tag:typepad.com,2003:weblog-1828667 2012-01-25T10:00:00+01:00 TypePad tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00e55473a5908833016760f1dd08970b 2012-01-25T10:00:00+01:00 2012-01-25T10:00:00+01:00

Since winIDEA 9.11.77 the Special Function Register (SFR) Window has been enhanced to show: the address for the SFR the bit position and size for sub-SFRs (in beside picture you see O for offset and S for size) a radix prefix for the SFR value (0x for hexadecimal, 0b for binary values). What are Special Function Registers (SFRs)? SFRs are special on-chip CPUs registers that control various functions of a microcontroller, e.g. stack pointer, program counter. To open the SFR window in winIDEA, you select "Special Function Registers..." command from winIDEA's View menu or click on the SFR window icon...

Christiane Vogt http://embedded.typepad.com/isystems-smpo/2012/01/isystemtechblog-special-function-register-enhancements.html tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00e55473a5908833015438a0501e970c 2012-01-18T10:01:00+01:00 2012-01-16T09:24:17+01:00

Since winIDEA build 9.11.76 the configuration window of the profiler has completely changed. One major change is that there are no longer tabs for Code and Data Areas. Code and Data areas are now visible in the bottom half of the configuration window. If function profiling is enabled then all functions will be profiled if no functions are listed in the code areas list. There is now a leading check box for every function listed in the profiler data area. By clearing this check box profiler areas can be temporarily disabled. The new configuration will take effect in the next...

Christiane Vogt http://embedded.typepad.com/isystems-smpo/2012/01/isystemtechblog-profiler-configuration-changes.html tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00e55473a590883301675ebd8c7a970b 2011-12-21T10:00:00+01:00 2011-12-21T12:17:54+01:00

Since winIDEA build 9.11.69 the precision of floating point comparisons is adjustable. When would that affect you? Well, every time you calculate with floating point numbers... A floating point number is represented in a computer by several significant digits used for the number and an exponent, both in binary format. A definite dezimal number e.g. 0,1 can have an indefinite periodic binary representation e.g. 0,0001100110011. In a computer only the first digits of that periodic number are stored which may lead to inaccurateness in calculations, e.g. will 10*0,1 in a computer result in 1,0? Well, it depends on the implementation......

Christiane Vogt http://embedded.typepad.com/isystems-smpo/2011/12/isystemtechblog-floating-point-compare-precision-adjustable.html tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00e55473a5908833015438321a9d970c 2011-12-14T10:00:00+01:00 2011-12-14T12:00:58+01:00

winIDEA's profiler allows you to export your recorded data filtered by sophisticated patterns. Beside you see the dialog for Profiler's Export. After having specified a File name to export the data to, you set the export Format. Formats available are plain Text, XML, CSV and the so called Text1. When you select Text1 format you can adjust the output format of many settings in the Options dialog (see screenshot below). Scope defines the scope of data to export. All Areas exports all areas. Selection exports only areas currently selected in the profiler window. Filter exports areas which match the specified...

Christiane Vogt http://embedded.typepad.com/isystems-smpo/2011/12/isystemtechblog-profilers-professional-export-capabilities.html tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00e55473a5908833015437f66649970c 2011-12-07T10:00:00+01:00 2011-12-07T10:00:00+01:00

winIDEA supports since build 9.11.63 MPC5xxx TLB (Translation Lookaside Buffer) write access. TLB entries can now be written via MemoryWrite functions (included in isystem.connect API set). To access a specific TLB entry, the access address encodes the TLB index in bits 16-31 and the MAS register (MMU Assist Registers) in bits 0-15. The TLB manipulation functions are provided via isystem.connect's CMPC5xxxController class. Example: import isystem.connect as ic cmgr = ic.ConnectionMgr() cmgr.connectMRU('') # get MPC5xxx controller MPCCtrl = ic.CMPC5xxxController(cmgr) # get TLB 3 TLB = MPCCtrl.getTLB(3) # change RPN to 0x40800000 physical TLB.m_dwMAS3 = 0x40800000 | (TLB.m_dwMAS3 & 0xFFF) # set...

Christiane Vogt http://embedded.typepad.com/isystems-smpo/2011/12/isystemtechblog-mpc5xxxx-tlb-write-access-support.html tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00e55473a59088330162fd3a1c33970d 2011-12-05T10:00:00+01:00 2011-12-05T10:00:00+01:00

iSYSTEM just started a new blog (plus feed) for release information! iSYSTEM will publish there: new release notes for winIDEA new release notes for testIDEA new documents Stay informed and register now for iSYSTEM release information!

iSYSTEM http://embedded.typepad.com/isystems-smpo/2011/12/new-blog-for-releases.html tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00e55473a59088330162fcafc332970d 2011-11-30T10:00:00+01:00 2011-11-30T12:47:26+01:00

To help customers with power measurement iSYSTEM provides now a so called Power Probe! As mentioned in last week's blog post the iC5000 I/O module allows now power measurement. But what do you do if your target's voltage and current exceed the input range of the I/O module? Take iSYSTEM's Power Probe! The Power Probe is a small board that is connected between the power supply and the target hardware. On the Power Probe you find two resistor blocks - one divider block for voltage and one shunt resistor block for current. If you need to scale down the voltage...

Christiane Vogt http://embedded.typepad.com/isystems-smpo/2011/11/isystemtechblog-power-probe-for-power-measurement.html tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00e55473a5908833015393586d1e970b 2011-11-23T10:00:00+01:00 2011-11-23T10:00:00+01:00

The iC5000 I/O module can now measure the power consumption of your target board! And in winIDEA's profiler you can view the uptake rate (current, power, voltage) ! Basically you will use on the I/O module port AIN0 for voltage measurement and port AIN1 for current measurement. Please select in winIDEA "Hardware/ Options/ IO" dialog the appropiate check box (in picture on the right). But before doing so please consider the input and output range of the I/O module. If your signal is higher than e.g. 5V, use a suitable resistor divider. In winIDEA "Hardware/ Options/ IO" dialog you specify...

