June 25, 2009[Design View / Design Solution] Take The Guesswork Out Of Debugging
In the classic board game Battleship, an adversary arranges a fleet of tiny, plastic combat vessels on a grid that’s hidden from view. After an analogous fleet is set up on a separate grid, the objective is to guess the locations of the opponent’s boats. Likewise, the opponent’s goal is to divine the whereabouts of your miniature ships. The game proceeds with ...
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Matthew Gordon
June 18, 2009[Technology Report] Beyond The "Great Recession"
If one looks at the last 50 years of engineering boom-and-bust cycles and correlates them with the “stealth” technologies that emerged during those periods, one can see an encouraging pattern: breakthrough technologies take root during the crises and eventually transform the industry. Often, few people initially grasp these technologies or their potential. It’s also regrettably demonstrable that the actual pioneers have rarely been the ones to reap the big...
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Don Tuite
June 18, 2009[Technology Report] Laptops, Netbooks, And E-books, Oh My!
You don’t need to wave a magic wand to capitalize on the hordes of mobile devices that are on the market these days. They’ve become bright spots in a wobbly consumer electronics industry as buyers look for new bargains. In many instances, the cutting edge, such as the iPhone and Kindle, still carries a premium price. But the potential of lower-cost alternatives as well as the functionality provided by these new platforms is driving interest. ...
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William Wong
June 18, 2009[Technology Report] Putting Robots In Harm's Way
Aremote-controlled landing craft approaches a beach and deploys its robotic cohorts, including a helicopter. The helicopter flies inland and deposits a set of tracked robots that split up to reconnoiter. They use laser designators to highlight targets for incoming robot fighter planes that will launch missiles as part of a coordinated attack. This futuristic scenario is years away, not decades. Odds are good that if you step on a battlefield, a...
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William Wong
June 11, 2009[Embedded in Electronic Design] Are You Using More Than One Software Analysis Tool?
Actually, a better question for many embedded developers is whether they’re using even one code analysis tool. In many cases, the number of static or dynamic analysis tools used by a programmer is zero. At the same time, the goal that seems to be on top of everyone’s list is getting bug-free software done on time. Unfortunately, this can be a challenge when you aren’t using these tools. Most developers know that finding and fixing bugs early is less...
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William Wong
June 11, 2009[Embedded in Electronic Design] The Latest Static And Dynamic Analysis Tools
Designers can take advantage of a host of new static and dynamic code analysis tools from different vendors. Coverity has a range of static and dynamic analysis tools, but its Coverity Build Analysis addresses an aspect that is key to the development process but often overlooked—the build process. It helps Coverity stand out from the pack in addition to helping prevent bugs in the build process by identifying issues such as using the wrong object...
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William Wong
May 28, 2009
[From Systems to Silicon] Virtualization Innovations Drive Cost Optimization
The 2007 edition of the International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors (ITRS) states that “design cost is the greatest threat to the continuation of the semiconductor roadmap.” While this claim has been made even long before then, in light of the current economic situation, its meaning could not be more relevant. Given that the semiconductor industry has been through economic cycles before, however, the ITRS is also able to suggest a remedy. It’s called innovation!
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Frank Schirrmeister
May 27, 2009
[Designed In] Programmable Cube Controls Space Station’s COLBERT Treadmill
NASA has selected the UEIPAC Cube from United Electronic Industries (UEI) to perform an essential role in controlling the COLBERT treadmill in the new space station exercise facility. The programmable automation controller (PAC) hardware is compact and rugged, and makes efficient use of conductive cooling. As a result, the unit ideally suited for space applications.
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ED News Staff
May 21, 2009[Design View / Design Solution] Apply Virtualization To Storage I/O
Virtualization is receiving lots of attention these days. Behind the buzz are some simple, time-tested concepts. But the movement of this technology from the mainframe to the mainstream has brought it into the limelight. At its heart, virtualization is about making something “look” like something else. Typically, this means making an operating system “think” it’s running alone on a computer, when in fact that computer is shared by several...
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Richard Solomon
May 18, 2009
[Web Exclusive] Holding Out For Windows 7: A Wise Move?
