Express Logic adds kernel awareness for DS-5 tools

Kernel awareness provides on-demand views of kernel data structures such as threads, queues, semaphores, and other objects of interest during the debug process. With this feature, at any point in time, a developer can set a breakpoint and, on hitting that point, easily see the status of all system threads and resources. The DS-5 plug-in provides the following ThreadX RTOS views:

- Comprehensive thread list with thread status and objects on which the threads are blocked/suspended, if any

- All major ThreadX objects including semaphores, mutexes, memory pools, message queues, event flags, and timers

- Stack usage for individual threads

“ARM’s partnership with Express Logic strengthens the position of the ARM DS-5 Development Studio as the only integrated development environment supporting all ARM Cortex processors,” said Javier Orensanz, director of product management, System Design Division, ARM. “Accelerating the development of ThreadX-based systems reduces time to market and lowers risk and cost for software developers focused on markets that include industrial, consumer, and medical devices.”

“Already, the ThreadX RTOS has been shown to deliver faster time-to-market on the ARM platform,” commented William E. Lamie, president of Express Logic. “By adding kernel awareness for the ARM DS-5 tools, ThreadX delivers even shorter development time. Developers gain greater visibility into ThreadX objects throughout the development process, giving them a quality, robust option for ARM-based embedded development.”

ThreadX is a small-footprint, royalty-free source code RTOS for SoC and other resource-constrained devices in consumer electronics, wireless networking, medical equipment, and industrial automation. ThreadX supports the full range of ARM processor architectures, including the Cortex-M0/M3/M4/R5/A5/A8/A9 cores, and is used in over 1.5 billion electronic products worldwide.

Developed by ARM architecture experts, the ARM DS-5™ toolchain enables engineers to develop robust and highly optimized embedded software for ARM application processors, such as the Cortex™-A series, Cortex-R real-time processors, and other ARM embedded processors. The DS-5 toolchain comprises tools such as the best-in-class ARM C/C++ Compiler, a powerful Linux/Android™/RTOS-aware debugger, the ARM Streamline™ system-wide performance analyzer, and real-time system model simulators, all conveniently packaged in a user-friendly integrated development environment (IDE) based on Eclipse.