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Query on IAR Embedded Workbench 6.0 for MSP 430 microprocessor

Omer Pinto
Prodigy 40 points

Hello all,

My name is Omer Pinto and I'm a SW engineer in Zrro Ltd in Tel Aviv Israel.
I'm using the IAR Embedded Workbench MSP 430 here at work, and have encountered a problem when running with the 'Simulator' debugger (or "The C-SPY® Simulator" as it is referred to in the IAR MSP 430 software manual).
I'm taking advantage of the simiulator debugger for simulating some non-HW related code as emulation of my entire system; In order to do that, I've commented out all HW related code that usually runs under IAR C-SPY® FET Debugger, and selected the simulator debugger in the project settings. I'll comment that my emulation code uses external files on the filesystem of my PC as input.
Now, this new software-based emulation configuration works very slowly in the IAR MSP 430 software for non-apparent reason. Even when I leave out the logic for reading/writing files during the emulation (which basically leaves me with a reduced version of the original HW project), , it runs very slowly in comparion to the original project using the FET debugger (comparing cycle time to run algorithmic code that is the same on both projects run under any one of the debuggers).
I suspect that the IAR Embedded Workbench MSP 430 simulator debugger has some internal clock/timer setting that slows it down, thus running much slower than it should, but I can't find any apparent setting for that assumptionץ
Actually, as a temporary (and impractical) bypass, I've managed to open a new project on a different IAR software (used for different microprocessor), transfered any necessary files from the MSP 430 project, (leaving out all HW-related drivers and settings code files),  and used the its simulator debugger for my emulation. It worked great! Actually it worked around 40-60 times faster than the same Simulator debugger in IAR MSP 430 software.
Now, I'd like to ask how can I make the MSP 430 simulator debugger work faster. It is surely impractical to keep transferring (or updating) files from one project to a different one just for using the other's software debugger.
Any ideas ? :)
Any help will be highly appreciated,
Best,
Omer.P.
  • 0
    Guru 58965 points

    I think you could ask IAR about this. And I think their answer will be disappointing to you.

    They are using a program written in c to make a PC to emulate MSP430. The alternative may be use FPGA to emulate the MSP430. But why bother?

  • 0 in reply to old_cow_yellow
    Prodigy 40 points

    Hello,

    Thanks for your comments and help.

    I've sent an email to the IAR distributor here in Israel, but I believe it would take some time to tunnel these to the software developers; You might be right regarding their possible answer.

    I didn't really understand what you were referring to by "Why bother? ", so I'll try to elaborate on my requirements from that simulator debugger : I have a need to take my project, which is HW-based on MSP 430 microprocessor, and by single "define" in my code (activating many other "ifdef" sections on my code), turn it to SW-based emulator that can simulate anything running on real time HW by the same software-code (leaving drivers code outside), only with a deterministic (fully repeatable) input that comes from pre HW-recorded files in my file system.

    It works great on other IAR version for a different project that I have  (which is less interesting as I can't use it for my main MSP 430 project emulator software). In IAR for MSP 430 it just works very slowly - don't know why.

    Hence, I need this ability for a HW-free simulator, and FPGA won't do the trick.

    Any further help would be appreciated.

    Thanks,

    Omer.P.

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