32bit MCUs from Russia

[iMo]

FYI - I came across this web page with various MCUs offered - made in Russia:

https://ic.milandr.ru/products/mikrokontrollery_i_protsessory/

https://ic.milandr.ru/soft/

[Deni]

Interesting Cortex-M4 device with ARINC and Spacewire serial controllers. Gives a hint what's main target app.

[iMo]

Most of the packages (not counting silicon) would cost you an arm and a leg

That M4F is RADHARD with ECC flash/sram

[ataradov]

The company is super frustrating to deal with. They are not really consumer-oriented.

I'm not sure if they got better, but previously even getting datasheets was like pulling teeth. Eval kits were also sparse.

But they do seem to be functional enough.

[GromBeestje]

I've heard about Milandr as being mentioned as a Russian producer of STM32 clones.  When you visit http://www.milandr.ru/ from the EU it throws you to http://www.milandr.biz/   Their "west" facing website doesn't mention those microcontrollers. Thanks for the links that don't throw me off. I'll have a look around some time when I got some time.
As I've been playing around with some Chinese clones, it would be fun to have some Russian clones to play with as well, but I have no clue how to get them here in the EU.

[ataradov]

They are not really clones. They are heavily inspired by overall STM architecture, but that's mostly because STMs are the most popular MCU by far in Russia. But they are not compatible in so many ways, that any other MCU based on ARM core would also be considered a "clone".

They did start by producing PIC clones, which were fully compatible with minor differences. For those they actually publish a document describing differences with the original in details.

[iMo]

You will get this nice package with stm32 from Milandr:
https://sudonull.com/post/1204-Modbus-on-the-Russian-microcontroller-K1986BE92QI

PS: that "dynamic current consumption" in that mini-datasheet with <120mA @80MHz @3.6V, hopefully a typo

[ataradov]

Those Soviet-style documents, packaging, and part numbers make me sad. This stuff gets them into Russian military stuff, but would prevent them from being used in commercial stuff. Would probably not help with getting into foreign markets. Not that they can/want to get into foreign markets anyway.

[asmi]

Those Soviet-style documents, packaging, and part numbers make me sad. This stuff gets them into Russian military stuff, but would prevent them from being used in commercial stuff. Would probably not help with getting into foreign markets. Not that they can/want to get into foreign markets anyway.

Unified part numbering is the single best thing ever happened! I wish it would be the same elsewhere, so I won't have to study numbering schemes of each and every vendor.

[SiliconWizard]

Not that they can/want to get into foreign markets anyway.

Yeah, like China, a significant reason for developing those products is to become fully independent, so they don't care much about selling them outside of Russia IMO. They may not even want that to happen.

It sure made me curious though.

[MiroS]

FYI - I came across this web page with various MCUs offered - made in Russia:

https://ic.milandr.ru/products/mikrokontrollery_i_protsessory/

https://ic.milandr.ru/soft/

My guess is  that they  are  repackaging  in Russia into this foil , but ... made in China. It is not that hard to guess , just look at wikipedia how this technology complex looks like ...

[ataradov]

Bad guess. Milandr designed those ICs. They are actually the first ARM licensee from Russia.

I can't guarantee that manufacturing of the specific ICs was not outsourced to TSMC or someone else like that. But they do own manufacturing equipment up to 28 nm. It is not a full scalable producton line, but they also don't manufacture a lot, so it all works out.

[ajb]

Randomly clicked on this part and it's interesting both physically and technically: https://ic.milandr.ru/products/radiatsionno_stoykie_mikroskhemy/1923vk014/

The fact that it can be used as a standalone MCU, or as a peripheral co-processor, or as a pure peripheral IC is pretty neat, but a pretty clear sign that the target market probably gives no shits about the price tag (in case the fact that it's radhard wasn't enough of a hint).

For the package, I guess you're expected to form the leads to your own requirements at assembly time? The datasheet for this one shows a 0.5mm pitch, would it generally be formed for SMT assembly (basically a half-finished QFP?)?  That sort of lead forming sounds like something that should be someone else's problem


https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:K145IK2A_Soviet_IC.jpg

[brucehoult]

I had a look at the technical specification https://ic.milandr.ru/upload/iblock/8bf/8bfa8749d5f2dc47beac2108dcb9da1b.pdf

Fascinating to see how much of things such as signal names, functional units, memory maps, timing diagrams, state transition diagrams are in English, even for something intended purely for use in Russia. And not just things copied from the Cortex M-0 manual, but custom parts.

