Ready for the Next Big Thing?

Cover Story: AMD SoC-based congatec boards - accelerating IoT appliance development Ready for the next big thing?

Special Features:

Internet-of-Things Boards & Modules Microcontrollers Application-optimized microcontrollers supported by dedicated application kits

A microcontroller architecture with target-oriented peripherals for specific applications, a largely automated development environment and practice-oriented evaluation kits are what constitute a modern application-oriented MCU system design.

Standard MCU architectures offer a wide One alternative to 8-bit solutions used to range of different derivatives with regard to date in industrial applications is provided by CPU performance, memory size, peripheral the 32-bit MCUs of the XMC1000 family. This functions and interfaces. From this offering, is because they combine the Cortex-M0 users can select the microcontroller that best processor from ARM with comprehensive suits their application. Things would be more peripheral functions, tools and evaluation efficient if products and/or series within a kits with high design productivity and are microcontroller family were already optimized produced using a cost-efficient process tech- in terms of their functions and the peripheral nology (65 nm embedded flash production equipment for specific system requirements. on 300 mm wafers). With recently introduced The application-optimized microcontroller VQFN packages featuring 24 pins and 40 family XMC1000 offers both 32-bit performance pins, Infineon provides … and functions at 8-bit prices. Read more in the article starting on page 10.

VIEWPOINT

Dear Readers, As already mentioned in the Viewpoint of our March/April print issue of ECE and B&S the next Megatrend in the embedded industry is the Internet of Things (IoT). The race to participate is this new market is on and still accelerating! To succeed in the IoT market companies work closer together and create new cooperation. One example is our cover story which describes the close relationship between AMD and congatec to accelerate the development of IoT applications.

The top vertical growth markets for IoT appliances include first smart factories. IoT will help to increase productivity and reduce in- ventory costs together with savings in the production and supply chain processes. The second growth market is retail with intelligent POS/POI and digital signage applications because IoT appliances will transform how operators engage with customers, analyze their behav- iour, and optimize the impact of their interactions. Healthcare and patient monitoring is another growth market. IoT will enable better- connected devices and data-driven patient management, resulting in improved healthcare effectiveness and efficiency.

A key enabler for all these new decentralized IoT appliances is the right processor technology platform to lend the devices intelligence and connectivity. To achieve lowest R&D costs, the platform should be standardized and should also deliver all the required interfaces in the form of standard building blocks. Furthermore, it is imperative that these standard platforms can be freely programmed. In order to be able to execute smaller as well as more complex tasks it should also be scalable to embrace outstanding computing performance and increased graphics capabilities while at the same time offering high energy and cost efficiency. As time to market will be an increasingly important competitive factor, developers are looking for simplified development. They should, therefore, stick to a technology that offers simple programmability based on common standards as well as a rich ecosystem of peripherals and tool chains.

It is, however, not just a question of the right embedded processor technology. This on its own does not suffice to enable OEMs to expertly innovate IoT appliances. More than anything, they require suitable embedded computing platforms on which to base their applications. To simplify the design, optimize the time to market and keep R&D efforts as low as possible, OEMs should rely on tested and proven standards. This approach is also the best guarantee for maximum design security, reliability and it enables a high level of re-use. The most common and successful platforms for low power SFF devices are Mini-ITX motherboards and the Computer-On-Module standards, Qseven and COM Express for semi custom designs, which are for example offered by congatec.

I m sure this will be only the first cooperation of this kind and many more will follow in future.

Yours sincerely Wolfgang Patelay Editor

3 June 2014 CONTENTS

Cover Story: AMD SoC-based congatec boards - Viewpoint 3 accelerating IoT appliance development Page 6 Cover Story Gartner foresees that the number of IoT appliances will explode to AMD SoC-based congatec boards - around 26 billion units in 2020. accelerating IoT appliance development 6 And all these new installations will require smart embedded SoCs. congatec pre-integrates AMD Microcontrollers Embedded G-Series SoCs on a Application-optimized microcontroller broad spectrum of embedded form series supported by application kits 10 factors, helping to accelerate the design of all these new appliances. Boards & Modules Triple redundant single-board computer Application-optimized microcontroller based on three PowerPC 750 CPUs 16 series supported by application kits Page 10 Extended temperature Mini-ITX The XMC microcontroller family solutions for traffic surveillance 20 offers 32-bit performance and functions at 8-bit prices. With the XMC1000 architecture, the devel- Internet-of-Things opment environment DAVE, and the DAVE apps coupled with dedi- Safe, secure, scalable RTOS cated application kits, an applica- for the Internet of Things 22 tion-oriented solution for rapid and Control and connectivity options reliable design implementation is available. for the Internet of Things 26 Connecting legacy devices to the Internet of Things 29 Triple redundant single-board computer based on three PowerPC 750 CPUs Page 16 The fundamental components of the Internet of Things 30 This article introduces triple redundant single-board computers Smart design of IoT applications based on three PowerPC 750 using Software Platform Builder 32 CPUs operating in lockstep archi- Energy-harvesting wireless sensor tecture. Compared to solutions using three individual CPU boards, nodes for the Internet of Things 35 the one-card approach is much more compact and reduces both Motor Control software overhead and power consumption. BLDC motor controllers for simple and complex systems 37 Safe, secure, scalable RTOS Product News 40 for the Internet of Things Page 22 The modern next-generation RTOS needs to be modular, configurable and expandable to meet the dynamic demands of the IoT among other applications. VxWorks 7 can not only reinforce customer applications in tradition-

Cover Story:otSrevoC:yr al RTOS markets with faster safety AMD SDMASoC-based-Co congatec bcetagnocdesab-boards - accelerating nitarelecca-sdraob IoT appliance decnailppaToIgndeveloppolevementtne ReadyydaeR for the next btxenehtrofbig thing? ?nihtgibg or security certification, but can also allow customers to extend their reach into emerging applications enabled by the IoT.

Smart design of IoT applications using Software Platform Builder Page 32 Nowadays billions of people worldwide are connected to the internet with their PCs or mobile devices. One of the upcoming challenges is to extend this computer network to a network of Special FlaicepSFeatures:e serutae: devices which can communicate with human beings, or other Internet-of-ThingsenretnI sgnihT-fo-tsgnihTfot Cover Photo: BoardssdraoB & ModulesseludoM&s devices without human interaction. MicrocontrollerscorciM srellortno congatec/AMD

June 2014 4

COVER STORY

AMD SoC-based congatec boards - accelerating IoT appliance development

By Zeljko Loncaric, congatec

Gartner foresees that the number of IoT appliances will explode to around 26 billion units in 2020. And all these new installations will require smart embedded SoCs. congatec pre-integrates AMD Embedded G-Series SoCs on a broad spectrum of embedded form factors, helping to accelerate the design of all these new appliances.

According to leading analysts, the market for POS/POI and digital signage applications be- A key enabler for all these new decentralized IoT appliances will grow to 26 billion installed cause IoT appliances will transform how oper- IoT appliances is the right processor technology appliances by 2020. In comparison to 2009, this ators engage with customers, analyze their be- platform to lend the devices intelligence and represents a 30-fold increase and a CAGR of havior, and optimize the impact of their inter- connectivity. To achieve lowest R&D costs, the approximately 40 percent. Note that these im- actions. Healthcare and patient monitoring is platform should be standardized and should pressive numbers are on top of all the consumer another growth market. IoT will enable better- also deliver all the required interfaces in the tablets and smartphones, which are predicted connected devices and data-driven patient form of standard building blocks. Furthermore, to reach just 7.3 billion by 2020. The result: IoT management, resulting in improved healthcare it is imperative that these standard platforms appliances will be ubiquitous. What, however, effectiveness and efficiency. Last but not least, can be freely programmed. In order to be able makes previously dumb devices IoT ready? professional distributed gaming will enhance to execute smaller as well as more complex They need built-in processor intelligence that gaming and entertainment experience with re- tasks it should also be scalable to embrace out- is freely programmable and connected. Fur- mote collaboration, rich media, and on-de- standing computing performance and increased thermore, they need to support remote man- mand programs. agement functionalities as well as autonomous collection, monitoring, and provisioning of Additionally, with all data features which help OEMs and operators the data generated to increase both the productivity and efficiency and distributed by de- of their applications. And these improvements centralized IoT appli- are supposed to result in 1.9 trillion US dollars ances, Ethernet pow- of additional value-adding sales into diverse ered smart storage de- vertical markets. Clearly, IoT will be a game vices can enable the changer in many different markets. And there corresponding distrib- are certain markets that will benefit most heavily uted cloud storage in- from this new technology trend. frastructure to achieve highest flexibility in The top vertical growth markets for IoT appli- terms of management ances include first smart factories. IoT will while improving I/O help to increase productivity and reduce in- performance, data re- ventory costs together with savings in the pro- covery time, and cost duction and supply chain processes. The second per gigabyte of cloud growth market is retail with intelligent storage. Figure 1. AMD Embedded G-Series SoC

June 2014 6

COVER STORY

graphics capabilities while at the same time bedded OEMs are opting for low power x86 pertly innovate IoT appliances. More than offering high energy and cost efficiency. As platforms which are expected to become even anything, they require suitable embedded com- time to market will be an increasingly impor- more energy-efficient in the future. An in- puting platforms on which to base their appli- tant competitive factor, developers are looking creasing number of engineers are currently cations. To simplify the design, optimize the for simplified development. They should, there- becoming more attracted to platforms from a time to market and keep R&D efforts as low fore, stick to a technology that offers simple vendor who, over the past several years, has as possible, OEMs should rely on tested and programmability based on common standards been significantly focused on increasing its proven standards. This approach is also the as well as a rich ecosystem of peripherals and sales as well as market share in the embedded best guarantee for maximum design security, tool chains. This will help developers to reduce market: AMD. There are a number of good reliability and it enables a high level of re-use. development efforts as well as improve the reasons for this. The most common and successful platforms time to market of their new appliances. Addi- for low power SFF devices are Mini-ITX moth- tionally, the base technology must fulfill the The AMD Embedded G-Series SoC platform erboards and the Computer-On-Module stan- requirements for small form factor (SFF) de- integrates all the aforementioned demands in dards, Qseven and COM Express for semi- signs, combined with high longevity and relia- a single system-on-chip design. The company custom designs. bility, to enable the appliances to enter areas is leading in the development of a heteroge- which were previously unattainable and to neous system architecture (HSA) which is also The fastest way for OEMs to integrate the keep the total cost of ownership as low as pos- fundamental for IoT applications. Furthermore, AMD Embedded G-Series SoC into their IoT sible. So it comes as no surprise that many em- it has developed the Embedded G-Series SoCs designs is by deploying Mini-ITX mother- specifically for power-, graphic-, and cost-sen- boards. They can be obtained off-the-shelf sitive SFF designs. They are available as dual- and are ready-to-use, plus, they boast a broad and quad-core versions and are based on the ecosystem of building blocks such as peripher- Jaguar CPU core with 28 nm manufacturing als, chassis and cooling solutions. This makes technology and 8000-series AMD Radeon system development a comfortable, fast and graphics. They can process more instructions easy task. However, not just any motherboard per clock cycle, which is also reflected in the is suitable for IoT appliances. OEMs should execution of various compute-intensive indus- check for high quality boards with long-term try standard benchmarks: Compared to the availability. An intelligent board design with Intel Atom, the AMD G-Series SoCs achieve a high EMC (electromagnetic compatibility), 125% improvement in CPU performance when long-lasting components, such as poscaps and performing industry-standard compute-inten- an extended temperature range, is essential, if sive benchmarks. The ability of the SoC plat- OEMs want reliable IoT appliances. With the Figure 2. Application ready Mini-ITX SBC form to support enterprise-class error-correc- premiere of its first industrial motherboard, conga-IGX with AMD G-Series SoC tion code memory (ECC) makes it the perfect congatec has now also transferred its expertise choice for applications requiring high levels and quality standards of Computer-On-Mod- of data integrity without compromising energy ules into the SBC (single board computer) efficiency. market. OEMs will benefit from the high Ger- man engineering quality of the company to- The discrete-class graphics, which are integrated gether with an additional services range of 7+ into the AMD Embedded G-Series SoC, enable years availability. Further examples of the power applications that previously required a added value provided are the global technical separate graphics processor. These SoCs provide support, extended specifications and cus- up to 20% more performance when compared tomized design services, including dedicated to the previous generation AMD G-Series BIOS/UEFI features. processors and a five-fold improvement over the Intel Atom D525 processor. DirectX 11 For designers who need a higher level of cus- and OpenGL are supported on up to two in- tomization, the Computer-On-Module ap- dependent displays. Thanks to an improved proach serves as the best choice. COMs provide Figure 3. Slim shaped congatec Qseven module with AMD G-Series SoC universal video decoder, new opportunities developers with the comfort and safety of a have opened up for hardware-based video en- classic board solution combined with the flexi- coding. Furthermore, with the open computing bility of custom designs. The module is a stan- language, OpenCL, computing-intensive tasks dard platform, only the dedicated carrierboard can be reassigned to the graphics processor has to be developed. It executes the external in- with high parallelism. For such applications, terfaces and can be designed in any required the integrated GPU provides a computing perform. Due to the separation of the computing formance of up to 256 GFLOPs. This allows and application levels, the design effort is more AMD Embedded G-Series SoCs to be used in simplified. OEMs will benefit from high design deeply embedded or so called headless IoT ap- reliability and improved time to market com- pliances, which are used in environments with- pared to full custom designs. congatec support out a screen, monitor or input device and and development engineers even advise cus- which do not require a graphics solution. tomers during the planning phase. This helps optimize system and integration costs right It is, however, not just a question of the right from the start. For IoT applications, the com- Figure 4. COM Express compact module with embedded processor technology. This on its pany recommends the slim-line Qseven and AMD G-Series SoC - Type 6 compatible own does not suffice to enable OEMs to ex- the COM Express standards.

