Trace32 debug environment supports PikeOS for MPU

19th January 2022

Caroline Hayes

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The recently introduced PikeOS for MPU by Sysgo is supported in Lauterbach’s Trace32 debug environment. Support includes debugging and tracing PikeOS for MPU applications as well as combined debugging of MMU and MPU-based systems.

Trace32 has supported PikeOS products for more than 15 years, providing access to PikeOS objects, such as partitions, tasks and threads. The debug environment gives the user concurrent access to all partitions and tasks. Developers can view variables and set breakpoints on single or multiple tasks at any time, whether the task is currently active or not.

Following collaboration from beta versions of PikeOS for MPU, Lauterbach and Sysgo, developers can debug applications and systems on Trace32 in the same way they do with PikeOS. This includes tracing the system as a whole, covering all partitions and tasks. Using the sampled trace, Trace32 can create comprehensive performance analysis and code coverage metrics.

PikeOS for MPU is designed to work with a classic PikeOS, especially in asymmetrical multi-core environments, advises Lauterbach. On a complex SoC, for example the Xilinx Ultrascale+, classic PikeOS can be run as symmetrical multiprocessing (SMP) on the Cortex-A53 cluster, alongside several PikeOS for MPU as asymmetrical multiprocessing (AMP) on the secondary Cortex-R5 cores. Trace32 not only supports all Cortex-A and Cortex-R variants, SMP and AMP configurations but also supports both PikeOS variants. As a result, one Trace32 hardware setup is sufficient to debug the entire system. Starting an individual GUI (graphical user interface) for each PikeOS system, the developer can debug both PikeOS variants at the same time, with synchronised start and stop events. This is especially useful when looking for bugs in the communication between the systems.

The debug environment can trace the whole system and show graphical charts of application and function run times. The synchronised timing allows observation of the timing behaviour of both PikeOS and PikeOS for MPU, and measure latencies between the two.

“With PikeOS classic and PikeOS for MPU, SYSGO can now offer a complete solution for MMU, MPU and the necessary tool chain for configuration and debugging," said Norbert Weiss, General Manager at Lauterbach.