Getting started with IAR PowerPac for MSP430

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• Getting started with IAR PowerPac for MSP430
• Mats Pettersson, IAR Systems

• Fast
• Everything can be found on www.iar.com
• Evaluation and kickstart versions free to
  download
• Demo after the PowerPoint slides
• Feedback and questions to support_at_iar.com

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Agenda

• Short introduction to IAR Systems
• Real Time Operating System (RTOS) and a File
  System (FS)
• IAR tools for MSP430
• IAR PowerPac for MSP430
• Support
• Live demonstration
• Summary

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Support
IAR Systems
IAR PowerPac forMSP430
RTOSandFile System
Tools
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IAR Systems

• Founded in 1983 in Uppsala, Sweden
  (Headquarter)
• About 140 employees
• Offices in the US (3), China, Japan, the UK,
  Belgium, Germany, Brazil and Sweden
• 80.000 application developers
• Partner with 16 of the top semiconductor
  companies

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Support
IAR Systems
IAR PowerPac forMSP430
RTOSandFile System
Tools
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• What is an RTOS?Software that manages the time
  and other resources of a microprocessor or
  microcontroller. It breaks down the application
  into multiple tasks each handling one aspect of
  the application. Its like having multiple
  CPUs!
• What is a File System ?Software for storing and
  organizing data on storage devices. Functions
  to create and handle files and directories in an
  application.

RTOSandFile System
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• Why use an RTOS ?
• Ensure that high priority tasks run first
• Deterministic response
• Saves power!
• Saves development time
• Easy to structure/divide code between
  developers.
• Correctness - easier to understand complex
  systems
• Makes programming more efficient/better
  structured
• Abstracts the hardware-dependence, porting
  easier
• and much, much more

RTOSandFile System
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Scheduling

• The algorithms that determine which task to
  execute
• Distinguish between tasks that are ready to be
  executed and other tasks that are suspended
• The task which is currently executing is referred
  to as the active task

RTOSandFile System
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Tasks

• Each task consist of
• The program code, which usually resides in ROM
• A stack, residing in a RAM area that can be
  accessed by the stack pointer
• A task control block (TCB), residing in RAM. The
  TCB is only accessed by the RTOS

RTOSandFile System
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Communication between tasks

• As tasks run in the same application, they
  sometimes need to communicate with each other to
• exchange data with other tasks
• synchronize with other tasks
• make sure that a resource is used by no more than
  one task at a time
• Can be achieved by
• Global variables..... ?
• RTOS communication mechanisms ?

RTOSandFile System
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Communication mechanisms

• Mailboxes
• A buffer that is managed by the real-time
  operating system
• Fixed message size

EventsTask events are messages to a single,
specified recipient

• Queues
• Similar to mailboxes, but enable inter task
  communication with larger messages
• Messages of various sizes

• Semaphores
• Used for managing resources by avoiding conflicts
  caused by simultaneous use of a resource
• Resource semaphore
• Counting semaphore

RTOSandFile System
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Task oriented design

• Benefits
• Clearer design
• Polling is avoided
• Adding a lower priority task will not affect the
  responsiveness of the system to high priority
  tasks
• Code can be modularized, making things easier to
  maintain and debug
• Saves power

RTOSandFile System
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File System features

• Fail-safe operations
• The driver makes only atomic actions and takes
  the responsibility that the data managed by the
  file system is always valid.
• In case of a power loss or a power reset during a
  write operation, it is always assured that only
  valid data is stored in the flash.
• If the power loss interrupts the write operation,
  the old data will be kept and the block will not
  be corrupted.
• Wear leveling
• makes sure that the number of erase cycles
  remains approximately equal for each sector

RTOSandFile System
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Support
IAR Systems
IAR PowerPac forMSP430
RTOSandFile System
Tools
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Complete suite of tools
IAR Development Kits
visualSTATE
IAR Embedded Workbench
JTAGdebugger
Verify, Validate, Implement
Compile
Debug
Deploy
Design
Target application
Idea
IAR PowerPac
RTOS Middleware
Tools
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Support
IAR Systems
IAR PowerPac forMSP430
RTOSandFile System
Tools
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Why use a commercial RTOS ?
IAR PowerPac forMSP430
Commercial RTOS?
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IAR PowerPacTM for MSP430
IAR PowerPac forMSP430

• Fully featured real-time operating system
• High performance file system
• Innovative business model similar to that of IAR
  Embedded Workbench
• Tight integration with IAR Embedded Workbench
• Easy to get started
• Board support packages

Additional components
IAR PowerPac USB
IAR PowerPac Source(RTOS File System)
IAR PowerPac Base (RTOS File System)
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Operating system
IAR PowerPac forMSP430

