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Multicore processors for automotive control demand effective debug tools
February 11, 2008
Multicore systems for automotive control will require effective design, debug, and verification tools, according to Jeremy Brodt of NEC, writing in EDN.
Brodt, a technical applications engineer at the automotive strategic business unit of NEC Electronics America, writes, “Tools will need to comprehend entire systems, giving the user a coherent and synchronized view into the independent processes that execute simultaneously. Simulation platforms will offer greater visibility and increase the user's ability to model complex task interactions. However, the requirement for interoperability will be most important. Multicore systems may require the simultaneous use of multiple debug tools, especially for heterogeneous systems.”
Today, he says, “getting tools to coexist and share access to debug ports and resources can be a challenge, even in a single-core environment. Fortunately, companies within the industry are already coming together to collectively address these concerns. Several working groups are currently developing standards to define how tools should connect to, communicate with, and share access to the target systems. For example, the Multicore Association is developing a common software API to standardize how to connect to debug interfaces.”
He adds, “At the hardware level, Nexus, a consortium of OEMs, semiconductor vendors and tool providers, is defining a scalable standard to address the way diagnostic tools connect and communicate with MCUs and on-chip debug resources. This standard covers the total spectrum, including single CPUs, multicore processors, multiprocessor systems, and even heterogeneous architectures.”
Posted by Rick Nelson on February 11, 2008 | Comments (0)
