System Limitations
Overview
While Mimic is a powerful tool for hardware emulation, it is important to understand its physical and logical limits to ensure accurate testing.
Hardware Constraints
- Logic Level: Mimic operates at 3.3V. Interfacing with 5V systems without level shifters may damage the STM32.
- Max Frequency: I2C is limited to 1 MHz and SPI to approximately 20 MHz due to CPU and DMA overhead.
- Pin Current: GPIO pins have limited current sourcing/sinking capability (typically 20mA). Do not drive motors or high-power LEDs directly.
Emulation Limits
- Timing Jitter: While minimal, some jitter is inherent in a software-driven emulation compared to physical ASIC hardware.
- Register Set: Not all registers of every sensor are emulated. Only the most commonly used registers for data retrieval and configuration are typically supported.
- Analog Features: Mimic is primarily a digital protocol emulator. It does not natively emulate complex analog sensor behaviors (like ADC noise characteristics) unless specifically modeled in the Python layer.