STMicroelectronics Accelerates Application Design Based on IO-Link Transceiver and STM32 MCU
China, December 15, 2021 - The STEVAL-IOD04KT1 industrial sensor kit from STMicroelectronics, featuring a thin mainboard measuring 45.8mm x 8.3mm, simplifies the development of compact IO-Link (IEC 61131-9) sensors for applications requiring point-to-point two-way communication independent of fieldbus systems.
 

The mainboard integrates STMicroelectronics' STM32G0 microcontroller and L6364W IO-Link transceiver, the IIS2MDC high-precision 3-axis digital output magnetometer, and the ISM330DHCX iNEMO inertial measurement module with a machine learning core. Thanks to the L6364W's 2.5mm x 2.5mm CSP19 microchip-level packaging and the STM32G0's 2.3mm x 2.5mm WLCSP25 packaging, the compact size of the board allows for the use of extremely small sensors. The board is equipped with a 4-pin M8 industrial interface, which can be connected to any IO-Link master controller supporting IO-Link 1.1. The 10-pin expansion interface allows the board to connect to more sensors with different modes.
The accompanying STM32Cube software package STSW-IOD04K provides IO-Link device description (IODD) files, STMicroelectronics' proprietary IO-Link demonstration software stack, and routines for managing the L6364W and MEMS sensors. The software package supports hot-swap activation and includes function libraries that aid in the development of various types of sensors. The software architecture can be easily integrated with other X-CUBE software to further expand the functionality of the sensors.
Because it can handle IO-Link communication functions, the L6364W transceiver reduces the workload of the STM32G0. The chip also implements the electrical interface and digital functions of the IO-Link standard, including wake-up recognition, a 15-byte data buffer, and a clock extraction function without a crystal oscillator. The chip is integrated with safety features such as surge pulse protection up to ±2.5kV, ESD protection, and reverse polarity protection, eliminating the need for users to install additional components and saving PCB space and BOM costs. The L6364W on-chip integrates a 3.3V and 5.0V LDO voltage regulator, as well as a digitally configurable buck DC/DC converter, which can provide up to 50mA of load current, helping developers meet the energy efficiency and EMC requirements of their applications.
The L6364W belongs to the STMicroelectronics IO-Link chip product family. This product family offers a complete set of chip solutions that simplify the implementation of the IO-Link physical layer, which also includes the L6360 IO-Link control-end transceiver and the L6362A and L6364Q IO-Link device chips.
The STEVAL-IOD04KT1 kit includes all the necessary tools for quickly connecting sensors for evaluation and use, including IO-Link M8-M12 adapter cables and STMicroelectronics' STLINK-V3MINI code burner. The kit is now available in the market.