Christiane Vogt http://embedded.typepad.com/isystems-smpo/2011/11/isystemtechblog-now-power-measurement-with-ic5000-io-module.html tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00e55473a5908833015392f7b7b3970b 2011-11-16T10:00:00+01:00 2011-11-14T12:32:45+01:00

testIDEA can now verify the correctness of test specifications against the debug information. The following items are verified: existence of functions and global variables, hiding of global variables by local variables, duplicate IDs. Why is that a nice feature? It can happen that typos in the test specification e.g. in the function or variable names, wrong number of function parameters or renamed function or variable names in the source code cause invalid test results or even a target crash. To discover such problems before test execution, iSYSTEM added the new command "Tools / Verify symbols" to testIDEA. Problems are shown...

Christiane Vogt http://embedded.typepad.com/isystems-smpo/2011/11/testidea-verify-test-specification-against-debug-information.html tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00e55473a59088330162fc4c699b970d 2011-11-14T10:00:00+01:00 2011-11-14T10:00:00+01:00

Embedded News TV has published a new video on iSYSTEM's Tool Qualification suite. iSYSTEM offers organizational measures and documentation as well as a tool setup to validate a dedicated functionality of iSYSTEM's tools according to safety standards like e.g. ISO26262. Standards require qualification for software tools used in the development and test process before the actual development starts. More information on iSYSTEM or on iSYSTEM's blog.

iSYSTEM http://embedded.typepad.com/isystems-smpo/2011/11/isystems-new-software-tool-qualification-video.html tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00e55473a5908833015436ca8717970c 2011-11-11T10:00:00+01:00 2011-11-11T11:43:51+01:00

Embedded News TV just published a new video on iSYSTEM's RealTime Unit Test tool. iSYSTEM calls it realtime unit test because all tests are executed on the real hardware without any effects on the runtime behavior. iSYSTEM has enhanced their debug and test tools to allow the generation and execution of test cases from inside the development environment. Realtime unit testing runs test scripts and verifies the application without any influence on its runtime behavior. Realtime unit testing does not require any code instrumentation or any test driver. Without compiling/ linking/ download the test is executed on the real target...

iSYSTEM http://embedded.typepad.com/isystems-smpo/2011/11/real-time-unit-test-video.html tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00e55473a590883301539214aa39970b 2011-11-09T10:00:00+01:00 2011-11-03T14:54:57+01:00

Most operating systems have means to kill/terminate a task. Killing a task can become necessary when a task is stalled and occupies resources like memory and CPU. The way how task termination is implemented differs between operating systems, but it is an ungrateful way of ending and should only be used when there is no alternative because cleanup of resources is not done, e.g. stack, mutexes, synchronization objects are not released. Considering this behaviour from a profiler's perspective it's a disaster. A profiler watches function entry and exit points by tracking the stack. As long as the stack is valid,...

Christiane Vogt http://embedded.typepad.com/isystems-smpo/2011/11/isystemtechblog-analyzer-regards-stack-killers.html tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00e55473a5908833015436055c90970c 2011-11-02T10:00:00+01:00 2011-11-02T10:00:00+01:00

Since winIDEA 2011 build 55 (9.11.55) keyboard shortcuts can be configured for external scripts. To configure shortcuts for scripts open the Tools/Options/Script dialog. In the section "Shortcut scripts" enter the name of the external script. To define the keyboard shortcut, open Tools/Customize/Keyboard dialog. Select in category Tools and on the right side the command the Run Shortcut script 1 to create the keyboard shortcut for the first script - in our example ProfilerConfig.py . Set the cursor in the dialog box Press new shortcut, press the key combination to use and select Assign. When you now use in winIDEA above...

Christiane Vogt http://embedded.typepad.com/isystems-smpo/2011/11/isystemtechblog-winidea-supports-keyboard-shortcuts-for-external-scripts.html tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00e55473a59088330154360514b7970c 2011-10-26T10:00:00+02:00 2011-10-26T10:00:00+02:00

Since winIDEA 2011 build 53 (9.11.53) multiple special function registers (SFRs) can be defined for a CPU. In the CPU specification, names of multiple CPUs or modules can be combined with the + sign. This allows adding a few SFRs for a CPU. In the beside example the default registers for MPC5567 are used with addition of SFRs specified in external definition MySFRs. Additional custom SFRs files (*.SFR, *.SFG) can be placed in the newly imple-mented SFR subfolder of winIDEA. After the next restart of winIDEA the custom SFRs will be available.

Christiane Vogt http://embedded.typepad.com/isystems-smpo/2011/10/isystemtechblog-multiple-special-function-register-definitions-supported.html tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00e55473a5908833015391f863a4970b 2011-10-19T10:00:00+02:00 2011-10-19T10:00:00+02:00

Since winIDEA 2011 build 49 (9.11.49) the analyzer supports now line execution profiling. This feature is available in Entry/Exit and also in Range mode. Line execution profiling can help to detect performance bottlenecks in a function's code. To setup this feature select in the "Profiler Configuration" dialog the function name you like to profile and check the box "Include function lines" below the function list. With that setting the profiler shows timeline measurements for every line of that function in the views "Timeline" and also in "Statistics". The statistics criteria available are: Count Net Time time spent in the function...

Christiane Vogt http://embedded.typepad.com/isystems-smpo/2011/10/isystemtechblog-analyzer-supports-now-line-execution-profiling.html