Running Dual RTOS Kernels on Cortex-M33 with TrustZone: Challenges and Solutions

Running Dual RTOS Kernels on Cortex-M33 with TrustZone: Challenges and Solutions

ARM Cortex-M33 TrustZone Dual RTOS Kernel Feasibility Running two separate Real-Time Operating System (RTOS) kernels on a single ARM Cortex-M33 core using TrustZone is a complex but feasible endeavor. The Cortex-M33 processor, with its TrustZone security extension, allows for the partitioning of the system into secure and non-secure worlds. This partitioning is typically used to…

ARM Cortex-M7 Interrupt Pending Flag Active but ISR Not Triggered

ARM Cortex-M7 Interrupt Pending Flag Active but ISR Not Triggered

ARM Cortex-M7 Interrupt Pending Flag Activation Without ISR Execution The core issue revolves around the ARM Cortex-M7 processor where an external interrupt’s pending flag is set correctly in the Interrupt Set-Pending Register (ISPR), and the corresponding interrupt is enabled in the Interrupt Set-Enable Register (ISER). Despite these configurations, the Interrupt Service Routine (ISR) associated with…

Testing ARM Cortex-R7 Lock-Step Mechanism Using Scan-Chain: Feasibility and Best Practices

Testing ARM Cortex-R7 Lock-Step Mechanism Using Scan-Chain: Feasibility and Best Practices

ARM Cortex-R7 Lock-Step Mechanism and Scan-Chain Testing Feasibility The ARM Cortex-R7 processor is widely used in safety-critical applications due to its dual-core lock-step mechanism, which ensures high reliability by running two identical cores in parallel and comparing their outputs. Any mismatch between the cores triggers a fault detection mechanism, making it a cornerstone of functional…

Building Android 12 Image for ARM Fast Models: Stuck Boot Issue and Missing UEFI Variables

Building Android 12 Image for ARM Fast Models: Stuck Boot Issue and Missing UEFI Variables

ARM Fast Models and Android 12 Boot Stuck at Initialization When attempting to boot an Android 12 image on ARM Fast Models, the system often gets stuck during the initialization phase. This issue is particularly prevalent when using the Fast Models Base RevC-2xAEMvA with the Android Open Source Project (AOSP) branch android-12. The user in…

ARM Cortex-A53 Dual-Issue Capabilities and Load/Store + ALU Operations

ARM Cortex-A53 Dual-Issue Capabilities and Load/Store + ALU Operations

ARM Cortex-A53 Dual-Issue Mechanism and Instruction Pairing The ARM Cortex-A53 processor, part of the ARMv8-A architecture, is designed to deliver a balance of performance and power efficiency, making it a popular choice for embedded systems and mobile applications. One of its key features is the ability to dual-issue instructions, which allows the processor to execute…

ARM Cortex-R7 MPU DRACR Encoding Discrepancy: TRM vs. Architecture Manual

ARM Cortex-R7 MPU DRACR Encoding Discrepancy: TRM vs. Architecture Manual

ARM Cortex-R7 MPU DRACR Encoding Discrepancy Between TRM and ARMv7-AR Manual The ARM Cortex-R7 processor, a high-performance real-time processor, relies heavily on its Memory Protection Unit (MPU) for defining memory regions and their attributes. The MPU Region Access Control Register (DRACR) is a critical component in configuring these memory attributes, including cache policies, shareability, and…

Erratic Memory-Mapped Writes on ARM Cortex-M55: Debugging and Solutions

Erratic Memory-Mapped Writes on ARM Cortex-M55: Debugging and Solutions

ARM Cortex-M55 Memory-Mapped Write Failures and Delays The ARM Cortex-M55 processor is a high-performance embedded processor designed for machine learning and digital signal processing applications. However, in certain scenarios, developers may encounter erratic behavior during successive writes to memory-mapped addresses. This issue manifests as skipped or delayed writes, where the observed waveform does not match…

Secure Bootloader Implementation with Encrypted Firmware on SAMD21E17A

Secure Bootloader Implementation with Encrypted Firmware on SAMD21E17A

Secure Bootloader Requirements and Constraints on SAMD21E17A The SAMD21E17A microcontroller, part of the SAM D21 family based on the ARM Cortex-M0+ core, is a popular choice for embedded systems due to its low power consumption and robust peripheral set. Implementing a secure bootloader on this device involves several critical considerations. The primary goal is to…

Cortex-M7 Pipeline Optimization for Floating-Point Operations

Cortex-M7 Pipeline Optimization for Floating-Point Operations

Cortex-M7 Pipeline Architecture and Floating-Point Optimization The Cortex-M7 pipeline is a sophisticated architecture designed to deliver high performance for embedded applications, particularly those requiring real-time signal processing. The pipeline consists of six stages: Fetch, Decode, Execute, Memory Access, Writeback, and Completion. For floating-point operations, the Cortex-M7 leverages its integrated Floating-Point Unit (FPU), which supports single-precision…

ARM Cortex-M1 Initial SP and Reset Vector Configuration Issues

ARM Cortex-M1 Initial SP and Reset Vector Configuration Issues

ARM Cortex-M1 Stack Pointer and Reset Vector Misconfiguration The ARM Cortex-M1 microcontroller is designed to execute code from a specific memory region, with the stack pointer (SP) and reset vector configured to point to valid memory addresses during startup. In this scenario, the program code is intended to execute from an external memory region starting…