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Debug a multi core application

CodeFusion Studio provides debugging for supported microcontrollers with multiple cores.

The multi-core architecture of the MAX32xxx and MAX78xxx microcontrollers requires secondary images contained within the image for the primary core. This means only a single image is required to boot and run a mulit-core microcontroller.

The secondary core is enabled with a code sequence on the primary core. Debugging the secondary core is available after MXC_SYS_RISCVRun() has been called on the primary core.

Note

Not all of the dual core evaluation boards have external debug ports for the secondary core. Care should be taken when selecting a board to work with.

See Supported processors for a full list of supported processors.

RV_ARM_Loader example

The MAX78002 RV_ARM_Loader example is located within the CodeFusion Studio installation at <CodeFusion Studio Install>/SDK/MAX/Examples/MAX78002/RV_ARM_Loader. This example uses the Arm processor to load and prepare the RISC-V processor to run a chosen program.

Note

By default, the example runs the MAX78002 Hello_World example on the RISC-V processor, found at <CodeFusion Studio Install>/SDK/MAX/Examples/MAX78002/Hello_World. To run a different program on the RISC-V processor, change the RISCV_APP variable in RV_ARM_LOADER/project.mk to point to the root directory of the program to build and run:

project.mk 

# This file can be used to set build configuration
# variables.  These variables are defined in a file called
# "Makefile" that is located next to this one.

# For instructions on how to use this system, see
# https://analogdevicesinc.github.io/msdk/USERGUIDE/#build-system

# **********************************************************

# Enable the RISC-V loader
RISCV_LOAD = 1

# The RISCV application can be changed.
# It defaults to Hello_World
RISCV_APP=../Hello_World

Set up a workspace

Warning

Copy the example it into a new directory before modifying it so the original example can be restored.

  1. Place the MAX78002 Hello_World example (or the example you'd like to run on the RISC-V processor) in the same directory as the MAX78002 RV_ARM_Loader example.

    Note

    If the Hello_World project doesn't reside at ../Hello_World relative to RV_ARM_Loader or you want to use a different project, you will need to update the project.mk within the RV_ARM_Loader example.

  2. Click File > Open Folder to open the MAX78002 RV_ARM_Loader example in a single-folder workspace.

  3. Click File > Add Folder to Workspace to add the MAX78002 Hello_World example to the workspace.

    Note

    Convert the projects to CodeFusion Studio projects if required. See Open and Migrate Example for more info.

  4. Run the CFS: build to create the build directory which contains the ELF files for the Arm processor. These files are used for the program file settings.

    • build/RV_ARM_Loader.elf
    • build/buildrv/riscv.elf

Debug settings

  1. Launch the Arm debug instance using the CFS: Cortex Debug with GDB and OpenOCD (ARM Embedded) debug configuration.
  2. Select configuration/image files if prompted.
  3. After the Arm debug session reaches the breakpoint in the main.c code, press Continue on the debugging tool bar or F5.
  4. Confirm RISC-V is running by observing LED0 blinking, or pause the Arm core to check it has passed the call to MXC_SYS_RISCVRun();
  5. Launch the RISC-V debug instance using the CFS: Debug with GDB and OpenOCD (RISC-V) debug configuration.
  6. Select configuration/image files if prompted.

Control the session

The Call Stack can be used to navigate between each debug instance. This provides quick access to the debugging taking place on each processor.