Newsletter in October 2024

                          - Easier troubleshooting, faster development
                   - Collaboration improves project progress and quality
              - Review, identify, fix and release software with confidence
                             - Introduction of continuous observability
                          - Flasher in-circuit-programmer from Segger

                  - Flasher Deployer - set up Flasher with just two clicks

                     - Ready for safety-critical software development ?                                        

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In our last Newsletter, we talked about the limits of monitoring the error-free function of your delivered product. Without a network connection and monitoring mechanisms, you lose control over the status of your devices at the end customer and have no way of rectifying any faults that occur. Your product is isolated from the outside world in a private network. You are only informed of problems late, only in a rudimentary way or not at all. With Percepio Detect, you will find ways of observability beyond the development lab.   Easier troubleshooting, faster development   Detect is the new addition to Percepio's portfolio of continuous tools for continuous observability. The tool is the result of more than a decade of insight and experience. With Detect, Percepio bridges the separate perspectives in development, testing and maintenance of deployed products. As a configurable product, Detect is optimized for use in testing RTOS-based embedded systems. Detect provides software monitoring for advanced profiling and anomaly detection. Analysis and debug data is stored in the Detect Server database to enable seamless information sharing across the team.

Collaboration improves project progress and quality Percepio Detect is a collaboration tool with a shared database and dashboard running on a private server in your network.  This allows all team members to easily and equally view debugging data, making it easier to collaborate on reported issues. Performance metrics can be tabulated for each test case, making it easy to evaluate changes between builds. Optional Cl integration enables automatic capture of detected issues and performance metrics in your existing Cl pipeline. For projects that require a high level of confidence and/or compliance, Percepio Detect and Tracealyzer can be used in tandem, providing two independent profiling tools. While Tracealyzer relies on event tracing and host-side analysis, Percepio Detect monitoring runs on the end device and calculates its metrics in real-time, independent of event tracing. Combined with DevAlert cloud-based monitoring, you get a third layer of security for the stability and efficiency of your RTOS-based systems.

Review, identify, fix and release software with confidence   The development of RTOS-based embedded software harbors multithreading risks that can cause elusive stability problems. These problems can remain undetected despite extensive tests, code reviews and static analyses, as they are not visible in the source code. They only appear as sporadic errors, often in late testing phases where they are notoriously difficult to reproduce and fix. By monitoring key performance metrics at runtime, Percepio Detect identifies multithreading risks that can cause intermittent errors in slightly different circumstances. These can be, for example, potential deadlocks and near misses related to software timing or resource utilization. You will always notice when a watchdog timer runs out, but what you really want to find out is how often you are close to the watchdog limit. Percepio Detect Monitoring can be integrated into your regular integration tests to detect multithreading risks early and with minimal effort.

Introduction of continuous observability Percepio Detect is an integral part of the Percepio system and tool portfolio for continuous observability. This strategy enables product teams to collect and share diagnostic device data in an automated and systematic way, customized to the needs of each team and stakeholder. Percepio will release Detect this fall. We are already looking for interested beta testers for this tool, which enables observability in the test and QA phases of software development. Please register here if you would like to be informed about the Detect Early Access Program and if you are interested in early bird special offers.

Flasher in-circuit-programmer from Segger SEGGER Flasher in-circuit programmers are well known to you, designed for professional use in series production and the service sector. Flashers are used for programming non-volatile memories in microcontrollers and systems-on-a-chip (SoCs) as well as (Q)SPI flashes. SEGGER Flashers can either be connected to a PC or operated in stand-alone mode. They can be connected via USB and/or Ethernet (Flasher PRO, Flasher PRO XL, Flasher Portable PLUS and Flasher ARM). Flasher offers drivers and user tools for all common platforms (Linux, macOS, Windows). The SEGGER Flasher family offers the right device for every requirement: whether compactness, flexibility, mobility, security or mass production (e.g. with the Flasher Hub-4 or Flasher Hub-12 for parallel programming of several devices) SEGGER has the right Flasher for your application. The Flasher family stands for maximum performance and flexibility when programming of almost all devices (e.g. Flasher PRO - the “programmer for almost everything”). For all other cases, SEGGER offers the Flasher Device Support Kit (DSK), with which manufacturers and customers can add support for new devices themselves.

Flasher Deployer - set up Flasher with just two clicks   The new SEGGER Flasher Deployer is a cross-platform tool with a graphical user interface that simplifies the creation, deployment and management of Flasher setup packages. The Flasher Deployer is part of the Flasher software package that is available for all SEGGER Flashers. With the Flasher Deployer, users can create setup packages from any given Flasher. This makes it particularly easy to distribute a predefined configuration to many devices, e.g. in production lines or to service teams. Service technicians can retrieve a configuration via download link or email and install it directly on their mobile devices in the field. Flasher Deployer is compatible with all SEGGER flashers and is ideal for use with the Flasher Portable PLUS, a globally proven service programming device. The Flasher Portable PLUS is a portable device specially designed for microcontrollers with internal and external flash memory. It impresses with its robust, reliable and compact design. With the Flasher Deployer, setting up production programming devices is easier than ever. Thanks to the two-click installation, human error is virtually eliminated. Technicians and production managers can rely on the SEGGER philosophy 'It simply works' to achieve perfect results. Service technicians in the field can now safely perform one-click installation without fear of something going wrong. The Flasher Deployer is not only suitable in cases where new production runs are started with the required programming configuration. It can also be used to archive existing setups as a backup file or make them available for later use. Even if production capacities need to be expanded, an exact copy of a reference device can be easily transferred to new devices. Here you can find out all about Flasher in-circuit programmers. For more about SEGGER Flasher, like availability, prices and a commercial quotation please contact me.

Ready for safety-critical software development ? Is your software test management ready for safety-relevant software development? Today more than ever, software determines the functionality and driving experience of a vehicle - and places high demands on software development and software testing. A failed ASPICE assessment, for example, has considerable financial consequences. Does your software test management meet the safety-relevant standard?  You should ask yourself the following questions: Is your ISO-9001 quality management system adapted for this? Are the test manual and test processes defined “state of the art”? ISO 29119 - ISO 26262 - ASPICE - ISO 21434 - IEC 62304 - IEC 61508 Is your software test management properly set up in the company and project organization? Are there any unrecognized conflicts of interest? Is the SW test manager's decision to release in the release audit supported by a test status report? In an article in the current issue of “QZ - Quality and Reliability”, Razorcat sheds light on the complex challenges of software test management for automotive software. We show you how to successfully master the requirements of ISO 9001, ISO 29119, ISO 26262 and ASPICE. You can read the technical article here.

I wish you a successful fall season. Stay curious Yours Sincerely Marian A. Wosnitza   „Most people are much more capable of great effort   rather than steady perseverance.“ (Jean de La Bruyere, French Writer)