1.8.3.2 Active Probes

Active Probes enable reading or changing the values of probe points in a design through JTAG. Active Probes dynamically and asynchronously read or write to any logic element register bit. Active probes are useful for quick observation of an internal signal. For more information about Active Probes, see SmartDebug User Guide.

To add probe points to a list, perform the following steps:

  1. Select the Active Probes tab in the right pane. The probe signals are displayed in the left pane.
  2. Select the probe points you want to add from the Hierarchical View or Netlist View in the left pane.
  3. Right-click the selected points and click Add to add them to the Active Probes. You can also add the selected probe points by clicking Add in the top-right corner of the left pane. The probes signals can be filtered with the Filter option.
  4. Click Read Active Probes to read the content of the registers added to the window.
    Figure 1-18. Debug FPGA Array—Active Probes
  5. To use pseudo-static signal polling, right-click any probe point on the Active Probes tab and select Poll, as shown in the figure below.

    Static signal polling is used to check whether the logical bit value is changed to the expected polled value. For more information on polling, see SmartDebug User Guide.

    Figure 1-19. Pseudo-static Signal Polling