Tracking Traps on the MODM7AE70 With the SAM E70

Debugging embedded applications can be one of the biggest challenges for developers. Unexpected reboots, illegal instructions or invalid memory access can stop progress in its tracks. That’s where our SAM E70 Arm^® Cortex^®-M7 microcontroller (MCU), combined with NetBurner’s Smart Traps feature, provides a powerful solution for developers building robust IoT and industrial applications.

The MODM7AE70 and SBE70LC modules from NetBurner integrate our SAM E70 and SAMD20 processors, delivering high performance, reliable connectivity and security at a low price point. This hardware foundation makes it possible to deploy connected devices that support industrial protocols, Ethernet, SSL/TLS and more—all backed by the strength of Microchip’s proven MCU architecture.

What Are Traps?

In embedded systems, a trap occurs when an application executes an illegal instruction, such as dividing by zero or reading an invalid memory address. Traditionally, tracking down these errors requires time-consuming debugging. But with NetBurner’s Smart Traps running on the SAM E70, developers gain immediate diagnostic insight with no performance penalty.

How Smart Traps Work

Smart Traps capture and print trap information to the serial port whenever a fault occurs, providing developers with stack details and pointing directly to the line of code that caused the issue. By including the smarttrap.h header file and enabling the feature in UserMain(), developers can quickly identify and resolve problems that would otherwise be difficult to reproduce.

Practical Example

The blog demonstrates enabling Smart Traps on the MODM7AE70 with a simple divide-by-zero example. The workflow shows how engineers can generate a Smart Trap report, then use the addr2line tool to map the fault back to source code. This process accelerates debugging, reduces downtime and improves code quality.

Why It Matters

By leveraging Microchip’s SAM E70 MCU as the foundation, developers get the performance and reliability needed for demanding industrial applications. NetBurner’s Smart Traps add a valuable layer of debug visibility that helps engineers move faster and solve complex issues with confidence. Together, they demonstrate how our silicon and NetBurner’s tools empower developers to build smarter, more resilient systems.

With this SAM E70-powered platform, engineers can fearlessly develop complex IoT and automation solutions—knowing that both the hardware and the debugging infrastructure are built to support them.