June 2014 8 COVER STORY

The new industrial Mini-ITX SBC, conga-IGX, 12V and 19-24V DC input, ACPI 3.0 power For PC-like IoT appliances, which demand was specifically developed for markets that management and high-definition audio com- optimum computing and graphics perform- rely on embedded features but which are cost- plete the package. ance, while also providing the respective special and time to market-sensitive. Examples of ap- interfaces, a COM Express compact module plication scenarios are in the retail POS/POI For extremely slimline SFF designs in de- like the conga-TCG is an ideal solution. It pro- sector where digital billboards, kiosk and check- manding environments congatec offers the vides VGA, single/dual-channel LVDS with out systems or digital scales can get equipped Qseven module, conga-QG. For power-sensi- 18/24-bit, as well as DisplayPort 1.2 and with the conga-IGX. It is also an ideal fit for tive applications the company recently DVI/HDMI 1.4a interfaces. This makes it pos- basic gaming and gambling machines, which launched a version with the AMD sible to directly control two independent dis- benefit from the extensive graphics capabilities GX-210JA SOC with an average consumption plays supported by the AMD G-Series SoCs. of the motherboard for up to two independent of 3W. For extreme environmental conditions, Multistream is also supported by DisplayPort displays which makes this type of appliance the module is also available for the extended 1.2 in order to control up to two displays per more attractive and delivers an immersive user temperature range featuring the AMD GX- graphics port in daisy-chain mode. This is experience. 209HA 1.0 GHz dual core SoC. ECC (error ideal for all graphics-heavy applications, e.g. correction code) memory support makes the for digital signage or gaming. The conga-TCG It also targets cost-efficient HMIs in indus- module particularly suitable for applications highlights its versatility with a broad perform- trial and building automation. Thanks to its containing safety-critical situations. Applica- ance range. Currently the company offers a high 3D performance in a low power design, tion areas are to be found in the industrial as total of four x86 processors with the AMD this type of system can provide an intuitive, well as the medical sector, where any memory Embedded G-Series SoC platform. 3D-based GUI with multi-touch functional- errors can be automatically corrected so as to ity. The board offers various extension op- ensure safe operation. For handheld designs, What’s best for your application? Mini-ITX, tions via 1x PCIex4 connector and Mini- the company also offers a suitable tablet PC COM Express or Qseven? The answer will be PCI Express onboard. Flexible system ex- demonstrator. The kit includes a compact car- different from application to application and pansion at high data bandwidth can be rier board, the AMD G-Series SOC-based can best be provided after a discussion about achieved via Dual GbE LAN, 2x Serial ATA Qseven module, a congatec SMART battery the technical and commercial details. But how- III, 1x mSATA (SATA III), 7x USB 2.0 and board, as well as an intelligent touch screen. ever the decision will be, one thing is for sure: 2x USB 3.0. Also it includes typical embedded Since the demonstrator was designed for prac- With Mini-ITX, COM Express and Qseven de- interfaces such as 8 bit GPIO, 3x serial ports tical use, it features a ported operating system velopers will find the right concept for their and 1x parallel port. DC power supply with and a special mechanical housing. requirements. MICROCONTROLLERS

Application-optimized microcontroller series supported by application kits

By Dirk Heinen, Infineon

The XMC microcontroller family offers 32-bit performance and functions at 8-bit prices. With the XMC1000 architecture, the development environment DAVE, and the DAVE apps coupled with dedicated application kits, an application-oriented solution for rapid and reliable design implementation is available.

Standard MCU architectures offer a wide as well as sensor and actuator applications scribed for the safety of household appliances range of different derivatives with regard to that need to have a highly compact design. In sold in Europe. For example, XMC MCUs CPU performance, memory size, peripheral addition to the VQFN packages, the MCUs offer hardware error correction (ECC) and functions and interfaces. From this offering, are also available in TSSOPs with 16, 28 and corresponding memory tests. A further unique users can select the microcontroller that best 38 pins. feature is the flash loader with a 128-bit AES suits their application. Things would be more accelerator, which allows the software IP to be efficient if products and/or series within a mi- The three series XMC1100, XMC1200 and better protected. crocontroller family were already optimized XMC1300 differ essentially in terms of their in terms of their functions and the peripheral memory capacity and peripheral set. Their The XMC1200 series is predestined for LED equipment for specific system requirements. flash sizes range between 8KB and 200KB. In lighting applications. Like the XMC1300 series, The application-optimized microcontroller addition, these MCUs feature high-perfor- it features the BCCU unit. The basic function family XMC1000 offers both 32-bit perform- mance PWM timers, 12-bit A/D converters of the BCCU consists in automatically making ance and functions at 8-bit prices. and programmable serial communication in- dim signals available at the port connections terfaces. The three product series each support for external LED drivers. The BCCU is, with One alternative to 8-bit solutions used to date different dedicated application areas. By way minimal code input, designed for the automatic in industrial applications is provided by the of example, the XMC1100 Entry series offers control of the dimming and the colours of 32-bit MCUs of the XMC1000 family. This is a basic range of functions to facilitate entry multi-channel LED lamps. A key feature is the because they combine the Cortex-M0 processor into the XMC world. Thanks to the 12-bit automatic high-frequency brightness modula- from ARM with comprehensive peripheral A/D converter and 16-bit timers, it is possible tion (PDM with 12-bit resolution). This gen- functions, tools, and evaluation kits with high to generate diverse PWM patterns. All erates an individual bit stream for each of the design productivity, and are produced using a XMC1200 derivates feature e.g. a module for total of nine channels. The high frequency cost-efficient process technology (65 nm em- touch control and LED displays (LEDTS) and produces a high resolution for the brightness bedded flash production on 300 mm wafers). a peripheral unit for the dimming and colour value and/or the colour value used in RGB ap- control of LEDs (Brightness and Color Control plications. This in turn permits a flicker-free With recently introduced VQFN packages fea- Unit, BCCU). The XMC1300 series has a math- display, whilst supporting a broad spectrum turing 24 pins and 40 pins, Infineon provides ematical coprocessor specifically for motor of different LED drivers and/or high-perfor- a portfolio for its XMC1000 industrial micro- drive controls. mance LEDs. The BCCU integrates three so- controllers which currently includes more than named dimming engines. These ensure the ex- 60 products in 5 package types. XMC1000 mi- In addition, the microcontrollers of the ponential change of the brightness. The expo- crocontrollers in the VQFN-24 package are XMC1000 family (as well as those of the nential dimming and the linear change of the only 4 mm x 4 mm in size. This makes these XMC4000 family) satisfy the requirements of intensity allow the dimming steps and color microcontrollers ideally suited for motor drives the standard IEC60730 Class B, which is pre- changes to appear natural to the human eye.

June 2014 10

MICROCONTROLLERS

the noise and interference pulses from the Hall sensor and/or rotary encoder, which could lead to incorrect position and/or speed readings. With the CCU8 and the additional compare channel, it is also possible to define different time lags for rising and falling edges and to generate asymmetrical PWM signals. Typical applications that benefit from this are 3-phase converters for actuators, 3-level inverters for solar modules and half-bridge transformers. The 64MHz mathematical coprocessor consists of a 32-bit divider and a 24-bit Cordic for trigonometric calculations. Both the divider and the Cordic unit can operate in parallel to Figure 1. The portfolio of the XMC1000 Figure 2. Dimming and colour control of the Cortex-M0-CPU. The mathematical unit LEDs with the Brightness and Colour Control industrial microcontrollers currently includes increases the processing power for real-time more than 60 products in different packages. Unit (BCCU) of XMC1200 microcontrollers. tasks significantly.

Common to all modern applications is that the software is becoming increasingly sophisti- cated. To allow the peripherals to be used efficiently, complex algorithms are often necessary. In other words, an efficient software development environment is required. Ideally, an automatic code generator with predefined and tested software components (apps) is supported. This allows the resources required to be allo- cated automatically and accurately on the chip.

DAVE is a free, integrated development platform for all XMC microcontrollers. Using DAVE, it is possible to develop an application library quickly, which abstracts all the hardware-related tasks and also offers middleware solutions. The some 170 plus DAVE apps cur- Figure 3. Sensorless, field-oriented control with the XMC1300 microcontrollers rently available make it possible to combine and configure software components, to map these automatically to the available microcontroller resources and to generate the C code for an application library. The C code generated in this way can then either be further used within DAVE with the integrated GNU compiler and debugger for developing the application, or it can be imported into a third-party tool, such as for example ARM MDK, Atollic TrueStudio, IAR EWARM, Tasking or Rowley.

