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Dear GCC Cross Compiler List, My name is Andrew Tuckey and I'm currently an Australian postdoctoral research scientist at the Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven, the Netherlands. My stay here stops in 7 weeks when I migrate the the USA to take up a position at the University of Wisconsin - Madison. My primary research topic is dynamic control of electric machines and the testing of such controlled machines. For my current project I'm using a TMS320C40 DSPs to dynamically control the torque of an induction type machine using a technique called Field Oriented Control (FOC). As an outer loop speed control I'm using another 'C40 with speed and torque set-points output by LabVIEW via a LabMaster A/D card. In pursuing this project I have become aware of a couple of limitations of our system, and the development of microprocessor control systems in general. Therefore I would like to look for a different type of solution for future projects. I would like to make some single board embedded development kits with some simple tools. Firstly I would like to use a board that has a more general (i.e. non DSP) type processor, something like a MIPS, ARM, PowerPC, or Pentium, or anything else that is deemed suitable. The programme for a board will be programmed using gcc on any type of host computer with target output for the embedded system processor, and I would like to have the facility to use gdb as the debugger. Such a system has many advantages. Firstly such a system would only cost hardware since the software tools are free, and thus it would be reachable by students and enthusiasts, not just full-fee paying companies. Secondly gcc and gdb are familiar to computer science students so they wouldn't have to learn another compiler/debugger (like Code Composer for the 'C40s for instance). Thirdly, one wouldn't be restricted to a particular hardware for development or for the target processor (again like Code Composer and the 'C40s) - one could use whatever one desired that had enough processing power. I realise that I will need to do some ROM programming for the downloading/debugger interface, but I'm willing to put in a little time if the hardware will support it, and channel the lessons learned in the experience back into the open source community. As an extension I would further like to look at using RTLinux on the systems in more general contexts. Ultimately I would like to use some high-speed communication for the downloading/debugging since using a serial port can get very painful. If I used Ethernet and TCP/IP the embedded system could be remote from the development environment. Further, I would like to have some digital and analogue I/O on the board. Having these on-board avoids the delays incurred in getting the data from the A/D converters etc. - something I have had some experience with using 'C40 for electric machine control. I would like to experiment with mapping the outputs of the analogue and digital I/O onto particular memory locations so that I can avoid ISA and PCI bus interface complexity and delays. For these boards customers could just buy the chips they want and leave out the bits they don't so the price for a development kit would be kept quite low. Now the question that I would ask this list is `is what I'm proposing feasible?' I'm sure it's fine for the larger processors, like a Pentium or MIPS, but what about the gdb interface for a memory limited ARM board? Do any of you see any obvious problems with the concept? Any recommendations? Although I have used gcc and gdb in my computer science degree subjects and for some software development, I'm not quite sure where to start with the gdb interfacing. I would like to know what type of communication is used between the processor, the running programme and gdb. Could someone point me in the right direction to get such information. And finally, when I build up these boards, how many would be interested in buying one? -- Andrew Tuckey, Visiting Lecturer Electrical and Computer Engineering Department University of Wisconsin - Madison 1415 Engineering Drive Madison, WI 53706-1691 Email: tuckey@ieee.org ------ Want more information? See the CrossGCC FAQ, http://www.objsw.com/CrossGCC/ Want to unsubscribe? Send a note to crossgcc-unsubscribe@sourceware.cygnus.com
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