• Engineers who wish to become skilled in the use of an Arm Cortex®-R7 based System On Chip from a software and verification perspective
• Engineers who are required to provide a software solution to bring a bare metal Arm Cortex®-R7 MPCore system to life.

• The details of an Arm Cortex®-R7 processor core
• The details of the MPCore logic and coherency management
• Memory management for Arm v7-R based devices
• Assembly programing for the T32/A32 instruction sets
• Bringing up an Arm Cortex®-R7 bare metal system
• Writing C/C++ code for Arm processors
• How to use the compiler and linker efficiently

Delegates should have some knowledge of embedded systems and a basic understanding of embedded programming in C and assembler. Knowledge of earlier Arm architectures is an advantage but not required.

C programming for Embedded Systems training is also available from Doulos.

A carefully crafted combination of content from Arm and Doulos material will be used to provide exhaustive coverage of all of the essential topics required to achieve the learning objectives.

Day 1

• Introduction to Arm Architecture
Architecture versions • Registers and instruction sets • Exception model • Memory model • Coprocessors • Architecture extensions • The Future
• Software Engineer's Guide to the CortexTM-R7 MPCore
Cortex-R7 MPCore Overview • Operational modes • Level 1 Memory system • Multiprocessing features
• ISA Overview
Load/Store • Data Processing • Flow Control • Misc • DSP
• Exception Handling
Introduction • Interrupts • Abort Handlers • SVC Handlers • Undef • Handlers • Reset Handlers

Day 2

• Caches and TCMs
Cache basics • Caches on Arm processors • Tightly Coupled Memory (TCM) • Optimization considerations
• Using the Memory Protection Unit
Types & AttributesTypes & Attributes • Memory Protection Unit (MPU)
• Synchronization
Introduction to atomicity • Load exclusive and store exclusive instructions • Code examples • Multi-core coherency • Exclusive reservation granule
• Understanding Barriers
Data barriers • Instruction barriers
• C/C++ Compiler Hints & Tips
Basic Compilation • Compiler Optimizations • Coding Considerations • Local and Global Data issues
• Linker & Libraries Hints & Tips
Linking Basics • System and User Libraries • Veneers and Interworking • Linker Optimizations and Diagnostics • Arm Supplied Libraries

Day 3

• GICv1 & GICv2 Programming
Distributor and CPU Interfaces • How to enable and configure interrupts • How to handle interrupts • How to send software interrupts • Security Extensions
• Further Compiling & Linking Hints & Tips
Mixing C/C++ and Assembler • Stack Issues • VFP/NEON • Advanced Building Facilities
• Embedded Software Development
An Out-of-the-box build • Tailoring the C library to your target • Tailoring image memory map to your target • Reset and Initialization • Further memory map considerations • Building and debugging your image
• Power Management for Cortex-A/R Cores
Processor Power Consumption • Power Modes • NEON and MPCore
• Debug
Invasive Debug • Non-Invasive Debug • PMU • Trace

The learning is reinforced with unique Lab exercises using the QEMU virtual platform and covering assembly programming and bringing a complete bare metal system to life. Lab exercises for assembly programming cover the concepts of data transfer, data processing, flow control and DSP instructions, and rely on a combination of GNU compilation tools, GDB and an instruction set simulator used for fast prototyping. Additional exercises show the main steps involved in bringing a bare metal system to life, including the configuration of the various mode stacks and the creation of an interrupt handler. These exercises make use of the assembler and linker as well as the interactive debugger (GDB/DDD and QEMU).