ARM Cortex-M4 Overview

atomar — Tue, 26 Jun 2012 18:00:09 GMT

Current Revision posted to Documents by atomar on 6/26/2012 6:00:09 PM

Cortex-M4 Overview

The ARM Cortex™-M4 processor is the latest embedded processor by ARM specifically developed to address digital signal control markets that demand an efficient, easy-to-use blend of control and signal processing capabilities. The combination of high-efficiency signal processing functionality with the low-power, low cost and ease-of-use benefits of the Cortex-M family of processors is designed to satisfy the emerging category of flexible solutions specifically targeting the motor control, automotive, power management, embedded audio and industrial automation markets.

Award-winning energy efficient digital signal control

The Cortex-M4 offers unparalleled capability to integrate 32-bit control with leading digital signal processing techniques for markets that require very high levels of energy efficiency.

Easy-to-use technology

The Cortex-M4 makes signal processing algorithm development easy through an excellent ecosystem of software tools and the Cortex Microcontroller Software Interface Standard (CMSIS).

Full featured

The processor executes Thumb®-2 instruction set for optimal performance and code size, including hardware division, single cycle multiply, and bit-field manipulation. The Cortex-M3 NVIC is highly configurable at design time to deliver up to 240 system interrupts with individual priorities, dynamic reprioritization and integrated system clock.

Rich connectivity

The combination of features and performance enables Cortex-M3 based devices to efficiently handle with multiple I/O channels and protocol standards such as USB OTG (On-The-Go).

ARM Cortex-M4 Features
ISA Support	Thumb® / Thumb-2
DSP Extensions	Single cycle 16,32-bit MAC Single cycle dual 16-bit MAC 8,16-bit SIMD arithmetic Hardware Divide (2-12 Cycles)
Floating Point Unit	Single precision floating point unit IEEE 754 compliant
Pipeline	3-stage + branch speculation
Performance Efficiency	2.19 CoreMark/MHz - 1.25 DMIPS/MHz
Memory Protection	Optional 8 region MPU with sub regions and background region
Interrupts	Non-maskable Interrupt (NMI) + 1 to 240 physical interrupts
Interrupt Priority Levels	8 to 256 priority levels
Wake-up Interrupt Controller	Up to 240 Wake-up Interrupts
Sleep Modes	Integrated WFI and WFE Instructions and Sleep On Exit capability. Sleep & Deep Sleep Signals. Optional Retention Mode with ARM Power Management Kit
Bit Manipulation	Integrated Instructions & Bit Banding
Debug	Optional JTAG & Serial-Wire Debug Ports. Up to 8 Breakpoints and 4 Watchpoints.
Trace	Optional Instruction Trace (ETM), Data Trace (DWT), and Instrumentation Trace (ITM)

Tags: cortex-m4, cortex_m4, arm