I’m pleased to announce that a new release of the McuOnEclipse components is available on SourceForge. This release includes several smaller bug fixes and initial component support for the NXP S32 Design Studio and SDK.
SourceForge
By default, the GNU compiler (gcc) optimizes each compilation unit (source file) separately. This is effective, but misses the opportunity to optimize across compilation units. Here is where the Link Time Optimization (LTO, option -flto) can help out: with a global view it can optimize one step further.
The other positive side effect is that the linker can flag possible issues like the one below which are not visible to the compiler alone:
type of '__SP_INIT' does not match original declaration [enabled by default]
Warning by LTO
Hardware Timers are essential to most embedded applications: I use them mostly for triggering actions at a given frequency, such as acquiring data from a sensor. With using an RTOS I can do a similar thing using a task: the task will run with a given frequency and I can periodic work in it. However, using a task might be too much overhead doing this. The good news is that there is a much more efficient way to do this in FreeRTOS with Software Timers. And this is what this tutorial is about: how to use Software Timers with FreeRTOS.
FreeRTOS Software Timers
When using the FreeRTOS Task List in the Eclipse based MCUXpresso IDE, it shows the list of tasks with their stack size used. But with the default FreeRTOS settings it is not able to determine the correct stack size and shows a warning icon:
Warning for Stack Usage
Decisions, decisions! Such long weekends like Pentecost are a real challenge for a family with engineers:
Well, my family vote was kind of clear: they have chosen that second option. Not to mention that hidden technology piece in it, but that was part of the deal ;-).
And I’m sorry: this article is not about BBQ (for this see “Smoking BBQ Baby Back Ribs – Swiss Style“), it is about technology: I’m using the NXP MCUXpresso IDE and tools for many of my projects (see “Eclipse MCUXpresso IDE 10.1 with integrated MCUXpresso Configuration Tools“). Right before the this extended weekend, NXP has released the new v10.2.0 version, so here is where that technology exploration piece comes into play. Checking the release notes, this version number change includes so many cool stuff I decided to have a look and to check it out. Of course always having an electronic eye on the baby back ribs!
MCUXpresso IDE v10.2.0
I apologize: I have not been blogging much in the past weeks :-(. One reason is that I’m working on a DIY SMT/SMD Pick&Place machine which keeps me busy most of my spare time :-). I admit that this project is not finished yet, but now is the time I can give a sneak preview: a SMD/SMT pick and place machine:
Pick&Place Machine
It’s April Fool’s Day, but be assured this is not a joke ;-): I’m pleased to announce that a new release of the McuOnEclipse components is available in SourceForge. This release includes several smaller bug fixes and components have been upgraded for FreeRTOS V10.0.1.
SourceForge
One of the great things with the FreeRTOS operating system is that it comes with free performance analysis: It shows me how much time is spent in each task. Best of all: it shows it in a graphical way inside Eclipse too:
FreeRTOS Runtime Information in Eclipse
To solve the real hard problem of Embedded Systems development, I usually need all the data I can get from the target. The Percepio Tracealizer is such a tool which can stream application and FreeRTOS trace from the target over a Segger J-Link connection using the Segger RTT protocol. I’m using that combination a lot.
Streaming trace data that way does not need a dedicated hardware like ETM Trace. Using RTT is usually not much intrusive and affects the performance of the target in the 1-2% range (of course depending on the amount of data).
But what worried me for several weeks is that after moving to FreeRTOS V10.0.0 and the same time updating the Segger libraries, the target performance was heavily affected:
RTT streaming affects target performance?
I’m pleased to announce that a new release of the McuOnEclipse components is available in SourceForge., which is supposed to be the last release for 2017 :-). This release features several smaller bug fixes, the new FreeRTOS V10.0.0 and extended device support.
SourceForge
MCU on Eclipse 