tag:typepad.com,2003:weblog-1828667 2012-04-27T10:00:00+02:00 TypePad tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00e55473a5908833016765adef2d970b 2012-04-27T10:00:00+02:00 2012-04-27T10:00:00+02:00

iSYSTEM has published a new technical article describing the features and benefits of Slow Run mode. Slow Run allows the capture of the complete program execution and data trace – although the MCU does not provide a debug trace port. Slow Run mode is not a substitute for powerful MCUs with trace ports and according debuggers, but it shows every developer the insights of the complete application’s execution, where without Slow Run mode only teeny-weeny details are visible. Why is Slow Run Mode an important feature? Read more...

Christiane Vogt http://embedded.typepad.com/isystems-smpo/2012/04/article-on-slow-run-mode-features-and-benefits.html tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00e55473a59088330168ea96dfd1970c 2012-04-25T10:00:00+02:00 2012-04-23T12:50:48+02:00

Do you have an application that needs to detect and react on ECC corruption? If yes, how do you test and verify your application's behaviour? Basics: ECC stands for Error Correcting Code and is used for error corrections e.g. on memory that must be free of single bit errors. ECC can correct one-bit errors and detect 2-bit errors. ECC needs on 32 bit 7 check bits and on 64 bits 8 check bits. Now let's assume your embedded application stores e.g. electrocardiogramm data in memory (with ECC) and writes it later to disk. If there is an error, your application...

Christiane Vogt http://embedded.typepad.com/isystems-smpo/2012/04/isystemtechblog-must-your-application-react-on-ecc-corruption.html tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00e55473a59088330168ea319687970c 2012-04-18T10:00:00+02:00 2012-04-16T10:12:00+02:00

In winIDEA 9.12.7 iSYSTEM introduced the Slow Run mode that allows the acquisition of a complete program trace - also on CPUs without trace port. Since winIDEA 9.12.14 in addition to program execution, data flow and code coverage analysis Slow Run mode supports also profiling. Profiling analyses when and how long a function is running and provides statistics on many different parameters e.g. count (how often was the function called) period (what is the time difference between calls to a function) net time (time spent in function without subroutines and interrupts) gross time (time spent in function including subroutines, but...

Christiane Vogt http://embedded.typepad.com/isystems-smpo/2012/04/isystemtechblog-slow-run-mode-supports-now-profiling.html tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00e55473a59088330163035dffe1970d 2012-03-28T10:41:58+02:00 2012-03-28T10:41:58+02:00

Hot Attach is a feature available for a long time. "Hot attach" allows the attachment of a debugger to a running target system without affecting its operation. To "hot attach" an iSYSTEM debugger (iC3000, iC5000) following steps are executed in winIDEA: Check in "Hardware/ Emulation Options/ Hardware" tab the "Hot attach to target" option Execute "Download" command from "Debug" menu. Connect the debug cable to the target system. Select the "Attach" debug command from "Debug" menu to attach to the target system. Now the debugger should display "Run" status and the application can be stopped and debugged if necessary. To...

Christiane Vogt http://embedded.typepad.com/isystems-smpo/2012/03/isystemtechblog-what-is-hot-attach.html tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00e55473a5908833016763f9cfa0970b 2012-03-21T10:00:00+01:00 2012-03-28T08:53:01+02:00

In a multitaksing operating system (OS) the scheduler is the responsible for switching between tasks. Typically a task will only run for a few milliseconds, then the scheduler deactivates the task and activates another to allow the illusion of parallelism. On deactivation, the task's current context (registers content, program pointer, stack pointer, etc.) is stored in a control structure - the "Task Control Block " (TCB) - and the next task's TCB is loaded. The currently active task is stored in a global OS variable which usually points to the task's TCB. For execution profiling (analysis when and how long...

Christiane Vogt http://embedded.typepad.com/isystems-smpo/2012/03/winideas-multitasking-os-support.html tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00e55473a59088330168e8291eb2970c 2012-03-14T10:00:00+01:00 2012-03-05T10:19:50+01:00

winIDEA build 9.12.7 introduced a new feature - the "Slow Run" mode. Slow Run allows the acquisition of a full program trace - also on CPUs without a trace port! How is that realized? In Slow Run mode winIDEA executes the target application at one instruction at a time, which is similar to single step mode. After every step address and data information is retrieved. From that the trace information is collected that is used by the analyzer to display trace and code coverage information. The high load necessary to collect and calculate all that info, takes up time why...

