Percepio

Percepio
Name	Percepio
Founded	2007
Founder	Magnus Berg
Headquarters	Stockholm, Sweden
Industry	Software
Products	Tracealyzer, RTOS tracing tools

Percepio is a Swedish software company specializing in visualization and tracing tools for embedded systems and real-time operating systems. The company develops tools designed to help engineers analyze execution behavior, performance, and timing issues in complex firmware and embedded applications. Percepio's products target developers working with microcontrollers, system-on-chip platforms, and safety-critical systems.

History

Percepio was founded in 2007 in Stockholm by Magnus Berg after work with embedded development projects and collaborations with institutions such as KTH Royal Institute of Technology and companies in the Scania AB supply chain. Early collaborations included projects with vendors like ARM Holdings and tool vendors such as IAR Systems and SEGGER. The company gained attention through partnerships with RTOS providers including FreeRTOS, ThreadX, and Micrium (now part of Silicon Labs), expanding its tracing support to ecosystems developed at Texas Instruments and NXP Semiconductors. Percepio's growth intersected with events in the embedded industry, with attendance at conferences like Embedded World and ARM TechCon and participation in consortia including work influenced by standards from MISRA and discussions at IEC committees. Over time Percepio integrated with cloud initiatives influenced by firms such as Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure while maintaining ties to European research programs linked to the European Commission and collaborations that echoed efforts at Saab AB and Ericsson.

Products and Technology

Percepio's flagship product is Tracealyzer, a visualization tool for tracing and analyzing execution traces from real-time operating systems and embedded platforms. Tracealyzer supports RTOSes like FreeRTOS, Zephyr Project, RT-Thread, VxWorks, QNX, ThreadX, and Micrium OS; it integrates with toolchains from ARM Keil MDK, GCC, IAR Embedded Workbench, and SEGGER Embedded Studio. The technology captures trace data via instrumentation methods compatible with processors from ARM, RISC-V, Intel, and MIPS Technologies and with microcontroller families from STMicroelectronics, NXP Semiconductors, and Microchip Technology. Tracealyzer visualizes scheduling events, interrupts, and message passing with backends that can interface with debuggers like GDB, OpenOCD, and proprietary solutions from SEGGER J-Link. The product suite includes features for analyzing timing influenced by standards such as ISO 26262 and IEC 61508 used by suppliers like Bosch and Continental AG in automotive and industrial controls. Percepio also provides SDKs and plugins interoperable with integrated development environments from Eclipse Foundation projects and vendor IDEs like STM32CubeIDE.

Applications and Use Cases

Percepio tools are applied in embedded domains including automotive control systems developed by Volkswagen Group and Daimler AG, avionics projects at companies like Boeing and Airbus, medical device development at firms such as Philips and Siemens Healthineers, and industrial automation platforms used by ABB and Schneider Electric. Tracealyzer assists teams working on connectivity stacks from Qualcomm and Broadcom and on IoT platforms promoted by Arm and Google initiatives. Use cases include debugging concurrency issues in middleware stacks used by Apache Software Foundation projects embedded in appliances, optimizing latency in robotic controllers from KUKA and ABB Robotics, and verifying timing requirements in deployments targeted by NASA missions and defense contractors like BAE Systems and Raytheon Technologies. Startups in consumer electronics, including companies incubated by Y Combinator and accelerators like Silicon Valley Bank clients, also employ Percepio products to reduce time-to-market.

Partnerships and Industry Integration

Percepio maintains partnerships with RTOS vendors such as Amazon for FreeRTOS support, with Zephyr Project contributors and with commercial vendors including Wind River Systems and Mentor Graphics (now part of Siemens). Integration work has linked Tracealyzer to cloud platforms like Microsoft Azure and Amazon Web Services IoT services, and to continuous integration systems from Jenkins and GitLab. Hardware cooperation includes interoperability testing with development boards from STMicroelectronics, NXP Semiconductors, Espressif Systems, and debugger vendors like SEGGER and Lauterbach. Percepio has participated in industry showcases alongside companies such as Intel and Qualcomm at events hosted by Embedded World and collaborates with standards organizations like AUTOSAR working groups and safety bodies including TÜV Rheinland for certification guidance.

Business and Organization

Percepio is headquartered in Stockholm with distribution and partner channels across Europe, North America, and Asia. The company operates a licensing model that serves OEMs, system integrators, and independent developers; customers include multinational suppliers in sectors represented by Siemens, Bosch, Continental AG, and technology companies such as Microsoft and Amazon. Percepio’s market approach involves developer outreach at conferences like Embedded World and IoT Solutions World Congress and collaboration with embedded toolchains from IAR Systems and SEGGER. Investment and funding interactions have connected Percepio to European venture networks and technology incubators related to organizations like Swedish Innovation Agency (Vinnova) and regional accelerators that have previously supported firms scaling in the Nordic region.

Awards and Recognition

Percepio and Tracealyzer have been recognized within the embedded systems community through awards and mentions at industry events such as Embedded World exhibitor recognitions and positive technical reviews in publications associated with EE Times and Electronics Weekly. The company’s tooling has been cited in academic and industrial papers from institutions including KTH Royal Institute of Technology and collaborations referencing projects at Chalmers University of Technology and Linköping University, and has been showcased in case studies by partners such as ARM and STMicroelectronics.

Category:Software companies of Sweden