Software AG and Dell boost real time predictive maintenance across the Internet of Things

By Nick Flaherty www.flaherty.co.uk

Software AG and Dell has developed a new architecture for the internet of things (IoT) that allows enterprises to perform real-time streaming analytics at the edge of the network, close to digital devices and sensors. 

The system uses Dell’s Edge Gateway 5000 Series combined with an embedded version of Software AG’s Apama Streaming Analytics (below). Performing real-time analytics on the edge can drastically reduce the cost of high volume Industrial IoT sensor traffic and the need for expensive central servers. This architecture also allows for the rapid deployment of edge analytics, and reduce the cost of IoT projects. This first joint Dell and Software AG solution focuses on preventative and predictive maintenance, with further IoT use case solutions to follow in the near future.

“This brings a new dimension and meaning to leading-edge technology,” said Frank Schiewer, Software AG SVP Global Alliances & Channel. “With Dell, we are bringing the competitive advantages driven by the internet of things to a much wider audience through reduced costs and increased adoption speed. Co-innovation is the name of the IoT game and this is a great example of two innovative companies partnering to provide ground breaking solutions. I look forward to widening the scope of this partnership over the coming months.”

Together, Dell and Software AG have created a Predictive Maintenance Blueprint entitled “Six steps to using the IoT to deliver maintenance efficiency” to help companies address their top operational challenges. This ensures that perishable data is acted on immediately by generating alerts, implementing an automated response on the Edge and ensuring that only meaningful data is sent to the cloud to minimize consumption of network bandwidth. This reduced data set can be integrated with historical data at the core and longer term trends and events identified and predicted.

“With our partners such as Software AG, we are lowering the barriers to IoT market entry for enterprises of all sizes and cutting the time needed to deploy IoT analytics significantly,” said Jason Shepherd, director, strategy and partnerships, Dell. “The IoT can now deliver its promise quickly, cost effectively and make a real contribution to driving economic growth.”

With estimates ranging from 15 to 40 billion new sensors being installed by 2020, it is imperative that real-time streaming analytics, driving automated decisions and responses, be located as near to the Edge as possible. The architectural benefits of distributed real-time analytics are decreased latency times for real-time events, a significant reduction in network traffic and a reduction in the central server power needed to cope with tens or hundreds of thousands of sensors. This fully scalable and flexible new architecture makes decisions on the Edge when appropriate and at the core when needed.

“Software AG always focuses on keeping customer choice open and the solutions built on this new architecture offer customers maximum flexibility in building IoT applications,” added Schiewer. “A common set of streaming analytic tools at the edge and in the core and automated decisions made where needed combines effectiveness with efficiency.”

IAR adds static analysis and firmware integration for Renesas RX chips

By Nick Flaherty www.flaherty.co.uk

IAR Systems has launched a new version of its Embedded Workbench for the Renesas RX family of controllers that includes extended static code analysis through the powerful add-on tool C-STAT and the ability to easily import Renesas Firmware Integration Technology (FIT) modules.

The highly requested tool C-STAT is fully integrated in version 2.90 of the complete C/C++ compiler and debugger toolchain and performs advanced static analysis on the source code level. The updated version adds approximately 150 new checks to the existing wide range of checks, including 90 new MISRA C:2012 checks and two new packages of checks. 

Several new options are also available, for example the possibility to enable or disable the false-positives elimination phase of the analysis as well as to exclude files from the analysis. It not only aids developers in ensuring the code quality early in the development cycle, it also detects defects, bugs, and security vulnerabilities as defined by CERT C/C++ and the Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE), as well as helps keeping code compliant to coding standards like MISRA C:2004, MISRA C++:2008 and MISRA C:2012.

Renesas FIT is a technology that simplifies development of RX-based applications and improves portability between RX microcontrollers. It consists of a Board Support Package (BSP), peripheral function modules, middleware modules, and interface modules. The latest version of IAR Embedded Workbench for Renesas RX adds a tool for easy import of FIT modules. With this new integration, developers can use the imported FIT modules in IAR Embedded Workbench without having to make any adaptions to the imported code.

IAR Embedded Workbench for Renesas RX offers the IAR C/C++ Compiler, assembler, linker, library tools and the C-SPY Debugger in one single IDE. It provides everything developers need to create smaller, faster, and smarter code for all Renesas RX MCUs. 

www.iar.com/iar-embedded-workbench/tools-for-rx

RadioVerse aims to simplify software defined radio in embedded designs

By Nick Flaherty www.flaherty.co.uk

New ecosystem includes the AD9371 integrated wideband RF transceiver, enabling simple, versatile solutions for wireless infrastructure, aerospace and defense, and instrumentation applications.
Analog Devices (ADI) has launched a technology and design ecosystem to simplify software defined radio implementations at at the circuit, architecture, system and software levels.

RadioVerse provides with integrated transceiver technologies, a robust design environment, and market-specific technical expertise to move their radio designs from concept to creation quickly. The new ecosystem’s transceiver technologies reduce radio size, weight and power (SWaP), while the design environment offers board support packages, software and tools to help customers simplify and accelerate radio development across a range of applications including wireless infrastructure, aerospace and defense electronics, and electronic test and measurement. 

