On Chip Debugging

There are a number of names under which this form of debugging is known (BDM,SDI, Once, JTAG) all of which are low cost debugging solutions that take advantage of an on-chip controller, built into every chip, that will halt normal processor execution and control the CPUs resources. The user can then directly control the target's execution (Run, Break, Step, Read from/Write to Registers and memory locations) and can also program internal or external FLASH memory devices.

iSYSTEM provide a range of BDM solutions from low cost ones; to advanced systems that can provide a full real time trace.  They are based on the 3000 unit which provides communications links to a PC via USB-2 or Ethernet.

Simple On Chip Debugging

A low cost card plugs into the 3000 unit and interfaces directly to the BDM or JTAG connector on the board.  The operation is all controlled by iSYSTEMs popular WinIDE user interface.

BDM and JTAG interfaces are available for  68HCS08, 68HC(S)12(X), CPU32(683xx etc), ColdFire,  Power PC (4,5,6,7,8), ARM 7, 9, 11 and Cortex, 68HC16, MCORE, CR16, V850, ARC, Super-10, XC16x and XC800

On Chip Debugging with Trace

For debugging complex time critical applications an ICE with Trace cannot be beaten. The JTAG interface on the ARM and PPC provides low cost debugging but cannot provide real time information. More recent high end chips include a trace option called ETM in which the chip itself holds a highly condensed record of the program and data flow.

Real-time Trace Reconstruction is a completely new technology introduced by iSYSTEM. Their iTRACE unit is able to reconstruct a full internal bus from the information produced by on-chip trace ports. The iTRACE is able to do a real-time trace reconstruction on the fly. The stream of Nexus/ETM data is immediately analyzed and the CPU activity reconstructed by an FPGA in the unit. It provides all the trace possibilities that are normally provided by true in-circuit emulators. A full trigger machine is available that enables you to easily set up your trigger conditions. Post-trigger software analysis is no longer a limitation as all the data is reconstructed in real time.

Since the full execution bus is reconstructed, unlimited execution coverage and profiling are provided. This feature is now available on the iTRACE GT for all ARM based controllers with ETM, on the MPC5554 with Nexus as well as Coldfire and CR16/CRX with their own more limited proprietary interfaces.

Backtrace

This feature is available for ARM CPUs. When looking back in a normal trace all you can do is see what data appears on the various buses at each instruction. From this the engineer must make a mental reconstruction of the state of the machine (Accumulators, Registers, variables) at some earlier time.

With backtrace the ICE and its supporting logic do all the hard work for you – it goes back one instruction at a time restoring the changed registers/variables to the values they were at prior to the execution of that instruction and updating the display to reflect that change. Now you can examine the full contents of that critical data array at the point where it all went horribly wrong!

New Low cost STM32F10x Cortex-M3 unit with trace

Debugging is based on JTAG or Single Wire Debug (SWD) communication with a target application. The iSYSTEM debugger connects to the host PC via a standard USB interface. As with all iSYSTEM tools an easy-to-use integrated development environment and software debugger is included. The iSYSTEM unit supports on-chip trace for those Cortex-M3 devices that include it (like the STM32F10x). In addition to providing complete, high-performance development and debugging features, the unit support high-speed flash programming.

winIDEA User Interface

If you would like a quote for your exact configuration please call Chris Stephens on 01932 829460.