diff --git a/source/application/hal/include/timer.h b/source/application/hal/include/timer.h
new file mode 100644
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+++ b/source/application/hal/include/timer.h
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+/*
+ * Copyright (c) 2021 Arm Limited. All rights reserved.
+ * SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+#ifndef HAL_TIMER_H
+#define HAL_TIMER_H
+
+#include "hal_config.h"
+
+#if ((PLATFORM_HAL) == PLATFORM_CORTEX_M_BAREMETAL)
+#include "baremetal_timer.h"
+#elif ((PLATFORM_HAL) == PLATFORM_UNKNOWN_LINUX_OS)
+#include "native_timer.h"
+#else
+#error "Platform does not support a timer API"
+#endif /* PLATFORM_HAL */
+
+/** Struct for describing the capabilities available for
+ * the timer provided by HAL */
+typedef struct _platform_timer_capability {
+    uint32_t npu_cycles:    1;
+    uint32_t cpu_cycles:    1;
+    uint32_t duration_ms:   1;
+    uint32_t duration_us:   1;
+} timer_capability;
+
+/* Structure to hold a platform specific timer implementation */
+typedef struct _platform_timer {
+    int inited;                 /**< initialised or not */
+    timer_capability cap;       /**< capability of this timer */
+
+    /* reset the timer */
+    void (* reset)(void);
+
+    /* Gets the current time counter. */
+    time_counter (* get_time_counter)(void);
+
+    /* Gets the duration in milliseconds. */
+    time_t (* get_duration_ms)(time_counter *start, time_counter *end);
+
+    /* Gets duration in microseconds. */
+    time_t (* get_duration_us)(time_counter *start, time_counter *end);
+
+    /* Gets difference in CPU cycle counts. */
+    uint32_t (* get_cpu_cycle_diff)(time_counter *start, time_counter *end);
+
+    /* Gets the difference in terms of total NPU cycle counts. */
+    uint64_t (* get_npu_total_cycle_diff)(time_counter *start, time_counter *end);
+
+    /* Gets the difference in terms of active NPU cycle counts. */
+    uint64_t (* get_npu_active_cycle_diff)(time_counter *start, time_counter *end);
+
+    /* Wraps get_time_counter function with additional profiling
+     * initialisation, if required. */
+    time_counter (* start_profiling)(void);
+
+    /* Wraps get_time_counter function along with additional instructions when
+     * profiling ends, if required. */
+    time_counter (* stop_profiling)(void);
+
+} platform_timer;
+
+/**
+ * @brief   Initialise the timer available for the platform.
+ **/
+void init_timer(platform_timer *timer);
+
+#endif /* HAL_TIMER_H */