In addition, Infineon has licensed the “Silicon Vendor Edition” of the ARM Microcontroller Development Kit (MDK). Developers of embedded software can download the ARM MDK free from www2.keil.com/infineon/mdk. The Figure 4. The XMC1000 motor control kit supports various motor schemes free licence comprises all the tools for the development of XMC1000 applications up to a code The XMC1300 series is specially optimized The capture/compare unit CCU4 can be used size of 128KB. An application library developed for motor drive units. The timer units for example for pulse generation or with the with DAVE can be imported with a few simple CCU4/CCU8 and the position interface POSIF aid of the dither function for stabilizing slow clicks via CMSIS-PACK interface into the ARM can be used to calculate the position and control loops. In conjunction with the pro- MDK. Dedicated application kits provide the speed of a motor in a simple way. Further- grammable POSIF block, it is also possible to key advantage for users, that the components more, the mathematical coprocessor is capable evaluate an incremental encoder. For various are coordinated with each other, allowing them of performing vector rotation (PARK trans- applications, using the POSIF allows the accu- to start immediately with their application-spe- formation) with 24-bit resolution, which in racy to be improved and the software simplified, cific adaptation. A simple evaluation facility for turn allows powerful algorithms to be imple- since the corresponding data can be recorded the XMC1000 products is provided by so- mented for field-oriented motor control. simultaneously. A low-pass filter suppresses named boot kits, which are available for each

June 2014 12 MICROCONTROLLERS

controller board with an XMC1300 and a de- interfaces in addition to an ambient light tachable Segger J-Link debug interface. A corre- sensor. The second board comprises 20 white sponding motor board (12 to 24 V, up to 3 A) is LEDs in four strings (20 mA), supports DALI also included in the scope of delivery. The board and/or RF and, besides the ambient light features a 3-phase motor (24 V, 15 W) with a sensor, also offers a temperature sensor. Hall sensor; a rotary encoder interface is option- ally available. The kit also includes a power The XMC 2Go, equipped with the XMC1100, supply (24 V, 1 A). Various motor control is maybe the smallest, fully featured micro- schemes are supported: V/f Open Look, block- controller evaluation kit of the world. The shaped or sinusoidal commutation with Hall XMC 2Go with the XMC1100 microcontroller sensors or sensorless, as well as field-oriented is a new budget-priced evaluation board control (FOC) with Hall sensors, encoder or equipped with an ARM Cortex-M0 CPU run- sensorless. On the software side, the development ning on 32 MHz, 64 KB flash and 16 KB RAM. environment DAVE as well as apps for various The XMC 2Go has a complete set of on-board motor controls are available. devices, including an on-board debugger to immediately start code development. Designers LED applications are also supported with a can build their own application and gadget customized kit. The LED lighting application with the XMC 2Go - it fits perfectly fine on a Figure 5. Application-Kit to Go - extremely small kit based on the XMC 1100 kit comprises an XMC1200 microcontroller breadboard. The kits includes an on-board J- with 200 KB flash memory and the Segger J- Link lite debugger (realized with XMC4200 of the three product series (XMC 1100 with 64 Link. The scope of delivery includes two LED microcontroller), Power over USB (Micro USB) KB flash; XMC 1200 with 200 KB flash and boards: one colour LED card and one white ESD and reverse current protection, 2 x user XMC 1300 with 200 KB flash). The XMC1000 LED card. The first is equipped with three LED and a Pin Header 2x8 Pins suitable for a motor control application kit comprises a micro RGB-LEDs (10 mA), DALI, DMX and RF breadboard.

Product News

LDRA: tool suite to verify highly constrained, low-power embedded applications LDRA has enhanced the ability of the LDRA tool suite to scale down to meet the increasing number of highly constrained, minimal-footprint architectures used in today’s safety-critical and security-critical applications. With many systems now being connected, companies must enforce high-quality code, fully test and verify systems, and proactively prevent application vulnerabilities. Achieving indepth analysis on a highly constrained microcontroller is not easy. Verification tools often exceed the bandwidth and memory resources of such microcontrollers, causing the analysis to crash or overload the system such that the target no longer functions as intended and system data becomes unreliable. News ID 1405

Kithara: real-time networking with EtherCAT automation protocol Kithara Software has announced the successful implementation of the EtherCAT Automation Protocol into its product range, making it possible to set up plant-wide networks in real-time. The EAP, now integrated into Kithara’s real-time extension »RealTime Suite«, enables the command level to access and consequently analyze, control and regulate every device connected to the network from a single computer in real-time. This may include, for example, all PC-based controls, machines, testing rigs, conveyor belts, robots, facilities for quality assurance or MES (Manufacturing Execution Systems) for remote maintenance and central plant control. News ID 1368

13 June 2014 MICROCONTROLLERS

Product News

Freescale: 2nd generation Kinetis K Digi-Key: all in one mobile app for Mouser: Intel Quark SoC X1000 series MCUs with ARM Cortex-M4 core Freescale products processors now in stock Freescale Semiconductor announce the next Digi-Key has collaborated with Freescale Semi- Mouser Electronics is now shipping the new generation of Kinetis K series microcontrollers conductor in order to create the electronic Intel Quark X1000 System on a Chip, the with the expansion of its existing Kinetis K1x, component industry’s first distributor/supplier latest Intel 32-bit processor built for the next K2x and K6x MCU families, and the intro- collaborative mobile application. In response generation of connected devices. The Quark duction of the Kinetis K0x MCU family. In to the ever-increasing adoption of mobile de- X1000 is the first in a new line of Intel proces- addition, Freescale has expanded its enablement vices, Digi-Key designed this new app to en- sors designed for new applications ranging software offerings for the entire product line, hance the user experience for Freescale cus- from Internet of Things to wearables, trans- providing customers a broad array of MCU tomers by giving them access to all relevant portation, energy, and industrial control. software and tools support, including a new product information and online ordering re- News ID 1341 Kinetis software development kit and Kinetis sources in an easy-to-use mobile format. Design Studio IDE News ID 1459 Altera: power conversion solution for News ID 1445 high-performance FPGAs Maxim: 20-bit, 1.6MSPS successive Altera announced a new power conversion TI: tiny package sizes for several new approximation register solution that makes it easy for board developers families of MSP430 microcontrollers analog-to-digital converter to design point-of-load power solutions and Texas Instruments announced the availability Engineers can achieve high resolution and achieve a high FPGA performance at low sys- of tiny package sizes to several new families of fastest sampling at the low power with the tem power. The solution, a monolithic 40A ultra-low power MSP430 microcontrollers. MAX11905, a 20-bit, 1.6Msps successive ap- driver plus synchronous MOSFET powertrain, Developers can now design smaller products proximation register analog-to-digital converter is optimized to meet the core requirements of with TI’s ultra-low power FRAM-based from Maxim Integrated Products. Typically, Stratix V, Arria 10, and Stratix 10 FPGAs and MSP430FR5738 and Flash-based when engineers require high-precision data SoCs. MSP430F51x2 MCUs in wafer-level chip scale conversion, they turn to a delta-sigma ADC. News ID 1438 packages (WLCSP) as small as 2.0 x 2.2 x 0.3 However, to produce high precision and wide mm, in addition to the five existing MSP430 dynamic range, those ADCs must consume at Microchip expands digitally-enhanced MCU families with tiny package options. least 100mW of power. power analogue controller portfolio News ID 1439 News ID 1489 Microchip announces an expansion of its Dig- itally Enhanced Power Analogue controller Toshiba: new LEDs for general lighting Distec: next generation optical bonding product line. With the introduction of the applications reduce mounting area for TFT displays MCP19114 and MCP19115 devices, Mi- Toshiba Electronics Europe has launched a Distec uses the currently most advanced optical crochip’s diverse range of intelligent DC/DC new series of chip scale package white LEDs bonding technology VacuBond. High-precision power-conversion solutions grows to include for lighting applications that can reduce the serial production is guaranteed by the auto- controllers supporting flyback, boost and mounting area by 90% compared to conven- mated process and the homogeneous silicone SEPIC topologies. These latest devices introduce tional 3.0 x 1.4 mm package products. The material. Clean room conditions ensure that a step-up PWM-controller and low-side MOS- new TL1WK series LEDs have been designed no dust or dirt particles affect the result. The FET driver architecture, with a mid-voltage as light sources for general lighting, including manufacturing equipment is capable of directly LDO and fully-functional microcontroller all straight tube lights, light bulbs and ceiling bonding TFT displays in custom bezels and integrated into a small, high-density power lights. front housings with integrated protective glass. package. News ID 1392 News ID 1361 News ID 1508

June 2014 14

BOARDS & MODULES

Triple redundant single-board computer based on three PowerPC 750 CPUs

By Susanne Bornschlegl, MEN

This article introduces triple redundant single-board computers based on three PowerPC 750 CPUs operating in lockstep architecture. Compared to solutions using three individual CPU boards, the one-card approach is much more compact and reduces both software overhead and power consumption.

When failure can result in damage to the en- naling systems and safety-critical sub-segments. A general standard, IEC 61508 by the Interna- vironment, significant property destruction These opportunities are evolving in Europe, tional Electrotechnical Commission, covers func- or even loss of life, the application requires an USA, Australia, China and Russia. tional safety in electronic systems. It defines the embedded safety-critical system. In railway Safety Integrity Levels SIL 1 up to SIL 4. Manu- applications, no margin of error is tolerable; An example of ATC in the US is positive train facturers are obliged to find out the necessary there is no opportunity to “tweak” improve- control (PTC), which is technology that pre- SIL for safety-relevant systems or functions by ments on the fly or to allow for unanticipated vents train-to-train collisions. PTC is being carrying out a hazard and risk analysis. It gives problems. The three major contributors to driven by the Rail Safety Improvement Act of the measure for the effectiveness of a safety unacceptably dangerous outcomes in railway 2008 (RSIA). The act has mandated widespread function and is expressed by the probability of embedded control systems include: component installation of PTC systems on freight rail by failure of this function. Different scenarios failure; system imbalances; and human error. 2015. A comparable scenario is unfolding in match a defined scale of numerical values. Fortunately, designers have an arsenal of es- Europe spurred by the European Rail Traffic tablished standards and guidelines they can Management System (ERTMS). The European Several bodies have added specific standards use to greatly reduce the odds of a system Union aims to enhance cross-border interop- for the varying industries and applications. failure that can result in catastrophic damages. erability and signaling procurement by creating For railways, the European Committee for By employing a methodical, verified and doc- a single European standard for train control umented series of processes that span the full and command systems. Transportation safety scope of product development and implemen- in other areas of the world is developing as tation, the chances of having a reliable system well. China has an initiative similar to that of with functional safety are much greater. the US and Europe – the Chinese Train Control System (CTCS). With over 90,000 km of rail The railway market is an important area for in China, this is a huge growth opportunity these types of systems. The world market in for suppliers of safety- and mission-critical the transportation industry is estimated at systems. The infrastructure that needs to be $200 billion, with an annual growth rate of built out for each of these initiatives is immense, 2% to 3%. A global initiative driving new op- and communications cannot be halted, even portunities within the rail industry is auto- for a minute, if passenger safety is to be mated train control (ATC) and operation on- ensured. As these rail systems grow in use as train and wayside. In turn, the key driver for well as in speed, each systems will need to ATC is increased safety for trains and increased know exactly where each train is, how each is comfort for passengers. More specifically, op- operating, and what state it is in. Figure 1. Triple-redundant system: two out of portunities exist in new technologies for sig- three subsystems must operate correctly.

