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ac6 >> ac6-training >> Processors >> ARM Cores >> Cortex-M4 / Cortex-M4F implementation Download Catalog Download as PDF Write us Printable version

RM3 Cortex-M4 / Cortex-M4F implementation

This course covers both Cortex-M4 and Cortex-M4F (with FPU) ARM core

formateur
Objectives
  • This course is split into 3 important parts:
    • Cortex-M4 architecture
    • Cortex-M4 software implementation and debug
    • Cortex-M4 hardware implementation.
  • Although the Cortex-M4 seems to be a simple 32-bit core, it supports sophisticated mechanisms, such as exception pre-emption, internal bus matrix and debug units.
  • Through a tutorial, the Cortex-M4 low level programming is explained, particularly the ARM linker parameterizing and some tricky assembly instructions.
  • The course also indicates how to use new DSP and FPU instructions to boost DSP algorithm implementation.
  • Note that attendees can replay these labs after the training.
  • The course also details the hardware implementation and provides some guidelines to design a SoC based on Cortex-M4, taking benefit of concurrent AHB transactions.
  • An overview of the Coresight specification is provided prior to describing the debug related units.
A more detailed course description is available on request at training@ac6-training.com
Prerequisites
  • A basic understanding of microprocessors and microcontrollers.

FIRST DAY - ARCHITECTURE
INTRODUCTION TO ARM CORTEX-M4
  • ARM Cortex-M4 processor macrocell
  • Programmer’s model
  • Instruction pipeline
  • Fixed memory map
  • Privilege, modes and stacks
  • Memory Protection Unit
  • Interrupt handling
  • Nested Vectored Interrupt Controller [NVIC]
  • Power management
  • Debug
ARM CORTEX-M4 CORE
  • Special purpose registers
  • Datapath and pipeline
  • Write buffer
  • Bit-banding
  • System timer
  • State, privilege and stacks
  • System control block
ARCHITECTURE OF A SOC BASED ON CORTEX-M4
  • Internal bus matrix
  • External bus matrix to support DMA masters
  • Connecting peripherals
  • Sharing resources between Cortex-M4 and other CPUs
  • Connection to Power Manager Controller
SECOND DAY - PROGRAMMING
EMBEDDED SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT WITH CORTEX-M4
  • Application startup
  • Placing code, data, stack and heap in the memory map, scatterloading
  • Reset and initialisation
  • Placing a minimal vector table
  • Further memory map considerations, 8-byte stack alignment in handlers
THUMB-2 INSTRUCTION SET
  • General points on syntax
  • Data processing instructions
  • Branch and control flow instructions
  • Memory access instructions
  • Exception generating instructions
  • If…then conditional blocks
  • Stack in operation
  • Exclusive load and store instructions, implementing atomic sequences
  • Memory barriers and synchronization
CORTEX-M4 DSP INSTRUCTION SET
  • Multiply instructions
  • Packing / unpacking instructions
  • V6 ARM SIMD packed add / sub instructions
  • SIMD combined add/sub instructions, implementing canonical complex operations
  • Multiply and multiply accumulate instructions
  • SIMD sum absolute difference instructions
  • SIMD select instruction
  • Saturation instructions
FLOATING POINT UNIT
  • Introduction to IEEE754
  • Floating point arithmetic
  • Cortex-M4F single precision FPU
  • Register bank
  • Enabling the FPU
  • FPU performance, fused MAC
  • Improving the performance by selection flush-to-zero mode and default NaN mode
  • Extension of AAPCS to include FP registers
C/C++ COMPILER HINTS AND TIPS FOR Cortex-M4
  • Mixing C/C++ and assembly
  • Coding with ARM compiler
  • Measuring stack usage
  • Unaligned accesses
  • Local and global data issues, alignment of structures
  • Further optimisations, linker feedback
THIRD DAY - EXCEPTIONS, DEBUG
INTERRUPTS
  • Basic interrupt operation, micro-coded interrupt mechanism
  • Interrupt entry / exit, timing diagrams
  • Interrupt stack
  • Tail chaining
  • Interrupt response, pre-emption
  • Interrupt prioritization
  • Interrupt handlers
EXCEPTIONS
  • Exception behavior, exception return
  • Non-maskable exceptions
  • Privilege, modes and stacks
  • Fault escalation
  • Priority boosting
  • Vector table
MEMORY PROTECTION UNIT
  • Memory types
  • Access order
  • Memory barriers, self-modifying code
  • Memory protection overview, ARM v7 PMSA
  • Cortex-M4 MPU and bus faults
  • Fault status and address registers
  • Region overview, memory type and access control, sub-regions
  • Region overlapping
INVASIVE DEBUG
  • Coresight debug infrastructure
  • Halt mode
  • Vector catching
  • Debug event sources
  • Flash patch and breakpoint features
  • Data watchpoint and trace
  • ARM debug interface specification
  • Coresight components
  • AHB-Access Port
  • Possible DP implementations: Serial Wire JTAG Debug Port [SWJ-DP] or SW-DP
NON-INVASIVE DEBUG
  • Basic ETM operation
  • Instruction trace principles
  • Instrumentation trace macrocell
  • ITM stimulus port registers
  • DWT trace packets
  • Hardware event types
  • Instruction tracing
  • Synchronization packets
  • Interface between on-chip trace data from ETM and Instrumentation Trace Macrocell [ITM]
  • TPIU components
  • Serial Wire connection
FOURTH DAY – HARDWARE IMPLEMENTATION
AMBA3.0 INTERCONNECT SPECIFICATION
  • Purpose of this specification
  • Example of SoC based on AMBA specification
  • Differences between AMBA2.0 and AMBA3.0
AHB - ADVANCED HIGH PERFORMANCE BUS
  • Centralized address decoding
  • Address gating logic
  • Arbitration, bus parking
  • Indivisible transactions
  • Single-data transactions
  • Address pipelining
  • Sequential transfers
  • AHB-lite specification
  • Parameterizing the AHB core provided by ARM
APB - ADVANCED PERIPHERAL BUS
  • Second-level address decoding
  • Read timing diagram
  • Write timing diagram
  • Operation of the AHB-to-APB bridge
  • APB3.0 new features
AHB CORTEX-M4 HARDWARE IMPLEMENTATION
  • Clocking and reset, power management
  • Using an external Wake-up Interrupt Controller (WIC)
  • Bus interfaces: Icode memory interface, Dcode memory interface, System interface and External Private Peripheral Bus interface
  • AMBA-3 compliance
  • Unifying the code buses
  • Unaligned access management
  • Debug interface
  • Connection to the TPIU
  • AHB Trace Macrocell (HTM)