PLS Announces Optimised Debugging Solution For Infineon XMC1000 Microcontrollers

Both the UDE 4.0.2 and PLS's Universal Access Device family seamlessly support the internal debugging resources and peripheral units of the highly integrated XMC1000 components developed for use in intelligent sensor and actuator applications, LED controls, digital power conversion, and controllers for low-end electric motors, for example. The integrated FLASH/OTP programming functionality of the UDE guarantees maximum speeds in the whole Delete-Download-Programming-Verify cycle.

In order to be able to offer developers as many internal debugging options as possible despite the compact design – the new MCUs are accommodated in TSSOP packages with 16, 28 and 38 pins maximum – Infineon has implemented a series of different boot modes in the microcontrollers. These contain access via a serial bootstrap loader for simple FLASH programming, Serial Wire Debug as the standard ARM Cortex processor debugging interface and a single pin debug mode designed by Infineon to yield more I/O pins for the application. The various boot modes are configured automatically by using the UDE 4.0.2 and a universal access device. The devices supplied ex works in serial bootstrap loader mode are thus, for example, reconfigured to SWD mode transparently for the user when connected to the debugger.

The various possibilities for graphically displaying variables and their links to physical values within the Universal Debug Engine benefit above all from the real-time properties of the XMC1000 family. For example, it is possible for the debugger to read and write the entire main memory whilst a program is running without impairing real-time behavior. This permits the animation of variables, registers and memory content at runtime. In addition, the periodic recording of the instruction counter permits a profiling function with portrayal of the percentage share of functions in the application’s runtime.

Dr. Stephan Zizala, Senior Director Industrial and Multimarket Microcontrollers at Infineon Technologies, emphasizes the benefit with the simultaneous availability of the new XMC1000 series and PLS‘s UDE 4.0.2 allowing developers an especially rapid time to market: PLS’s tools for debugging deeply embedded microcontroller applications are a very good complement to the new Infineon XMC1000 family of low-end 32-bit microcontrollers with their powerful application-optimized peripheral set. Infineon decided on PLS‘s Universal Debug Engine for chip verification as well as for testing the first XMC1000 components. With the UDE 4.0.2, developers have a debugging tool which is fully developed in every respect and available at the XMC1000 market launch in March 2013.”

PLS also sees significant benefits for developers in this approach: For deeply embedded SoCs, like the microcontroller of the XMC1000 family, it is extremely important for the user to have stable and aligned tools available right from the start. The properties of the powerful ARM Cortex-M0 core in combination with Infineon's optimized peripheral microcontrollers cannot really be used to the full extend without such tools like the Universal Debug Engine, according to Product Marketing Manager Heiko Riessland.