June 2014 16 BOARDS & MODULES

rives the matching SIL from the Tolerable Haz- lowing the failure of one or more components. ard Rate (THR) per hour and per function. Since the operation may not be completed as SIL 4 allows a range of 10-9 to 10-8, down to designed, these systems can result in unsafe SIL 1 with 10-6 to 10-5. conditions. In turn, a fail-safe system is designed to mitigate unsafe consequences in the A safety-critical application demands a safe event of failure. When the system fails, the ap- system with a determined error behavior. The plication yields a state that is no more unsafe most logical starting point for incorporating than when it is operating correctly, at the min- system-level safety is in the initial planning imum. phase. It is during this phase that the all-important step of fault recognition has the highest An important strategy used to lessen risk in chance for success. This practice helps to safety-critical systems is the use of redundant ensure that fault recognition can be incorpo- subsystems. Redundancy can reduce risk by rated into the basic structure. If a fault is not increasing the MTBF value, which can be discovered during the initial phases, the system achieved by incorporating multiple executions cannot be prepared to prevent that fault reac- of the same component in a system. Of the tion. Through the use of an inductive analysis many possible approaches to design redundant technique known as Failure Modes and Effects features into a system, each carries its own ca- Figure 2. Triple redundancy on the A602 Analysis (FMEA) conducted at the initial plan- pabilities and limitations. A doubled computer VMEbus computer from MEN ning phase, determination can be made if the increases availability. If one CPU fails, the sys- Electrotechnical Standardization (CENELEC) system will satisfy the required Mean Time tem can still be online using the remaining has issued relevant documents. These include Between Failure (MTBF), the predicted elapsed CPU. To increase safety, too, both systems EN 50126 (Reliability, Availability, Maintain- time between inherent failures of a system must be operating in order for the application ability and Safety (RAMS) in rail systems), during operation. to run. If full system function depends on two EN 50128 (Software for railway control and systems working correctly, this actually reduces protection systems) and EN 50129 (Safety re- It is also important to consider which type of availability. The most common configuration lated electronic systems for signaling). EN behavior a sub-system must have. A fail-oper- for increasing both safety and availability is a 50129 also contains the exact definition of SIL ational system is capable of completing an op- triple-redundant system. Three CPUs or sys- levels specially for railway applications. It de- eration or at least phases of the operation, fol- tems are running with a voter that constantly BOARDS & MODULES

monitors the output of the three components. For instance, common mode failures, such as CPU 3 would be fatal to the system. Even di- If there is a problem with one of the systems, an electrostatic discharge, can disturb identical versity is possible on one single board: memory the voter will isolate it and the other two will outputs resulting in failure. Another example management of the PowerPC processors in continue operating. is a shared power supply or shared memory the MEN design allows partitioning the re- device that can affect redundant processor sources, which is in turn supported by real- A minus with this design is the complexity outputs. When the shared resource fails, all of time operating systems like PikeOS. The parti- such a system requires. It is imperative that all the redundant CPUs could be prevented from tions are assigned specific memory areas. The three CPUs be synchronized and have the ca- performing their intended function. A system applications and tasks being executed within pability to communicate with each other; a architecture using two independent CPUs, in- the partitions can be completely different. major challenge from a software development dependent clocks and independent power sup- perspective, but one that can be overcome plies can still share a common memory as The value of contracting with a supplier expe- with the proper technical resources to rely on. long as it is secured by a check sum or an rienced in mission-critical applications cannot In some critical applications, availability defines error correcting code (ECC) function. Using be overstated. Manufacturers with a history of safety, while in railway systems specifically, two different physical executions of a binary success in key areas of safety-critical design availability does not necessarily influence safety. output, instead of two identical types, can im- and implementation will have the most expe- Whereas a train can be stopped when the con- prove reliability. Diversity can also be achieved ditious and cost-effective outcome. Better still trol system fails, for an airplane, this is not an through the use of varying software. For in- that they should have demonstrated experience option. A train that is at rest (that is, not avail- stance, you can run different, independently in related industry standards such as require- able) is in a safe state. It heavily depends on designed software applications on the redun- ment tracing, code-rule checking for software each application which exact behavior is re- dant subsystems. and FPGA development, risk management, quired for a specific function. This even goes component obsolescence management, quali- for the definition of “safe”, as we have seen. A system with built-in triple redundancy is an fication, or for example IRIS quality manage- innovative architecture that offers an alternative ment dedicated to the railway industry. Al- When implementing redundancy you need to to classic configurations. It contains three though the number of qualified vendors de- consider that identical subsystems can fail si- processors and three memory ranks running creases as the sophistication and critical nature multaneously because they are vulnerable to in lockstep mode. All are monitored by a voter of the application rises, they do exist. The pro- Common Mode Failures (CMF, failures with a contained within a field programmable gate tection of human life and the avoidance of uniform behavior) and Common Cause Fail- array (FPGA). Should CPU 2 fail, the voter catastrophic events must be paramount in the ures (CCF, failures that occur by one common isolates it, puts it into reset mode permanently computing systems used throughout safety- cause). You can counter this by building in dif- and indicates this to the software. The voter critical applications. Systems must function ferences, so that a single fault does not result then switches to “compare” mode in which reliably and communicate effectively – and in the corresponding failure of multiple com- only the outputs of the remaining two proces- nowhere is this truer than in the growing rail- ponents and ultimately the system. This prin- sors are compared. The system is still fully way market. ciple is called diversity. functional; however, a fault in either CPU 1 or Product News

equipment, gaming machines etc. With the stant operation and evaluation of its MSC ADLINK: 40G ATCA switch blade for preloaded remote management software – SU- C6B-8S COM Express Type 6 module family bandwidth-demanding applications SIAccess, AIMB-203 not only saves develop- based on 4th generation Intel Core processors. ADLINK announces the availability of its new ment cost but also enhances system manage- The starter kit contains a baseboard, a heat 40G AdvancedTCA switch blade, the aTCA- ment efficiency. sink with fan and two 4GB DDR3L SO- 3710, featuring a Broadcom BCM56846 10/40 News ID 1393 DIMM memory modules. Designers are free GbE Fabric Interface Switch, Broadcom to choose any COM Express module from BCM56334 24-port GbE Base Interface Switch Artesyn: ATCA system management MSC Technologies’ MSC C6B-8S product and Freescale QorIQ P2041 quad-core Local software accelerates integration of family. Management Processor. The aTCA-3710 pro- complex systems News ID 1411 vides fourteen 10 GbE SFP+ uplink ports and Artesyn Embedded Technologies announced supports a total of 640 Gb/s bandwidth for a new software solution for its ATCA systems, AAEON: mini-ITX industrial boards with use in 14-slot 40G ATCA shelves. which Artesyn believes could save up to 40 4th Gen Intel Core processors News ID 1498 percent of customers’ time-to-market. System AAEON announces the release of the three Services Framework (SSF) is a complete system new Mini-ITX industrial boards: EMB- Advantech: industrial-grade Mini-ITX management suite for Artesyn ATCA systems, QM87A, EMB-CV2, which are designed to motherboard with 4th gen Intel Core allowing users or applications to configure fulfill the growing needs of NVR and industry processor and monitor the hardware and software ele- automation markets, and EMB-Q87A , de- Advantech introduced AIMB-203, a new in- ments of a single ATCA shelf or across multiple signed for AIO and digital signage applications. dustrial-grade Mini-ITX motherboard based shelves. The EMB-QM87A is a Mini-ITX form factor on the 4th generation Intel Core i7/5/3 with News ID 1490 board featuring a 4th generation Intel Core H81 chipset, resulting in lower power con- i7/i5 processor and the mobile Intel QM87 sumption and better graphic performance. MSC: intelligent starter kit for high-end Express chipset. It supports two DDR3L Designed with a rich variety of I/O functions, COM express modules 1333/1600 SODIMMs with a maximum of AIMB-203 is ideal for a multitude of applica- MSC Technologies presents the ready-to-use 16GB memory. tions such as ATM/Kiosks, automation, medical starter kit MSC C6-SK-8S-T6T2 for the in- News ID 1431

June 2014 18 BOARDS & MODULES

Avalue: 3.5” module based on DFI: compact Embedded chassis VIA: compact ruggedized IoT system DMP Vortex86DX2 SoC CPU accommodates any 3.5“ SBC with rich network connectivity Avalue Technology announce the ECM-DX2. DFI launches ES520 compact embedded chassis VIA Technologies announced the VIA AMOS- The module which is highly integrated, has that can accommodate any 3.5” SBCs. With di- 3003, a compact embedded IoT system low power consumption design, fanless oper- mensions of 166 x 50 x 157.3mm, this compact designed around the tiny VIA EPIA-P910 ation and extended temperature supported by embedded chassis can easily fit into any space- Pico-ITX board. Combining low power, rich using the DMP Vortex86DX2 SoC CPU. Vor- limited environments. The embedded chassis is connectivity and high performance 64-bit tex86DX2 SoC CPU is indeed designed for in- design with 1 2.5” SATA drive bay, 4 or 2 optional computing in a ruggedized design, the VIA dustrial and embedded applications due to USB ports at the front panel, as well as 1 system AMOS-3003 delivers all the latest features various integrations of I/Os, compact design, fan to promote cooling efficiency. To ensure better and digital media standards required in data longevity, ruggedness, and power efficiency. communication, it is also equipped with 2 Wi-Fi collection terminals for in-vehicle control as The SoC integrates CPU, North and South module antenna holes making the chassis suitable well as machine to machine controllers in a Bridge, GPU, HD Audio, versatile I/O ports, for a variety of wireless-concern applications. host of industrial automation applications. ISA, and PCIe bus into a single chip. News ID 1516 News ID 1514 News ID 1408

Seco: developer kit for NVIDIA’s Tegra K1 mobile processor SECO informs that the NVIDIA Jetson TK1 Developer Kit is now available for pre-order on the shop. At the heart of the Jetson TK1 Developer Kit is the Tegra K1 mobile processor, NVIDIA’s 192-core super chip built on the NVIDIA Kepler architecture, the world’s most advanced and energy-efficient GPU architecture for mobile and embedded applications. The Tegra K1 mobile processor features an ARM Cortex-A15 32 bit processor which will also be available as a pin-to-pin compatible ARMv8 64 bit based processor with all the graphics performance, parallel computing capabilities and CUDA library support that NVIDIA is famous for. News ID 1467

Vecow: fanless Box PC series with Atom E3845 for IoT and cloud computing Vecow announce the ABP-2000A series Fanless Advanced Box PC series. ABP-2000A series are still equipped with Intel Quad-Core Atom E3845 processor family (1M Cache, 1.91GHz) and DDR3L single channel 8GB ram, two HDMI display, two RS-232, two RS- 232/422/485, two isolated RS- 232/422/485(ABP-2845A only), four GbE LANs, one 2.5” SATA 3Gp/s SSD/HDD tray, three USB 3.0 ports, two USB 2.0, and one miniPCI-express. News ID 1497

Sealevel: isolated digital input boards support AC and DC voltages Sealevel Systems announces the addition of two new digital input boards, the 8510 and 8511, to the SeaRAQ family of I/O expansion designed for Relio R3 rackmount industrial computers. Each board provides 16 optically isolated inputs with 1500 VAC isolation to prevent damage from harmful voltage spikes and surges often found in industrial environments. The boards for I/O intensive applications include process control, test and measurement, and data acquisition applications. News ID 1395

19 June 2014 BOARDS & MODULES

Extended temperature Mini-ITX solutions for traffic surveillance

By EmbCore Marketing, ADVANTECH Europe

This article shows how the Advantech COM Express module SOM-5894 with Mini-ITX Application Board SOM-AB5810 provides a versatile cost-saving solution with flexible upgrade capabilities for traffic control systems. Figure 1. COMe basic board and COMe application board used in traffic control

Developing traffic control systems has never lance applications. Both boards employ Ad- firmware support. The Mini-ITX form factor been easy. Nowadays, traffic improvement vantech SUSIAccess and iManager software, is widely used for embedded applications and schemes require real-time information to make which provide secure remote management offers integration flexibility with many off- instant adjustments in signaling, without being functions for system administrators. SUSIAc- the-shelf Mini-ITX chassis/ peripherals. Be- limited by mechanical constraints while being cess, a software-based remote management cause it is hard to design Mini-ITX board so- fully aware of upstream and downstream traffic software utility, provides functionalities like lutions for projects requiring extreme per- conditions. In other words, innovative traffic remote monitoring and remote KVM. iMan- formance in -40 to 85°C operating tempera- surveillance solutions at each signal must know ager, a clever self-management tool with soft- tures, Advantech released a series of new -40 the actual traffic conditions, have the power som-594ware control functions and separate to 85°C Mini-ITX board solutions to support to make dynamic changes and appreciate what hardware design, is a solution that lightens de- tough work environments. SOM-5892 is de- conditions will exist in the next few minutes. velopment effort and speeds up product time- signed with COM Express type 6 and third By adapting to actual traffic demand, the to-market for system integrators. Excellence is generation Intel Core i7/i5/i3 processors, and system should be able to estimate traffic usage demonstrated not only in outstanding ruggedi- SOM-5894 is designed with the latest fourth based on a small historical sampling and to zed hardware design but also in software and generation Intel Core i7/i5/i3 processors. SOM- generalize those results for optimal operational performance. Innovative solutions require real- time adjustment in signalization according to actual traffic conditions, and must be adapted to outdoor environments with zero downtime.

