I'm pretty new to ARM and am trying to get timing results for functions written in C for a Cortex-M4 processor. Would any of you be able to tell me what steps I need to take to get timing results?
I've been running my code on Keil uVision, but I'm unable to use the program's Performance Analyzer during a real-environment debug. From what I've read it seems that the Performance Analyzer only works outside of simulated debug sessions if one is using proprietary connector from Keil.
Set a pin high at the start of the function you wish to time, set it low at the end, and measure the pulse width with an oscilloscope.
Dending on which Cortex M4 you're using there may be a cycle count register DWT->CYCCNT, but the inclusion of such is vendor defined. Details can be found in the Cortex M4 Technical Reference Manual. Your processors datasheet, reference manual and programming manual should provide more information if required.
Alternatively, if you have a fast timer, such as the SysTick running from the processor clock, you could initialise the count to 0x00FFFFFF, start it downcounting at the beginning of your function and stop it at the end, you can then work out the time taken as (0x00FFFFFF - SysTick->CVR) * (1 / SysTick Frequency) .
