Arm Cortex-M3 processor - the core of the Internet of Things (IoT)

Feb. 20, 2018 – The last five years have heralded the Internet of Things (IoT) – the concept of connecting all objects to the Internet. This has resulted in hundreds of new products reaching the market each month, across all segments. The Arm Cortex-M3 processor has been central to many of these innovations in the IoT space; it's the innovator's choice. Its ease-of-use and extensive software support enable a company with a creative idea to focus on delivering its product to market, rather than being lost or blocked with long embedded design cycles.

Ushering the move to 32-bit processors

At the heart of the innovation, the Cortex-M3 processor has been key to opening up new market areas and applications. Previous generations of embedded products extensively used 8-bit and 16-bit processors, limiting functionality to only controlling low-level operations. The Cortex-M3 changed this by making 32-bit processors easily usable for these lower-level functional areas, at the same time supporting new features that have provided increased sophistication both for general embedded applications and IoT connected devices.

Paving the way for new markets

Without the Cortex-M3, many market leading devices would not have reached the consumer. The combination of power efficiency and a wide range of supporting libraries have enabled the wearables market, among others, to develop extensively. We would not have seen such low-power audio players providing interactive and easy to use interfaces and controls; or handheld GPS systems; or devices that detect our running, walking or sitting. There is a whole generation of people who could not imagine life without these devices.

It is hard to create an exhaustive list of the devices that rely on the Cortex-M3. Here are a few that you may have encountered before arriving at work in the morning

You may have been woken up by a smart light bulb turning on when your alarm went off; or you may have drunk coffee from a Cortex-M3 controlled coffee machine; or started your robot floor cleaner to clean your house whilst you are at work. You may have read your email via your Wi-Fi router; played music over Bluetooth; tracked your activity status on your Fitbit health tracker, opened the window in your car or bought an energy bar in the digital vending machine – all of this is made possible by the Cortex-M3 processor.