Christiane Vogt http://embedded.typepad.com/isystems-smpo/2012/03/isystemtechblog-slow-run-collect-trace-info-on-cpus-without-trace-port.html tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00e55473a59088330168e828d7ce970c 2012-03-07T10:07:00+01:00 2012-03-07T10:07:00+01:00

Since build 9.12.4 winIDEA supports incremental flash programming to speed up download times when only small changes are performed! When a download is performed into an already programmed device, (optionally) only the FLASH sectors which have been modified, are programmed. To set this option, select Hardware/eEmulations Options.../CPU/CPU Setup.../Debugging and check the option "Program only modified FLASH sectors".

Christiane Vogt http://embedded.typepad.com/isystems-smpo/2012/03/isystemtechblog-incremental-flash-programming-on-mpc5xxx-and-tricore.html tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00e55473a590883301676242c9ad970b 2012-02-29T10:52:05+01:00 2012-02-29T10:52:05+01:00

Do you know how to use any digital or analog signal to trigger your trace?All you need is an iC5000 on-chip debugger with an I/O module! Connect the signal you like to trigger on to one of the input lines (digital in, analog in) of the I/O module. Configure those lines in winIDEA Hardware/Options/I/O tab. Next step is to configure an appropriate trace trigger. Open the "Analyzer Configuration List". Press the "New" "Trace" button. Give it desciptive name e.g. "StartTraceOnButtonPress". Select the I/O module tab. Check the "Trigger". Specify the signal to start the trace with. If you use a...

Christiane Vogt http://embedded.typepad.com/isystems-smpo/2012/02/isystemtechblog-use-any-io-signal-to-start-your-trace.html tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00e55473a59088330168e7c7a224970c 2012-02-22T12:33:24+01:00 2012-02-22T12:30:55+01:00

With iC5000's IO module you can measure digital and analog signals as well as drive them. winIDEA can display these signals in the analyzer so that you can see the signals tracked by the IO module in correlation to your application's program/data trace and also profiler measurements . The IO module provides: one system port 8 channels digital in 8 channels digital out 2 channels analog in 2 channels analog out power measurement How do you configure winIDEA for the IO module (IOM) ? First step is to physically connect the signal to one of the input ports, e.g. digital...

Christiane Vogt http://embedded.typepad.com/isystems-smpo/2012/02/isystemtechblog-how-to-configure-ic5000s-io-module-to-track-a-signal.html tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00e55473a5908833016301020895970d 2012-02-08T11:44:14+01:00 2012-02-27T10:09:55+01:00

iSYSTEM exhibits on embedded world 2012 fair in Nuremberg (2/28/2012 - 3/1/2012). We will show our customers: The new iC5000 I/O module that enhances iSYSTEM debug tools by a mini HIL component that allows you to measure the power consumption of your hardware and track it down to function level! iSYSTEM's realtime unit test tool testIDEA that is now available in standard and professional version offering many new features, e.g. Execution of test cases without code instrumentation Generation of new test cases with Excel! fitIDEA - iSYSTEM's answer to functional safety standards like e.g. ISO26262 Visit us on the embedded...

iSYSTEM http://embedded.typepad.com/isystems-smpo/2012/02/isystem-will-exhibit-on-embedded-world-2012-in-nuremburg.html tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00e55473a5908833016761c964e4970b 2012-02-06T11:59:00+01:00 2012-02-06T11:21:53+01:00

Today iSYSTEM released winIDEA 2011 build 9.11.80 as the final release build of winIDEA 2011. The download ist available here . The major enhancement of winIDEA 2011 is the supertrace - a complete redesign of the analyzer to combine the features of trace, profiler and statistics analysis in one session. With supertrace all analyzers are based on a single trace so that a single run is sufficient to retrieve all relevant data. winIDEA 2011 also includes the standard version of testIDEA - iSYSTEM's real-time unit test tool that allows creation and execution of unit tests without code instrumentation. Many extensions...

iSYSTEM http://embedded.typepad.com/isystems-smpo/2012/02/winidea-2011-released-in-build-is-91180.html tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00e55473a59088330168e6567a52970c 2012-02-01T10:00:00+01:00 2012-02-08T11:17:25+01:00

Are you recording lots of data to get an insight in the real-time workings of your application? Does it slow down the overall performance of your PC? Then you may consider following: Analyzer recordings can be very large. The raw compressed recording itself can be several GB large, after decompression and analysis, the temporary data footprint can increase by a factor of 30-100. Most of this data is kept on disk in the designated temporay folder. If this folder is located on a slow disk, the overall performance suffers. If you have another disk with better performance available, set the...

Christiane Vogt http://embedded.typepad.com/isystems-smpo/2012/02/isystemtechblog-increase-your-analyzers-performance.html 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