As part of the RadioVerse technology and design ecosystem release, ADI introduced the AD9371, the latest addition to the integrated wideband RF transceiver product series. It is a highly versatile, carrier-grade, system-on-chip radio solution that achieves a wide RF tuning range of 300 MHz to 6 GHz, 100-MHz signal bandwidth, and power consumption of less than 5W under standard operating conditions. It replaces or eliminates as many as 20 discrete radio components and can be used as a common design platform across multiple applications and standards, increasing R&D efficiency and reducing time-to-market of the end product. Other products in the wideband RF transceiver series include the AD9361 and AD9364.

“ADI’s RadioVerse technology and design ecosystem demonstrates our system-level approach to innovation through which we deliver solutions that go beyond silicon to enable designers to get to market faster and reduce their costs,” said Rick Hess, executive vice president, Communications Business Group, Analog Devices. “RadioVerse’s industry-leading radio technology gives our customers a competitive advantage to be innovative for their customers.”

RadioVerse provides integrated RF transceivers, software API, design support packages, robust documentation, access to ADI’s EngineerZone online technical support community, and more. RadioVerse provides integrated wideband RF transceiver evaluation boards that directly connect to an FPGA development platform, allowing customers to perform chip-level performance evaluation and rapid prototyping of complete wireless scenarios using a single hardware platform. The boards are supported by a toolkit that includes HDL, Linux drivers, software API, a GUI, and design files necessary for customers to kick-start their own designs. An exact, verified model of the AD9371 transceiver, enabling advanced simulation and analysis of the transceiver, can be developed by using MATLAB and Simulink. End users can then use the model to configure the transceiver and verify performance, correct problems earlier, and accelerate completion of their RF system design.

The RadioVerse design environment will continue to expand to include third-party design houses, COTS providers and other partners to further enable customers to rapidly deploy their products to market.

The AD9371 integrated wideband RF transceiver is ideal for applications such as wireless communications, aerospace and defense electronics, and electronic test and measurement equipment that require high-performance radios across a wideband frequency range while maintaining industry leading low-power consumption levels. The AD9371 covers a 300-MHz to 6-GHz frequency range and supports receiver and transmit large signal instantaneous bandwidths up to 100 MHz, observation receiver and transmit synthesis bandwidths up to 250 MHz, fully integrated LO and clocking functions, and highly advanced on-chip calibration and correction algorithms. It supports a wide range of standards and applications, and enables customers to reduce component and development costs by reducing their need for multiple design variants. The versatility, ease-of-use, and reduced SWaP of the AD9371 enable designers to deploy radios in an array of applications:

· Small-form-factor, multi-band base stations on buildings, light poles, and office walls

· Long-range, high-definition video links in unmanned aerial vehicles

· Wide bandwidth military satellite communication systems

· Electronic test and measurement equipment supporting testing of multi-mode, multi-band applications.

Pricing and Availability

Part Number	Sample Availability	Production Availability	Price Each in 1,000 Units	Package
AD9371	Now	July 2016	$245	12mm x 12mm, 196-Ball CSP_BGA

Zeeta Networks to commecialise its IoT operating system

By Nick Flaherty www.flaherty.co.uk

Zeetta Networks, which focuses on the design, development and marketing of open networking solutions, has received funding of £1.25 million to commercialise the University of Bristol’s software-defined networking technology to smart enterprises and Internet of Things (IoT).

The company, a spin-out from the University’s High Performance Networks group, is an internationally renowned team for their expertise in software-defined networking and network virtualization.     

Zeetta breaks vendor-lock-ins using a unique open networking platform based on industry-standard hardware and powerful orchestration software - named NetOS - which manages, automates and monitors the whole network while significantly reduces its costs. This offers a “USB-like”, plug-n-play management of different types of connected network devices and enables the construction of virtual “network slices”, for example separate logically-isolated sub-networks for the deployment of business-to-business or business-to-consumer services, such as Ultra HD wireless video distribution, city-wide Wi-Fi, IoT and other applications.

The funding, which is being provided by existing investor IP Group and new investor, Breed Reply, means that Zeetta can significantly accelerate its growth plans. This will enable the company to expand its commercial and technical teams and target new markets.

Zeetta Networks has been a virtual member of the Bristol SETsquared Centre since September 2015 and they will be looking to take up residence in the Bristol SETsquared Centre, housed in the iconic Engine Shed, as soon as possible.

“Since the formation of our company last May  we have achieved many impressive milestones including considerable revenues from our first customers and grant funding from the European Commission through our participation in the REPLICATE lighthouse project. The investment from IP Group and Breed Reply cements the confidence of the market in our technology and our team," said Vassilis Seferidis, CEO of Zeetta Networks.

Breed Reply, Reply's advanced incubator, funds and supports the development of start-ups on the Internet of Things (IoT) in Europe and the USA. Based in London, with operational offices in Italy and Germany, Breed Reply supports entrepreneurs and young talent by quickly bringing new ideas to the market. This is done via funding at “seed” and “early stage” level; considerable support with significant know how transfer of business, managerial and technological expertise; and medium-term involvement to establish start-ups in their market. In the IoT sector, the main areas Breed Reply focuses on are fitness and wellness, healthcare, smart home, manufacturing, transportation and energy.

