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Embedded Systems Articles

• NAND Flash memory in embedded systems (Sep. 29, 2011)
  This paper presents fundamental information about NAND Flash memory used in Embedded Systems. It discusses various aspects of this storage media such as interface, architecture, error source and error correction as well as software required for building application.
  
  
• Android, Linux and Real-Time Development for Embedded Systems (Jun. 16, 2011)
  Android is an open source platform built by Google that includes an operating system, middleware and applications for the development of devices employing cellular communications. This session takes a look at the design of Android, how it works and how it may be deployed to accelerate the development of a connected device. Along with guidelines to getting started with Android, the Android SDK, its available tools and resources will be reviewed and consideration given to applications for Android beyond conventional mobile handsets such as medical devices, consumer electronics and military/aerospace systems. A brief review of how Android or Linux can coexist with an RTOS in multi-core designs will also be conducted.
  
  
• Why MIPS is just a number (Oct. 05, 2010)
  Millions of instructions per second doesn't always represent the true computational capability of a device. Here’s what you can do about it.
  
  
• Power-efficient SDR platform handles multimode 4G (Sep. 14, 2010)
  This article presents the fundamental concepts of 4G technologies; describes the challenges in developing an efficient 4G user equipment (UE) solution and explains why software-defined radio technology is an excellent means for implementing it efficiently; and describes a unique SDR architecture allowing a programmable, powerful yet power-efficient implementation.
  
  
• How to Internet-Connect your low cost consumer retail embedded design (Sep. 14, 2010)
  Technology forecasters have been predicting that the Internet of Things—the technologies around connecting everyday things to the Internet—will be the foundation of the next major networking wave. The volumes being discussed are huge -- 10x to 100X that of mobile phone shipments per year
  
  
• Hardware - Software Tradeoffs in Automotive Sensor Data Processing (Sep. 13, 2010)
  Sensor data processing is central to key automotive features such as safety. The complexity of the task continues to expand rapidly. Nontraditional approaches to system optimization may be warranted when designers wish to squeeze the most out of their cost, power and performance budget. This paper explores a wide range of implementation options for sensor data processing, and attempts to identify the ones most suited for various system goals. It then lays out specific recommendations for various needs.
  
  
• Debugging the Linux kernel with JTAG (Sep. 07, 2010)
  The JTAG debugger is very useful for debugging low-level Linux kernel on ARM. The author shows you the peculiarities and benefits of Linux-kernel debugging using JTAG.
  
  
• Evaluating platform software architectures for nextgen embedded multicore designs (Sep. 01, 2010)
  To take advantage of the compute power in modern multicore SoCs in many embedded designs, the first step in properly managing and controlling this capability is to understand the major platform architecture choices and tradeoffs.
  
  
• How audio processing algorithms help improve sound from small speakers (Aug. 26, 2010)
  A variety of algorithms are available today to process the audio signal and improve the listening experience. Basic processing is given by equalization and filtering that change the amplitude of different frequency bands to overcome the shortcomings of speakers. By looking at the frequency response of speakers, we can determine what can and cannot be reproduced and set equalization curves accordingly.
  
  
• How throughput enhancements dramatically boost 802.11n MAC efficiency--Part II (Aug. 19, 2010)
  The primary method used to improve the MAC performance is to amortize the high cost of medium access over a larger number of data frames.
  
  
• How to use FireWire for innovative new designs without distance constraints (Aug. 18, 2010)
  It's a common misconception that IEEE 1394 links are limited to 4.5 m in length. This perception is no doubt caused by the statement found in the IEEE 1394 standard that all three types of cables (4-, 6-, and 9-pin) have "a suggested maximum length of 4.5 m." The 1394 standard goes on to point out that longer length cables are possible, but this has been largely overlooked and misunderstood. Additionally, IEEE 1394-2008 contains several clauses that specify long-haul media, which can support much longer distances.
  
  
• A case for not choosing the latest components (Aug. 18, 2010)
  An engineer's tale shows how quickly the leading edge can become the bleeding edge when new components are unexpectedly cancelled or never produced
  
  
• How throughput enhancements dramatically boost 802.11n MAC efficiency--Part I (Aug. 11, 2010)
  The ratification of the 802.11n amendment to the popular 802.11 WLAN standard represents a watershed event in the progress of wireless networking. The pent-up market demand for high speed wireless access, availability of more unlicensed spectrum, and advances in digital signal processing and semiconductor technology have created the perfect setting for the advent of very high wireless throughput.
  
  
• Picking the right built-in self-test strategy for your embedded ASIC (Aug. 05, 2010)
  Here are some tips on how to reduce the test times needed for your embedded application specific IC design using the built-in self-test modes that often are incorporated in any memory array.
  
