Raspberry Pi Foundation releases debug kit for Pico Pro and Arm microcontrollers

The Raspberry Pi Foundation has released a new module, the Raspberry Pi Debug Probe. The company describes the RP2040 microcontroller-equipped module as a complete, hardware debugging solution for Arm-based microcontrollers.

The Raspberry Pi Foundation writes that after the release of the Raspberry Pi Pico and the RP2040 microcontroller, for example, customers use a Pico for debugging tasks for programs running on another, second Pico. Alasdair Allan of the Raspberry Pi Foundation says the combination of Picoprobe and a second Pico is a good solution for debugging, but it requires quite a bit of hassle with cables. That is why he talks about a plug-and-play solution in the context of the Debug Probe.

The Raspberry Pi Debug Probe was designed with the Pico and the RP2040 in mind, but the module can be used to debug any Arm microcontroller that has a 3V3 pin Serial Wire Debug port; these can be used to supply power for parts that require little energy. The Raspberry Pi Debug Probe must act as a bridge between the USB and SWD protocols, allowing the host computer to access the target device’s debug port. Several cables are included for this purpose.

The manufacturer sees the Debug Probe primarily as a useful tool for situations where there is no built-in debugger, for example if a program based on the C programming language runs directly on the processor without an operating system or if someone is writing an operating system. The Debug Probe is intended for those cases, as they need a way to access the debugging capabilities built into the processor, says the Raspberry Pi Foundation.

There is no USB-C in the Debug Probe; micro USB is available instead. According to the manufacturer, this was done to keep costs low; the module costs $12.