LDRA and TASKING Integration drives code re-use in automotive, control and avionics

Integrated tools to certify small-footprint controllers

By Nick Flaherty www.flaherty.co.uk

Liverpool-based embedded code verification tool developer LDRA has linked its tool suite with Altium's TASKING VX-toolset for the Infineon C166 controller. This brings compliance to safety standards such as MISRA, IEC 61508, and DO-178B to small-footprint microcontrollers like Infineon’s C166 family. 

The combined solution maximises code reuse and process compliance for safety- and mission-critical software across automotive, industrial and avionics markets which has previously been a significant issue.
With the increased call for compliance to safety standards, development teams need integrated solutions that ease the challenge of proving compliance through all stages of the development lifecycle from requirements through coding, test and verification. LDRA provides standard compliance across all stages of the lifecycle, whether for automotive with MISRA and ISO 26262, industrial with IEC 61508 or avionics/military with DO-178B. With an Eclipse-based framework, the LDRA-TASKING integration covers the whole C166 family and its derivatives.

The integration between the TASKING compiler and the LDRA tool suite avoids tedious configuration challenges and enables developers to easily apply LDRA’s analysis and testing capabilities from within TASKING’s IDE. With a simple right click in TASKING’s IDE, developers can directly invoke LDRA analysis phases, gaining access to static analysis violations and code coverage, or quickly generate test cases, executing code on the target or TASKING simulator. With complete integration, all LDRA tool suite capabilities—from analysis to verification—can aid the TASKING developer in achieving certification compliance.
“Today’s customer is increasingly asked to certify applications that deliver more functionality within a shorter development cycle,” noted Harm-Andre Verhoef, Product Manager at Altium BV. “Automated software testing tools like those of LDRA deliver standard compliance and scalable solutions that test the applications on the target microcontroller no matter how small the footprint. Such capabilities ensure that automotive giants such as Daimler or industrial players like Siemens can meet their time-to-market goals within budget constraints.”
“Code reuse has become a fundamental way to cut development costs in today’s tight economy,” said Ian Hennell, LDRA’s Operations Director. “Thanks to this integration, application developers using TASKING’s
toolset can port code between standards, platforms and markets while maintaining superior code quality
because of the scalability of the LDRA tool suite. This represents significant cost savings and superior ROI in
choosing this combined solution, whether for medical, automotive or industrial applications.”
The integration with LDRA’s eXtreme Testing, the tool suite’s automatic test case generator, removes the time-consuming, error-prone process of test generation for TASKING-based applications. LDRA has a different approach to unit testing which is typically performed on the host and/or target systems with automatic test case generation. Instead LDRA’s automated unit testing tool TBrun, eXtreme Testing automatically populates unit test cases to the point of generating the test cases themselves.
Such automatic test vector generation enables developers to quickly achieve the required levels of compliance for safety standards. Thanks to the extendable nature of the LDRA tool suite, compliance for one standard or platform can be scaled to another. Customers developing for the automotive market, for example, can therefore sell the same component solution into industrial or avionics environments, simply adding the verification tasks required for the new environment.

Processing demand skyrocket as Wind River releases 64bit VxWorks

Improves multicore support for ARM and gives exclusive Intel primitives

By Nick Flaherty www.flaherty.co.uk

In a sign that 64bit processing is more clearly needed in embedded designs, Wind River has launched a 64bit version of its VxWorks real time operating system (RTOS).

Version 6.9 (although suprisingly this isn't VxWork7.0) is one of the first commercial RTOSes delivering 64bit computing support and includes improved multi-core processing support. 

“The embedded market is facing skyrocketing demands for processing performance as systems become ever more complex and increasingly connected. The sheer amount of compute power, memory and data required for embedded applications continues to climb exponentially,” said Warren Kurisu, vice president of VxWorks product management at Wind River. “By providing 64bit computing capability, Wind River addresses the high-performance needs of our embedded market. VxWorks continues to be an innovation leader that delivers vital solutions to our customers.”

VxWorks now delivers 64bit support both in data and code execution that was once the sole domain of supercomputer and server markets. For telecommunications network infrastructure equipment manufacturers, 64bit computing is critical in keeping up with the stresses of increasingly exploding data. Other vertical industries are also demanding 64bit support, for example, for industrial and medical applications such as high-definition imagery, and aerospace and defense applications such as highly complex radar, sonar and sensors. Companies already running VxWorks can rapidly transition to 64bit computing with ease.

The latest VxWorks delivers greater multi-core processing performance in both symmetric multiprocessing (SMP) and asymmetrical multiprocessing (AMP) configurations. VxWorks platforms now bundle the Intel optimizing C++ compiler and the Intel Performance Primitives (IPP) library for Intel architectures only. This version of VxWorks now includes support for the ARM Cortex A9 processor, with a multi-core SMP and ARM Thumb-2 instruction set. This VxWorks release also provides enhanced networking capabilities, including new security features and increased Internet Engineering Task Force Request for Comments (IETF RFC) support. Additionally, software development on VxWorks continues to be enabled by the Wind River Workbench development tools suite.
The latest version of VxWorks will be available this month.