  
• Efficient 'C' Programming and its Effect on the Performance of Embedded Systems (Jun. 28, 2010)
  How the efficient incremental C-code improvements can improve the performance of a microcontroller-based embedded system design where compiler optimizations may not suffice.
  
  
• How to make virtual prototyping better than designing with hardware: Part 2 (Jun. 23, 2010)
  This series of articles analyzes the benefits of virtual prototyping in embedded systems design with a particular focus on its usefulness after a physical prototype is available for software, systems, and verification engineers. Part 2: The importance of testability
  
  
• How to make virtual prototyping better than designing with hardware: Part 1 (Jun. 23, 2010)
  This series of articles analyzes the benefits of virtual prototyping in embedded systems design with a particular focus on its usefulness after physical prototype is available for software, systems, and verification engineers. Part 1: The use cases for virtual prototyping.
  
  
• Softsilicon - the next era of communications silicon (Jun. 07, 2010)
  Using the concept of building ASSP products based on FPGAs (vs. ASICs), manufacturers can amortize the most expensive part of device development (standard cell ASIC development costs) and amortize them over a much larger market than the narrow optical transport segment.
  
  
• What is power debugging? (May. 27, 2010)
  Power debugging is beginning to appear as a concept in the embedded industry, but what do we mean? In this article we will take a look at what is driving this need in embedded systems, and the way to optimize software to minimize an application’s power consumption.
  
  
• A designer's guide to a new industrial control paradigm (May. 24, 2010)
  How To build a unified control environment using architectures such as TI’s Stellaris ARM Cortex-M3-based MCUs or Cortex-A8-based Sitara AM35x MPUs.
  
  
• Algorithmic delay and synchronization in MPEG audio codecs (May. 10, 2010)
  This article shows the delays of the popular audio codecs and how they're derived, and offers a convenient reference for designs of time-critical systems having a delay budget.
  
  
• DDGEN: An Automated Device Driver Generation Tool for Embedded Systems (May. 03, 2010)
  This paper describes a methodology for automatically generating device drivers for embedded systems. We formally specify the device behavior and attributes in an input specification called DPS (Device programming sequence). Software architecture considerations are similarly captured in another specification called RTS (Run time specification). Our tool, DDGEN takes both these specifications as input and generates a full-fledged device driver code for the target operating system.
  
  
• Low-Power Intel Architecture Platform for In-Vehicle Infotainment - Part 1: Overview (Apr. 29, 2010)
  Automotive manufacturers today face a tremendous challenge in trying to bridge the historically long development cycles of a vehicle to the ever-changing I/O and multimedia demands of the consumer. The main function of the car's entertainment system or the head unit is enabling a variety of functions like navigation, radio, DVD players, climate control, Bluetooth, and so on.
  
  
• Making source code analysis part of the software development process (Apr. 26, 2010)
  Source code analysis consultant Andrew Yang outlines some of the hard lessons learned by working with a number of companies instituting SCA tools, the problems encountered and how to avoid them.
  
  
• The multicore SoC: Will 2010 be the turning point? (Apr. 15, 2010)
  Stephen Olsen argues that all the elements are in place to make multicore SoCs the norm in embedded designs: OSes are being adapted to SMP and AMP designs through new interprocess communications (IPC) standards such as MCAPI.
  
  
• Source Code Analysis in an Agile World (Mar. 29, 2010)
  This paper will demonstrate that several of the core principles of Agile cannot be fully realized without implementing a repeatable process for ensuring code that is as bug-free as possible
  
  
• Decompiling the ARM architecture code (Mar. 08, 2010)
  At UBM TechInsights we are often tasked with proving patent infringement of a software algorithm as part of our IP Management Services. Our example algorithm is based on the ARM architecture.
  
  
• Traffic Management for Optimizing Media-Intensive SoCs (Feb. 15, 2010)
  The drive to constrain product costs and power consumption places severe limits on system designers, particularly with external memory bandwidth. To increase performance, designers need to focus on efficient use of this system bandwidth. In turn, this drives the need for products to help with the analysis of the system dynamics and intelligent fabric architectures to manage the scarce resources. This article examines the role of Verification and Performance Exploration (VPE) and introduces the design objectives behind the advanced Quality-of-Service (QoS) mechanisms to optimize the performance that can be delivered by such systems.
  
  
• Deterministic dynamic memory allocation & fragmentation in C & C++ (Jan. 14, 2010)
  Colin Walls details the problems with dynamic memory allocation, which tends to be non-deterministic, leading to unexpected allocation failures and describes an approach that resolves such issues.
  
  
• A new approach to improving system performance (Jan. 14, 2010)
  Speed is a key element in most every electronic design. Whether engineers are creating complex image processing applications or designing systems that extend battery life by working swiftly before returning to sleep mode, speed is a critical factor in a product's success.