Hi all,
I am a master student in germany and doing my thesis currently. I wanted to measure CPU cycles using emulation/simulation for some code that is running on a cortex m4F processor based board. I had QEMU in mind at initial but it turns out it doesn't have support for my board and neither it is cycle accurate plus FP is not supported. Now I am searching for any freely available simulator or emulator that I can use for accurate cycle accurate measurement and do support FP and DSP instructions.
I am still not sure how accurate is QEMU for Cortex-M4 in terms of cycle accuracy? anyone with some experience?
I also saw this thread: https://community.arm.com/tools/f/discussions/5212/cycle-accurate-instruction-set-simulator-for-cortex-m
where there is said something about CPAKS for cortex M4 that is cycle accurate. But is it freely available? (for students etc).
Some quick replies will be appreciated. Thank you in advance.
Best Regards,
Fahad Masood
Hanni Lozano Bill Neifert please help me out :)
I have seen that somehow i cannot reply on the posts because of this new interface or whatever reason. In that case just drop me a msg here or an email at fahadbutt214@gmail.com with your valuable suggestions. Thanks :)
Hi Fahad
To respond in Software Tools, you need to join that Community (there's a banner at the bottom of the page). I've added you now so you should be able to post there. Bear in mind the thread is over two years old though.
CM4 has cycle counters which allows to measure quite exactly. No need for a SW emulator.
I want a pure software based solution. This cycle counter is on the chip DWT, which I am aware of. But I am looking for a pure software based solution without any hardware :) Thanks
Hi Carl, Thanks for adding me there. I am gonna post there also :)
Then it is very unlikely to find a simulator to simulate _exact_ your board.Anyway, there are cycle-accurate simulators around. It is only a matter of price.F.e. ARM DS-5 contains one. KEIL MDK maybe also. Windriver SIMICS is one ...
Yeah I have also realized that finding exact cycle accurate simulator that is freely available is quite difficult. Thanks for the commercial simulators. I am aware of Keil already as I have experience with it. But do you know of any freely available simulator that is accurate enough in terms of cycle accuracy (close to actual) for cortex-m4?
Keil MDK-Lite is free, if you don't mind the 32kbytes limitation. However, neither Keil nor DS-5 contain a cycle accurate simulator. Not sure about SIMICS.
Hi Fahad, we do have an M4 CPAK available which would be 100% cycle accurate. Follow the link and let me know if this looks like it would work.
Hi.
I have requested CPAKS for cortex-M4 a few days ago. Thank you for the quick link. How long does it take for the request to process?
Best,
Fahad
Hi Fahad, We are working internally to grant you access to the Cortex-M4 CPAK. You should have access by end of the week.
Pareena
Hi,
I haven't heard anything back. Can you please tell me about the status for my query.
Thanks
Best.,
Hi Fahad,
We sent you the license keys early December and instructions to generate the license. Can you please check you email(perhaps it ended up in your spam folder?) Please reach out to me if you have any issues installing or using the tools.
Hi Pareena,
Thank you for the information. I have checked my university email and unfortunately was not able to find your email. Actually there is no spam folder in my university email. The emails are just delayed respectively for clearances. It will be better if you can forward me the same email with the instructions on my gmail. fahadbutt214@gmail.com.
Thank you