SOM-5894 COM Express module with Mini- ITX application board SOM-AB5810 is suitable for deployment in large traffic surveillance systems, providing high-end computing performance along with extended temperature support ranging from -40 to 85°C. This is rare among Mini-ITX form factor systems as this solution can leverage numerous proprietary off-the-shelf Mini-ITX chassis and peripherals to enhance design flexibility and save total solution cost. COM Express form factor also supports scalability and future platform upgrades. Remote device management is extremely important for these kinds of traffic surveil- Figure 2. Top and bottom view of SOM-5894 basic board

June 2014 20 BOARDS & MODULES

AB5810 and all Mini-ITX boards can be applied either in clone mode or extended mode - bene- more, all with user-friendly interfaces. It also in many fields such as industrial control, traffic fiting the medical, gaming and digital signage comes with SUSIAccess bundled for system in- control, outdoor signage, vehicle and military industries. Built-in high speed I/O ports include tegrators to remotely centralize monitoring embedded applications which need to operate USB 3.0 and SATAIII for huge data transmission. and management of all their embedded devices, in harsh conditions. The high performance In addition, there is support for expanding the and even recovers them if they fail. computing platform supports image recogni- payload with FPGA or ASIC. The PCIe x16 tion, -40 to 85°C wide-temperature support, lane up to Gen3 (8 GT/s bit rate) can be used Advantech Embedded Core Services offers de- and the rugged system provides high reliability in combinations of x8 or x4, and the 6 CIe x1 sign-in oriented services. These streamlined in harsh environments. The SOM-5894 offers lanes can be used in configurations of x4 or x2. solutions broadly integrate embedded boards, high performance and outstanding graphics, Because of its flexibility, customers have the peripheral modules and software. This dedi- supports multiple combinations of three inde- advantage of I/O expansion at the time of sys- cated focus on embedded design-in services pendent displays, as well as abundant high tem design. iManager, included with the board, fulfills electronic engineering demands at their speed I/O and flexible expansion interfaces up provides a valuable suite of programmable design-in phase, and brings benefits that shorten to PCIe x16 Gen 3. The board provides a solu- APIs such as multi-level watchdog, hardware the design and integration cycles, minimizing tion for high-end industrial applications such monitor, smart fan, brightness control and uncertainty and risk. as medical, automation, gaming, telecom, and digital signage. The design of the low power PCH and low voltage DDR3 improves power consumption. The basic board includes both quad core and dual core processors each with different TDP. Customers can also enable lower TDP options through the new configurable TDP down function to meet different needs. Supporting wide voltage operation (8.5 to 20V), and offering high performance makes the board entirely suitable for high-end applications.

Along with the advancement of large high definition panels, multi-display features have become more necessary. New generation Intel HD Graphics with DX11.1, OpenCL 1.2 and OpenGL 4.0 support offers enhanced media effects and significantly improved 3D performance. The board supports three independent symmetrical displays, enabling better display configurations with no bandwidth limitations. Different display combinations include: 3 display ports, or display port+HDMI+HDMI, etc; Product News

DFI: complete line of 7” panel PCs based on ARM and x86 architectures DFI’s seven IP65-rated Panel PCs based on the low-power and cost-efficient ARM Cor- tex-A and Intel Atom processors are designed for today’s growing performance/wattage requirements of intelligent systems. DFI’s new Panel PCs provide a variety of storage options such as eMMC onboard, an SD/MMC slot for extending extra storage and 3G modules. They also come with LAN, COM, USB ports for various demands and up to 12-bit GPIO for device control. With the flexible I/Os providing increased computing and graphics performance, the new Panel PCs allow your system to process more data load and provide faster loading of frequently used applications. The Mini PCIe expansion slot also offers additional capabilities for the various demands. News ID 1380

21 June 2014 INTERNET-OF-THINGS

Safe, secure, scalable RTOS for the Internet of Things

By Prashant Dubal, Wind River

The modern next-generation RTOS needs to be modular, configurable and expandable to meet the dynamic demands of the IoT among other applications. VxWorks 7 can not only reinforce customer applications in traditional RTOS markets with faster safety or security certification, but can also allow customers to extend their reach into emerging applications enabled by the IoT. Figure 1. Scaling functionality against applications in IoT platforms

Since its introduction in the late 1980s, Wind from intelligent devices into intelligent and Fundamental to VxWorks7 is the separation River VxWorks real-time operating system decision-making systems. In this new dynamic of the core kernel from packages such as the (RTOS) has evolved over 25 years to accom- customer will need to: bring connected devices middleware, networking protocols and appli- modate the dynamics of fast-moving embedded to market faster; differentiate products with cations. Application lifecycles are now com- markets. These include the introduction in features and capabilities; address the security pletely separate from the core OS enabling in- the 1980s of embedded 32-bit processors bring- risks inherent in IoT connectivity; build flexi- dividual applications to be updated at any ing the possibility to use dedicated operating bility into existing products to address emerging time as required. Multiple versions of packages systems (OSes) in devices; the move from ana- opportunities, as well as ensuring products re- can also coexist within the development tree, log to digital for control devices; the Internet main relevant and competitive with market enabling patches or new versions to be tried explosion leading to greater connectivity in evolution; while also reducing system develop- out and rolled back if and when required. In the 1990s; and the rise of multi-core processors ment costs. To meet these challenges, customers addition to this, VxWorks 7 also provides the over the past decade or so. And in the last few are looking for scalability, security and safety ability to use multiple compilers, enabling years the advent of the Internet of Things in an RTOS, plus middleware that delivers high flexibility in the optimization of system (IoT) has seen devices become smarter, with connectivity, manageability and virtualization performance. Importantly, middleware or new distributed control and decision-making ability capabilities, enabling them to concentrate on communications protocols and other packages now a reality. their application development. can be added or upgraded via the application store model without changing the core kernel, Many if not the majority of the billions of in- Traditionally, an RTOS is a monolithic tool which is guaranteed by Wind River to stay telligent devices in the IoT will be embedded and has always been delivered in a bundle of fundamentally stable for three years. These systems that run an OS – and many of these software including the OS, middleware, board packages can also include plug-ins for new mi- devices will employ an RTOS. The confluence support packages (BSPs), and tools. Any up- croprocessor hardware architectures such as of cloud computing, rapidly growing data vol- dates to this package have been mostly for those from ARM, Freescale (PPC and QorIQ) umes, and increasingly connected devices in bug and security fixes rather than the addition or Intel, for example. the IoT, poses numerous challenges, but also a of new features due to the prohibitive amount myriad of new opportunities. The latest version of coding and testing required in implemen- The modular architecture of VxWorks 7 will of Wind River RTOS – VxWorks 7 – addresses tation. However, the IoT landscape is evolving enable embedded device manufacturers to dif- this new era for applications that require hard significantly faster than the release cycles for ferentiate their products and maintain them real-time system capabilities. the traditional RTOS and consequently Wind competitively over longer periods of time by River has re-architected VxWorks by taking enriching them with new features and capabil- Devices that were previously standalone and a highly modular and future-proof approach ities – and all without having to change the ran an RTOS – such as VxWorks –will now be to the design and deployment of its latest system core – with the evolution of standards connected in the IoT and will be transformed version. and market requirements. In addition, VxWorks

June 2014 22 INTERNET-OF-THINGS

Figure 2. Micro-kernel running on the small core in a big/small multi-core processor

Figure 3. The four pillars of security within VXWorks 7

7 will allow manufacturers to extend the life of processor configurations that offload either im- the system core across several generations of portant or repetitive tasks to the small core. their products, thereby increasing the return- on-investment (ROI) for the OS. A critical aspect of the IoT will be security, as its connectivity will mean significantly increased The modularity of VxWorks 7 delivers a very exposure to threats. However, built-in security high level of scalability, allowing customers to capabilities within VxWorks 7 will provide de- choose their required application packages such signers with the flexibility to design in the neces- as connectivity or security-based middleware to sary or required degree of security. VxWorks 7 suit functionality, code and memory footprint, has been developed based on four pillars of se- and performance or power demands of target curity, which are: Design for the prevention of applications across diverse markets. Customers malicious code in development; Boot & Execute can now build common platforms across multiple for the prevention of untrusted binaries from product lines by installing VxWorks in different executing; Operation for the prevention of mali- classes of devices from small-form-factor edge cious attacks while in operation; and Power- devices, gateways and large-scale complex intel- down for the prevention of onboard data access ligent systems – all of which will be crucial for when a system is at rest. Customers can decide the IoT. upon the right level of security required and if one or all of these criteria are appropriate. This In addition, a micro-kernel that is approximately depends not least upon the environment for de- only 20KB in size is also available as a VxWorks vice deployment – the ability to access devices 7 Profile. This micro-kernel targets deployment will not be the same within a defense facility as in small or wearable devices, or in larger systems in a shopping mall, for example. A specific secu- running on a small core in big/small multi-core rity element is the integrated Root-of-Trust

23 June 2014 INTERNET-OF-THINGS

Safety is a prime requirement in many embedded systems, and safety standards are well es- tablished in markets such as aerospace, medical and industrial, but are also being applied via new regulations in other markets. As standards evolve, it needs to be easier for customers to obtain mandatory safety and security certifi- cations for end products. VxWorks 7 integrates a time partitioning scheduler as part of the core OS, in conjunction with real-time processors (RTP), to deliver time, space and resource partitioning and enable customers to run different criticality-level applications side-by-side, thereby significantly reducing certification costs in safety-critical applications. For example, makers of medical devices or industrial controllers can go through the IEC 61508 certification process more quickly with the aid of the VxWorks 7 scheduler and RTPs – in essence, every line of code has a cost in the certification world. This new solution essentially bridges the gap between a non-safety RTOS and one such as the VxWorks 653 platform for ARINC Figure 4. Time, space and resource partitioning 653 certification for avionics applications. ability within Boot & Execute, which enables ages will be loaded or signature-matching mod- New functionality available in VxWorks 7 digital signature of applications all the way ules will run. Also as part of Operation, cus- includes greater support for development of from the boot-loader to the VxWorks image to tomers can apply user management processes user interfaces, new connectivity and more the applications, meaning only authorized im- based on their authorized user-access policies. storage options. The user interface is becoming INTERNET-OF-THINGS

protocols within VxWorks 7 include Blue- tooth/BLE, CAN, FireWire (IEE1394) and the Continua stack for healthcare applications, along with continued support for ZigBee, WiFi and Ethernet. Also, the tool increased storage functionality includes support for NAND, VFS (Virtual File System) and secure storage of file system data.

