Analog Devices Blackfin, Getting Started

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Getting Started With Blackfin Processors 2-7
The Evaluation Process
cycles per second on the most modest of host PCs. Effectively, this means
that what used to be an overnight run is now a 10-minute coffee break,
and what was once a coffee break is now a near-instantaneous simulation.
As many of the most performance-demanding applications process a signal
of some sort, comprehensive memory plotting is a cornerstone of Visu-
alDSP++ debugger support. Vi+ provides multiple views, from
basic (line plots) to sophisticated (eye diagrams and waterfalls) to pinpoint
anomalous data sequences in your application. Image viewing in a number
of data formats is also available.
Users of the VDK get unparalleled visibility into the internals of the ker-
nel. Status on a per-thread basis is available, as is a comprehensive
pictorial history of kernel events and CPU loading. Thread changes,
posted and pended semaphores, and other kernel events are captured in
this display.
Inspection, or even application stimulation, from the debugger at run
time is possible through the use of the processor’s background telemetry
channels (BTCs). BTCs allow for an arbitrary number of communication
channels to be established between the host debugger and the application.
Channels may go in either direction, so BTCs can be used to read and
write data as the processor runs. Scalar values or entire arrays may be ser-
viced by a channel. Arrays read from the target can even be plotted in real
time.
Multiprocessor (MP) users get the same set of debugging features across all
processors, unified into a single debugging interface. Individual windows
can be made to float their focus to whichever processor currently is the
debugger’s focus, or they can be pinned to a specific processor so their
contents do not follow the debugger’s focus. To further aid MP debug,
synchronous run, step, halt, and reset are also provided.
The patented statistical profiler from Analog Devices offers unprecedented
and unique visibility into a running application. Operating completely
non-intrusively to the application, the application is polled thousands of