To help automotive customers streamline model-based software development, Freescale Semiconductor has introduced the RAppID ToolBox, a software solution that supports on-target, rapid prototyping for Freescale’s 32-bit MPC5500 automotive microcontroller (MCU) family.
The RAppID ToolBox (www.freescale.com/files/pr/vg.html) is designed to help control engineers reduce development time and cost when migrating from their application modeling environment to real-world implementations on automotive MCU platforms intended for production. The toolbox provides an ideal prototyping solution for a variety of automotive applications, such as engine and transmission control, anti-lock braking systems and chassis/suspension systems. Developers also can use the toolbox for non-automotive applications ranging from avionic systems to industrial printers to power generators.
Streamlined development through on-target rapid prototyping
Control engineers often validate their control models functionally by running auto-generated C code on commercially-available rapid prototyping hardware. However, the prototyping hardware usually does not represent the MCU targeted for production. As a result, the engineers may not know the control algorithm's actual performance on the production MCU. In addition, engineers prefer to run their control algorithms on target MCUs early in the development cycle to validate their device selection. However, this can be a difficult, time-consuming task if they have to write the initialisation, device drivers and scheduler code by hand, which adds to the development cycle time.
The RAppID ToolBox addresses these challenges by enabling engineers to execute their control models on MPC5500 MCU family hardware without writing code and to profile the execution of the code on their target MCU. This helps reduce development time by allowing engineers to work in their actual, real-world control environment.
Using the profiling feature of the RAppID ToolBox, application developers can study the performance of their control strategy on the target microcontroller early in the design cycle. The toolbox eliminates the need to invest in expensive prototyping hardware by supporting rapid prototyping on cost-effective evaluation boards for MPC5500 family devices, such as the MPC5554 MCU. Optimised DSP blocks enable developers to take advantage of the single-instruction/multiple-data (SIMD) capabilities of the MPC5554.
Integrated with industry-standard environments
The RAppID ToolBox leverages the powerful modelling and simulation environment provided by The MathWorks product family with an add-on blockset for MATLAB and Simulink, and an embedded target for Real-Time Workshop and Real-Time Workshop Embedded Coder. It supports Signal Processing Toolbox for optimised single instruction multiple data (SIMD) functions and Stateflow for interactive design and simulation.
Using the RAppID ToolBox, developers can quickly execute and evaluate their complex control algorithms on MPC5500 family platforms. The toolbox automatically generates the necessary software, from initialisation to device drivers to schedulers, including support for Freescale's OSEKturbo realtime operating system (RTOS). The toolbox-generated code integrates seamlessly with commercial automatic code generation tools, such as TargetLink from dSPACE and Real-Time Workshop and Real-Time Workshop Embedded Coder.
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