Non-intrusive debug technique for embedded programming

Trace debugging is a software diagnostic technique for embedded real-time systems. It is developed to give embedded software developers the ability to trace the activity of the processor even when it is operating out of cache. This ability is lost on many high performance processors and in real-time systems. Tools for debugging real-time systems are scarce (Lee, E., 2000; Zhang, L. and Yuan, P., 1999). This paper describes work that was performed on a new method of trace debugging that can be used to aid in real-time debugging of embedded software. The technique described uses non-intrusive measurements that are supplemented with deductive algorithms. The technique developed in the study differs from traditional debuggers by utilizing the a-priori information that is available. The study utilized a Motorola 68020 as a model of a high performance processor, but the processes are applicable to many "high performance" processors.