Related articles

• Wind River and McAfee team up on embedded security (linuxfordevices.com)
• VxWorks: Pushing the Limits on System Flexibility (blogs.windriver.com)
• Wind River frees up embedded Linux kit program (linuxfordevices.com)
• Embedded Virtualization Opens New Possibilities (blogs.windriver.com)
• Scalability: the key to product line success (blogs.windriver.com)

A VC’s perspective on healthcare investment | Analysis

With the passing of the new healthcare reform legislation in the US, there are new-found opportunities to make the healthcare system more efficient with the influx of more than 32 million people over the next several years. With this surge, there will be an inevitable paradigm shift not only for consumers, but also for businesses.
Startups will quickly fuel the healthcare space with new embedded medical technologies and solutions as the industry looks to aid the expansion of hospitals and health-related companies. For instance, the concierge medicine route is being supplemented with Web-based applications created to access the needs of the consumer while providing businesses key insights so as to foster growth and targeted programs.
Dr. Bijan Salehizadeh is a general partner at Highland Capital Partners and focuses on investments in medical device, healthcare services and healthcare information technology companies. More on his analysis at  A VC’s perspective on healthcare investment

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Altium targets Poland on software piracy

Design tool vendor Altium is targetting illegal use of its software specifically in Poland, offering an amnesty for just one month for existing users.

Sets December deadline for illegal users

“Piracy of Altium software, both of Altium Designer and older Protel software, is a known problem throughout Poland. With this programme, Altium helps illegal Protel users continue with their favourite EDA tool for another half a year without having to fear legal consequences,” said Jean-Paul Seuren, Licence Compliance Manager EMEA, Altium Europe.
“At the same time, and of much more value to these users, we will help them to move their old Protel projects and legacy data to Altium Designer. Designers will see the benefit from using this next-generation electronics design software and increase their competitiveness in the Polish and worldwide electronics design sector. This software amnesty programme helps illegal users take the first step to battle software piracy.”
Under the new scheme, companies doing electronics design can legalize their illegal copies of Altium’s Protel and Altium Designer software by buying the latest version of Altium Designer at a price of €3,200 that includes half a year amnesty for each legalized seat.
Earlier this year Altium lowered the pricing for Altium Designer to €3,200, a reduction of nearly 70% designed to make electronics design software affordable to every electronics designer. This highlights the key reason why designers were using the tools illegally. The amnesty programme extends that new pricing by adding the support Polish users need to become up-to-date in both compliance and their software.
During this amnesty period, designers can retain their illegal Protel seats to migrate their legacy data to Altium Designer. Altium will also provide free software assurance and support, webinars as well as special migration training. Users will receive an official certificate that enables them to use one unlicensed Protel seat legally for six months for each Altium Designer licence purchased.
Altium’s Value Added Reseller Evatronix SA, based in Bielsko-Biala, will be the local point of contact in Poland to facilitate the software amnesty programme.
Altium Designer is the successor of the well known and widely used Protel PCB design tool but takes a very new and different approach to electronics design. In a single solution, using a single data model, it lets designers create products in all three design domains: PCB layout, programmable hardware (using FPGAs) and software.

National Instruments expands HIL

National Instruments is extending its hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) simulation platform, which includes a range of products that optimise embedded system validation. During the past six months, NI has released nearly 40 new products targeted at delivering flexible HIL solutions to embedded control system developers within a variety of industries. The portfolio of NI HIL simulation tools helps engineers maintain reliability and time-to-market requirements while reducing costs, even as their products become more complex.

“We continually hear that engineers are struggling with traditional test systems to meet increasing product complexity and performance requirements within tight budgets and timelines,” said Mike Santori, Business and Technology Fellow at National Instruments. “These engineers need an HIL simulation platform that is highly productive out of the box but also open and flexible to adapt to fast-changing testing demands. The NI HIL simulation platform provides unprecedented openness and performance for HIL applications. The platform’s highly flexible architecture helps engineers address a wide range of applications, from those in automotive and aerospace to new fields such as alternative energy and medical device development.”

Recent product releases include NI VeriStand software for real-time testing and simulation; the NI TestStand 4.2 automated test management environment including support for Python scripts; a new family of fault insertion units; NI-XNET high-performance CAN and FlexRay bus interfaces optimised for HIL applications; ARINC 429, MIL-STD-1553 and AFDX (ARINC 663) military and aerospace avionics bus interfaces; low-cost and high-performance real-time processor cards; and several other I/O interfaces. To ensure that applications can easily scale and meet evolving requirements, the NI HIL simulation platform supports third-party hardware interfaces and integrates with C, C++, .NET and Python programming languages. In addition to integrating seamlessly with the NI LabVIEW graphical system design environment, the platform works with a variety of modeling environments such as Simulink software; ITI SimulationX; Maplesoft MapleSim; and Gamma Technologies GT-POWER.
Engineers can increase their system performance and flexibility while reducing overall costs by taking advantage of the open PXI hardware standard, advanced multicore technology and graphically programmed FPGA interfaces. Additionally, the platform’s software-defined instrumentation approach makes it possible for HIL applications created with NI products to scale from low-cost desktop validation systems to multiprocessor distributed simulators, a benefit that provides engineers a flexible and cost-effective toolset for all HIL testing applications.
The platform delivers commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) solutions that offer alternatives to complex proprietary configurations and bulky, inefficient traditional simulation systems. In today’s challenging economic climate, NI HIL simulation products are ideal for making projects more efficient and cost-effective for design engineers in multiple industries, from aerospace, alternative energy, automotive and consumer electronics to government, industrial transportation, mechatronics, medical technology and semiconductor manufacturing.

