Arduino Nicla Vision integrates STM32H7 MCU with Wi-Fi, BLE and camera support

Arduino Nicla Vision integrates STM32H7 MCU with Wi-Fi, BLE and camera support

May 8, 2022 — by Giorgio Mendoza

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The Nicla Vision is built around the STM32H7 (dual core M7/M4). This board comes in a tiny form factor and offers an on-board 2MP camera, Bluetooth 4.2 , Wi-Fi support and a 6-axis IMU. The Nicla Vision can be used as a standalone or in conjunction with Portenta and MKR components.

The microcontrollers used by the Nicla Vision are the Arm Cortex M7 (up to 480MHz) and the Arm Cortex M4 (240MHz). The wireless interface consists of a Murata 1DX Wi-Fi/BT LE module. The 2MP onboard camera supports tinyML which is a platform to run machine learning modules on low power MCUs.  

Nicla Vision front (left) and back (right)
(click images to enlarge) 

The 6-axis IMU (LSM6DSOX) consists of a 3D accelerometer and a 3D gyroscope. Other features include a fuel gauge for battery monitoring, a time of flight sensor (VL53L1CBV0FY) , a microphone, a USB transceiver and even a crypto chip with RSA/ECC algorithm support. 

Nicla Vision block diagram (left) and pinout (right)
(click images to enlarge) 

Additionally, the device is enabled to interface with MicroPython,  Arduino IDE, and OpenMV. Arduino has tutorials available on their Docs section that showcase some of the capabilities of the Nicla Vision including audio sampling and image processing applications. 

Nicla Vision 3.7V Li-Po battery support
(click images to enlarge) 

According to the company, the Nicla Vision is powerful enough for applications such as facial recognition, object detection, gesture recognition, etc. The Nicla Vision ships for €95 (~$99). The company also claimed their vision embedded board was designed to meet industrial standards and temperatures (-20° C to +70° C) and price decreases with quantity orders. 

Key features of the Nicla Vision include:

• MCU:
  • STM32H747AII6 Dual Arm Cortex M7 (up to 480MHz) and Cortex M4 (up to 240 MHz) 
• Memory/storage:
  • 2MB Flash
  • 1MB RAM 
  • 16MB QSPI Flash
• Camera:
  • 2MP GC2145 CMOS camera
  • On-chip 10-bit ADC
  • 1.75 μm pixel size
• Connectivity:
  •  Wi-Fi/Bluetooth Low Energy 4.2 (Murata 1DX)
• I/O Interface:
  • 10x GPIOs (pins shared w/ I2C & SPI)
  • 1x I2C
  • 1x UART
  • 1x SPI
  • 2x ADC
• Security:
  • NXP SE050C2 Crypto chip
• USB:
  • Micro USB port
• Power:
  • 5V (Via 5V USB)
  • 3.7V Li-Po battery w/ integrated battery charger and fuel gauge
• Operating temperature: 
  • -20° C to +70° C
• Dimensions:
  •  22.86 x 22.86  mm

 Further information

Nicla Vision boards are available on Arduino’s website for €95 (~$99).