• Key features
• Small memory footprint (1.7 KByte for typical
  MSP430 implementation)
• Pre-emptive multi-tasking
• Round-robin scheduling
• Up to 255 priorities
• Unlimited number of tasks, semaphores, mailboxes
  and software timers
• Full interrupt support with nested interrupts
• Very fast context switch times
• Power Management

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RTOS performance
IAR PowerPac forMSP430
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RTOS performance
IAR PowerPac forMSP430
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Support for MSP430 Low Power Modes
IAR PowerPac forMSP430

• Task oriented design is very useful if you want
  to save power
• Peripherals can be switched of when not used
• Wake up is possible through all enabled
  interrupts
• Efficient OS causes minimum CPU overhead -gt
  maximizing idle time -gt reducing power consumption

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Support for MSP430 Low Power Modes
IAR PowerPac forMSP430

• PowerPac RTOS fully supports all MSP430 low power
  modes.
• RTOS always brings CPU into lowest power mode
  possible whenever CPU is idle
• Peripheral clock requirements are taken into
  account
• Lifts a lot of the burden for power management
  from the programmer

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Support for MSP430 Low Power Modes
IAR PowerPac forMSP430

• The idle task
• The idle task is only active when no other task
  has something to do.
• Other tasks need to make operating systems calls
  to let the system know when shared resources are
  or are not in use.
• OS_POWER_UsageDec(OS_UINT Level)
• OS_POWER_UsageInc(OS_UINT Level)
• The idle task will depending on which resources
  are used, enter the lowest possible power mode.

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IAR PowerPac file system
IAR PowerPac forMSP430

• Small footprint, e.g. 12 KByte ROM / 1.6 KByte
  RAM
• MS-DOS/MS-Windows compatible FAT12, FAT16 and
  FAT32 support
• Multiple device driver support
• Multiple media support
• Caching functionality
• Check disk functionality
• Device drivers available for a number of media
  types

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PowerPac File System API layers
IAR PowerPac forMSP430

• File System API layer
• - Contains functions in ANSI C stdio style,
  FS_FOpen(), FS_FWrite() etc.
• - Translates file operations to logical block
  (sector) operations.
• Storage API layer
• - Optimized for applications which do not require
  file system functionality.
• - Allows sector read and write operations to a
  storage medium
• - A typical application USB mass storage device,
  data has to be stored on a medium, but all file
  system functionality is handled by the host PC.

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Integration with IAR Embedded Workbench
IAR PowerPac forMSP430

• Example projects available from the startup
  screen
• Links to IAR PowerPac for MSP430 documentation in
  the Help menu
• Template projects within IDE for new library
  projects
• RTOS aware debugging via C-SPY plug-in
• Board Support packages

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IAR PowerPac for MSP430 - evaluation version
IAR PowerPac forMSP430

• Works with all EW430 product variants with the
  following limitations
• IAR PowerPac RTOS can either work without a time
  limit with a maximum of three tasks or create
  more than three tasks and work with a time limit
  of 15 minutes.
• IAR PowerPac File System can only handle one open
  file at any given time
• Time limited version will also be available

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IAR PowerPac business model
IAR PowerPac forMSP430

• Principle
• Base product in object code format
• Licensing model
• Seat license - per developer and CPU
• Full source code upgrade
• Group license (up to 20 developers)
• Site license (unlimited on the same site)
• No royalty fees
• Result
• Low-risk licensing model
• A license can be used in unlimited number of
  projects and products
• Affordable site license for unlimited number of
  developers

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Support
IAR Systems
IAR PowerPac forMSP430
RTOSandFile System
Tools
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Customer support
Support

• Support and Update Agreement (SUA)
• Free software updates
• First class world-wide technical support by
  telephone, e-mail and fax
• VIP Support contracts available
• My Pages at www.iar.com
• Read about new product releases
• Download product updates
• Transfer licenses to co-workers
• Manage your contact information

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Technical Resources
Support

• www.iar.com
• Tecnical notes
• Application notes
• My Pages with latest product updates
• Documentation
• User Guides for EW430 and PP430
• Reference Guides for all EW430 components
• Reference Guides for PP430 RTOS and FS.

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Support
IAR Systems

• Demonstration on MSP-EXP430F5438

IAR PowerPac forMSP430
RTOSandFile System
Tools
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Summary

• Our offering

• A tightly integrated RTOS, file system, and
  tools for developing embedded applications

• Perfect compliment to IAR Embedded Workbench

• Innovative low-risk price model

• Continuous add-ons for more middlewares

• Upgrade path

• Same license management system as IAR Embedded
  Workbench

• Local support across the globe.

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• Thank you!

Please send feedback and questions to
support_at_iar.com