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 (). 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 (). 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.