Does CMSIS-DSP integration work already?

[crosswick]

I'm looking to use some functions from CMSIS-DSP; is this already possible?

I couldn't find Gigadevice chips in https://docs.platformio.org/en/latest/frameworks/cmsis.html#platforms ...

[maxgerhardt]

We're not an official platform made by PlatformIO so we're not showing up in their docs yet before we request it.

I think for the SPL and Arduino framework, we only include the header for CMSIS-DSP / arm_math.h but don't link in the library code, so compilation will fail. It's however easy to add this in.

What target microcontroller and framework (SPL, Arduino, mbedos) are you working on?

[crosswick]

I see. GD32E103CBT6 and GD32F150C8T6 for now, both SPL.

[maxgerhardt]

Very well, I'll prioritise those -- should have support for that by the end of tomorrow.

[crosswick]

:) awesome, thank you.

[maxgerhardt]

I've added the CMSIS-DSP library from CMSIS5 version 5.7.0 (last one to directly have the precompiled library files in the download...) in our SPL package (https://github.com/CommunityGD32Cores/gd32-pio-spl-package/commit/4e586eae3656ee0c49210f187b7f3fc057c16820) and expanded the SPL builder script to auto-discover this library and set the correct FPU and float-ABI flags (https://github.com/CommunityGD32Cores/platform-gd32/commit/2707955a346211033f67015f54faadb3677d3124).

I've created an example project https://github.com/CommunityGD32Cores/gd32-pio-projects/tree/main/gd32-spl-cmsis-dsp inspired by the official example https://github.com/ARM-software/CMSIS_5/tree/develop/CMSIS/DSP/Examples/ARM/arm_sin_cos_example and tested it on a GD32F350G8 board, where it works nicely. Compilation for your two chips was also tested, but I don't have the hardware for them at hand.

Please use the CLI to execute pio platform update gd32 and import and the linked gd32-spl-cmsis-dsp project regarding the genericGD32E103CB and genericGD32F150C8 environments (use the project environment switcher to switch). Does it work?

EDIT: I just did a slight build-system change because the FreeRTOS build failed on Cortex-M33 with hardfloat enabled, the SPL default is now to use softfloat for all targets, Cortex-M33 targets which wish to use the CMSIS-DSP library must have board_build.cm33_hardfloat = yes in the platformio.ini, as done in the latest commit to the example. This doesn't affect your Cortex-M3 and Cortex-M4F chips, but just FYI.

[crosswick]

Great!!! I will test it asap. Thank you very much

[crosswick]

These two boards work! GD32F150C8 and GD32E103C8, great - haven't been able to test my own GD32E103CB-based design yet, but I think that shouldn't be a problem.

The GD32E230C4 config doesn't compile, but I guess Cortex-M23 isn't supported yet? I saw this one commented out in the platformio.ini, I have a GD32E230C8 board that I could test with.

Thank you!

[maxgerhardt]

The E23x series with its Cortex-M23 is supported in the general build system and with CMSIS-DSP, but the specific GD32E230C4 chip only has 16 Kilobytes of flash, which is not enough for the SPL + CMSIS-DSP + printf (with floating pionter support) demo.

ld.exe: region `FLASH' overflowed by 12112 bytes

by about 12 kilobytes.

If you take out the four printf() calls and change the platformio.ini option to board_build.spl_printf_float = no, then the firmware fits, but has no printf() output (which might or might not matter).

RAM:   [          ]   1.6% (used 64 bytes from 4096 bytes)
Flash: [=====     ]  49.9% (used 8180 bytes from 16384 bytes)

(this also shows how excessively big the printf() implementation, even for the newlib-nano configuration, is -- we could do optimization with alternative printf() implementations for these tiny chips).

Thus it's not a fault of the platform really that compilation for that chip fails. The next bigger C6 chip (32 kBytes) works out-of-the box with all intended features, but its flash is also close to saturated.

RAM:   [=         ]   9.0% (used 556 bytes from 6144 bytes)
Flash: [========= ]  86.3% (used 28284 bytes from 32768 bytes)

[crosswick]

Alright, so it should be relatively easy for me to get my GD32E230C8 board to work with this example? I wouldn't immediately know how myself.

[maxgerhardt]

Exactly. As per available boards you can add to the platformio.ini just the environment for your board

[env:genericGD32E230C8]
board = genericGD32E230C8
framework = spl

(all other important options like platform are auto-inherited through the [env] section of the platformio.ini) and use the project environment switcher again as linked above to compile and upload for this new environment.

Compilation should result in

RAM:   [=         ]   6.8% (used 556 bytes from 8192 bytes)
Flash: [====      ]  43.2% (used 28284 bytes from 65536 bytes)
Building .pio\build\genericGD32E230C8\firmware.bin
========= [SUCCESS] Took 2.61 seconds =========

[crosswick]

False - it took 4.78 seconds :P

[maxgerhardt]

Okay well it seems you have circa half the CPU cores or processing power as I have, but the general successful compilation result is the same.

I'll close this issue as solved through https://github.com/CommunityGD32Cores/platform-gd32/commit/2707955a346211033f67015f54faadb3677d3124 then.

Other CMSIS libraries like CMSIS-NN will likely be added soon, too. Maybe also a "compile from source" option for CMSIS-DSP instead of the current precompiled way.