CMSIS-Core (Cortex-M)  
CMSIS-Core support for Cortex-M processor-based devices
 
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Overview

The CMSIS-Core (Cortex-M) component implements the basic run-time system for Arm Cortex-M devices and gives the user access to the processor core and the device peripherals.

In detail it defines:

  • Hardware Abstraction Layer (HAL) for Cortex-M processor registers with standardized definitions for the SysTick, NVIC, System Control Block registers, MPU registers, FPU registers, 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-M 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 the SysTick timer.

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

Access to CMSIS-Core (Cortex-M)

CMSIS-Core is actively maintained in the CMSIS 6 GitHub repository and released as part of the CMSIS Software Pack.

The following directories and files relevant to CMSIS-Core (Cortex-M) are present in the ARM::CMSIS Pack:

Directory Content
📂 CMSIS CMSIS Base software components folder
┣ 📂 Documentation/html/Core A local copy of this CMSIS-Core (M) documentation
┗ 📂 Core CMSIS-Core files
   ┣ 📂 Include CMSIS-Core Processor Files.
    â”— 📂 m-profile Header files specific for Arm M-Profile.
See CMSIS-Core Compiler Files and CMSIS-Core Architecture Feature Files.
   â”— 📂 Template Device Template Files

Processor Support

CMSIS-Core supports the complete range of Cortex-M processors.

Cortex-M Generic User Guides

Following Cortex-M Device Generic User Guides contain the programmers model and detailed information about the core peripherals:

CMSIS-Core also supports the following Cortex-M processor variants:

  • Cortex-M1 is a processor designed specifically for implementation in FPGAs (Armv6-M architecture).
  • SecurCore SC000 is designed specifically for smartcard and security applications (Armv6-M architecture).
  • SecurCore SC300 is designed specifically for smartcard and security applications (Armv7-M architecture).
  • Cortex-M35P is a tamper resistant Cortex-M processor with optional software isolation using TrustZone for Armv8-M.
  • STAR-MC1 is a variant of Armv8-M with TrustZone designed by Arm China.

Armv8-M and Armv8.1-M Architecture

Armv8-M introduces two profiles baseline (for power and area constrained applications) and mainline (full-featured with optional SIMD, floating-point, and co-processor extensions). Both Armv8-M profiles and Armv8.1-M are supported by CMSIS.

The Armv8-M architecture is described in the Armv8-M Architecture Reference Manual.

The Armv8.1-M architecture further extends Armv8-M with Helium (the so called M-Profile Vector Extension (MVE)), as well as further instruction set and debug extensions.

More information about Armv8.1-M architecture is available under Arm Helium technology.

Tested and Verified Toolchains

The CMSIS-Core Files delivered with this CMSIS-Core release have been tested and verified with the following toolchains:

  • Arm Compiler for Embedded 6.22
  • IAR C/C++ Compiler for Arm 9.40
  • GNU Arm Embedded Toolchain 13.2.1
  • LLVM/Clang 18.3.1