XJTAG introduces chain debugger

This will enable engineers using its boundary scan system to significantly improve printed circuit board (PCB) set-up times and to quickly troubleshoot faults on early prototype circuits.

The new XJTAG chain debugger abstracts developers from the complexity of the JTAG standard and allows engineers developing complex ball grid array populated circuits to get their new prototype boards up and running extremely rapidly.

The XJTAG chain debugger can quickly verify the integrity of the JTAG chain, and by matching JTAG device codes to their respective BSDL files, engineers can instantaneously diagnose the specific location of an error in the JTAG chain, such as a short or open circuit, poor joint or incorrect connection.

Diagnostic output from the new chain debugger is also much improved and there is an option for engineers to print out the complete contents of the scan chain in the event of a problem, including binary and hex versions of the results.

Dominic Plunkett, XJTAG's chief technology officer, said: 'This powerful and feature-rich chain debugger is a significant enhancement to our boundary scan development system and will speed up the development process.

'It is particularly useful for engineers bringing up JTAG for the first time on a prototype board.

'Once the JTAG chain is working the XJTAG development system provides a rapid method for testing the rest of the board.' To further improve prototype development and to speed up new product introduction timescales, XJTAG has integrated its development and run-time environments (XJDeveloper and XJRunner).

Now a hardware engineer can develop and run code within the same environment, thereby avoiding the arduous and time consuming process of switching between applications.