STMicroelectronics updates STM32Cube software for IOTA Chrysalis

In line with the transformative Chrysalis upgrades to the IOTA Foundation’s Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) and infrastructure, STMicroelectronics has announced the completion, validation, and availability of a new version of the X-CUBE-IOTA1 expansion software package.

It includes the integrated IOTA C library for the STM32Cube microcontroller software development ecosystem.

STM32Cube integrates low-level and middleware software in one library together with a configuration tool to generate initialization code for embedded applications running on any MCU from the popular STM32* microcontroller family.

With more than 100 expansion packages, including the updated X-CUBE-IOTA1, STM32Cube is a dynamic development resource that welcomes additional software components to enable specific application use cases.

The expansion pack, which includes IOTA-specific middleware and sample implementations, lets developers benefit from the efficient performance and high feature integration of STM32 MCUs to build smart, connected transaction-handling devices leveraging the latest Chrysalis upgrades to the IOTA DLT.

The IOTA DLT – also called the Tangle – is a decentralized secure database that protects against data tampering. According to the IOTA Foundation, the new Chrysalis protocol upgrade is 60% more energy efficient than IOTA ’s original implementation.

To achieve these gains, the Foundation upgraded its protocol to use atomic transactions, which register state changes more efficiently than “account-based models” that require updates of the whole account balance. These atomic transactions can be as small as 275 bytes/transaction, instead of the original 3500 bytes/transaction.

An improved “tip” selection algorithm also allows for faster transaction validation and synchronization. IOTA Foundation says its systems can execute 600 million transactions using the same energy spent in 1 Bitcoin transaction.

The updated version of the X-CUBE-IOTA1 software runs on the B-L4S5I-IOT01A

Discovery kit for IoT node, which features an STM32L4+ MCU and connects to the Internet through the integrated Wi-Fi interface.

The package relies on the highly optimized and robust security algorithms provided by the STM32 Cryptolib, and includes:

Middleware libraries featuring:
IOTA Client API for interacting with the Tangle
STM32 Cryptographic library for encryption, hashing, message authentication, and digital signing
Transport-level security (MbedTLS)
FreeRTOS
Wi-Fi management
Complete driver to access motion and environmental sensors on board

The X-CUBE-IOTA1 expansion software is available for download at ST.com.