DSP for Cortex-M

Digital signal processing with all the benefits of developing on an MCU and the use-of-use of Cortex-M

Breaking down 32-bit Diagram.

Arm’s Digital Signal Controllers, the Cortex-M4, Cortex-M7, Cortex-M33, Cortex-M35P, and Cortex-M55 processors, address the need for high-performance generic code processing, as well as digital signal processing applications.

The addition of DSP extensions to the Thumb instruction set and the optional floating-point unit (FPU), are designed to improve the performance of numerical algorithms. In addition, they provide the opportunity to perform signal processing operations directly on the Cortex-M processors, while maintaining the ease of use of the Cortex-M programmer’s model.

DSP and SIMD instructions

The Cortex-M4, Cortex-M7, Cortex-M33, Cortex-M35P, and Cortex-M55 processors provide SIMD instructions that operate on 8-or 16-bit integers. All registers are still 32-bits wide, but the SIMD instructions operate on 2 x 16-bit values or 4 x 8-bit values at the same time within a 32-bit register. 

Instructions that work on 8- or 16-bit data types are useful for processing data such as video or audio, as they do not require full 32-bit precision. The SIMD instructions allow these 2x16-bit or4x8-bit operations to be performed in parallel.

Getting started

There are many ways to deploy the digital signal processing capabilities of the Cortex-M portfolio. Learn about the software, tools, resources and training available to get started quickly and easily.

Software and tools

Explore software and tools available from Arm and our ecosystem partners to maximize your applications signal processing performance:

Keil MDK

Comprehensive software development solution

Keil MDK is for Arm-based microcontrollers and includes all components that you need to create, build, and debug embedded applications. The MDK Editions comprise of various components, including Arm Compiler, IDE, debugger, RTOS and middleware.

Learn more

CMSIS-DSP

Free software library on GitHub

If you are looking to use a specific CMSIS software library for signal processing, access CMSIS-DSP. The free software library is a suite of common signal processing and mathematical functions that have been optimized for Cortex-M processors.

Learn more

DSP ecosystem partners

Various software packages from Arm partners

Explore a wide range of DSP software packages available from Arm’s DSP ecosystem partners for audio codecs, video and speech codecs and audio enhancement algorithms.

Learn more

Get support

Arm support

Arm partners with a support contract can sign in, submit, and manage technical support cases on our support case management service.

Get support

Community Blogs

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How to implement voice and audio processing on Arm with Alango Technologies

Picture your smart assistant at home: you say a command, and it recognizes your voice, processes what you’re saying and responds. This is an example of a multi-sensor device that requires signal processing. Read this blog to learn how to implement…

1 years ago by Chris Shore
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How Arm is powering the road to cleaner smarter vehicles

It’s important to fully understand the requirements of different types of engines, whether it’s a conventional internal combustion engine, hybrid or fully electric powertrain. So, how is Arm powering these different types of vehicles today and how…

2 years ago by James Scobie
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Author Spotlight: Introducing Arm Education Media’s Newest Textbook on…

Arm Education Media announces its newest textbook, Digital Signal Processing using Arm Cortex-M based Microcontrollers: Theory and Practice. We catch up with the authors to take an in-depth look at the contents.

2 years ago by Robert Iannello
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Getting started with Arm Helium: The new vector extension for the M-Profile…

Arm announces Armv8.1-M, the latest version of the Armv8-M architecture, including the new M-Profile Vector Extension (MVE). Arm Helium is the MVE for the Arm Cortex-M processor series.

2 years ago by Simon Craske
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Choosing the right platform for embedded software development

In this blog I’ll discuss the various platform options for embedded software development and go through when it is appropriate to choose one type over the others.

2 years ago by Zach Lasiuk
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Accelerating innovation: transforming voice-based products for the future

Voice is everywhere and being integrated into devices all around us. We sat down to talk with one of the leaders and visionaries in voice-based engineering, Ken Sutton, President and CEO of Yobe, Inc.

2 years ago by Chris Shore