Also, and in conjunction with VXWorks 7, the Wind River Workbench tool suite has been enhanced. The tool suite is based on the industry-standard Eclipse (version 4.3.1) IDE (Inte- grated Development Environment) and the Eclipse CDT (C/C++ Development Tools) plug-ins, and includes tools such as kernel configurators, system and memory analysers and simulators, plus numerous other plug-ins available via Wind River extensive ecosystem of third-party vendors.

Figure 5. Enhanced analysis capabilities within Wind River Workbench Key to the new functionality within Workbench is the ability to dynamically insert code, or a key differentiating feature for products rang- drivers for a wide range of processors. Embed- even remove it, during system runtime. New ing from mobile phones to medical devices to ded devices are increasingly being connected system analysis tools also now deliver more industrial control systems: increased support to networks in a wide range of applications advanced data profiling capabilities and proces- now includes open-source graphics capability such as industrial control systems or in med- sor/memory analysis in various graphical com- such as an OpenVG-based graphics stack, hard- ical devices used in the home that send diag- binations, enabling faster development and ware-assisted 3D graphics and frame-buffer nostic data back to a hospital. New connectivity reduced costs for customers. INTERNET-OF-THINGS

Control and connectivity options for the Internet of Things

By Greg Hodgson, Silicon Labs

Well designed, innovative IoT connected devices, apps and cloud services will drive the IoT revolution, in turn requiring IoT end nodes and gateways combining energy efficiency, performance, and cost-effectiveness regardless of MCU bit size. This article examines common architectures to navigate the IoT.

Figure 1. The connected home

We’re at the dawn of a new era in connectivity to complex, a wireless network featuring a system will be self-contained (a proprietary and convenience unlike anything we’ve expe- gateway to connect to the Internet wirelessly stack can be used), protocol stack requirements, rienced before. The Internet of Things (IoT) and potentially provide localized system intel- link budget (which translates into RF range) promises to deliver on the vision of ligence, and cloud services to connect to mobile and system cost. Wireless transceiver energy anywhere/anytime knowledge and control of devices. Figure 1 shows such a connected home consumption is relevant to the system archi- our home and work environments, and de- architecture. tecture since it affects sensor node range and pending on which side of Geoffrey Moore’s battery lifetime. “chasm” you sit, the IoT may already be here. Embedded systems designers must consider a Today I can monitor my connected home and number of competing requirements in de- A “thin” gateway that only passes sensor and ensure my family is safe, optimize my home signing a gateway or sensor nodes, such as environmental data via Ethernet or an RF sub- energy usage and check on my pets, all while processing speed, memory size, regulatory system to the cloud could suffice with a smaller, at home or on the road. There will be a tipping considerations, energy consumption, system less expensive Cortex-M class MCU, particu- point, a handful of innovative consumer prod- latency, connectivity options, system segmen- larly if the communications stack requirements ucts and services that even the late adopters tation, security requirements, interoperability, are kept minimal. The advantage of a thin won’t be able to ignore, after which there will future migration and system cost, to name a gateway is that intelligence and interoperability be little question that the IoT has arrived. few. The system gateway might be a cable set- between nodes can be managed by cloud serv- top box or a standalone system. See figure 2 ices, but the disadvantage is the potential for If it hasn’t already happened, soon your com- for an example of a typical gateway architec- round trip while waiting for cloud services to pany management team will propose products ture. The gateway microcontroller (MCU) is process and return command and control data. to participate in the IoT. How will you respond? most likely based on an ARM Cortex-M or At the other extreme a “smart” gateway provides The good news is that many of the application Cortex-A class processor combined with con- the command and control intelligence onboard building blocks for the IoT are available today, nectivity options such as Ethernet, Wi-Fi, Zig- and has the advantage of minimal latency and just waiting for you and your team to add Bee and sub-GHz/ISM wireless. Considerations full functionality if the cloud connection is your creative genius. We all want to be in con- for selecting the optimal MCU include mem- lost. However, smart gateway applications must trol of the security of our home and family, ory size and processing requirements for the manage the business logic and must be future- and it only takes a fire or burglary to remind communications stacks and gateway services, proofed to support system upgrades. Nobody ourselves of this need. A number of upstarts system latency requirements for “real-time” wants to buy a wireless lighting control system and cable operators have introduced products or offline operation, and connectivity. Con- today that requires a new gateway tomorrow. for the connected home that provide fire, se- siderations for selecting the RF subsystem in- curity and convenience services. A typical con- clude local regulations (FCC, ETSI, etc), The basic connected home node might be a nected home system architecture comprises a whether connection to a broader ecosystem is door sensor, wireless light or a smoke detector, number of sensor nodes ranging from simple desired (which requires a standard) or if the as shown in figure 3.The MCU is likely to be a

June 2014 26 INTERNET-OF-THINGS

PCB area is at a premium. Look for MCU and RF transceiver suppliers who offer low-energy 8-bit and 32-bit Cortex-M MCUs and wireless SoCs along with the development tools to simplify implementing the RF stack requirements.

The advanced IoT end node might be a smart thermostat, wireless camera or a white goods device such as a washing machine, as shown in figure 4. The main system MCU is likely to be a 32-bit ARM Cortex-M or Cortex-A class device combined with one or more secondary 32-bit Cortex-M class or 8-bit MCUs used to Figure 2. Example of connected home gateway architecture offload the primary processor, provide features such as capacitive touch sensing, or optimize the energy efficiency of the system by consoli- dating sensor functions. Key considerations for selecting the primary MCU include memory and processing requirements for the RF stacks, sensor and system management, and cost. Energy consumption will be of concern for battery-powered-solutions. Considerations Figure 3. Basic sensor node architecture for selecting the secondary MCU include integrated features and energy efficiency. Look for low-energy 8-bit device or a 32-bit ARM Cortex- less sensor node applications because it there MCU suppliers that offer the most energy- M class device. Considerations for selecting is no provision for repeaters. The power re- friendly 8-bit and 32-bit MCUs. Considerations the optimal MCU include memory and pro- quirements of Bluetooth are also significantly for selecting the optimal RF connectivity solu- cessing requirements for the RF stack and greater than ZigBee. Wi-Fi requires higher tion include bandwidth, energy consumption sensor management, energy consumption, power consumption than ZigBee and sub-GHz link budget and cost, with ZigBee, Bluetooth device footprint and cost. Considerations for and is thus not appropriate for battery-powered and Wi-Fi being the most common options. selecting the RF protocol include energy applications in which the battery cannot be Wi-Fi is the most widely used protocol for consumption, link budget and cost. Typical easily recharged. bandwidth-intensive applications such as a wireless connectivity options include a propri- wireless camera, while ZigBee is ideal for ther- etary sub-GHz/ISM stack, ZigBee, Bluetooth For sub-GHz star endpoints or flooding-capa- mostat applications with multiple nodes and or Wi-Fi. Of these options, sub-GHz and ZigBee ble RF stacks and space-constrained applica- lower data rates. Wi-Fi or Bluetooth provide are the most commonly used protocols for tions such as sensor nodes, a small footprint, easy connectivity with smart phones and tablets, home automation as they provide the energy ultra-low energy 8-bit MCU and RF transceiver, which end users typically use to control their efficiency, long battery life (typically 3-5 years) or SoC with integrated MCU and transceiver connected home applications. and extended range required to locate a sensor may offer the most cost-effective solution. For node anywhere in a house without the incon- ZigBee mesh networking applications, an SoC IoT developers must consider this question venience of having to change batteries frequently. with integrated MCU and RF subsystems when optimizing the energy efficiency of their Bluetooth lacks adequate range for many wire- might be the best option, particularly where end node application: “Which is more impor- INTERNET-OF-THINGS

Another common misconception is that 32- bit MCU pricing is comparable to 8-bit options. Developers will hear this from MCU suppliers that are no longer investing in an 8- bit portfolio or competitive in the 8-bit market. The reality is that the 32-bit architecture and peripherals are significantly larger in gate count than 8-bit architectures and consume more silicon area when compared to 8-bit so- Figure 4. Advanced sensor node architecture lutions in the same process geometry. Moving to a smaller process geometry shrinks the dig- tant for my low-energy application - suspend quirements, native 32-bit math and advanced ital portion (which is about half of a typical current or active current?” The answer depends peripherals?” For many performance-intensive MCU) and increases the system cost. When on the active time duty cycle. Some energy- IoT applications, the 32-bit choice is of course considering a comprehensive IoT solution friendly ARM Cortex-M class MCUs can con- the right answer, particularly where portability provider, look for MCU vendors that are ac- sume as little as 110 μA/MHz in active mode and future platform reuse are key concerns. tively investing in both 8-bit and 32-bit MCU and 900nA in deep sleep with brown-out de- However, for end-node applications where the portfolios, and you will find the most flexible tection active, which means suspend and active goal is to fit in the absolute smallest footprint, MCU options, the best technical solutions operation contribute equally at 0.1% duty run a lightweight RF stack, or offload compu- and the best pricing. cycle at 8 MHz operation. Navigating MCU tation tasks from the main MCU, a streamlined vendor datasheets to compare performance and highly optimized 8-bit solution is often The IoT is the vision of a road to a hyper-con- for low-energy applications can be a challenge. the right answer. nected world in which end users have dramat- Look for MCU suppliers that offer energy esti- ically expanded knowledge and control of mation and profiling tools and offer excellent A common misconception of an 8-bit archi- their environments – at home, at work and on suspend and active current performance. tecture is that it suffers in from low code the road wherever they may be. Elegantly de- density. In reality, this is true only when at- signed and innovative IoT connected devices, Another frequently asked question concerns tempting 16- or 32-bit math. Control applica- apps and cloud services will be most successful the choice of MCU bit size for IoT applications: tions such as those found in offloading the in driving the IoT revolution. IoT end nodes “When should I consider using an 8-bit MCU main processor do not suffer from low density, and gateways that offer the best combination instead of a 32-bit solution for my end node and in fact, because 8-bit MCUs have very of energy efficiency, performance, cost-effec- application? Why not migrate to a modern 32- little overhead code, overall code density for tiveness and appealing features– regardless of bit MCU based on an ARM Cortex-M archi- control-type functions is higher than equivalent MCU bit size – will be in the driver’s seat in tecture that supports expanded memory re- functions implemented on 32-bit MCUs. the race to our IoT future. Are you ready?

