The Research And Implementation Of Task-aware Debugger In Embedded Systems

With the rapid development of network and information technology, also being promoted by the renovation of semi-conductor industry, embedded systems have become more and more popular in kinds of fields. However, at the same time, the complexity of software in embedded system is increasing day by day, thus the debug tools become more important in process of embedded software development. In this thesis we focus on the design of task-aware debugger in embedded systems, and implement one based on a specified operating system. At first, we analyze the widely used debugging method of embedded systems. By comparing the advantage and limitation of each method, we select ROM monitor to be used in task-aware debugger. Then we go deep into the theory of program compiling and debugging, focus on the format of ELF file and debug information in it (store, extract). Following that, we present the design of task-aware debugger of embedded system in details, based on two different levels: the source level debugging and the task-aware debugging. When designing the task-aware debugging, we notice the requirement of a real-time embedded system, and so we use a software-implemented method to keep the trace of system code executing flow. With the help of tracing on system executing flow, timing issue in embedded system debugging is resolved; also it could help to analyze the system performance. Lastly, we present an implementation of task-aware debugger for an embedded system that uses Nucleus OS and MIPS CPU. Also, we discuss on how to keep the trace of system executing flow, using the Nucleus OS as an example.