ARM has standardised the software interface for the Cortex microcontroller in a move which is expected to accelerate the adption of the 32-bit processor in a wider range of microcontroller products.

The software interface standard is a hardware abstraction layer for the full Cortex-M processor range whihc should simplifiy development of MCUs and SoCs based on the core. Importantly it will facilitate software re-use, a key aspect of speedy IC development.

“The Cortex Microcontroller Software Interface Standard provides a common approach to interface peripherals, real-time operating systems, and middleware components which benefits silicon vendors and developers alike,” said Reinhard Keil, director of MCU Tools, ARM.

The standard has been developed in partnership with silicon and software vendors including Atmel, IAR, KEIL, Luminary Micro, Micrium, NXP, SEGGER and STMicroelectronics.

The standard has been designed to be fully scalable to ensure that it is suitable for all Cortex-M processor series microcontrollers from the smallest 8KB device up to devices with communications peripherals such as Ethernet or USB (on-the-go).  (The memory requirement for the Core Peripheral Access Layer is less the 1KB code, less then 10 bytes RAM).

“By standardising across all silicon vendor products, the CMSIS will reduce the cost of developing new software, and further accelerate the development of new Cortex processor-based microcontrollers,” said Keil.

ARM plans to extend the software interface standard with a Middleware Access Layer that provides standard software interfaces for Ethernet, SD/MMC, and a debug interface for consistent kernel-aware debugging of RTOS kernels.