Product News

Rutronik offers M2M SIM cards and chips set of software building blocks for the devel- and allows secure data aggregation, filtering from Telit m2mAIR opment of applications targeting IoT gateway and analysis from edge devices to the cloud As of now, customers can acquire Telit devices. through WiFi and/or 4G technologies. The m2mAIR M2M SIM cards and chips through News ID 1513 out-of-the-box solution with a pre-integrated Rutronik Elektronische Bauelemente. With ex- software and hardware platform containing a tensive roaming options even within the host Avnet Memec: IoT at the centre of Linux operating system, security and manage- country, SIM management, security features growth strategies ment features, is available at distributor Rutronik as well as technical support and a troubleshoot- Avnet Memecis placing the Internet of Things, as of now. ing service, these SIMs provide a complete, seat the centre of its growth strategies. Internet News ID 1523 cure and cost-effective solution for all types of of Things - often identified by the term Ma- M2M applications while maintaining absolute chine-To-Machine - is an ecosystem of remote Conrad supports open source IoT starter control over costs. In addition to the standard applications and services based on sensors, kit ‘WunderBar’ SIM cards, models with larger temperature actuators and controls connected to an IP Conrad is working exclusively with Berlin ranges as well as soldered SIM chips are also network. There are huge market opportunities: based start-up company relayr (iThings4U available through Rutronik. estimates suggest that by 2020, 39% of the 23 GmbH) to support the development and News ID 1375 billion web-connected devices will be IoT so- launch of the Open Source IoT starter kit lutions, way higher than mobile phones and ‘WunderBar’. The WunderBar IoT starter kit Applied Informatics: software building portable devices. together with the relayr Open Sensor Cloud blocks for the IoT News ID 1519 platform allows software application developers Making an embedded system ready for the to quickly and easily begin working on wireless Internet of Things is a challenging task. Com- RUTRONIK: IoT gateway solutions from applications and prototype building based on plex requirements related to connectivity, in- Advantech and Intel data gathered from the physical world without teroperability and especially security must be Advantech releases a new, comprehensive IoT needing to learn about hardware. The platform met. A good way to deal with complexity is to solution: the UTX-3115 fanless and wide-temp includes software development kits for iOS, rely on existing, industry-proven building embedded box coupled with the Intel Gateway Android and Node.js. blocks. Applied Informatics has developed the Solutions for the Internet of Things. It simpli- News ID 1496 IoT Framework, a comprehensive, integrated fies customer deployment of IoT products

June 2014 28 INTERNET-OF-THINGS

Connecting legacy devices to the Internet of Things

By Adam Burns, Intel

This article highlights the tremendous opportunities created by the explosive growth predicted for IoT applications, and the challenge of existing and legacy devices that needs to be overcome.

The Internet of Things (IoT) refers to billions of Internet-connected devices, ranging from industrial sensors to complex CT scanners. Moving from a world of isolated systems to one where systems communicate with each Intel uses gateways to the other and the cloud and back allows companies cloud to improve yield in its to make more efficient and productive use of Assembly/Test factories. their assets and business processes. In turn, their customers benefit from the added func- since waiting for a full refresh of infrastructure processor based intelligent gateway solution tionality and value derived from the rollout of to reap the benefits of IoT is impractical. Many in its existing Rebel rooftop units. With the new business models and service offerings. legacy devices, especially those used in com- gateway, Daikin Applied is able to seamlessly McKinsey Global Institute recently reported mercial and industrial applications, tend to connect Rebel units to the cloud. As a result, the number of connected machines has grown have long life-spans. As a result, it is not always customers can proactively manage the per- by 300 percent over the past five years, due possible or economically feasible to upgrade a formance of their buildings and address HVAC largely to IoT technologies driving greater effi- large number of embedded devices to enable issues before they happen, thus avoiding ciency in the estimated $36 trillion spend in them to communicate with the cloud. expensive repairs and unpleasant temperature operating costs in affected industries. (McKin- excursions. sey Global Institute, Disruptive technologies: An alternative is to use gateways, which provide Advances that will transform life, business, value by attaching to existing devices and their Intel Labs worked with Daikin Applied to dis- and the global economy, May 2013) sensors in order to secure, aggregate, and filter aggregate component data so now it is possible their data. This creates opportunities to optimize to see how much energy fans and compressors For example, industrial engineers are installing the efficiency of the device, prevent failures, are consuming, and take corrective action if Internet-linked sensors across the factory floor and create new services. The gateway needs to needed. Daikin Applied estimates that adding to synchronize production, link machines to be intelligent and have sufficient processing intelligence to HVAC systems can reduce energy smart electricity grids to reduce energy costs, power to enable end-to-end analytics that will consumption within a building by as much as and monitor manufacturing processes remotely drive business transformation, as shown in the 50 percent. via smart phones (Source: Milwaukee-Wiscon- following examples. Intel fabricates semicon- sin Journal Sentinel, “Rockwell Leading Way ductor chips, which are placed into plastic For device manufacturers developing intelligent in Next Industrial Revolution,” Jan 4, 2014). packages and tested in facilities called Assem- gateways, Intel is bringing to market solutions In a store, weather forecasts indicating an ap- bly/Test factories. Intelligent gateways are being based on the Intel Atom processor E3800 prod- proaching storm could trigger a retailer digital evaluated to connect manufacturing tools to a uct family and the Intel Quark SoC X1000. signage to play advertisements for weather-re- private industrial, data center cloud, giving The processors are supported by software com- lated items, like umbrellas and tissues, thus in- Intel meaningful data, including equipment ponents, including McAfee Embedded Control creasing sales. The true value in the Internet errors, assists, and downtime in real time. The and the Wind River Intelligent Device Platform, of Things is realized when most devices, both ability to monitor Assembly/ Test equipment a needed to connect, manage, and secure gate- old and new, are connected to the cloud and very granular level drives a two times improve- ways. These designs will help device designers their data is collectively analyzed, revealing ac- ment in mean time between failures (MTBF), develop, prototype, and deploy application tionable insights that can transform business. thus increasing manufacturing throughput. services faster so they can focus on creating However, a significant challenge is that many new, value-added services. With these solutions, legacy and existing devices, which make up 85 The worldwide largest heating, ventilation, users can securely aggregate, filter, and share percent of all devices (Source: IMS Research), and air conditioning (HVAC) manufacturer, data from edge devices to the cloud in areas are isolated and unconnected. New solutions Daikin Applied, is making use of the Internet such as energy, industrial, and transportation are needed to get them securely connected of Things through the integration of an Intel infrastructure.

29 June 2014 INTERNET-OF-THINGS

The fundamental components of the Internet of Things

By Mark Zack, Digi-Key

As the Internet of Things scales up, more integrated solutions will arrive on the market. But already there are many choices available to the engineer whereby the three key components of IoT support can be incorporated, namely intelligence, sensing, and wireless communications. This article reviews some of the options.

The focus of the internet is set to change node: intelligence, sensing, and wireless com- introducing low-power communications to an over the next five years as systems become munications. Wireless connectivity is vital be- IoT node, ranging from purpose-designed pro- smarter. According to networking specialist cause it will allow sensor nodes to be deployed tocols such as ZigBee to low-power variants of Cisco, 50 billion devices are likely to be con- quickly and easily without the requirement to Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. Some of these protocols nected to the internet by 2020, helping to sus- route network cables to each location. In order offer direct compatibility with the internet pro- tain a $14 trillion market. The systems that to survive for long periods of time on a single tocol (IP). Others rely on a gateway to map be- dominate the internet today, such as PCs, lap- battery charge, an IoT node needs to exhibit tween IP packets and the leaner protocols used tops, tablets and smartphones, will be dwarfed low power consumption. Typically, the node by the IoT sensor nodes. ZigBee is a low-power by the tens of billions of machines with network will be dormant for long periods of time, wak- wireless network specification based on the connections that will relay data to each other ing up for short periods to take a reading and IEEE 802.15.4 (2003) standard that was devel- with the aim of making life more efficient. then making a decision whether to send out oped by a group of 16 companies involved in an alert based on the change or go back to industrial and building automation. A novel The idea of the Internet of Things (IoT) dates sleep. A large number of microcontrollers are aspect of ZigBee compared to many other net- back to the late 1990s when researchers pro- designed around this core requirement, sport- working protocols lies in its use of mesh net- posed ideas such as ambient intelligence, in ing ultra low energy sleep modes combined working. This allows IoT nodes far away from which a forest of smart sensors would monitor with high-performance instruction pipelines a central controller to use nodes in between to environmental conditions, alerting control sys- to streamline processing while awake. carry their communications. This not only ex- tems to changes. By enacting changes in re- tends the range of a central gateway, it also in- sponse, these control systems can improve ef- A key decision is the type of architecture. A creases robustness as a transmission can use a ficiency in a wide range of systems, from in- growing number of low-cost microcontrollers number of different routes through the mesh. dustrial control through home automation to from vendors such as Atmel, Freescale, STMi- healthcare. For example, a set of smart sensors croelectronics and Texas Instruments use 32- dotted around the body, can pick up on health bit cores based on architectures such as ARM problems that alert the user to a problem to deliver high performance at low power and through their phone. In industrial control, a access to a growing range of open-source soft- series of sensors mounted along a production ware that allows applications to be built quickly. line can detect conditions that may lead to However, architectures such as Atmel AVR problems such as sudden changes in tempera- demonstrate that the 8-bit platform still pro- ture or excess vibration that may signal a prob- vides a great deal of power, using advanced lem in a machine tool or a process going smart peripherals to collect data from sensor outside its bounds. There are three fundamental interfaces, and delivering high cost-effectiveness. components that combine to form an IoT There are a number of possible approaches for Figure 1. Comparing data rates of RF systems

June 2014 30 INTERNET-OF-THINGS

GainSpan have worked on power efficiency in designs such as the GS2000, which combines support for both ZigBee and Wi-Fi on the 2.4GHz and 5GHz band. These designs put the radio into an energy-saving standby mode if the sensor node does not need to transmit any data. It wakes up only to send data or keep alive connection packets used to assure central controllers that the node has not failed. Figure 2. Channel arrangements for ZigBee, BluetoothLE and Wi-Fi In general, Wi-Fi tends to suit applications Originally launched by Nokia as Wibree in where compliance with the IP stack is an ad- 2006, Bluetooth Low-Energy (BLE) or Bluetooth vantage, there is a requirement to deliver large Smart provides a similar range to classic Blue- amounts of data, such as audio or video, or tooth but with reduced power consumption. the remote devices can be powered by external In place of the 1MHz channels used by the energy sources. An example of Wi-Fi in use is original Bluetooth protocol, BLE uses a smaller by Mernok Elektronik of South Africa, which set of wider-bandwidth channels of 2MHz but used modules from connectBlue to incorporate with a lower peak data rate. The channel band- wireless networking into the locomotive control width is similar to that of ZigBee but with nar- and safety management systems of railway rower spacing. A key advantage of BLE is its systems used in mining. The modules are used lower latency, just 3ms versus the 100ms of to collect real-time operation data on each ve- classic Bluetooth, as well as lower complexity, hicle and provide a robust wireless connection so that its software stack can easily be incorpo- across both 2.4GHz and 5GHz frequency bands rated into lower-cost microcontrollers. BLE re- with support for over-the-air firmware updates tains support for frequency hopping from the and parameter changes. original Bluetooth protocol, which makes it more robust than ZigBee in the presence of BLE and Wi-Fi can be used together efficiently strong interfering signals. One of the main ap- as they both support coexistence protocols de- plication areas for BLE is medical instrumenta- signed to reduce interference between the two tion, where a number of on-body sensors to on their common frequency band of 2.4GHz. monitor heart rate, blood pressure, and posture This coexistence ability lends itself to imple- relay their readings at regular intervals to a mentation in gateway designs where BLE is central controller, which may be a mobile used for connections to sensor nodes and Wi- phone or a dedicated medical instrument. Fi for relaying aggregated data to a backbone network. The APx4 from Bluegiga provides an Having been in use in various forms for more off-the-shelf solution for this, providing sup- than 15 years, Wi-Fi has the benefit of being port for both Wi-Fi and the full Bluetooth 4.0 the most mature wireless-networking radio software stack that includes BLE, based around technology suitable for IoT applications. a powerful 450MHz ARM9 processor. A num- Through protocols such as WPS, Wi-Fi can ber of integrated microcontrollers and support offer easy integration into an existing network chipsets from vendors such as Atmel, CSR, for devices that have little to no physical user Freescale, STMicroelectronics and Texas In- interface. Of the wireless technologies suitable struments provide support for protocols such for IoT applications, Wi-Fi has the best power- as BLE, Wi-Fi and ZigBee. For implementations per-bit transmission efficiency. Conventional that need flexibility, the configurable radio Wi-Fi designs tend to use more energy to transceivers made by Lime Microsystems make maintain a connection while quiescent than it easier to deploy nodes that can be pro- protocols such as BLE, which can decrease en- grammed with a specific RF interface person- ergy efficiency if the application does not need ality at the point of manufacture to suit different high bandwidth. However, vendors such as networking needs in the target system.