Bada emerges as OS for handhelds

Samsung is set to launch its Bada operatings system as a challenge to Android. Details and prospects at the Portable Multimedia blog.

Wireless test and virtualisation for LabView 2009

National Instruments has launched its the latest version of the LabView graphical system design software platform for test, control and embedded system development. LabVIEW 2009 simplifies the development challenges of complex test systems with new tools that streamline the software engineering process for the development, deployment and maintenance of critical test software. It uses parallel programming features such as virtualisation technology that increase the performance for multicore-enabled test applications and offers LabVIEW FPGA compiler improvements to simplify field-programmable gate array (FPGA) reconfigurable I/O (RIO) development. In addition, LabVIEW provides new solutions for testing systems based on wireless standards such as WLAN, WiMAX, GPS and MIMO using a common hardware platform.

“In today’s challenging economic climate, engineers and scientists are being asked to complete their projects with fewer resources and in less time,” said Dr. James Truchard, President, CEO and Cofounder of National Instruments. “With LabVIEW 2009, test engineers can develop complex and mission-critical applications faster while improving their overall test system performance.”

Streamline Test Software Validation
LabVIEW 2009 features new tools for software engineering and code validation that make it possible for engineers and scientists to easily meet the regulatory and software engineering requirements of complex test systems. With the new version of LabVIEW, engineers and scientists can trace the implementation of test system requirements to virtual instrument (VI) programs and easily monitor low-level details about the execution of critical VIs for quick application monitoring and debugging. In addition, LabVIEW 2009 can automate the functional testing of each VI to guarantee that the VIs meet all necessary specifications. These new software engineering tools complement existing LabVIEW features for large application development and help engineers and scientists create high-quality test systems.
Improve Parallel System Development
With LabVIEW 2009, engineers and scientists can easily develop applications that take advantage of inherently parallel technologies such as FPGAs and multicore processors. Virtualisation technology makes it possible to run multiple OSs side by side on the same multicore processing hardware to build more efficient systems. Using new NI Real-Time Hypervisor software, engineers and scientists can run Windows XP and LabVIEW Real-Time OSs side by side on the same PXI embedded controller and partition the processor cores among the two OSs for more efficient use of system resources.
The LabVIEW 2009 FPGA Module also further reduces the time required to program FPGA RIO devices by providing early compile feedback and critical path highlighting during compilation and simulation on a development computer. This helps engineers and scientists make early FPGA resource usage estimates and better debug timing violations. They also can further reduce development time by simulating the behavior of an FPGA on a development computer instead of compiling to the FPGA.
Test More Wireless Devices and Standards
LabVIEW 2009 improves the performance of radio frequency (RF) and wireless test by taking advantage of multicore processors. For example, engineers and scientists can use LabVIEW and off-the-shelf multicore processors to increase the speed of wireless measurements such as spectral masks and error vector magnitude used in WLAN test. The recently released NI WLAN Measurement Suite for LabVIEW guarantees compliance with IEEE 802.11 a/b/g standards and performs measurements more than five times faster than traditional box instruments. With software-defined instrumentation using LabVIEW, engineers and scientists can implement the same measurement platform to generate, analyse and simulate nearly any wireless standard or custom protocol. In addition to the WLAN Measurement Suite, the recently released WiMAX, GPS and MIMO tools for LabVIEW help engineers and scientists increase their performance when testing multiple standards using a common PXI hardware platform.

Intel buys Wind River

Intel is making a serious play into the truly embedded market with a $884m deal to buy real time operating system (RTOS) company Wind River Systems.
The board of directors of Wind River has unanimously approved the transaction which is expected to close this summer and then Wind River will report into Intel's Software and Services Group, headed by Renee James.
This is a key part of Intel's strategy to grow its processor and software presence outside the traditional PC and server market segments into embedded systems and mobile handheld devices, and Wind River is already a close partner with Intel, making use of its hardware virtualisation technology.
Wind River will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Intel and continue with its current business model.
"This acquisition will bring us complementary, market-leading software assets and an incredibly talented group of people to help us continue to grow our embedded systems and mobile device capabilities," said James at Intel. "Wind River has thousands of customers in a wide range of markets, and now both companies will be better positioned to meet growth opportunities in these areas."
"As a wholly owned subsidiary, Wind River will more tightly align its software expertise to Intel's platforms to speed the pace of progress and software innovation," said Ken Klein, Wind River Chairman, president and CEO. "We remain committed to continuing to provide leading solutions across multiple hardware architectures and delivering the same world-class support to which our customers have grown accustomed."
The acquisition will deliver to Intel robust software capabilities in embedded systems and mobile devices, from in-car "info-tainment" systems and other automotive areas, networking equipment, aerospace and defence to energy and thousands of other devices.

Android moves into home equipment

MIPS Technologies has ported Google's Android operating system to its processor cores, aiming to drive the software, and Web applications, into more areas such as digital TV and set top boxes.
With Android and the open source development community around it, developers can easily and quickly create new applications and OEMs can leverage the growing set of applications for their devices, says MIPS. With the MIPS ecosystem around Android, OEMs will be able to quickly optimize Android for their specific platforms.

