Virtual App Debugs Software For Multi-Processor Systems

A new version of the company's 8051 Virtual Workshop enables users to debug and verify software for multi-processor systems in the absence of any target hardware. The new version supports the automatic address recognition protocols provided by the universal asynchronous receiver transmitters (UART) of a number of 8051 variants, including the Dallas range of high-speed micros such as the DS87C320 and some of the Philips variants such as the PS8XC51FX series of chips. When the application is set up to simulate one of these processor variants, it will automatically support its automatic address recognition protocol. The automatic address recognition allows serial communication between microcontrollers to occur with a minimum of processor intervention. By running multiple instances of the application, either on a single PC or multiple PCs connected together on a network, multiple target systems can be simultaneously simulated. These virtual target systems can then communicate with each other using the application's expansion interface, allowing the target software to be fully developed without the use of hardware.