Going Dual-Core with the Raspberry Pi RP2040

The Raspberry Pi RP2040 microcontroller is different from most other microcontrollers as it has two identical ARM Cortex-M0+ cores instead of one. But why would you need two cores and how do you use them? This video tries to answer these questions.

The RP2040 microcontroller by Raspberry Pi is an interesting device. It differs a bit from mainstream microcontrollers as is it a dual-core device. There are other dual-core controllers on the market, but these usually combine two different cores where each core is intended for special tasks. The RP2040, on the other hand, has two identical ARM Cortex-M0+ cores.

The design of the RP2040 is symmetric. Its two cores occupy the same position in the architecture, and both have access to everything. They can access all the memory and all the peripherals in the same way.

Two questions now arise: why would you need two cores and how do you use them? This video tries to answer these questions.