Swedish telecom software firm Enea announced a new version of its Linux-compatible Eclipse-based integrated development environment (IDE). Optima 2.1 adds enhanced system level debugging functionality via upgraded versions of the Enea BlackBox Recorder and Optima Log Analyzer, with a special focus on debugging multi-core and multi-processor applications, the company says.

Targeting large-scale distributed applications spanning multiple processors, such as found on systems running Enea's Linux-based Accelerator or OSE telecom platforms (see farther below), Optima 2.1 is based on the open source Eclipse IDE, as well as C/C++ development tools. Features are said to include system level browsing, debugging, profiling, and analysis.

Optima plugins support fully distributed debugging, enabling access to any target CPU or digital signal processor (DSP) in a connected network without the need for a direct connection, says Enea. Operating system (OS) support includes Linux and VxWorks, as well as Enea's own OSE and OSEck real-time operating systems (RTOSes).

With the debugging enhancements to Optima 2.1, developers can “observe, map, understand, debug and, optimize complex behavior across all system nodes from general purpose processors to DSPs — all from the same interface,” says the company. The debugging improvements are said to derive from two upgraded technologies integrated with the IDE: Enea BlackBox Recorder and the Optima Log Analyzer.

BlackBox Recorder and Log Analyzer

The Enea BlackBox Recorder provides a portable, OS-independent trace and log implementation for target systems, says Enea. The BlackBox Recorder is said to feature automated recording, replay, and reanimation facilities, letting developers visualize, analyze, and debug complex computer systems.

The Optima Log Analyzer, meanwhile, is said to provide visual presentation of captured log information in Gantt charts, sequence charts, state charts, plots and textual views. The Log Analyzer automates tasks such as importing logs, collecting and refining log data, filtering and searching logs, fusing and managing multiple logs, and mapping recorded information to high-level models.

Touted as being easier to use than earlier versions, the Log Analyzer now offers access to functions such as filtering collected profiling information. It also enables automatic calculation of statistics such as minimum, maximum, and average resource usage for system components, says Enea. Such filtering processes help reduce time spent understanding system behavior and tuning for optimal performance and reliability, says the company.

Enea Accelerator, Element, and ELPF

Enea sells a telecom-oriented Enea Accelerator Platform, which is designed for IP-based services built on Carrier Grade Linux (CGL) infrastructure. The soup-to-nuts Accelerator integrates a variety of telecom-oriented software, and is built on MontaVista or Wind River Linux kernel distributions. The major component is Enea's high-availability Element middleware, which is designed for heterogeneous telecom environments that mix Linux with Enea's OSE and OSEck. Other Enea Accelerator packages include the Polyhedra lightweight, Linux-ready SQL RDBMS (relational database management system), and the Linx interprocess communications (IPC) services software for distributed telecom systems.

Last month, Enea announced a services-based Linux development platform for embedded Linux called the Embedded Linux Project Framework (ELPF). The ELPF platform offers “core components, tools, and services common to virtually all embedded Linux projects in a single, one-stop package,” said the company.

While much of Enea's focus in recent years has been on Linux, the company's proprietary RTOS, called OSE, is still the company's primary business. OSE is deployed in the software-defined baseband radios of approximately half of the world's 3G mobile phones and base stations, says the company.

Stated Mathias Bath, SVP of marketing at Enea, “As the amount of software is rapidly growing in modern multicore and multi CPU embedded systems, it becomes more and more difficult to obtain the insight needed to develop, test and maintain it. To help solve this problem, our Optima Tool Suite raises the abstraction level allowing application debugging to be done at the system level, rather than individual source code lines.”

Availability

Enea Optima 2.1 appears to be available now. More information on Optima may be found here. More on the Enea Optima Log Analyzer may be found here, and more on the Enea Black Box Recorder should be here.

 
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