CMSIS-NN  Version 1.3.0
CMSIS NN Software Library
 All Data Structures Namespaces Files Functions Variables Enumerations Enumerator Macros Groups Pages
CMSIS NN Software Library

Introduction

This user manual describes the CMSIS NN software library, a collection of efficient neural network kernels developed to maximize the performance and minimize the memory footprint of neural networks on Cortex-M processor cores.

The library is divided into a number of functions each covering a specific category:

  • Convolution Functions
  • Activation Functions
  • Fully-connected Layer Functions
  • Pooling Functions
  • Softmax Functions
  • Basic math Functions

The library has separate functions for operating on different weight and activation data types including 8-bit integers (q7_t) and 16-bit integers (q15_t). The descrition of the kernels are included in the function description. The implementation details are also described in this paper [1].

Function Classification

The functions can be classified into two segments

  • Legacy functions supporting ARM's internal symmetric quantization(8 bits).
  • Functions that support TensorFlow Lite framework with symmetric quantization(8 bits).

The legacy functions can be identified with their suffix of _q7 or _q15 and are no new development is done there. The article in [2] describes in detail how to run a network using the legacy functions.

The functions supporting TensorFlow Lite framework is identified by the _s8 suffix and can be invoked from TFL micro. The functions are bit exact to TensorFlow Lite. Refer to the TensorFlow's documentation in [3] on how to run a TensorFlow Lite model using optimized CMSIS-NN kernels.

Block Diagram

CMSIS-NN-OVERVIEW.PNG

Examples

The library ships with a number of examples which demonstrate how to use the library functions.

Pre-processor Macros

Each library project have different pre-processor macros.

  • ARM_MATH_DSP:

Define macro ARM_MATH_DSP, If the silicon supports DSP instructions(DSP extension).

  • ARM_MATH_MVEI:

Define macro ARM_MATH_MVEI, If the silicon supports M-Profile Vector Extension.

  • ARM_MATH_AUTOVECTORIZE Used in conjucture with ARM_MATH_MVEI to let the compiler auto vectorize for the functions that uses inline assembly. It does not affect functions that use C or intrinsics.
  • ARM_MATH_BIG_ENDIAN:

Define macro ARM_MATH_BIG_ENDIAN to build the library for big endian targets. This is supported only for the legacy functions i.e, functions targetted at TensorFlow Lite do not support big endianness. By default library builds for little endian targets.

  • ARM_NN_TRUNCATE:

Define macro ARM_NN_TRUNCATE to use floor instead of round-to-the-nearest-int for the computation.

Upcoming Interface Change

Starting from the 1.4.0 next release, CMSIS-NN will gradually switch to a new API interface to:

  1. have a stable API
  2. avoid passing many variables by value
  3. improve security
  4. improve validation
  5. improve code readability

The upcoming API interface change will be based on "struct" and only affect the TensorFlowLite micro compliant APIs [4] (functions with _s8 suffix)

Below you can find a snapshot of how the new API interface will look like (names can change)

i.e. arm_convolve_1x1_s8_fast

Current API interface New API interface proposal
const q7_t *input const cmsis_nn_context &ctx
const uint16_t input_x const cmsis_nn_conv_params &params
const uint16_t input_y const cmsis_nn_dims &input_dims
const uint16_t input_ch const q7_t *input_data
const uint16_t input_batches const cmsis_nn_dims &filter_dims
const q7_t *kernel const q7_t *filter_data
const uint16_t output_ch const cmsis_nn_dims &bias_dims
const uint16_t pad_x const q31_t *bias_data
const uint16_t pad_y const cmsis_nn_dims &output_dims
const uint16_t stride_x q7_t *output_data
const uint16_t stride_y
const int32_t *bias
q7_t *output
const int32_t *output_shift
const int32_t *output_mult
const int32_t out_offset
const int32_t input_offset
const int32_t out_activation_min
const int32_t out_activation_max
const uint16_t output_x
const uint16_t output_y
q15_t *buffer_a

Copyright Notice

Copyright (C) 2010-2019 Arm Limited. All rights reserved.

[1] CMSIS-NN: Efficient Neural Network Kernels for Arm Cortex-M CPUs https://arxiv.org/abs/1801.06601

[2] Converting a Neural Network for Arm Cortex-M with CMSIS-NN https://developer.arm.com/solutions/machine-learning-on-arm/developer-material/how-to-guides/converting-a-neural-network-for-arm-cortex-m-with-cmsis-nn/single-page [3] https://www.tensorflow.org/lite/microcontrollers/library

[4] https://github.com/ARM-software/CMSIS_5/tree/develop/CMSIS/NN#legacy-vs-tfl-micro-compliant-apis