Newsletter in July 2025

                                                   - On thin ice ...
                                   - What we need (and we know it!)
                       - Insight throughout the entire product lifecycle 
                                         - Not just a „nice-to-have"
                                    - J-Trace Pro for STM32N6 MCUs
                                     - What STMicroelectronics says                                   

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Embedded systems are the backbone of modern technology, powering everything from smart home devices to critical infrastructure. As these systems become increasingly complex and software-driven, the ability to monitor, debug, and optimize system behavior is critical to success. Traditional debugging and testing methods are often inadequate, especially when problems occur sporadically or under specific conditions that are difficult to reproduce in the field. The frightening outlook: According to recent research, 48% of the skills you use today could be obsolete in just two years. Technology is not slowing down; it is accelerating. How can we keep up?

On thin ice ... The experiences of Rick Jen, senior technical specialist for Microsoft Azure, show how precarious the situation can be without the right tools. Rick developed network security applications (using ARM-based network processors) and was responsible for developing customer-specific Linux firmware. The product launch was successful; Rick's team delivered and managed a large fleet of devices in the field. After a few firmware releases, they received warnings from the device management system informing them that there were occasional unpredictable problems. Despite all their attempts, they were unable to reproduce the error. Does this sound familiar?

What we need (and we know it!)   From repeatedly facing similar challenges during his time at Microsoft, Rick concluded: - We need a tool that allows us to observe what is happening in the application so that we can identify, easily fix, and address new problems. - For complex/distributed systems in the cloud, on-premises, or in edge embedded systems, we need visibility into applications to understand system health and identify issues that are not deterministic or too complex to reproduce locally. Developers need to develop and apply practices that enable continuous real-time insight into their systems. Whether your applications run in the cloud or on embedded devices, tools for observing, monitoring, tracking, and alerting are absolutely critical to your product development.

Insight throughout the entire product lifecycle Embedded system developers need tools that provide deeper insight and actionable insights throughout the entire product lifecycle to meet these challenges, not just until the “finished” product is delivered to the field. By providing real-time insights during development, early detection of problems during testing, and actionable alerts in production, this unified approach enables your team to create RTOS applications that are reliable, efficient, and resilient in the field. Continuous observability provides a framework in which such tools enable proactive monitoring and analysis from development through deployment to the field. The introduction of tools that enable continuous observability fits seamlessly into modern software development practices such as DevOps, DevSecOps, and CI/CT pipelines. Observability is not just a troubleshooting tool, but is becoming a key factor in continuous verification and validation (V&V). By integrating Percepio Tracealyzer and Detect into existing pipelines, development teams gain actionable feedback loops that align with agile methodologies and regulatory compliance.

Not just a „nice-to-have" Continuous observability is a modern approach to the development and maintenance of embedded systems that focuses on providing continuous real-time insight into system behavior. Instead of relying solely on logs or isolated debugging sessions, system behavior is continuously monitored to enable rapid detection and analysis of runtime issues, so that nightmare bugs can be quickly fixed and potential breakpoints identified before they develop into costly problems such as recalls, cyber vulnerabilities, and service interruptions. Read more in Percepio's white paper: Continuous Observability in Embedded Systems The Need for Continuous Observability Visual Trace Diagnosis with Tracealyzer Real-Time Anomaly Detection with Detect Synergy Between Tracealyzer and Detect for Continuous Observability Case study: Solving a puzzling watchdog reset with continuous observability If you would like to learn more about Percepio Tracealyzer and Detect, test the software, or request a quote, please contact me.

J-Trace PRO for STM32N6 MCU   SEGGER's J-Trace PRO streaming trace probe now offers ready-to-use instruction tracing for STMicroelectronics' STM32N6 microcontrollers. Based on the ARM Cortex-M55 processor, the new microcontrollers are the first from ST to enable powerful artificial intelligence for edge devices. The STM32N6 family includes an integrated, proprietary neural processing unit, multiple graphics accelerators, a computer vision pipeline, and a multimedia encoder and decoder. SEGGER's J-Trace PRO Streaming Trace Probe enables complete traces to be captured over extended periods of time. This means that even errors that are difficult to reproduce and occur rarely can be recorded. The tool offers unlimited live code coverage and code profiling and uses a SuperSpeed USB 3.0 interface for continuous streaming of traces. In addition, all debugging features of SEGGER's J-Link debug probes are available. With J-Trace PRO, developers working with the STM32N6 family benefit from fast and efficient data analysis, a noticeable increase in productivity, reduced risk of errors, and lower costs. Since tracing is available immediately after installation, users can also start tracing within minutes using the sample project included in the scope of delivery. In addition, users can benefit from other compatible products in the SEGGER toolchain. These include SystemView, SEGGER's real-time software analysis tool, and Embedded Studio, SEGGER's all-in-one development environment.

What STMicroelectronics says   “As an authorized ST partner, SEGGER has further expanded support for our products,” says Laurent Hanus, Microcontroller Ecosystem Product Marketing Manager at STMicroelectronics. "In the embedded industry, SEGGER's J-Trace PRO product family has stood for quality, reliability, and user-friendliness for many years. The ability to quickly get important device functions up and running and optimize all kinds of embedded systems will benefit a broad user base, regardless of their experience." SEGGER's J-Trace streaming trace probes are the leading solution on the market for code analysis, verification, and profiling. Developers using ST's new microcontrollers will certainly be looking for the advanced trace features offered by J-Trace PRO. A complete list of devices supported by J-Link/J-Trace can be found here. I would also be happy to provide you with a quote for the SEGGER J-Trace PRO.

I wish you all the best for the coming weeks, not only every success with your projects, but also relaxation and time for your family. Sincerely Yours, Marian A. Wosnitza PS. I will be happy to write to you again on September 1st.   „Making intelligent mistakes is a great art." (Federico Fellini, Italian film director and screenwriter)