User manual

MPLAB

REAL ICE

™

IN-CIRCUIT

EMULATOR USER’S GUIDE

Chapter 2. Operation

2.1 INTRODUCTION

A simplified description of how the MPLAB REAL ICE in-circuit emulator system works

is provided here. It is intended to provide enough information so a target board can be

designed that is compatible with the emulator for both emulation and programming

operations. The basic theory of in-circuit emulation and programming is described so

that problems, if encountered, are quickly resolved.

• Tool Comparisons

• Emulator Communications with the PC and Target

• Target Communication Connections

• Trace Connections

• Debugging with the Emulator

• Requirements For Debugging

• Programming with the Emulator

• Resources Used by the Emulator

2.2 TOOL COMPARISONS

The MPLAB REAL ICE in-circuit emulator system is a next generation In-Circuit

Emulator (ICE) system. It differs from classical in-circuit emulator systems in a single,

but important way: the production device and emulation device are the same. This

means that the actual device/emulated device differences are all but eliminated. For

example, speed bottlenecks caused by bringing internal busses off-chip and using

external memories on classical emulator systems are eliminated by using the actual

device for emulation.

Another significant benefit is that there is no time lag from when the device is released

to when an emulator module to support the device can be released. If a header board

is required, it can be developed to coincide with the device release, or lag it by a small

amount, which is a great improvement over the longer processor module development

times.

The MPLAB REAL ICE in-circuit emulator system surpasses in-circuit debugger

systems in speed and functionality (e.g., trace).