Category: Software Debug and Trace

What are Intel LBR, BTS, and AET?

Alan Sguigna

November 24, 2013
3:30 pm

Trace resources within chips allow for viewing of executing code and processor events. Intel processors support facilities such as Last Branch Record (LBR), Branch Trace Store (BTS), and Architecture Event Trace (AET). What are these?

Software Debug in Environmental Chambers

Alan Sguigna

November 10, 2013
4:28 pm

Highly Accelerated Life Testing (HALT) and Highly Accelerated Stress Screening (HASS) are often used to detect faults in electronic systems, testing the extremes and determining the outer limits of system margins. All hardware components and systems will eventually fail under environmental stress. But can this technique be used to improve software reliability as well?

Will BIST Kill T&M?

Alan Sguigna

September 29, 2013
5:14 pm

To quote Ransom Stephens in the DesignCon Community Blog, “BIST (Built-In System Test), is an acronym that would keep executives at test-and-measurement companies awake at night, if they knew what it meant.” What’s he talking about?