User manual

MPLAB

REAL ICE

™

In-Circuit Emulator User’s Guide

8.3.2 Setting Up and Using Trace

If a PIC32MX MCU device has trace capability, it will be PIC32 Instruction Trace.

8.3.2.1 HARDWARE SETUP

To use the PIC32 Instruction Trace feature do the following:

• Plug the PIM into an unpowered target board.

• Install communication cable(s) between the emulator and your target board. See

Section 2.4 “Target Communication Connections”.

• Connect the trace cable from the trace port on the PIM to the trace adapter board.

Orient the cable as show in Figure 8-1.

• Plug the trace adapter board into the MPLAB REAL ICE in-circuit emulator logic

probe port. The top of the adapter board contains the connectors and should be

oriented upwards when plugging the board into the logic probe port (Figure 8-1).

• Power the target.

FIGURE 8-1: TRACE CONNECTION

8.3.2.2 MPLAB IDE SETUP

Once the hardware is connected, you enable trace in MPLAB IDE through the

Debug

ger>Settings, Trace tab. Simply check/uncheck the “Enable Trace” checkbox to

turn trace on/off (Figure 8-2). If no other options are selected, trace will continue to fill

the trace buffer with data, rolling over when the buffer is full, until a program Halt.

To “stall” the target CPU when the trace buffer is full, check that option on the Trace

tab. You can set the size of the trace buffer in the “Trace Buffer Size” section of the

dialog. A maximum size is specified in the section text.

To start and/or stop trace on triggers/breaks, set and enable breakpoints in your code

and then select them on this tab to start and/or stop trace.

Note: When using trace, pins TRCLK and TRD3:0 are used. Therefore, you

cannot use the other functions multiplexed on these pins, namely RG14:12

and RA7:6.

PIC

Trace Cable

Trace Port

PIM

Trace

Adapter

Communication Cable(s)

ACTIVE

STATUS

RESETFUNCTION

Emulator Pod