Connected Microcontrollers Networking will be everywhere, from 8-bit micros to 64-bit microcontrollers. Ethernet will be stratified with 10BaseT at the low end and 1Gbit Ethernet at the high end. This will make industrial Ethernet very interesting, because all sensors and controls now can be on the same network as the applications and management systems.
The increased memory capacity of microcontrollers, reduced stack size, and hardware acceleration (including encryption support) will significantly change how designers look at embedded applications. It will finally bring issues such as security and IPv6 to the fore.
Look to CAN and its cousin FlexRay for some interesting growth in the microcontroller space. FlexRay will remain strictly automotive for the next year or two, but it offers some interesting options in nonautomotive, real-time applications. CAN should make some useful inroads in robotics as more motor-control chips pick up this interface.
Wi-Fi and WiMAX wireless will remain outside the microcontrollers, but 802.15.4 and ZigBee will be integrated into just about everything below 64 bits. There may be some 32-bit integration by the end of the year.
Generally, networking is making programming more difficult because of the number of devices involved in the system. Of course, this problem tends to be a bit different than the challenges that come up in multicore processors.
Multicore Processors This year, 64-bit quad-core processors such as Intel's Core 2 Extreme are rolling off the production line (Fig. 3). With their lower operating power requirements, they will be used in denser clusters as well as embedded applications in which a single chip can provide more performance with less heat dissipation than ever before.
Activity in mixing multicore processors should be interesting this year, as symmetrical multiprocessing (SMP) and non-uniform memory access (NUMA) architectures move toward hundreds of processors. Software will be the key on single-chip, multicore embedded applications. And, processor affinity and other features like virtualization will gain in stature (see "Virtualization Victory").
The low end of the spectrum may open up in multicore applications. It makes sense to use two 8- or 16-bit cores in a number of areas where a dedicated 802.15.4 or USB controller can handle communication, as well as wake up its neighbor only when necessary. This type
of intelligent peripheral can be employed in a wide range of applications (e.g., motor control).
Products will prove whether or not novel, large-scale multicore devices like IntellaSys' SEAforth-24 and its Scalable Embedded Array (SEA) architecture can meet their power and performance claims (see "Cores That Share Chores"). It also will be interesting to see if programmers can keep pace with the hardware enhancements being dreamed up by designers. Surprisingly, a majority of these powerful processors are within reach of most embedded developers.
Low-Cost Development Kits USB and open-source software (OSS) have changed the lay of the land when it comes to development systems. USB provides power and a standard interface. OSS has delivered tools like the GNU C/C++ compiler and the Eclipse development environment. These are great tools themselves, but they've also forced down the cost of proprietary tools. The competition has created better solutions on all fronts.
It started last year with Texas Instruments' MSP-eZ430U and its integrated debugger (see "Mid-Range Micro Kits"). That trickle will ultimately turn into a flood with offerings like STMicroelectronics' ST7Ultralite (Fig. 4). If the chip can fit into a USB stick, then it will. Otherwise it will be on a relatively inexpensive board like NetBurner's $99 MOD5270LC kit, which is based on Freescale's Coldfire MCF5270 microcontroller.
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