PEmicro Blog

Cyclone Multi-Channel Programmer Preview (Updated with Video Demo)

Nov 22, 2024

Update: PEmicro will be demonstrating the Multi-Channel Programmer at Embedded World in Nuremberg, Germany, March 11-13, Hall 4, Booth 150. Stop by and say hello!

PEmicro is expanding its popular line of Cyclone production programmers in Spring 2025 with the addition of a new Cyclone Multi-Channel Programmer.

Video with Overview, Features, and Demonstration of Cyclone Multi-Channel Programmer

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Limited-Time Promotion: 50% Discount. Upgrade V1 Licenses to V2 Licenses.

Aug 19, 2024

Over the years many customers have requested that PEmicro should instead use node-licensing for its flexibility and utility. We listened and the V2 Hardware License was born. The V2 Hardware License is activated once and stored inside the Multilink or Cyclone. This allows the user to take the hardware with them to any computer and share the hardware and software with colleagues. It's no longer necessary to activate per user and per computer. 

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STMicroelectronics: Provisioning/Securing STM32H573 Devices with OBKeys (Certificate and Password Authentication)

Jun 25, 2024

PEmicro's development tools and production programmers now support OBK programming for STMicroelectronics' STM32H573 series product line. With all the features of the STM32H563 line, including enhanced performance, better power efficiency and more embedded peripherals, STM32H573 devices also include a secure key storage mechanism which adds another layer of security for OBKeys. 

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STMicroelectronics: Provisioning/Securing STM32H563 Devices with TrustZone Enabled (Certificate Authentication)

Jun 14, 2024

PEmicro's programming tools support provisioning and securing of STMicroelectronics' STM32H563 devices in both TrustZone enabled and TrustZone disabled configurations. This tutorial demonstrates a sequence for programming the device into a secure, TrustZone enabled state. Secure and non-secure code and data images are programmed, Debug Authentication is enabled with certificate access, and the OEM-iRoT is provisioned. 

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STMicroelectronics: Provisioning/Securing STM32H503 Devices with Password Regression

Jun 14, 2024

STMicroelectronics' STM32H503 devices are based on the ARM Cortex M33 and offer high performance and power efficiency suitable for a wide range of applications. In addition, the STM32H5 product life-cycle adds a layer of security, allowing the user to secure/unsecure a device by moving it through product states. The following example details how to step through a simple product lifecycle.

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STMicroelectronics: Set STM32 Option Bytes Easily and Accurately with PEmicro Tools

Apr 09, 2024

PEmicro's PROGACMP and Cyclone software have a set of "user options" commands:

  • Create/Modify User Options File (CU)
  • Specify User Options File (SU)
  • Program User Options (PU)

These commands allow the developer to individually program user options through the use of an IDE.

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STMicroelectronics: Provisioning/Securing STM32H563 Devices with TrustZone Disabled (Password Authentication)

Apr 08, 2024

PEmicro's programming tools support provisioning and securing STMicroelectronics STM32H563 devices in both TrustZone enabled and TrustZone disabled configurations. This article gives an example of how to program the device in the TrustZone disabled configuration. A password is programmed which allows the device to be regressed to the Open (non-secure) state.

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PEmicro Adds Support for STMicroelectronics BlueNRG-LP and BlueNRG-LPS

Feb 26, 2024

PEmicro's  development and production programmers now support STMicroelectronics' BlueNRG-LP and BlueNRG-LPS microcontrollers based on ARM Cortex®-M0+. The BlueNRG series provides an ultra low-power programmable Bluetooth SoC solution to help bring wireless products to market.

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PEmicro Adds Support for STMicroelectronics STM32H5

Feb 23, 2024

PEmicro's development and production tools now support STMicroelectronics' STM32H5 microcontrollers based on ARM Cortex-M33. The H5 devices are intended to offer a compelling combination of performance and security at a reasonable price.

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PEmicro at ST Technology Tour in Burlington, MA (and Cyclone FX Giveaway)

Oct 27, 2022

PEmicro is attending ST Technology Tour 2022 - Burlington on  Weds., November 2. Our demonstration will use a Cyclone FX to program and run a series of custom test applications, query a remote server for data and then use the data retrieved to perform key Injection on the target,  and program dynamic data.

We'll have a booth running this demo at certain points during the day:

  • Breakfast demo: 9 to10:30am 
  • Lunch demo: 11:45am to 1:30pm 
  • Afternoon demo: 3 to 4:30pm

Please come visit us!

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Cyclone Programming Overview for STMicroelectronics Devices

Apr 19, 2022

The process of setting up Cyclone programmers to perform production programming at a local or remote facility is simple and straightforward. PEmicro's Cyclones support programming of STMicroelectronics' popular STM32 and Bluetooth Low-Energy (BlueNRG) devices, as well as the SPC5 automotive and STM8 8-bit families.

In addition, Cyclone programmers leverage PEmicro's ProCryption Security to use industry-standard RSA/AES cryptography to safeguard programming images containing valuable IP. The IP owner also gains added control over factors like when and how many devices can be programmed, and how many errors are allowed.

This article will provide an overview of Cyclone programming - what the various components are and how they interact - and then explore the security aspect of the production programming process, in order to show that IP security does not need to be unduly complicated or expensive to be effective. 

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STMicroelectronics: Using PEmicro Tools to Update the Wireless Stack on STMicroelectronics' STM32WB Devices

Nov 05, 2021

PEmicro tools can be used to update the current flash memory of STMicroelectronics' STM32WB Wireless MCUs with wireless stack information. Deleting current wireless stacks allows for more available flash memory in the processor, while upgrading wireless stacks allows the processor to perform desired wireless functions out of the otherwise inaccessible second core.