While most businesses have soundly rejected Microsoft’s Windows Vista operating system and are tenaciously hanging on to Windows XP until the company comes out with a better OS, the day of reckoning approaches. The reason: Microsoft drove another stake into XP’s heart in April when it officially ended “mainstream support” for the OS.
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Joe Dysart
May 15, 2009
[Embedded in Electronic Design] Tiny Linux Suits Renesas Chips
RoweBots Research has delivered a pair of ultra-tiny, Linux-compatible real-time operating systems (RTOSs) for Renesas’ R8C, M16C, and R32C/100 microcontroller families. The DSPnano and Unison are also POSIX-compatible. Both work with Renesas’ High-performance Embedded Workshop (HEW) integrated development environment (IDE).
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William Wong
May 7, 2009[Engineering Feature] The Indianapolis 500 Electronic Edge
Surely most racing fans have May 24, 2009, circled on their calendars. For the non-gearheads, this Memorial Day marks the 93rd running of the Indianapolis 500. The event will pit 33 cars and drivers against each other in a grueling 500-mile race around a 2.5-mile track. The fastest average speed is more than 185 mph with top speeds cresting at about 235 mph. The front and back straightaways are only five-eighths of a mile long, so drivers spend a good deal of...
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William Wong
May 7, 2009[Lab Bench] Looking Over Your Shoulder At The Indy 500
The Indianapolis 500 has come a long way since its start on Memorial Day, May 30, 1911. The inaugural event marked the first time a rear-view mirror was used in a motor race, courtesy of Ray Harroun on the “Marmon Wasp” for Indianapolis automaker Marmon. Harroun also was the only driver in the race who didn’t bring along a mechanic in the passenger seat. Mechanics in those early races checked the oil pressure and also served as the rear-view mirror. Harroun...
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William Wong
May 4, 2009
[TechView: Embedded] Recipe For An RTOS
BitBake from the OpenEmbedded project is central to Monta Vista’s latest Linux real-time operating system (RTOS) and system tool release, Monta Vista Linux 6 (MVL 6). MVL 6 has the latest Linux and Eclipse development system enhancements and bug fixes, but the BitBake build environment is being exposed in this release. BitBake is a system designed to build systems, sort of like a super make facility. In fact, it is designed to work with standard make tools like Ant.
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William Wong
May 1, 2009
[POV: Point Of View] Eclipse: The Subprime Of Open Source?
In some sense, the Eclipse Public License (EPL) is a “mortgage-free” license in that one is allowed to add components and market them in an open-source or closed-source way. You can take and never give back. The EPL allows open-source software loans to default since one can add components on top of Eclipse and market them in an opaque and restricted fashion. This creates the potential for a software subprime crisis: One can borrow and never pay back.
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Franco Gasperoni
, et al.
April 9, 2009[Embedded in Electronic Design] Visual Debugging Hooks Into Your Applications
Text-based programming has led to a host of text-based debugging tools, from command-line interface debuggers to graphical integrated development environments (IDEs) that are still essentially text-based. Arrays and structures may be displayed in windows, but they’re textbased at heart. This isn’t to say that graphics have been completely ignored, though. DSP data can be plotted with tools like Analog Devices’ VisualDSP+ and Texas Instruments’ Code Composer...
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William Wong
April 9, 2009[Design View / Design Solution] Programming The CUDA Architecture: A Look At GPU Computing
Graphics processing units (GPUs) were originally designed to perform the highly parallel computations required for graphics rendering. But over the last couple of years, they’ve proven to be powerful computing workhorses across more than just graphics applications. Designed with more resources devoted to data processing rather than flow control and data caching, GPUs can be leveraged to significantly accelerate portions of codes traditionally run on CPUs,...
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Brent Oster
April 9, 2009[Leapfrog: First Look] Alliance Launches Open-Source In-Vehicle Infotainment Development Platform
Leading automobile manufacturers and hardware and software suppliers have formed the Genivi Alliance, a nonprofit organization committed to driving the development and broad adoption of an open-source in-vehicle infotainment (IVI) reference platform (see the figure). The group will unite automotive, consumer electronics, communications, and application development companies investing in the IVI market and...
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Roger Allan
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