Faster FreeRTOS Percepio Tracealyzer Streaming with Segger RTT

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 Streamnig affects target performance

RTT streaming affects target performance?

Continue reading

New FreeRTOS V10.0.0: Amazon, Segger SystemView and Percepio Tracealyzer

“Amazon FreeRTOS – IoT operating system for microcontrollers”: The announcement of FreeRTOS V10.0.0 was one of the biggest news last week for me. Not only is there now a Version 10, the bigger news is that FreeRTOS is now part of Amazon. Wow! Now this explains why Richard Barry (the founder behind FreeRTOS) was kind of hiding away for about a year: he joined Amazon as a principal engineer about a year ago. I think we all have to wait and see what it means for FreeRTOS.

Amazon FreeRTOS

Amazon FreeRTOS (Source: Amazon Web Site)

Continue reading

Better FreeRTOS Debugging in Eclipse

With debugging FreeRTOS applications in Eclipse, it is a big to have views available showing all the threads, queues, timers and heap memory allocation. One of the best Eclipse plugins are the one NXP provides for FreeRTOS: they are free of charge and give me pretty much everything I need. However, if you are not that familiar with FreeRTOS itself, here are a few tips to get more out of the plugins.

Better FreeRTOS Debugging in Eclipse

Better FreeRTOS Debugging in Eclipse

Continue reading

Percepio FreeRTOS Tracealyzer Plugin for Eclipse

Good news for everyone using Eclipse, FreeRTOS and Percepio Tracealyzer: Percepio has released an Eclipse plugin which makes snapshot tracing very easy and convenient using the a GNU gdb debugger in Eclipse like Kinetis Design Studio:

Eclipse with Percepio Tracealizer

Eclipse with Percepio Tracealyzer

Continue reading

McuOnEclipse Components: 28-Jan-2017 Release

I’m pleased to announce that a new release of the McuOnEclipse components is available in SourceForge, with the following main features and changes:

  • New Sharp Memory Display Driver supporting 96×96 and 128×128 pixel ultra low power display
  • PID_Int can be used without hardware
  • GenericTimeData has added functions to convert date/time into strings
  • HardFault can now disable write buffers on ARM Cortex to simplify debugging faults
  • Folder support for SEGGER SystemView and Percepio FreeRTOS+Trace
  • Component usage without Processor Expert
  • NXP MCUXpresso SDK support for FreeRTOS using tickless idle mode and low power timer
  • Many other smaller bug fixes and enhancements
SourceForge

SourceForge

Continue reading

McuOnEclipse Components: 12-Dec-2016 Release

Time is passing by so fast, and the year end is approache fast! I’m pleased to announce that a new release of the McuOnEclipse components is available in SourceForge:

  • Percepio Trace V3.1 for FreeRTOS which includes both Segger RTT continuous streaming and snapshot tracing in a single API
  • Generation of sources and drivers so they can be used without Processor Expert using McuLibConfig, removal of dependency to NXP Kinetis SDK: components use a generic API approach to have them working with other SDKs.
  • New contributed ExceptionsHandler component
  • Callback Setter and Getter in USB CDC stack for simpler option handling
  • GenericTimeDate with flexible RTC support and added Unix Timestamp functions
  • LongKey events in Key component
  • FreeRTOS with optimized task selection on Cortex-M4/M7
  • Many smaller bug fixes and enhancements
SourceForge

SourceForge

Continue reading