User`s guide

System Performance Analysis (SPA) Software

System Performance Analysis Software

Example Measurement example using all three trace modes

In a 32-bit microprocessor system, you want to determine how

efficiently the CPU is being utilized. Critical questions might be: are

any processes consuming excessive processing time, are any processes

getting stuck in wait loops, and is the system handling service calls and

interrupts efficiently?

You connect the logic analyzer to the address bus of your system. In the

Format Specification, you define a 32-bit label called ADDR and the

state clocking. In many cases, Agilent Technologies provides analysis

probes, inverse assemblers and standard configurations for popular

microprocessors, and you need not enter the configuration manually or

worry about probing issues.

In the State Overview mode, you select the ADDR label and start the

acquisition to monitor the entire memory space. After several

acquisitions, five areas of relatively high activity begin to build on the

histogram. Using the X and O markers to determine the address

boundaries of these five regions, you quickly recognize two programs, a

delay routine in the operating system kernel, and a keyboard interrupt

routine. The figure below shows the State Overview display.

SPA State Overview