CMSIS-Pack

heliaCORE publishes a CMSIS-Pack on every release. The pack ships with two Cvariants so you can choose between rebuilding from source or linking a prebuilt GCC archive when the component conditions match your project.

Prerequisites

Start with a working board application and matching target/compiler settings. See Requirements before choosing source or prebuilt kernels.

1. Install the pack

VERSION=7.39.2 # x-release-please-version
curl -LO https://github.com/AmbiqAI/ns-cmsis-nn/releases/download/v${VERSION}/Ambiq.NS-CMSIS-NN.${VERSION}.pack

# CMSIS-Toolbox
cpackget add Ambiq.NS-CMSIS-NN.${VERSION}.pack

# Keil MDK / older tooling
# Double-click the .pack file, or import via Pack Installer.

2. Select Source or Prebuilt

The pack defines the component heliaCORE NN Lib from Ambiq with two variants:

Cvariant	What you get	When to use
Source	The CMSIS-NN sources compiled by your project’s toolchain.	You want maximum control / portability.
Prebuilt	A vendored libns-cmsis-nn.a we built with GCC. The release’s per-arch SDK tarball ns-cmsis-nn-<cpu>-gcc-<version>.tar.gz names that GCC in its manifest.json, under toolchain.version; the pack vendors the same archive bytes.	Your GCC project matches a supported archive condition.

CMSIS-Toolbox projects

Merge this component entry into your existing .cproject.yml file:

Your application.cproject.yml · Source variant

project:
  components:
    - component: Ambiq::Machine Learning:NN Lib:heliaCORE&Source

Keep the project’s existing board/device, compiler, groups, and other components. Do not replace the whole project with this fragment. To select a supported prebuilt configuration, change &Source to &Prebuilt, not add a second entry. Build with your existing solution/context using CMSIS-Toolbox.

IDE projects

Install the downloaded pack with your IDE’s pack manager. In its component selection view, choose Ambiq → Machine Learning → NN Lib → heliaCORE and select exactly one variant, Source or Prebuilt. Rebuild the board project so the generated include paths and selected sources or library are applied.

Headers

Include the headers as #include "arm_nnfunctions.h". Both components also put the pack root on the include path, so the source-tree spelling #include "Include/arm_nnfunctions.h", which TFLM-based runtimes such as heliaRT use, resolves without an extra add-path. Both spellings reach the same file.

Prebuilt — supported architectures

The Prebuilt Cvariant is gated by per-arch conditions. The pack ships GCC-built archives for:

• ARMv6-M (cortex-m0 / cortex-m0+)
• ARMv7E-M (cortex-m4 with FPv4 SP-D16)
• ARMv8.1-M MVE (cortex-m55)

If your target doesn’t match one of these, switch to the Source Cvariant — the kernels will be recompiled by your toolchain.

Prebuilt requires GCC selection

The pack’s prebuilt archive conditions require Tcompiler="GCC" as well as a matching architecture. Select Source for ATfE or Arm Compiler 6 projects. Binary compatibility alone does not make the pack’s Prebuilt variant selectable.

3. Build

Build your existing board project using its IDE or CMSIS-Toolbox build command. For Source, confirm the build compiles the component sources. For Prebuilt, confirm the final link includes the selected libns-cmsis-nn.a.

Optional floating-point kernels

The pack includes floating-point sources and headers, but selecting the component does not enable their APIs. Both float feature macros default to 0. In Source mode, set numeric preprocessor definitions in your project’s compiler settings for both the component sources and the application code that calls them. For FP32 only, use:

Compiler definitions · FP32 only

ARM_NN_ENABLE_F32=1
ARM_NN_ENABLE_F16=0

Set ARM_NN_ENABLE_F16=1 as well when you need FP16 and your target and compiler support it. These are C preprocessor values, not CMake ON/OFF options. Rebuild the component after changing them and inspect a verbose compiler command to confirm the definitions reach the kernel sources. See Toolchains for FP16 requirements.

In Prebuilt mode, definitions only expose declarations to your application; they cannot add functions to the archive. Check features.f32 and features.f16 in the matching release’s GCC SDK manifest.json, and enable only features that archive contains. Keep the pack, SDK metadata, and headers on the same release. Use Source mode if the archive lacks the required floating-point kernels.

4. Verify the selection

Before building firmware, confirm your project has exactly one heliaCORE NN Lib component selected:

• Use Source when your IDE/toolchain should compile the kernels.
• Use Prebuilt when the target architecture and ABI match the selected archive.

For CMSIS-Toolbox projects, inspect the resolved component list after pack resolution and confirm the selected component includes the intended Cvariant. For IDE projects, open the pack/component view and verify the Source or Prebuilt variant before the first full build.

Expected result

Exactly one heliaCORE variant is resolved. Source mode compiles the selected component sources; Prebuilt mode links the GCC archive selected for the target.

Symptom	Check
Prebuilt cannot be selected	Confirm the compiler is GCC and the architecture matches a pack condition; otherwise choose Source.
Duplicate symbols	Remove duplicate Source/Prebuilt selections or another CMSIS-NN library.
Component not found	Confirm the pack is installed and the component name matches the YAML above.

Reference

• Pack manifest: Ambiq.NS-CMSIS-NN.pdsc
• Pack build script: gen_pack.sh

Next step

Run First kernel to verify an actual kernel result on your target. Keep activation kernels enabled for that example.