User manual

MPLAB

REAL ICE

™

IN-CIRCUIT

EMULATOR USER’S GUIDE

Chapter 1. Overview

1.1 INTRODUCTION

An overview of the MPLAB REAL ICE in-circuit emulator system is given.

• MPLAB REAL ICE In-Circuit Emulator Defined

• How the MPLAB REAL ICE In-Circuit Emulator Helps You

• MPLAB REAL ICE In-Circuit Emulator Kit Components

1.2 MPLAB REAL ICE IN-CIRCUIT EMULATOR DEFINED

MPLAB REAL ICE in-circuit emulator is an in-circuit emulator that is controlled by a PC

running MPLAB IDE software on a Windows

platform. The MPLAB REAL ICE

in-circuit emulator is an integral part of the development engineer's toolsuite. The

application usage can vary from software development to hardware integration to

manufacturing test to field service.

The MPLAB REAL ICE in-circuit emulator is a modern emulator system that supports

hardware and software development for selected Microchip PICmicro

microcontrollers (MCUs) and dsPIC

Digital Signal Controllers (DSCs) that are based

on In-Circuit Serial Programming™ (ICSP™) programming capability and Standard

DUT Programming (STDP) 2-wire serial interfaces.

The emulator system will execute code like an actual device because it uses a device

with built-in emulation circuitry, instead of a special emulator chip, for emulation. All

available features of a given device are accessible interactively, and can be set and

modified by the MPLAB IDE interface.

The MPLAB REAL ICE emulation concept was developed for emulating complex

processors that differ from conventional system processors in several aspects:

• Processors run at maximum speeds

• Capability to incorporate I/O port data input

• Instrumented Trace (MPLAB IDE and Compiler Assisted)

In addition to emulator functions, the MPLAB REAL ICE in-circuit emulator system also

may be used as a development programmer.

1.3 HOW THE MPLAB REAL ICE IN-CIRCUIT EMULATOR HELPS YOU

The MPLAB REAL ICE in-circuit emulator system allows you to:

• Debug your application on your own hardware in real time

• Debug with hardware breakpoints

• Debug with software breakpoints (future)

• Set breakpoints based on internal and/or external signals

• Monitor internal file registers

• Emulate full speed

• Program your device

• Trace lines of code or log variable/expression values