefers for power supply. To connect this board to the computer a USB type A to MINI-b BUS cable.
To a programmer, the board computer software is used e.g. Atoll true Studio, Kiel MDK ARM. Mostly C language is used in software’s to program this board.
First time when the board is connected to the computer the LED’s will blink because the company which has made it, they must have inserted a dummy project into it. When the user button will be pressed a pattern of the light will be changed.
You will see that if the board is tilted the parent of blinking lights will change also. When the new programme is written on the micro-controller the old written programmed will be deleted automatically.
