PLS Universal Debug Engine supports SafeRTOS for safety critical applications

PLS Programmierbare Logik & Systeme has expanded its Universal Debug Engine (UDE) to cover the SafeRTOS real-time operating system.

UDE is intended for debugging, testing and analysing microcontroller applications, and this addition gives it functions software development of real-time and safety-critical applications.

SafeRTOS is a pre-emptive, safety critical RTOS from Wittenstein High Integrity Systems, available pre-certified by TÜV SÜD to ISO 26262 ASIL D and IEC 61508 SIL 3.

There is an upgrade path from FreeRTOS to SAFERTOS; developers can prototype using FreeRTOS and convert to SAFERTOS at the start of formal development.

“The SafeRTOS add-on from PLS provides an additional window within the UDE framework that provides a view of the SafeRTOS resources and objects,” according to PLS. “The information shown by the support window is divided into functional groups which typically include task information, queues, semaphores and mutexes, and timers, as well as information about the current configuration. By using separate tab pages the user can easily navigate between these groups.”

The information shown by the window depends on the particular SafeRTOS configuration, which is determined at compile time and does not change during run-time. UDE collects the data via the debug interface directly from the target system. “The big advantage of this is that no separate description file is required. This prevents inconsistencies between displayed and actually available RTOS states, which could result from an incorrect creation process,” said PLS.

As an example, a developer can comprehend which task is currently active when he debugs a certain function. In addition, the display of blocked and blocking tasks simplifies troubleshooting when deadlocks occur within the application.

Last but not least, said PLS, the available information about the operating system resources, for example stack utilisation, supports users to better balance the load of the applications and in general helps in optimisation.

PLS Programmierbare Logik & Systeme is based in Lauta Germany

Wittenstein High Integrity Systems is based in Bristol UK.