Testing virtual Automotive RISC-V Prototypes
24 April 2025 - With the latest version of its UDE Universal Debug Engine, PLS Programmierbare Logik & Systeme now supports RISC-V in addition to many established automotive microcontroller architectures. Users of Infineon's new Automotive RISC-V Prototype have also benefited from the many new functions of UDE 2025, some of which drastically simplify trace-based system analysis and debugging of complex microcontroller applications. As a long-standing tool partner of the leading European microcontroller manufacturer in the automotive sector, PLS relies on the same user-friendly, intuitive UDE user interface that AURIX users already benefit from today.
The Automotive RISC-V Prototype consists of a RISC-V Core Virtual Prototype (VP) based on the Synopsys Virtual Development Kit (VDK). It is bundled with software drivers and a template project for rapid prototyping to form a Software Development Kit (SDK) that enables pre-silicon software development. The VDK models the complete MCU including the RISC-V-based multi-core cluster, the interrupt controller, the interprocessor communication and the proven automotive peripherals.
From the perspective of UDE's internal core debuggers, the RISC-V prototype is regarded as a virtual target. In terms of the user interface, however, there is no difference to a real microcontroller. The UDE provides users of the RISC-V simulator platform with a front end that offers the same debugging functions that are available for real microcontrollers. This includes the debugging of C and C++ source code compiled with the RISC-V GCC compiler or the RISC-V LLVM compiler from HighTec, as well as the debugging of assembly code for the RISC-V instruction set (ISA). For multi-core applications, UDE provides dedicated core synchronization support for run-control and multi-core breakpoints. UDE's detailed register database provides access to all MCU submodule and peripheral registers. For a detailed run-time observation of the executed code on the Automotive RISC-V Prototype, UDE’s trace functions are connected to the trace interface of the VDK. Based on the recorded trace data, the UDE enables, among other things, the visualization of the sequence of executed functions, the measurement of execution times to calculate profiling information, and the reconstruction of the call graph of executed functions.
Since the use of UDE is completely identical for both the virtual target and real microcontrollers, the transition to RISC-V based silicon is greatly simplified. There is no need to change tools for this step.
www.pls-mc.com/