"In the future, almost every consumer device will be connected to the Internet and its wide array of content," said Rich Wawrzyniak, senior analyst for ASIC and SoC at Semico Research Corporation. "Leveraging Android to quickly and easily bring new and innovative applications and user interfaces to devices beyond the mobile phone is a very appealing proposition for consumers. Android also removes applications from their ties to specific hardware systems and opens the market for companies like MIPS Technologies to move into new market segments. I can understand why MIPS’ partners and licensees are excited about Android on MIPS. It is a potential game changer."

MIPS Technologies is establishing development tools and system integration partnerships with service providers to help its licensees with porting, integration, and testing. Partnerships initially include those with Embedded Alley and Viosoft.
Embedded Alley, a leading provider of embedded Linux solutions, is offering support for SoC implementations from MIPS Technologies’ licensees. The Embedded Alley Development System for Android-based Devices includes processor and board support as well as a version of the Android Dalvik virtual machine (VM) optimized for the MIPS instruction set and CPU cores; extending the Android bionic library, linker and other software infrastructure for the MIPS architecture; and providing integration and testing board support industry-specific device drivers, CODECs and other middleware. Embedded Alley is already enabling Android on devices built with the Alchemy Processor family from RMI—providing an Android-ready Linux kernel for RMI Au1250 and the Embedded Alley Development System for Alchemy reference platforms.

“Embedded Alley and MIPS Technologies have been working closely to deliver value to our mutual customers,” said Matthew Locke, COO, Embedded Alley. “Following the success of Android in the mobile phone market, many companies have been looking at the potential of Android beyond mobile handsets, but it just wasn’t clear how to make Android a reality for other types of devices. Embedded Alley, together with MIPS -- a strong leader in the digital home marketplace -- has determined what it will take, and we are making it happen. We are enabling OEMs and developers to create new Android-based designs."

Viosoft Corporation is a key partner for MIPS based software development tools. Viosoft’s Arriba tools deliver comprehensive support for single and multi-core platforms. The tools support Android, and are available today.

“The MIPS architecture has consistently delivered high-performance Linux platforms with low power consumption, making it ideal for VM-based environments such as Android,” said Art Lee, vice president of business development, Viosoft Corporation. “To enable the porting, debugging and deployment of the Android platform on MIPS, Viosoft provides a set of unique and very powerful tools that dramatically reduce development time, risk and costs. Working closely with MIPS Technologies, we are focused on helping OEMs quickly and easily bring their Android platforms to market.”

... as it ports SafeRTOS to highly integrated Luminary controller

Wittenstein High Integrity Systems has ported its SafeRTOS embedded kernel to the Luminary Micro Stellaris ARM Cortex-M3™-based microcontrollers, including the new highly integrated LM3S9000 series.
The release by Wittenstein enables high integrity application development on the ‘most integrated’ embedded microcontrollers on the market. The product greatly reduces the time and risk associated with obtaining FDA510(k) and IEC61508 certification through Wittenstein’s Design Assurance Pack.
Developed specifically for applications such as medical and industrial devices, SafeRTOS has been independently certified by TÜV SÜD, as having been developed in compliance with IEC61508 SIL3, and uses a compiler independent methodology.
SafeRTOS, a finalist at the Elektra Awards 2008 Embedded Product of the Year, was originally developed from the popular and robust open source kernel, FreeRTOS. Migration from FreeRTOS to SafeRTOS enables costs to be controlled during development.
Luminary Micro’s Chief Marketing Officer Jean Anne Booth said, “Stellaris microcontrollers are widely used in medical and industrial devices, and we are seeing a growing demand for certification in these markets. The launch by Wittenstein vastly simplifies what can otherwise be a complex task.”
Discussing the forthcoming announcement, FreeRTOS creator and Wittenstein’s Head of Innovation, Richard Barry, said, “Luminary is an exciting innovator in the ARM space and we are delighted about this early collaboration on the new flagship Stellaris microcontrollers.”

Fuel cells and virtual network computing show polar bears

Photo: © R & C Buchanan
Virtual Network Computing (VNC) embedded technology from a company in Cambridge has been used to control and maintain a network of remote cameras in Canada to track the movement and behaviour of polar bears.
The project used an IP-based network system of digital microwave links to transmit images across the tundra from Cape Churchill cameras to the remote town of Churchill, which was in turn connected to the control centre in Alaska via the Internet. The work also involved a Tundra Buggy that fed live Polar Bear Cam streaming video through a 45MB wireless link to the town of Churchill and then to the National Geographic website.
The system was set up by SeeMore Wildlife Systems that specializes in remote wildlife monitoring solutions, to help researchers from Polar Bears International researchers from the University of Florida to film the dwindling number of polar bears as they prepared to head off to the Arctic for the winter.
"As the cameras were unmanned and powered by methanol fuel cells, it would have been virtually impossible to keep the system running without using VNC," said wildlife filmmaker Daniel Zatz of SeeMore Wildlife Systems. "VNC provided full control and monitoring of the camera network and remote PC server in Churchill from the relative warmth and luxury of project HQ in Alaska."
One of the benefits of realVNC is that it works with virtually any platform or operating system across any network, using just a simple downloadable interface or through a browser. This meant that Zatz and his team could log in, manage the network and download images directly from a PC, Mac or even handheld device.
The VNC technology comes from RealVNC in Cambridge which was originally developed in the AT&T labs in the City under Porf Andy Hopper. With over 100 million software downloads, VNC is a de facto standard for remote control and has been used widely in hundreds of different products and applications, from helpdesks to virtualization.
RealVNC has broadened the scope for VNC software by founding Adventiq to design semiconductors and software for sending keyboard, video and mouse (KVM) signals via IP networks market. Products containing Adventiq chips and embedded VNC software are already on the market.

