Integrated code toolbox for embedded processors

The integration bridges advanced software development products from industry leaders in their respective domains – MathWorks, the developer of mathematical computing software, and Green Hills Software, the specialist in safe and secure embedded software solutions. Engineers and scientists who develop algorithms in MATLAB and Simulink now have a simple and safety-qualified way to develop, debug, optimise and deploy their programs on thousands of embedded processors supported today by Green Hills.

The MULTI Toolbox for Embedded Coder connects Simulink and MATLAB on the desktop with the MULTI integrated development environment (IDE) that comprehends and controls embedded target processors. On the desktop, users develop Simulink and MATLAB models and generate C/C++ source code.

MULTI then compiles, connects and runs the optimised binaries on either the target processor, or on the MULTI IDE’s built-in embedded core simulator. MULTI feeds back results to Simulink via Processor-In-the-Loop (PIL), enabling the user to visualise the results or to confirm programmatically that results from Simulink algorithms on the workstation match the actual results run on the embedded processor.

“Connecting Simulink to embedded simulators and debuggers is the next milestone in our customers’ desire to move testing and verification from the field to the lab to the desktop,” said Tom Erkkinen, Product Manager, Embedded Code Generation at MathWorks. “Green Hills shares this vision and has worked closely with MathWorks to develop its MULTI Toolbox for Embedded Coder. As remote work and online collaboration continues to grow, the need for virtual testing and development environments will accelerate.”

“Many of our customers use MathWorks products to create algorithms destined for embedded systems,” added Rob Redfield, Director, Business Development at Green Hills Software. “Now, they not only have an easy-to-use way to run and verify these algorithms on embedded processors but they can also debug, analyse and optimise their code with safety-qualified MULTI and its optimising C/C++ compilers.

Once the program completes, users can run, debug and analyse the program at any point in its execution using MULTI and the TimeMachine debugger. They can:

• Run the program backward and forward, set breakpoints, debug and view variables.
• Debug INTEGRITY, µ-velOSityTM, and AUTOSAR real-time operating systems, or Linux and other operating systems.
• Verify adherence to MISRA C/C++ rules.
• Perform Run-time Error Detection & Memory Leak Detection.
• Optimise the program with Performance Profiling.
• Analyse code coverage with DoubleCheckTM source code analyser.

When functional safety is important, MULTI and its C/C++ toolchain are certified at the highest safety levels and standards, including Automotive (ISO 26262 ASIL D), Industrial (IEC 61508 SIL 3) and Railway (EN 50128 SIL 4).

The MULTI Toolbox for Embedded Coder supports thousands of 32- and 64-bit embedded processors from leading processor manufacturers, including NXP, Renesas, Qualcomm, TI and Microchip, built on the popular embedded core architectures:

• Arm Cortex-A (both Armv8-A and Armv7-A).
• Arm Cortex-R (Armv7-R). Armv8-R support is in progress and will support Cortex-R52/82.
• Arm Cortex-M (Armv7-M).
• RISC-V.
• Renesas RH850.
• Power architecture.

The MULTI Toolbox for Embedded Coder is available today. Existing customers already using MULTI v6/v7 and MathWorks Simulink, MATLAB and Embedded Coder R2021a can download the Toolbox at no extra cost here.