MDK Version 6 Integrates Command-Line/IDE Workflows Plus Virtual Hardware Support

March 10, 2023

Arm's Keil Studio Extension to Visual Studio Code delivers new features and CMSIS support.

Check out more Embedded World 2023 coverage.

Arm will show off its new Keil MDK Version 6 at the embedded world 2023 show. I was able to talk with Reinhard Keil, Senior Director of Embedded Technology at Arm, about the new toolset (Fig. 1).

1. The Visual Studio extension integrates the CMSIS-Toolbox and provides software-dependency validation.

The Common Microcontroller Software Interface Standard (CMSIS) fostered by Arm is used to define any Arm-based micro and its peripherals so that the interface can be utilized by software-generated headers or interfaces. The management of these now are able to be handled by the IDE. There's also a tighter integration with the command line and the graphical IDE. Software-dependency validation has been enhanced as well.

Keil MDK Version 6 includes support for Arm Virtual Hardware (Fig. 2). This enables simulation for verification and testing. Developers can run applications without needing physical target hardware that may not exist yet. The system supports A/B performance comparisons derived from timing statistics obtained from the Event Recorder tied to the virtual hardware.

2. Keil MDK works in the cloud or on Windows, Linux, and Mac OS, providing support for Arm virtual hardware models.

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I earned a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology and a Masters in Computer Science from Rutgers University. I still do a bit of programming using everything from C and C++ to Rust and Ada/SPARK. I do a bit of PHP programming for Drupal websites. I have posted a few Drupal modules.

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