It’s the tools, stupid! Microchip moves to 32bit with MIPS

Low cost microcontroller maker Microchip is moving to 32bits using the M4K architecture from MIPS Technologies.

This is a key move for both Microchip, whose PIC 8bit and 16bit microcontrollers are used in millions of places, and for MIPS, that has been missed in the early coverage of the story.

The key is the tools environment. Microchip gets a ready made ecosystem of debuggers and simulators, all of which are much more important in the 32bit space as the point of going to 32bits is to use off the shelf operating systems and readily available protocol stacks etc. These are all available for MIPS already, which is a stunning advantage for Microchip.

But there is also a huge benefit for MIPS, as there is now a tremendous potential installed base of designers who want to use Microchip controllers. This will work in two ways – it encourages and further strengthens the ecosystem and tool development as there are now hundreds of thousands of potential customers for the third party embedded software developers and for the tool vendors. Suddenly the MIPS ecosystem is now hugely viable. That plays into MIPS’ system on chip market, as a successful Microchip design can go to a single chip custom ASIC chip or semi-custom ASSP chip without changing the application software, providing an easier route to lower costs and higher volumes.

Microchip is using the M4K low end variant of the MIPS architecture which was announced last week along with a wide range of analogue peripherals to go around the core from MIPS' earlier acquisition of ChipIdea.

Industry comment to follow……

VIA ships 1W x86 processor

To tackle deeply embedded and power sensitive applications, VIA has launched a 500MHz x86 processor that runs at under 1W.
The Eden ULV processor has been designed from the ground up to meet the low power requirements of a wide range of industrial, commercial and ultra mobile applications and has an idle power of 100mW.The 1W power level allows a 21mm x 21mm NanoBGA2 package to be used for more space sensitive applications.
The new processor can be combined with the ultra compact VIA CX700/M system media processor, an advanced all-in-one digital media chipset with a maximum operating power of just 3.5 watts, supporting a wide range of multimedia, connectivity and storage options and enabling system platforms with a maximum power of less than 10 watts.
It is being used by:

AAEON, Acrosser, Adlink, Advansus, Advantech, Aquila, Arbor, Avalue, Axiomtek, Biostar, Bona, Boser, Commate, E-TOP, Flexus, Freetech, Ibase, IEI, Inhand, IPOX, Kontron, Lanner, Liantec, Maple, Nexcom, Posiflex, Portwell, Termtek, Unication and Unicorn.

“With a maximum power of just 1W, the 500MHz VIA Eden ULV processor has finally brought x86 design into the realm of the embedded market,” said Richard Hung, Product Manager at Advantech. “This remarkably low power consumption has allowed our new PCM-4372 to provide all the power, performance and versatility of the x86 architecture to our customers.”

“The 500MHz VIA Eden ULV was the logical choice for our new 5.25” SBC, EBM-CX700 and B5 size slim PC, the ASM-CX700,” said Sam Wang, Vice-President of Avalue. “Now that VIA has brought to market an x86-based processor that doesn’t have the prohibitively high power consumption of other offerings, the benefits in terms of versatility, availability of compatible software and hardware, and performance can’t be overlooked.”

Integrated into the processor is the VIA StepAhead Technology Suite, which boasts an extensive array of performance-enhancing features including the VIA V4 bus at 400MHz, sixteen pipeline stages, branch prediction and an efficiency-enhanced 128KB full-speed exclusive L2 cache, ensuring the processor’s low power consumption doesn’t come at the expense of performance.
It also integrates VIA's PadLock Security Engine security tools to enable real-time military-grade encryption of data such as AES encryption, Secure Hash Algorithm SHA-1 and SHA-256, and a Montgomery Multiplier to accelerate the encryption process used under RSA and other public key transmissions as well as NX Execute Protection to prevent worms from propagating, and dual quantum based random number generators.

“Giving our customers the building blocks to create innovative systems and driving PC technology into new markets defines our ‘Small is Beautiful’ strategy,” said Richard Brown, Vice President of Corporate Marketing, VIA Technologies, Inc. “With its performance, energy efficiency and compact size, our new VIA Eden ULV processor provides a way for embedded developers to add real value to their systems and push the market forward.”

NI makes LabView multicore....

