CMSIS-Core (Cortex-A)  Version 1.2.1
CMSIS-Core support for Cortex-A processor-based devices
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Overview

CMSIS-Core (Cortex-A) implements the basic run-time system for a Cortex-A device and gives the user access to the processor core and the device peripherals. In detail it defines:

  • Hardware Abstraction Layer (HAL) for Cortex-A processor registers with standardized definitions for the GIC, FPU, MMU, Cache, and core access functions.
  • System exception names to interface to system exceptions without having compatibility issues.
  • Methods to organize header files that makes it easy to learn new Cortex-A microcontroller products and improve software portability. This includes naming conventions for device-specific interrupts.
  • Methods for system initialization to be used by each MCU vendor. For example, the standardized SystemInit() function is essential for configuring the clock system of the device.
  • Intrinsic functions used to generate CPU instructions that are not supported by standard C functions.
  • A variable to determine the system clock frequency which simplifies the setup of the system timers.

The following sections provide details about the CMSIS-Core (Cortex-A):


CMSIS-Core (Cortex-A) in ARM::CMSIS Pack

Files relevant to CMSIS-Core (Cortex-A) are present in the following ARM::CMSIS directories:

File/Folder Content
CMSIS\Documentation\Core_A This documentation
CMSIS\Core_A\Include CMSIS-Core (Cortex-A) header files (for example core_ca.h, etc.)
Device Arm reference implementations of Cortex-A devices
Device\_Template_Vendor CMSIS-Core Device Templates for extension by silicon vendors

Processor Support

CMSIS supports a selected subset of Cortex-A processors.

Cortex-A Technical Reference Manuals

The following Technical Reference Manuals describe the various Arm Cortex-A processors:


Tested and Verified Toolchains

The CMSIS-Core Device Templates supplied by Arm have been tested and verified with the following toolchains:

  • Arm: Arm Compiler 5.06 update 7
  • Arm: Arm Compiler 6.16
  • Arm: Arm Compiler 6.6.4
  • GNU: GNU Arm Embedded Toolchain 10-2020-q4-major (10.2.1 20201103)
  • IAR: IAR ANSI C/C++ Compiler for Arm 8.20.1.14183