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XDS510 MPSD Emulator Replacement Strategy for TMS320C3x

Ryan Theuer
Prodigy 10 points

We sustain a product that uses many C3x processors. As product returns from the field, we must interact with the C3x processors to test full functionality of the product. We currently have a large number of spare JTAG Jet MPSD emulators we use with Chameleon software. We are concerned about the longevity of this solution and want to have a better solution to support us over the next 20+ years. I have a few questions as we attempt to find the ideal solution:

1) Are you aware of any existing products on the market that interfaces with C3x processors over MPSD? Most appear to be EOL

2) Do you have any further documentation you can share regarding MPSD other than that found in the JTAG/MPSD Emulation Tech Ref

https://www.ti.com/lit/ug/spdu079a/spdu079a.pdf

3) Our solution may involve developing a custom FPGA-based solution. Do you have any advice or further documentation we can use if we go with this approach?

4) What is driving the max cable length specification of 6-12 inches? Timing concerns or signal integrity? Is there impedance matching or termination we should be considering?

 

Thanks,

Ryan

  • 0
    TI__Mastermind 24895 points

    Ryan

    Look for the right engineer to provide a response.

    --Paul 

  • 0 in reply to PaulM
    TI__Guru**** 160560 points

    Ryan,

    The most common MPSD debuggers are EOL.  One option would be to reach out to sales.us@iar.com IAR acquired Signum Systems and they might still have MPSD versions of their JTAGJet available if you are looking to obtain additional units.  It is possible that they might even be open to licensing the source for it

    Regards,

    John

  • 0 in reply to JohnS
    Prodigy 10 points

    Hi John,

    Thanks for the response and idea to contact IAR. We will check into the IAR path. As far as developing our own solution is concerned, do you have any thoughts or answers to questions 2-4?

    Thanks,

    Ryan

  • 0 in reply to Ryan Theuer
    TI__Guru**** 160560 points

    Ryan,

    Developing your own solution would be challenging.  Creating a debug probe and drivers would be one part.  What would you use as the debugger on the host PC?  Would you continue to use the Chameleon debugger from Signum?  I am not sure what their software interface was to their debug probe.  The last TI debugger/IDE to support C3x was Code Composer v4.12 it is 20 years old.  

    A company like Blackhawk could likely create a debug probe that was compatible with Code Composer v4.12.  However to run Code Composer v4.12 you are going to need to keep Windows XP machines or at least VMs around.

    Paul may be able to find help with questions 2-4.

    Regards,

    John

  • 0 in reply to JohnS
    Prodigy 10 points

    Good questions. We only need a small subset of the functionality. Primarily, loading compiled software and reading registers. Our initial thoughts are to develop our own application instead of trying to use Chameleon or Code Composer. However, the lack of documentation on MPSD has me worried. It's looking like there will be a substantial amount of reverse engineering involved in this process.

    We contacted Blackhawk early in this process and had little success. We need a solution that can run on current and future versions of Windows without VMs. 

  • 0 in reply to Ryan Theuer
    TI__Mastermind 24895 points

    Ryan

    The following documents may be of some help:

    Type Reference Description Notes
    Doc https://www.ti.com/lit/pdf/scas190e ACT8990 (TBC) Datasheet
    https://www.ti.com/lit/pdf/scaa044 TBC Users Guide Includes TBC register descriptions (see SCIF SW Layer)
    https://www.ti.com/lit/pdf/spdu079a JTAG/MPSD Emulation Technical Reference

    C31 uses MPSD

    C50 uses JTAG

    I am checking to see if there is any additional information we can provide.

    --Paul