docs/topic/microtvm/index.rst

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.. _microtvm-index:

microTVM: TVM on bare-metal
===========================

microTVM runs TVM models on bare-metal (i.e. IoT) devices. microTVM depends only on the C standard
library, and doesn't require an operating system to execute. microTVM is currently under heavy
development.

.. figure:: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/tvmai/web-data/main/images/dev/microtvm_workflow.svg
   :align: center
   :width: 85%

microTVM is:

* an extension to TVM's compiler to allow it to target microcontrollers
* a way to run the TVM RPC server on-device, to allow autotuning
* a minimal C runtime that supports standalone model inference on bare metal devices.

Supported Hardware
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

microTVM currently tests against Cortex-M microcontrollers with the Zephyr RTOS; however, it is
flexible and portable to other processors such as RISC-V and does not require Zephyr. The current
demos run against QEMU and the following hardware:

* `STM Nucleo-F746ZG <https://www.st.com/en/evaluation-tools/nucleo-f746zg.html>`_
* `STM STM32F746 Discovery <https://www.st.com/en/evaluation-tools/32f746gdiscovery.html>`_
* `nRF 5340 Development Kit <https://www.nordicsemi.com/Software-and-tools/Development-Kits/nRF5340-DK>`_


Getting Started with microTVM
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Before working with microTVM, we recommend you have a supported development board. Then, follow these
tutorials to get started with microTVM:

1. :ref:`Start the microTVM Reference VM <tutorial-micro-reference-vm>`. The microTVM tutorials
   depend on Zephyr and on a compiler toolchain for your hardware. The reference VM is a convenient
   way to install those dependencies.
2. Try the :ref:`microTVM with TFLite Tutorial <microTVM-with-TFLite>`.
3. Try running a more complex `CIFAR10-CNN model <https://github.com/areusch/microtvm-blogpost-eval>`_.


How microTVM Works
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


You can read more about the design of these pieces at the :ref:`microTVM Design Document <microTVM-design>`.


Help and Discussion
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The `TVM Discuss Forum <https://discuss.tvm.ai>`_ is a great place to collaborate on microTVM tasks,
and maintains a searchable history of past problems.