Arm Cortex-M series processors

The Cortex-M processor family is optimized for cost and energy-efficient microcontrollers. These processors are found in a variety of applications, including IoT, industrial, and everyday consumer devices.

Compare the specifications of Cortex-M processors:

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The Cortex-M processor family is based on the M-Profile Architecture that provides low-latency and a highly deterministic operation for deeply embedded systems. Our latest generation Cortex-M processor is the Cortex-M55. The Cortex-M55 is the first processor built on the Armv8.1-M architecture with Arm Helium technology, a vector processing extension. The Cortex-M55 brings enhanced levels of machine learning and signal processing performance to the next wave of small embedded devices, including wearables, smart speakers, and more.

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Cortex-M resources blog

Links and resources for developers designing with Cortex-M processors

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  • Cortex-M55

    The Arm Cortex-M55 processor is Arm’s most AI-capable Cortex-M processor and the first to feature Arm Helium vector processing technology.

  • Cortex-M35P

    A tamper-resistant Cortex-M processor with optional software isolation using TrustZone for Armv8-M.

  • Cortex-M33

    The Arm Cortex-M33 processor has an ideal blend of real-time determinism, efficiency and security.

  • Cortex-M23

    The Arm Cortex-M23 is the smallest and lowest power microcontroller with TrustZone security.

  • Cortex-M7

    The Arm Cortex-M7 processor is the highest performance member of the energy-efficient Cortex-M processor family.

  • Cortex-M4

    The Arm Cortex-M4 processor implements a good blend of control and performance for mixed-signal devices.

  • Cortex-M3

    The Arm Cortex-M3 processor is the industry-leading 32-bit processor for highly deterministic real-time applications.

  • Cortex-M1

    The Arm Cortex-M1 processor targets FPGA devices. It is available to access instantly with DesignStart FPGA.

  • Cortex-M0+

    The Arm Cortex-M0+ processor is the most energy efficient Arm processor available.

  • Cortex-M0

    The Arm Cortex-M0 processor is the smallest Arm processor available.

Cortex-M series resources

Tools and software for Cortex-M

The Arm suite of C and C++ software development tools, and operating systems are ideal for development on Arm Cortex-M, view the following resources:

Software

The Common Microcontroller Software Interface Standard (CMSIS)
CMSIS is a vendor-independent hardware abstraction layer for microcontrollers that are based on Arm Cortex processors.

Arm Virtual Hardware
Virtual Hardware delivers accurate models of Arm-based SoCs to enable the cloud-based development and testing of software without the need for physical hardware.

Trusted Firmware-M (TF-M)
TF-M provides a highly configurable set of software components to create a Trusted Execution Environment.

Operation systems

Mbed OS
Mbed OS is an open-source IoT operating system for building intelligent connected products.

Keil RTX5
Keil RTX5 is a royalty-free, deterministic, full-featured real-time operating system implementing the CMSIS-RTOS API v2, a generic RTOS interface for Cortex-M processor-based devices.

Machine Learning on Cortex-M

You can use Arm Cortex-M microcontrollers for classical machine learning techniques and neural networks, and work with machine learning libraries and frameworks, for example TensorFlow Lite Micro. For classical machine learning, download CMSIS-DSP. For neural networks, download CMSIS-NN.

Download CMSIS-NN   Download CMSIS-DSP

Machine learning how-to guides

Learn more with our machine learning how-to guides

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Designing a SoC with Cortex-M

This white paper describes how to design a SoC with Cortex-M processors.

Read here