Embedded software tool vendor National Instruments has developed a multi-core version of its LabView graphical programming tool for the x86 architecture.
LabView 8.5 adds multicore support for PCs, embedded boards based on X86 processors and FPGA development systems. Running threads across multiple cores is allowing significant speed up of applications developed on the PC, such as test systems.
More importantly for embedded designed, NI has also made its real time operating system multi-core aware so that processes can be allocated to individual cores either manually or automatically to make the most of the system resources.
“Engineers and scientists depend on continually improving PC processors, operating systems and bus technologies to drive increased performance in their measurement and control systems,” said Dr. James Truchard, President, CEO and co-founder of National Instruments. “With the shift toward multicore processors on the PC, LabVIEW programmers benefit from a simplified graphical approach to multithreading, making it possible for engineers and scientists to maximise the performance of multicore technology with little to no change to their applications.”
With the parallel dataflow language of LabVIEW, users can easily map their applications to multicore and FPGA architectures for data streaming, control, analysis and signal processing. Building on the automatic multithreading capability of earlier versions, LabVIEW 8.5 scales user applications based on the total available number of cores and delivers enhanced thread-safe drivers and libraries to improve throughput for RF, high-speed digital I/O and mixed-signal test applications.

LabVIEW 8.5 also provides symmetric multiprocessing (SMP) with the LabVIEW Real-Time environment where designers of embedded and industrial systems automatically can load balance tasks across multiple cores without sacrificing determinism. With the latest version of LabVIEW, users can manually assign portions of code to specific processor cores to fine-tune real-time systems or isolate time-critical sections of code on a dedicated core. To meet the more challenging debugging and code optimisation requirements of real-time multicore development, engineers and scientists can use the new NI Real-Time Execution Trace Toolkit 2.0 to visually display timing relationships between sections of their code and the individual threads and processing cores where the code is executing.
The inherent parallelism of LabVIEW maps onto FPGA applications as well with an FPGA Project Wizard that automates I/O configuration, IP development and overall setup for common I/O, counter/timer and encoder applications. Using the FPGA Project Wizard, engineers and scientists can automate the generation of more complex high-speed DMA data transfer code. Additionally, LabVIEW 8.5 offers multichannel filtering and PID control functions commonly needed in machine automation to significantly reduce FPGA resources for high-channel-count applications.

… and NI adds state machine modelling tool

Statecharts are commonly used to design state machines to model the behaviour of real-time and embedded systems to depict event occurrences and responses for digital communication protocols, machine controllers and system-protection applications. LabVIEW 8.5 adds a new statechart module to help engineers and scientists design and simulate these event-based systems using familiar, high-level statechart notations based on the Unified Modeling Language (UML) standard.
Because the LabVIEW Statechart Module is based on the LabVIEW graphical programming language, engineers and scientists have a single platform to design, prototype and deploy their systems quickly, combining familiar statechart notation with real-world I/O running on deterministic real-time or
FPGA-based systems.

While this is not a move into full blown requirements capture and system modelling, it is a response to the recent acquisition of embedded UML tool provider Telelogic by IBM Rational. IBM is more focussed on the system and web software development, rather than embedded, and NI expects to pick up customers who used the I-logix state machine tool that was bought by Telelogic and so is now part of IBM Rational.

Intrinsity goes for low power with ARM variant...

High performance logic company Intrinisty has used its high speed logic on the ARM cortex R4 core, but instead of gong for the highest possible speed has gone for a low power option.
This is producing twice the clock speed possible with traditional logic, so the Cortex R4X core will run at 600MHz on TSMC's 65nm LP process. The processor implementations uses Intrinsity’s Fast14 1-of-N Domino Logic (NDL) technology, which enables faster circuit speeds while minimizing power consumption and area.
This may well be an admission of defeat for Intrinsity, which has had a high performance MIPS version since it started 10 years ago now, but moved to a licensing model in 2004 and includes both processors and high speed memory.
“Intrinsity FastCores incorporate Fast14 technology, and we use this to enable breakthrough embedded processor performance with very low power consumption,” said Bob Russo, CEO, Intrinsity. “By working closely with ARM on the development of the Cortex-R4X processor implementations, together we will be able to reach a much broader base of designers who are looking for ways to achieve higher performance without sacrificing power efficiency and bring new SoCs to market quickly.”
Moving to a low power approach makes sense for ARM, and the R4X is aimed at storage, printer and networking applications, so taking on MIPS which is more dominant in these areas.
“Mass storage, printing and networking applications need ever increasing levels of performance to handle higher data rates, more media services and new functionality such as encryption,” said Graham Budd, executive vice president and general manager, Processor Division at ARM. “Through this relationship we can extend the performance range of the Cortex-R4 processor to meet these requirements and those of new market domains.”
All versions of the Cortex-R4 processor offer embedded Error Correcting Code (ECC) technology which monitors memory accesses to detect and correct errors, providing very high reliability and availability.
ARM says the Cortex-R4X processor implementations are available for licensing immediately, but will be shipped in Q1 next year. Expect other versions to follow, and an Intrinsity version of the Cortex A8 (the A8X perhaps, but more likely the A9) would hit 1.8GHz and perhaps top 2GHz on a high performance process.


... and sets up acquisition prospect

This technology looks vital to ARM, so expect Intrinsity to be an acquisition target. While it has licensed the technology to ATI (now part of AMD) and has investment from PowerPC licensee AMCC, neither of these are a major stumbling block to being part of ARM and fits well with the processor and IP design philosophy. If this proves popular, and there is little reason why not, then ARM cannot afford NOT to buy it.