2. Background

The Silicon Labs MCU Starter Kit (STK) and Wireless Starter Kit (WSTK) provide a powerful development and debug environment

when used with Simplicity Studio. The STK and WSTK provide several debug capabilities and features, including the following:

• SWD (serial wire debug)

• 2-pin serial wire debug interface for programming and debugging, using the pins SWCLK and SWDIO.

• JTAG

• 4-wire interface for programming and debugging, using the pins TCK, TMS, TDI, and TDO.

• C2 interface (for 8-bit devices)

• 2-wire programming interface used by most Silicon Labs 8-bit MCUs.

• See "AN124: Pin Sharing Techniques for the C2 Interface", which discusses pin sharing for C2 devices.

• ETM* (embedded trace macrocell)

• Debug component which enables reconstruction of program execution, and is designed as a high-speed, low-power debug tool

that only supports instruction trace.

• AEM (advanced energy monitoring)

• Accurate high-speed current measurements and energy debugging/profiling when the STK/WSTK power selection switch is in the

AEM position. Use with Simplicity Studio Energy Profiler perspective.

• PTI (packet trace interface [WSTK only])

• Physical layer (PHY) level PTI for effective network-level debugging. Monitors all the PHY transmit and receive packets between

the MAC and baseband modules within the radio without affecting normal operation.

• VCOM (virtual COM port)

• UART COM port interface to the target from the debugger (pass-through UART).

• Virtual UART

• SWD-based virtual UART interface to the target from the debugger, available through the SWD interface (SWDIO, SWCLK, and

SWO).

These features are available via several different interface means, depending on the features required by the custom target hardware

design and the board space available for these interface connectors or test points. These details are discussed in the following sec-

tions.

Note:

1. The STK and WSTK support ETM only when using an external debugger which supports ETM Capture. The STK and WSTK do

not include an ETM capture unit. Only devices that have an ETM macrocell will support ETM capture, regardless of the debugger

capabilities. Consult the corresponding MCU or Wireless device data sheet for details regarding whether ETM is supported on the

device. Silicon Labs MCU and Wireless Development Kits may include support for ETM. Consult the kit documentation for further

details.

2. To ensure that the STK and WSTK properly recognize the connected target device, go to the target adapter in the "Debug Adapt-

ers" list in Simplicity Studio, right-click on the target adapter, select "Device Configuration", select the "Device Hardware" tab, and

enter the full part number of the external device target under "Target Part".

AN958: Debugging and Programming Interfaces for Custom Designs

Background

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