Harnessing the capabilities from the Arm Cortex-M85 processor

Devices based on the Arm Cortex-M85 processor are expecting to arrive this year. Cortex-M85 is the latest Cortex-M processor from Arm, and is the highest performing CPU that is tailored for micro-controllers and deeply embedded applications. In addition to its outstanding performance, it is also packed with new features.

This presentation highlights the key areas where software developers need to know when using Cortex-M85 based devices. Topics include the steps to undertake to get the best performance out of this processor, potential software changes for optimizations, as well as some important aspects of using the latest CMSIS-DSP libraries with Cortex-M85.

In addition, we will also explain the benefits and usages of the Pointer Authentication and Branch Target Identification (PACBTI), a new security feature introduced in Armv8.1-M architecture recently which enables better detection of software-based attacks. We will also highlight the key considerations when using PACBTI.

Finally, we will also highlight key differences between the Cortex-M85 and previous processors, and areas in software that software developers might need to modify when porting their projects to Cortex-M85 based systems. For example, there are changes in the memory protection and cache control moving from Armv7-M to Armv8-M architecture.