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Java SE Dev Kit 11 Support Added to PEmicro's Eclipse-Based ARM IDE Plug-In

Jun 21, 2021

PEmicro is pleased to announce our latest Eclipse-based GDB Plugins for ARM devices with Java 11 support compatibility. Java 11 support was introduced in PEmicro's ARM plugin version 4.9.2 in April of 2021, and all ongoing PEmicro plugin releases include Java 11 support, as well as backwards compatibility with Eclipse IDEs that still rely on Java 8-based JDK. Java 11 is a prerequisite for native Eclipse IDEs, starting from version 2020-12, as well as some proprietary Eclipse based IDEs from NXP (MCUXpresso IDE) and STmicroelectronics (STM32CubeIDE).    

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STMicroelectronics: Multilink/Cyclone Debug with STM32CubeIDE from STMicroelectronics

Jan 09, 2020

STM32CubeIDE from STMicroelectronics is an Eclipse-based enablement platform which supports development and debugging of code on STM32 ARM microprocessors. PEmicro's Multilink debug probes and Cyclone programmers can be leveraged for advanced debug capabilities via an Eclipse GDB plugin installed into any Eclipse IDE. This blog demonstrates the steps needed to install and configure PEmicro Multilink and Cyclone debug support in STM32CubeIDE to the point of launching a debug session.

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Programming MCU Fuses, OTP, and Option Bytes

Jan 07, 2020

Article updated Aug. 2021 to describe automatic fuse generation for NXP i,MX RT devices.

Some ARM devices have areas of flash memory dedicated to programming user configuration data. Writes to such areas can be sensitive or permanent for some devices, so it is important that the developer is able to write these options in an intuitive way in order to minimizes human error. PEmicro's PROGACMP v7.78 and Cyclone software installer v10.41 introduce a set of new "user options" commands:

  • Create/Modify User Options File (CU)
  • Specify User Options File (SU)
  • Program User Options (PU)

These commands allow the developer to individually program user options through the use of an IDE.

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3 Upgrades Add Cyclone FX Advanced Features to the Cyclone LC

Jul 09, 2019

The Cyclone FX comes standard with many advanced features which aren't available by default on the Cyclone LC series of programmers. PEmicro offers a licensing mechanism to add three of these advanced Cyclone FX features to the Cyclone LC : ProCryption programming protection and encryption, Advanced Automation, and external SD card storage for images. 

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Programming STM32Fx and STM32Lx Option Bytes

Jun 05, 2019

Note: As of January 2020, PEmicro now offers a new method of programming user configuration data through the new Program User Options command. Click here for more details about this command.

PEmicro supports a wide selection of STMicroelectronics' STM32 device families. Many STM32 devices include a set of user configurable option bytes that can control features such as HW/SW watchdog, read protection, and write protection. These options give users a convenient way of changing the settings of their device. Configuring option bytes of a STM32Fx or STM32Lx device is made easy with our PROG software and Cyclone Image Creation Utility software

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PEmicro Adds Support for STMicroelectronics' STM8AL Devices

Oct 18, 2018

PEmicro has announced the addition of support and features for a new set of STMicroelectronics’ STM8 devices to PEmicro's diverse line of embedded systems tools.

STMicroelectronics’ STM8AL ultra-low-power series for automotive applications stresses green energy, application safety and power efficiency with the use of these microcontrollers. PEmicro’s powerful Cyclone Universal and Cyclone Universal FX stand-alone programmers now support these and many other families of STMicroelectronics’ devices.

Current users of compatible PEmicro products can update their product firmware to add support for these devices. The corresponding programming algorithms can be downloaded from PEmicro's online support center.

How to use PEMicro's Multilink and Cyclone Interfaces with Keil's MDK-ARM IDE

Apr 13, 2018

Download the Installer for PEmicro support under Keil uVision IDE

PEmicro's run control and FLASH programming support is fully integrated into ARM's MDK-ARM Keil uVision Integrated Development Environment v5.25 for ARM microcontrollers. This provides debug capabilities via PEmicro's Multilink, Cyclone and embedded OpenSDA debug interfaces for a broad range of ARM devices from NXP, STMicroelectronics, Atmel, Cypress, Infineon, Silicon Labs and many others. For complete list of ARM devices that PEMicro supports, please visit the following page: http://www.pemicro.com/arm/.

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STMicroelectronics' STM8 Device Support Added to PEmicro's Universal Cyclone Programmers

Feb 19, 2018

PEmicro's CYCLONE_UNIVERSAL and CYCLONE_UNIVERSAL_FX programmers now support STMicroelectronics' STM8 devices via the Cyclone's PORT F 6-pin header. For convenience, we also offer an STM8 Adapter, sold separately, which converts those signals to a 4-pin ERNI connector.  

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Gang Programming with Cyclone Programmers

Jan 26, 2018

A volume production solution often relies on simultaneous gang programming of different target boards to meet speed and throughput requirements. This programming scenario may integrate Cyclone programmers into a fixture which interfaces to a panel of boards to be programmed. Programming is commonly controlled and monitored from a local computer, especially when customized dynamic data is being added to the main binary image that is being programmed into each target.

PEmicro’s gang programming solution is to control many Cyclone programmers simultaneously via the Cyclone Control Suite. A mix of programming images, targets, and data can be simultaneously programmed into many devices while maintaining a high level of performance because each Cyclone is itself an independently operating programmer.  

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