Newsletter in July 2024

                 - Masterpiece of Software Development: Device Provisioner
                      - The most universal Tool for Embedded Systems
                                - Systematic Test Design using CTE
                     - The basic Idea of the Classification Tree Method
                             - Key Features and Advantages for you
                                - Learn more about Tracealyzer 4.9
                                        - Update for other RTOS                                        

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Modern chips require an ever-increasing degree of customer and device- specific configuration. Security plays a particularly important role here, as more and more devices are connected to the Internet. Unfortunately, there is still no industry standard for providing chip security and configuration.   The options for this vary from semiconductor manufacturer to semiconductor manufacturer and even from microcontroller to microcontroller. In addition, microcontrollers are constantly evolving and therefore require a flexible tool.

Masterpiece of Software Development: Device Provisioner With the Device Provisioner, SEGGER offers a new tool for its Flasher programming devices as well as for its debug and trace probes J-Link and J-Trace.   The Device Provisioner is a command line tool that allows users to customize the configuration of their microcontrollers with extreme flexibility. The tool supports conditioning and programming (including special areas), downloading certificates, assigning serial numbers, locking and unlocking as well as security activation and configuration of TrustZone@/partitioning.   In addition, users can enable or disable the debug interface, set fuses, program option bytes and flash, and anything else that needs to be pre- configured for development or production.   "The Device Provisioner is a masterpiece of software development," says Rolf Segger, founder of SEGGER. "The tool allows any conceivable configuration of the microcontroller hardware. It has a built-in C compiler and grants full access to all interfaces and functions offered by J-Link and Flasher, including the fully user-programmable interface coprocessors to cover existing and future protocols."

The most universal Tool for Embedded Systems   All these aspects make Device Provisioner without exaggeration the most universal tool in the history of embedded systems. The developers of SEGGER have really outdone themselves with the development of this tool. The Device Provisioner executes commands from a script written in C, which can be written by SEGGER, the semiconductor manufacturer or the user himself.   And best of all: The Device Provisioner is part of the software package for the J-Link and Flasher product family.   Script files can be executed on J-Links and Flashers when they are connected to a host PC. Flasher programming devices can also run the script files in standalone mode.   Script files may be distributed in source code or, to protect intellectual property, in pre-compiled form.   With SEGGER's production programming devices and debug probes, users are already equipped today for the challenges of tomorrow.   For more information, please visit Device Provisioner.

Systematic Test Design using CTE The Classification Tree Editor (CTE) from RAZORCAT is a graphical editor for the systematic and easy-to-understand creation of test cases in a graphical format. The CTE is used for the conversion of a (functional) specification into a series of error-sensitive and low-redundancy test case specifications.   In principle, the CTE can be used in all test phases and programming languages, for any IT application and for embedded, mobile and web applications.   The following sections outline the core functions of the CTE. Your comments and questions about our product are always welcome. Please feel free to contact me.

The basic Idea of the Classification Tree Method The Classification Tree Method enables a simple test design for different areas of software development. This requires the following two steps: Identify the test-relevant aspects (classifications) and the respective corresponding values (classes). As a rule, this is implemented on the basis of the (functional) specification of the software to be tested. These aspects represent the input and output data of the test object. Combining the various classes from all classifications in test cases. Creating test case specifications with the graphical editor The Classification Tree Editor (CTE) is used to design  classification trees and create test case specifications in an intuitive way. Describing the tree elements, as well as the test-relevant aspects and their recursive partitioning into equivalence classes to build the classification tree. Setting values on tree elements and combining tree classes to specify inputs and expected results in a combination table. Textcases can then be created based on this. The result is a comprehensible test case specification: The description text of selected tree elements and their values are used to generate the test case specification. The test case specifications can be exported as *xml, *x/sx, *,txt, *.sug, *.png, *.jpg.

Key Features and Advantages for you    Creation of error-sensitive and low-redundancy test cases   Creating, importing and exporting classification trees Definition of dependency rules between the test aspects Automated generation of test case specifications Automatic validation checks Statistical data Customizable auto-layout The CTE has functions for more detailed test case specifications and the subdivision of a tree into sub-trees. In addition, the CTE offers easy navigation through sub-trees and elements as well as simplified handling using drag & drop and short keys.   Advantages for you Systematic and easy-to-understand creation of test cases using a graphical editor. Partially automated generation of test case specifications. Export of test data for further use by other tools, e.g. TESSY. Available as an integrated version in TESSY or as a standalone version for Windows 7/8/10/11 (64bit)

Learn more about Tracealyzer 4.9 As you already know from last Newsletter, Percepio AB, the leading provider of continuous observability solutions for embedded edge systems, has recently announced the availability of Tracealyzer v4.9.   The focus for this release has been to improve the user experience when installing and running Tracealyzer on a Linux host computer. Installation has been greatly simplified by a new standalone installation package that includes everything needed to run Tracealyzer. On most Linux distributions, a new user can now be up and running in a few minutes.   "Providing first class Linux support is of key importance to us at Percepio. Many software developers prefer Linux. We have a growing developer community that has contributed with a lot of feedback and testimonials over the years. We are very grateful for their support and want to give back to the Linux community with this Tracealyzer release, where the main objective is improved user experience for Linux users," says Johan Kraft, founder and CTO at Percepio.   The user experience and performance on Linux has been improved significantly. Several Linux-related bugs and Gul issues have been fixed, the application starts up faster, and traces load faster.

Aktualisierung für andere RTOS Tracealyzer Version 4.9 ist ab sofort bei Percepio und bei uns erhältlich. Upgrades sind für aktuelle Benutzer mit einem aktiven Abonnement oder Wartungsvertrag kostenlos. Eine zeitlich begrenzte Testversion der Software kann hier heruntergeladen werden.   The TraceRecorder support for Eclipse ThreadX and SAFERTOS has also been updated in the new version, to improve recorder integration and support the most recent RTOS features. SAFERTOS support is provided via WITTENSTEIN high integrity systems.   Tracealyzer 4.9 also brings improved support for LynxOS-178, the standards-based RTOS for safety-critical real-time applications from Lynx Software Technologies, such as the ability to record process data in the TraceRecorder library and group threads by process in the trace view. LynxOS-178 support is provided via Lynx Software Technologies.   Tracealyzer version 4.9 is available immediately from Percepio and from us. Upgrades are free for current users with an active subscription or maintenance contract. A time-limited evaluation copy of the software can be downloaded here.

I wish you a good and healthy summertime   For the upcoming summer break, I wish you leisure and time for yourself and your family and time away from your daily work.   Come back from your vacation with creative new ideas! Yours Sincerely Marian A. Wosnitza   PS. I will be happy to write to you again on September 1st.   „If you don’t take care of your health every day,  You will have to sacrifice a lot of time one day for the illness.“ (Unknown)