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Embedded Systems Articles

• PRODUCT HOW-TO: The care and feeding of embedded Linux running on MIPS CPUs (Jul. 02, 2009)
  An update on the use of Linux in many embedded consumer and networking applications and how MIPS Technologies hardware and software can be used to make the development process easier.
  
  
• Debugging of embedded Linux applications on ARM9/ARM11 processors (Jun. 25, 2009)
  Embedded Linux as an operating system for modern ARM processors? Maybe not such a bad idea? Linux is a multitasking operating system and therefore, each process must be assigned its own process address space. However, this partitioning greatly complicates the debugging of processors and inter-process functionality. So what can be done to tackle this? This article illustrates some possibilities how you can successfully achieve your goal.
  
  
• Updating the High Definition Content Protection Standard with Version 2.0 (Jun. 18, 2009)
  Al Hawtin (Elliptic Technologies) provides a timely update to the High Definition Content Protection security standard which will shortly be supplemented by HDCP Revision 2.0 and how it will impact delivery over wireless connections.
  
  
• PRODUCT HOW-TO: Building an FPGA-based Digital Down Converter (Jun. 04, 2009)
  When compared on a size/power/cost per channel basis, narrowband, high channel-count DDC cores can be very efficiently implemented in FPGAs.
  
  
• Opportunities still exist for 16-bit microcontrollers (Jun. 01, 2009)
  There is a perception today that the world is migrating to the 32-bit MCU for all embedded applications. Whilst this may be true for the high volume markets such as mobile communications, the reality is that 8-bit MCUs continue to be the most widely used MCU architecture today. This is not because there is any particular fondness for this bus width amongst engineers, it simply reflects that fact that the vast majority of functions and applications today are still capable of being realized in 8-bit low cost devices.
  
  
• Beefing up the Cortex-M3-based MCU to Handle 480 Mbps High-speed USB (May. 25, 2009)
  The right mix of DMAs & memories can boost a deterministic Cortex3 32-bit MCU throughput to easily handle the new high-speed 480 Mbps USB spec, providing an effective solution for current and future embedded system data requirements.
  
  
• Cortex M-3 microcontrollers and the RTX real-time kernel (May. 14, 2009)
  This article highlights the higher performance and lower interrupt latency achieved with the new Cortex-M3 processor-based microcontrollers, combined with the RTX real-time kernel.
  
  
• Security Challenges in Embedded Designs (May. 11, 2009)
  We present several use-cases where embedded security is a fundamental requirement. For each use-case, we list a set of security-related characteristics and translate these characteristics into security requirements. We continue by analyzing the security requirements and identifying the embedded security building blocks of each one.
  
  
• Processor architecture not a factor for low-power mobile systems (Apr. 23, 2009)
  With all the features and connectivity options on today's handset, including Ethernet, USB, GSM, GPS, MP3, Wi-Fi, WCDMA, displays, audio, it turns out that the choice of processor, whether or not it's an Intel Atom or an ARM Cortex, takes a distant second place to well-optimized code and functional partitioning when it comes to power consumption and managing the power budget.
  
  
• Using cryptography to secure embedded device authentication profiles: Part 1 (Apr. 20, 2009)
  Is a 256 Bit crypto-key big enough to secure your application?
  
  
• Using cryptography to secure embedded device authentication profiles: Part 2 (Apr. 20, 2009)
  Why not just keep the hash algorithm secret?
  
  
• What you need to know about automated testing and simulation (Apr. 16, 2009)
  Wedding simulation with automated testing allows test organizations to achieve benefits such as increases in testing speed (through-put), increases in test coverage for both hardware and software, and the ability to test before hardware becomes available. In this article, we will describe each type of approach in turn and then how they can work together synergistically.
  
  
• Buy or Build an RTOS: Does it Matter for Medical Devices? (Mar. 30, 2009)
  Perhaps the most interesting thing about working with embedded systems is variability. Each device has a unique hardware and software architecture and its own individual functionality. As a result, it's a difficult challenge to design software development tools and operating systems that accommodate the enormous range of requirements.
  
  
• Memory system tradeoffs: embedded DRAM in SoCs, Chip-on-Board, multichip packages or memory modules (Mar. 26, 2009)
  For design engineers developing the next generation motherboards, DRAM memory is becoming a major concern as end-users demand more memory. Software operating systems are getting larger and the applications are demanding more RAM than ever before.
  
