A completely revamped user interface and a much improved live view are two of the most prominent features of the upcoming Tracealyzer 4, which we showed for the first time at Arm TechCon in October.
We put together a series of short introduction videos where Tracealyzer 4 shows off its abilities. First out is the user interface and the stunning live view.
We have also added the ability to trace and visualize network activity together with the RTOS events. This way, developers of connected IoT systems can get a wider perspective of their system’s real-time behavior.
In this brief example we display events from a TCP/IP stack, but the same technique can be used for any kind of system inputs or outputs. This is also a first step in a new direction of broadening the scope of Tracealyzer. We aim to provide integrated support for leading middleware stacks in early v4.x releases, but there are so many stacks in the embedded/IoT industry that we would have a hard time keeping up with all of them. The long-term goal is to allow for partners and end users to create their own Tracealyzer extensions for any software APIs they would like to trace.
Custom Visualization with States and Intervals
Preview video number three focuses on two exciting new features: State Graphs and Intervals. Both features allow you to customize the visualization and analysis for your own system and the issue at hand.
State Graphs can be created automatically from your trace, based on any event with software or hardware state information. This way, you can more easily verify that your program is executing as you intended.
Intervals allow you to measure the time between any two events, for display on the timeline and to get statistics. This can be used for states, much like a logic analyzer integrated in Tracealyzer. It also allows for custom profiling: you can measure just about any performance metrics you are interested in, like the time from a system input to the corresponding output, either within a single task or in between related tasks. Custom intervals can even show when hardware peripherals are active, for debugging and energy usage analysis.
Coming early next year
But remember: however impressive these videos may be, what they show is still just a technology preview. The software will be a lot more polished when we release it early next year. The regular upgrade price from Tracealyzer 3 is $395/EUR 350, but anyone who orders a Tracealyzer 3 license today will receive a free upgrade to version 4 when it ships.