From the first day of development, firmware engineers can now unobtrusively develop and debug their embedded code with full-speed execution, breakpoints, and single steps in an application. Embedded emulation becomes even more important with high performance mixed-signal systems that must maintain the integrity of microvolt analog signals. Signal integrity is virtually impossible with cumbersome in-circuit emulators that are sensitive to cabling crosstalk. Also, unlike abstract background debuggers, no time-sharing of system serial communication resources is required with the embedded emulation on the MSP430.