RealView MultiTrace
MultiTrace collects trace information from a running ARM core with ETM (Embedded Trace Macrocell) support. This trace information includes:
- PC (Program Counter) values
- Data loaded from memory
- Data stored from memory
- Timestamp information
With this trace information, it is possible to build a precise picture of the execution history of your system, including application code, OS code and even interrupt handlers. The picture can be presented within the RealView tools, allowing you to move through the trace and see the corresponding source code. In some cases this allows you to easily track down very complex bugs which would take hours or days of work with a simple ICE unit.
RealView MultiTrace does not affect the running of the system - it is an entirely passive device. It relies on Multi-ICE to provide stop/start control in the normal debugger environment. However, the debugger does allow you to see trace start/stop points and conditions so that you can narrow down your tracing to the problem areas. Once the data is collected in MultiTrace's internal buffer, it is downloaded over ethernet to the debugger for analysis.
Since ETM only requires a small number of pins from the ARM core to the outside world, tracing can be made available even in highly integrated SoC designs. Since these designs are often complex, tracing is particularly useful, allowing developers to quickly locate difficult bugs thus reducing time to market and development costs.
Contact us at devtools at bluewatersys dot com for more information and a quotation.
RealView MultiTrace Features
- Collects trace information at clock speeds up to 200MHz
- High speed upload of trace information via Ethernet 10/100 Base-T
- Works in conjunction with RealView Multi-ICE to provide real-time trace functionality
- Compatible with ETM for ARM7, ARM9 and ARM10 cores (ARM1020/ARM1022 only)
- Supports SoCs down to 1v
- Provides double- or single-edged clocking capability
- Supports data port widths of 4-, 8- and 16-bit, with records depths of 1M, 512K and 512K respectively
- Time stamps trace information: 48-bit with 10 ns resolution
- Works with the RVD debugger or AXD debugger included in the RealView Developer Suite.
- Hot-pluggable so will not crash or damage the target application when used.
- Supports double-edged clocking for trace capture, which halves the frequency requirements for the chip I/O design, where a half rate clock can be provided as the trace clock and still trace the processor activity at full speed.
RealView MultiTrace supports only Windows platforms and is designed to operate with Multi-ICE. Please note that MultiTrace has largely been superceeded by RealView Trace.