ADSP-BF531/ADSP-BF532
instruction. Coupled with many features more often seen on
microcontrollers, this instruction set is very efficient when com-
piling C and C++ source code. In addition, the architecture
supports both user (algorithm/application code) and supervisor
(O/S kernel, device drivers, debuggers, ISRs) modes of opera-
tion, allowing multiple levels of access to core processor
resources.
Statistical profiling enables the programmer to nonintrusively
poll the processor as it is running the program. This feature,
unique to VisualDSP++, enables the software developer to pas-
sively gather important code execution metrics without
interrupting the real-time characteristics of the program. Essen-
tially, the developer can identify bottlenecks in software quickly
and efficiently. By using the profiler, the programmer can focus
on those areas in the program that impact performance and take
corrective action.
The assembly language, which takes advantage of the proces-
sor’s unique architecture, offers the following advantages:
Debugging both C/C++ and assembly programs with the
VisualDSP++ debugger, programmers can:
• Seamlessly integrated DSP/CPU features are optimized for
both 8-bit and 16-bit operations.
• View mixed C/C++ and assembly code (interleaved source
and object information).
• A multi-issue load/store modified Harvard architecture,
which supports two 16-bit MAC or four 8-bit ALU + two
load/store + two pointer updates per cycle.
• Insert breakpoints.
• All registers, I/O, and memory are mapped into a unified
4G byte memory space, providing a simplified program-
ming model.
• Set conditional breakpoints on registers, memory,
and stacks.
• Trace instruction execution.
• Microcontroller features, such as arbitrary bit and bit-field
manipulation, insertion, and extraction; integer operations
on 8-, 16-, and 32-bit data types; and separate user and
supervisor stack pointers.
• Perform linear or statistical profiling of program execution.
• Fill, dump, and graphically plot the contents of memory.
• Perform source level debugging.
• Code density enhancements, which include intermixing of
16-bit and 32-bit instructions (no mode switching, no code
segregation). Frequently used instructions are encoded in
16 bits.
• Create custom debugger windows.
The VisualDSP++ IDDE lets programmers define and manage
software development. Its dialog boxes and property pages let
programmers configure and manage all of the Blackfin develop-
ment tools, including the color syntax highlighting in the
VisualDSP++ editor. This capability permits programmers to:
DEVELOPMENT TOOLS
The ADSP-BF531/ADSP-BF532 processor is supported with a
complete set of CROSSCORE®† software and hardware develop-
ment tools, including Analog Devices emulators and
• Control how the development tools process inputs and
generate outputs
VisualDSP++®‡ development environment. The same emulator
hardware that supports other Blackfin processors also fully
emulates the ADSP-BF531/ADSP-BF532 processor.
• Maintain a one-to-one correspondence with the tool’s
command line switches
The VisualDSP++ Kernel (VDK) incorporates scheduling and
resource management tailored specifically to address the mem-
ory and timing constraints of DSP programming. These
capabilities enable engineers to develop code more effectively,
eliminating the need to start from the very beginning, when
developing new application code. The VDK features include
threads, critical and unscheduled regions, semaphores, events,
and device flags. The VDK also supports priority-based, pre-
emptive, cooperative, and time-sliced scheduling approaches. In
addition, the VDK was designed to be scalable. If the application
does not use a specific feature, the support code for that feature
is excluded from the target system.
The VisualDSP++ project management environment lets pro-
grammers develop and debug an application. This environment
includes an easy to use assembler (which is based on an alge-
braic syntax), an archiver (librarian/library builder), a linker, a
loader, a cycle-accurate instruction level simulator, a C/C++
compiler, and a C/C++ runtime library that includes DSP and
mathematical functions. A key point for these tools is C/C++
code efficiency. The compiler has been developed for efficient
translation of C/C++ code to processor assembly. The processor
has architectural features that improve the efficiency of com-
piled C/C++ code.
The VisualDSP++ debugger has a number of important fea-
tures. Data visualization is enhanced by a plotting package that
offers a significant level of flexibility. This graphical representa-
tion of user data enables the programmer to quickly determine
the performance of an algorithm. As algorithms grow in com-
plexity, this capability can have increasing significance on the
designer’s development schedule, increasing productivity.
Because the VDK is a library, a developer can decide whether to
use it or not. The VDK is integrated into the VisualDSP++
development environment, but can also be used via standard
command line tools. When the VDK is used, the development
environment assists the developer with many error prone tasks
and assists in managing system resources, automating the gen-
eration of various VDK-based objects, and visualizing the
system state, when debugging an application that uses the VDK.
VCSE is Analog Devices technology for creating, using, and
reusing software components (independent modules of sub-
stantial functionality) to quickly and reliably assemble software
† CROSSCORE is a registered trademark of Analog Devices, Inc.
‡ VisualDSP++ is a registered trademark of Analog Devices, Inc.
Rev. D
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Page 15 of 60
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August 2006
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