SPRUIE9D May 2017 – May 2024 DRA74P , DRA75P , DRA76P , DRA77P
Trace targets the debug of unstable code, performance analysis, and quality assurance. This infrastructure component use bus snoopers to collect and export trace data using hardware dedicated to the trace function. The use of dedicated hardware to both collect, buffer, transfer trace data to the host makes trace non-intrusive. DSP processor trace characteristics are:
The trace function can collect and export a record of the program flow and timing at the same rate generated by the CPU. Tracing data references must be restricted however as the export mechanism is generally limited to size of on-chip CT_TBR to sustain tracing of all memory references. In the case of data trace, the Advanced Event Triggering facilities provide a means to restrict the trace data exported to data of interest to maintain the non-intrusive aspect of trace. This reduces the export bandwidth needs and facilitates the successful collection of the data of interest. Error indications are embedded in the debug stream in the event the export logic is unable to keep up with the data rate generated by the collection logic. This notification allows the user to scale back the amount of requested data collection.
The user can optionally select the export of all specified trace data. In this case the CPU is stalled to avoid the loss of trace data, with trace becoming intrusive to the application if trace related stalls are generated. The user is notified that trace stalls.