What is the use of the MCU emulator?

The MCU emulator is a set of special hardware devices specially designed and manufactured for the purpose of debugging MCU software. Has been widely used, so what is the role of the microcontroller simulator?

MCU emulator development

The earliest MCU emulator is a set of independent devices with a dedicated keyboard and display for inputting programs and displaying running results. With the popularity of PCs, most of the newer emulators use PCs as standard inputs. The output device, and the emulator itself becomes the interface between the microcomputer and the target system. The simulation mode is also developed from the initial machine code to assembly language and C language simulation. The simulation environment is also very similar to the high-level language programming and debugging environment on the PC. It is.

The simulator generally has a dummy header that replaces the microcontroller in the target system, that is, it uses this plug to emulate the microcontroller, which is also the origin of the name of the microcontroller emulator.

At present, with the miniaturization of SCM, patching and the wide application of MCU with ISP, IAP and other functions, the application range of the traditional MCU emulator has also been reduced. The application of software single-chip emulator (ie, single-chip emulation program) is gradually widely used. The single-chip emulation program is a special program running on a personal computer, which can simulate the hardware environment of the single-chip computer running to a certain extent, and run the target program of the single-chip computer in the environment. And can debug, breakpoint, observe variables and other operations on the target program, which can greatly improve the debugging efficiency of the single-chip system. The pure software MCU emulator is often integrated with the hardware design program, enabling developers to simultaneously develop the MCU hardware and software.

What is the use of the MCU emulator?

Emulator usage

1. Insert the emulator into the CPU socket of the user board to be simulated, and the emulator is powered by the user board;

2. Connect the serial cable of the emulator and the PC to open the power of the user board;

3. The user program is simulated and debugged by Keil C's IDE development simulation environment UV2.

4. Emulator hardware description:

a. Use the crystal of the user board

There are two sets of jumpers next to the crystal oscillator for switching the internal crystal and the user board crystal. When the two shorting blocks are on the side of the crystal of the emulator, the crystal oscillator (11.0592MHz) on the emulation board is used by default, when the two shorting blocks are located. When the capacitor side is used, the crystal of the user board is used.

b. In order to facilitate debugging the user board with the watchdog, the reset end of the emulator is not connected to the reset end of the user board; therefore, the reset button of the emulator only resets the emulator and does not reset the user board; to reset the user board, use the user board. reset button.

What is the use of the MCU emulator?

MCU emulator advantage

1. With the integrated development environment, the simulator can be used for single-step tracking and debugging of the single-chip program. It can also use debugging methods such as breakpoint and full speed, and can observe real-time data of various variables, RAM and registers, and track the execution of the program. At the same time, real-time debugging of the hardware circuit is also possible.

2. Using the MCU emulator can quickly find and eliminate logic errors in the program, greatly shortening the cycle of MCU development. In the field, only the single-chip microcomputer is repeatedly programmed by the burner, and the method of development by visual observation greatly increases the difficulty of debugging, prolongs the entire development cycle, and is difficult to find errors implied in the program.

3, for beginners, reducing the difficulty of debugging and development. Very helpful for beginners to learn.

MCU emulator function

Due to the application problem of the single chip microcomputer, it does not have the standard input and output device, and it is difficult to accommodate the special software for debugging the program due to the limitation of the storage space. Therefore, to debug the single chip software, the single chip simulator must be used. The MCU emulator has basic input and output devices and software for supporting program debugging, so that the MCU developers can input and modify the program through the MCU emulator, observe the running result and the intermediate value of the program, and simultaneously detect and observe the hardware matched with the MCU. , can greatly improve the programming efficiency and effect of the microcontroller.

What is the use of the MCU emulator?

The principle of single chip simulator

The MCU is identical in architecture to the PC, and also includes the central unit, input and output interface, memory and other basic units, so the software structure of the PC and other devices is similar. Therefore, in the process of software development, the MCU also needs to debug the software, observe the intermediate results, and eliminate the problems in the software. However, due to the application problem of the single chip microcomputer, it does not have the standard input and output device, and it is difficult to accommodate the special software for debugging the program due to the limitation of the storage space. Therefore, to debug the single chip software, the single chip simulator must be used. The MCU emulator has basic input and output devices and software for supporting program debugging, so that the MCU developers can input and modify the program through the MCU emulator, observe the running result and the intermediate value of the program, and simultaneously detect and observe the hardware matched with the MCU. , can greatly improve the programming efficiency and effect of the microcontroller.

to sum up

At present, with the miniaturization of SCM, patching and the wide application of MCU with ISP, IAP and other functions, the application range of the traditional MCU emulator has also been reduced. The application of software single-chip emulator (ie, single-chip emulation program) is gradually widely used. The single-chip emulation program is a special program running on a personal computer, which can simulate the hardware environment of the single-chip computer running to a certain extent, and run the target program of the single-chip computer in the environment. And can debug, breakpoint, observe variables and other operations on the target program, which can greatly improve the debugging efficiency of the single-chip system. The pure software MCU emulator is often integrated with the hardware design program, enabling developers to simultaneously develop the MCU hardware and software.

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