  
• Virtualization makes better use of open-source OSes and apps (Mar. 26, 2009)
  The increased use of software virtualization in embedded systems is enabling additional use of open-source operating systems (OSes) and applications. The notion of providing a virtualized interface to hardware and using software separation to contain different applications and OSes is presenting many new use cases for embedded software developers.
  
  
• Using software verification techniques in non-safety critical embedded software designs (Mar. 23, 2009)
  According to LDRA's Paul Humphrys, even if your application isn't safety critical you can still benefit from the use of software verification.
  
  
• Optimizing sort algorithms on DSPs (Mar. 16, 2009)
  In this article, we present the bubble sort and merge sort algorithms. We discuss the cycle counts of these algorithms on the Blackfin processor, and show how to reduce the cycle count of the bubble sort and merge sort algorithm. In addition we look at methods to accelerate the sorting of data that is wider than the register width of the processor.
  
  
• Product how-to: DSP/FPGA platform for video surveillance (Mar. 09, 2009)
  Avnet's video surveillance platform pairs a TI DM6437 DaVinci DSP with a Xilinx Spartan-3A DSP FPGA. here's how the platform works, and how to get the most out of it
  
  
• Who doesn't need Ethernet timestamps? (Mar. 05, 2009)
  Three common ways to implement a real time Ethernet design using IEEE 1588 time stamping and some of the applications which use each method.
  
  
• Modelling a high data-rate 802.16 wireless modem (Feb. 16, 2009)
  THALES used CoFluent Studio to model an 802.16 modem using the orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) modulation techniques to identify adaptations that improve the robustness of the links and/or the output data rate. The modem contains an existing piece of software originally written in C++. It is modular code and uses three freeware libraries and an internal matrix library.
  
  
• PCIe catches up in embedded system design (Feb. 09, 2009)
  Addition of multicast to Rev. 2 makes PCIe a viable interconnect option in many embedded designs.
  
  
• Video transcoding techniques and applications (Feb. 02, 2009)
  Video transcoding was once a fairly straightforward process of decoding and then re-encoding, but some applications can avoid the brute force method and save system resources as a result.
  
  
• MCU debug on a pin-count budget (Jan. 26, 2009)
  Making JTAG work on low-pin-count 8/16-bit microcontrollers required some inventiveness and delicate timing. Here's how it was done.
  
  
• Implementing a processor-independent, battery-powered wireless mesh network (Jan. 22, 2009)
  In this entertaining and informative "how we did it," David Ewing of Synapse Wireless describes the creation of its Python Virtual Machine-based "lean-and-mean" Wireless Mesh Network Protocol software stack from the ground up.
  
  
• The promises--and pitfalls--of open mobile platforms (Jan. 22, 2009)
  This article covers the relative strengths of open source mobile technology, the barriers, and how the entire mobile community needs to adopt a holistic approach to allow the open source mobile revolution to realize its greatest potential.
  
  
• Doing ESL system validation using transactors (Jan. 15, 2009)
  Using an emulator for ASIC and System-on-chip, verification holds the promise of extremely high execution speed, enabling the validation of system-level scenarios that are unthinkable with simulation farms.
  
  
• PRODUCT HOW-TO: Taking the delay out of your multicore design's intra-chip interconnections (Jan. 12, 2009)
  Today's SOC designers readily accept the idea of using multiple processor cores in their complex systems to achieve design goals. Unfortunately, a 40-year history of processor-based system design has made the main processor bus the sole data highway into and out of most processor cores.
  
  
• Turbo encoders boost efficiency of a femtocell's DSP (Jan. 05, 2009)
  In this article, we describe how to implement a highly efficient algorithm based on turbo codes for use in a Blackfin-based 14.4 Mbps 3G femtocell design that consumes as low as 100 MIPS of the 600 available Blackfin MIPS, leaving more than enough resources for other system operations.
  
  
• PRODUCT HOW-TO: Doing embedded design with an Eclipse-based IDE (Dec. 18, 2008)
  Step-by-step, Express Logic's John Carbone describes how to use the Ecipse-based BenchX Integrated Development Environment to do embedded systems design.
  
  
• Transcoding video with parallel programming on multi-core processors (Dec. 15, 2008)
  In this article, we discuss the design of a high-performance video encoding system, developed by using the RapidMind Multi-Core Development Platform, which can exploit both multi-core CPU and many-core GPUs for faster-than-real-time performance. Both the issues arising from the complexity of video encoding and the benefits and challenges arising from use of multi-core and many-core processors are discussed.