Weirdly, V for Volts is written as U e.g. Ucc. Maybe it's just the typeface. Normal Russian usage is the same Volts, voltage etc as English, just transliterated e.g. волтаж and it's common in apartments to see "240 В" written on a placard next to electrical sockets or "осторожно! 6 кВ" or similar on a transformer box.

[asmi]

Weirdly, V for Volts is written as U e.g. Ucc. Maybe it's just the typeface. Normal Russian usage is the same Volts, voltage etc as English, just transliterated e.g. волтаж and it's common in apartments to see "240 В" written on a placard next to electrical sockets or "осторожно! 6 кВ" or similar on a transformer box.

In Russia, voltage is always denoted as "U" across engineering and science, so for example Ohm's law in its' simplest form would go like I = U/R. There is a standard which describes which symbol is to be used for what, and all engineering documentation for a product needs to comply with it (among many others) in order to be eligible for state procurement contracts (and many large private companies tend to adopt similar requirements), which goes down to a component level for certain industries (mostly mission-critical things like aerospace, medical, nuclear etc., as well as military).

[brucehoult]

Ahh .. interesting that scientific/engineering usage is different to .. "civilian" usage.

I'm still fascinated that, for example, "RealTime Clock, Watchdog" is felt ok to leave only in English, "processor" is only in Russian, and PMU has both "PMU" and the Russian translation of expanded "Power Management Unit".

[ataradov]

I'm still fascinated that, for example, "RealTime Clock, Watchdog" is felt ok to leave only in English, "processor" is only in Russian, and PMU has both "PMU" and the Russian translation of expanded "Power Management Unit".

They are walking a fine line. If they make it entirely in Russian, nobody would know what is going on. All those military and aerospace companies hire people that only worked with foreign part and are familiar with terminology.  At the same time they want to follow documentation standards to the extent possible.

Realistically, if it was up to them entirely, there would be way more English. It is actually one of the most common complaints about those parts - it is weird to read technical documentation in Russian.

[iMo]

In Russia, voltage is always denoted as "U" across engineering and science, so for example Ohm's law in its' simplest form would go like I = U/R.

In other countries as well. "U" means voltage in "V"olts.

[OwO]

Wonder why they don't just transliterate the English terms into Cyrillic
If you read a Chinese datasheet you see mostly kanji, but a lot of them are loanwords from English. Same thing in Japanese, but here it's very obvious because the English terms are in katakana:



I can read that even though I don't know Japanese (the words here are all a mix of English and Chinese): "ko-re-ku-ta be-su <voltage>" (collector-base voltage).


Btw any info on Russian FPGAs?

[ataradov]

Btw any info on Russian FPGAs?

There were clones of some early Altera CPLDs. But I'm pretty sure they all died. Military still uses them probably, but commercially they make no sense. Plus they never produced any software for them, so you had to use pirated Quartus.

[iMo]

"Catalogue of Russian R&D organizations and companies eager to develop international
cooperation in semiconductor design with European partners" from 2010..

[asmi]

There were clones of some early Altera CPLDs.

They licensed Cyclone II IP from Altera (and acquired production line), and then made some improvements (mostly in DSP from what I heard, but I have no first-hand experience with them).

But I'm pretty sure they all died.

And you'd be wrong. At least as of a couple years ago, these are the only officially approved rad-hard FPGAs, and they are still very much in production.

Military still uses them probably, but commercially they make no sense.

They were never meant for commercial use.

Plus they never produced any software for them, so you had to use pirated Quartus.

This is not true as well, which makes sense as how would Quartus know anything about their customizations.

[asmi]

In my company all technical docs are in English, and not only we are in China, we are funded by the Chinese government.

Using English clears out so many technical and communication barriers and misunderstanding, so why not?

Isn't that so because it's easier to hide stolen IP this way?

[OwO]

Now I wonder why a taxpayer sponsored organization is allowed to license patents? Shouldn't it grant royalty free use to the public, or at least to citizens?
Btw my organization's main work is publicizing ideas and workable implementations (in the field of communications systems), to block future potential patents. I consider both Qualcomm and Huawei a threat, because they are constantly filing shitloads of frivolous patents.

[MiroS]

Bad guess. Milandr designed those ICs. They are actually the first ARM licensee from Russia.

I can't guarantee that manufacturing of the specific ICs was not outsourced to TSMC or someone else like that. But they do own manufacturing equipment up to 28 nm. It is not a full scalable producton line, but they also don't manufacture a lot, so it all works out.

Right,  I found in wikipedia full listing who is manufacturing them and information about technology proces.
That is interesting the other way - 20 y old  technology is still in use. Who knows maybe that museal technology is more suitable for radiation hardening like vacuum tubes  or technology  embargo does not let  them  buy  something modern.