A programmable debugging aid for real-time software development

The authors consider the problem of providing hardware support for the development of real-time software in the context of a specific computer architecture, the Selenia MARA family of multi-microprocessor systems, under the constraint that no modifications to existing MARA hardware be involved. The specification of a programmable debugging aid (PDA), that can support program performance evaluation as well as program debugging and testing is described. The PDA hardware has been fully designed, and is being implemented as a research prototype.