Product News

Innovasic: RapID platform for PROFINET IRT Innovasic has certified the solution for both Class B and Class C. Now it is possible to design in PROFINET with the RapID Platform and take advantage of seamless support for version v2.3. Innovasic’s solution allows users to certify their design to v2.3 through any of the PI Test Labs. The PROFINET IRT network interface is delivered as a module or embedded design containing everything needed to participate in a PROFINET IRT and RT network. A host processor connects to the Network Interface via a UART or 16-bit Parallel Interface. News ID 1447

31 June 2014 INTERNET-OF-THINGS

Smart design of IoT applications using Software Platform Builder

By Harrold Spier and Ulrich Kloidt, Altium

Nowadays billions of people worldwide are connected to the internet with their PCs or mobile devices. One of the upcoming challenges is to extend this computer network to a network of devices which can communicate with human beings, or other devices without human interaction. Figure 1. Device stacks

These days the number of applications de- tomatically. And even if convenient libraries vides the content in a way they can work veloped to connect a device with other devices are available, for example for TCP/IP commu- smoothly together. All components can be (smart objects) or to store the data they meas- nication, then there is still a lot of work to be configured in a similar way. And that combi- ured in the cloud is growing exponentially. done to make the new code fit into the applica- nation creates the possibility to build reliable Embedded applications often have limited re- tion and to configure it correctly. This cycle applications rapidly. sources regarding memory, CPU speed and often repeats itself for every new project. power supply. Therefore, they are developed The Software Platform Builder can be used with respect to these limitations. The connection So, there had to be a better solution. This chal- for the creation of ARM Cortex-M CPU based of smart objects can be realized using different lenge motivated us to come up with what we applications. The Software Platform itself in- communication channels, depending on what now call the Software Platform. The basic con- cludes various software modules which are fits best for the area of application. To allow cept is quite simple. Put generic software com- added to the application code if needed, like product development engineers to focus on ponents in a repository and provide them their application needs, it greatly helps not to with a uniform interface. Assure the software have to struggle with writing low-level functions components can be configured in a standard- for peripheral drivers or communication pro- ized manner. This way, one does not have to tocol stacks. Tools which make it easier to de- know how each component is built up inter- velop IoT enabled devices help the embedded nally. Because of the unified interface, compo- software developer to shorten the product de- nents can easily work together. A graphical en- velopment time and thus the market launch of vironment presents the software components the product. Including a wide range of periph- as coloured blocks. Required blocks are picked eral drivers and communication services, the from the repository to create a starting point Tasking Software Platform Builder can aid in for the application. Components can be con- this software development process. figured to match the application requirements and relationships between selected components The idea for the Software Platform came in can be specified. late 2012 when developers asked why developing embedded software takes so much more time The Software Platform is all about integration than developing a similar desktop application. of content. It is not the content itself that This seems a legitimate question. Simply show- makes it so special. Much of the current ing „Hello World!“ on the LCD display of an content comes from third parties and can be embedded evaluation board requires a surpris- downloaded freely from the Internet. But cre- ingly large amount of effort. Driving the LCD, ating an application with a bunch of collected converting characters to pixels, keeping track software components is not so easy. That is Figure 2. Add software services and device of the cursor, etc – nothing seems to work au- where the Software Platform is helpful. It pro- stacks

June 2014 32 INTERNET-OF-THINGS

Figure 3. Stack items for USART peripheral Figure 4. MAC driver configuration

RTOS facilities, peripheral access or software Cortex tools include a large number of Software peripherals available to application code protocols. The Software Platform is both a Platform reference projects for various STM32 through abstract and generic software inter- graphical editor and a code generator. Collec- evaluation boards utilizing the available faces. By placing more or fewer modules on a tions of software modules are delivered as peripherals of the different boards. Software stack, the abstraction level which should be Software Platform repositories. The repository Platform repositories can contain numerous used in the application is specified. The lowest may contain any kind of software, but typical software modules that take care of lower level level modules are specific for a particular hard- modules include interrupt services, timers, pe- software routines as well as modules that offer ware device. On top of that, higher level mod- ripherals (hardware wrappers), drivers, kernel extra functionality by providing the user with ules can be added which provide more generic services (such as POSIX multithreading), device a convenient API. The Software Platform con- functionality to access the device. For example, I/O, file system (FatFs), networking (TCP/IP), sists of device stacks and software services. at the higher, abstract level a module to access graphical user interface, etc. The Tasking ARM Device stacks are all about making hardware a file system in the application can be selected. INTERNET-OF-THINGS

fined. The peripheral only defines basic infor- driver. After the Software Platform is configured, mation about the hardware but provides no all C files and header files which belong to the further functionality. This basic information devices used are added (copied) to the Eclipse can be used by a driver which is placed on top project. If device parameters are changed, the of the peripheral. Drivers are hardware specific project files can be updated by selecting the and so are the interfaces they offer. Hence, if Generate Code button. From within the source the application contains code that accesses a code of the embedded project the Software driver API, it will be hardware dependent. Platform functions are called like other C func- Drivers still operate at a low abstraction level, tions. The assignment of the functions, their and using a device at the driver level requires parameters and also data structures used (if knowledge of that particular driver interface. applicable) are described in an online API help. Some drivers are available as library wrappers. Figure 5 shows a list of the available functions They only offer an initialization routine which and structures for the HTTP configuration. is called from an application in order to con- The Software Platform repository contains sev- figure pins, clocks and registers. After this ini- eral components especially interesting for cre- tialization the peripheral driver libraries from ating IoT applications. silicon vendors can be used. Since the whole Internet is based on TCP/IP Stack services (the blue stack items) are the networks, a TCP/IP stack service seems a nec- most abstract layers of functionality. Stack essary requirement to be able to communicate services provide standardized, hardware-inde- over the Internet. The TCP/IP protocol can be pendent access to devices. Stack services ensure on top of an Ethernet layer but there is also the portability of an application. For example, the possibility to communicate wirelessly (by if the application uses a generic TCP/IP service, using a WiFi USB stick) or over a serial con- it remains the same if Ethernet is replaced nection using the Point-to-Point Protocol with PPP and serial. A portable TCP/IP appli- (PPP). This could be a serial cable but also a cation works exactly the same, whether linked modem connection, a GSM data connection to a UART or to an EMAC peripheral, since or even a GPRS connection. On top of the Figure 5. HTTP functions the Software Platform handles the lower level TCP/IP stack the HTTP stack service can be details. Some services are static and not meant added which, in IoT context, is frequently At the lower levels it is still possible to select to be instantiated. They have no (direct) rela- used for Representational State Transfer (REST). modules to decide which specific storage device tionship with peripherals or other services Another benefit of the HTTP service is the is accessed (a hard drive, SD card, RAM drive, and facilitate common functionality like POSIX ability to support HTTP Secure (HTTPS). Se- etc). Thus, the lower level modules are more multithreading, CMSIS, software timer or in- cure communication is important when the specific for a particular peripheral while the terrupt management support. The software application handles sensitive information. It higher level modules are less hardware-specific services may also be added automatically if provides encrypted communication to prevent and can even be used in combination with they are required by other services. eavesdropping and secure identification of a multiple peripheral devices. Peripherals (the network web server to know which web server green stack items) are the lowest level modules. It takes just a few steps to integrate the Software it is really talking to. Some open APIs, like the They provide information for the higher layers Platform into an Eclipse-based Tasking ARM latest Twitter API, do not even accept non-se- of the stack to access the peripherals. Informa- Cortex tools project. First the Software Platform cure communication anymore. tion such as the base address and interrupt as- document needs to be added to the project. signment is stored in the peripherals. In most The required software services and device stacks Representation of the data is also important. situations, an application does not access the are appended using the ‘Add’ menu by enabling Both sides should know how to interpret the peripherals directly, because the application the related checkbox. After a device stack has data. Although for this purpose XML is used accesses them through the driver interface on been selected in the Software Platform docu- frequently, it is probably not the most appro- top of it. ment the available stacks for the device can be priate choice for embedded devices. For small chosen using the Grow stack up or Grow stack devices it is often better to use the JavaScript Drivers (the yellow stack items) provide the down option. Figure 3 shows the stack items Object Notation (JSON) format to send data next level of abstraction. They provide low- for the USART interface. Device stacks can be in a structured way. The repository contains a level access to specific hardware either via a configured by changing the options in the streaming JSON API (SAX-style) which is very peripheral or via another driver. The difference Properties view. Figure 4, for example, shows useful to parse complex JSON structures with- between a driver and a peripheral is well de- the configuration options of the Ethernet MAC out claiming much memory. Product News

Altium: automotive safety support program for ISO 26262 certification Altium announces the immediate availability of their TASKING ISO 26262 Support Program, an offering that assists TASKING compiler users within the automotive industry with ISO 26262 certification. Embedded software forms a critical path in systems such as Driver Assistance, Propulsion, In-Vehicle Dynamics, and Active and Passive Safety Devices. To mitigate the compounding safety risks associated with these embedded systems, the ISO 26262 standard provides guidance along with requirements and processes for testing and certifying automotive embedded software and development tools for safety. News ID 1362

June 2014 34 INTERNET-OF-THINGS

Energy-harvesting wireless sensor nodes for the Internet of Things

By Matthias Kassner, EnOcean

Energy harvesting wireless is just starting to unfold its potential. The rapid improvement of components will open up new applications in many aspects of life. Together with the Internet moving towards IPv6, the battery-less approach can even form the foundation for an Internet of Things.

Over the past two decades, the Internet has Sensors measure energy consumption and au- nected with each other (wired or wireless). An evolved rapidly and completely changed our tomatically create a website visualising status Internet of Things no longer requires such way of life. The initial phase, the so-called and trends (content creation by machine, con- proximity. It even allows outsourced computing Web 1.0, enabled the user to access information tent consumption by human). User instructs resources, thus driving down infrastructure that a small number of players have provided. the heating system over the Internet to raise cost. Besides this, the IoT allows dynamic cre- The second phase, often called Web 2.0, at the the temperature to comfort level ahead of re- ation of control networks which can be formed turn of the year 2000 was no longer only turning home (content creation by human, or dissolved flexibly based on time, location about distributing and presenting existing content consumption by machine). Wireless or other parameters. static content. It rather enabled the user to sensors measure outdoor and room tempera- generate new, individual content and to easily ture which together with the current weather All required base technologies for such network share it with a selected audience. Now, broad- forecast will be used by the home automation already exist today – sensors, actuators, local scale Internet usage moves into its third decade system to calculate the required heating (con- or cloud-based control units and IPv6 to con- enabled by new technologies such as IPv6. tent creation and consumption by machines). nect all of them together. The major challenge now is how to deploy large numbers of sensor The key difference is that content is now auto- Having a large network of sensors, actuators and actuator nodes and connect them in a matically generated and/or consumed. So un- and control units all interacting with each suitable way. The answer is by wireless (ease like in the previous waves of Internet usage, other and the user can bring several distinct of installation and scaling), self-powered (main- one or both parts of the communication can benefits. More input (sensor) data usually tenance-free, zero cost of operation) sensor now be machines. Therefore, this third Internet yields a better insight into the system status. and actuator nodes that can be accessed via usage paradigm is often called the Internet of This additional information allows a better IPv6 protocol. Freeing sensors from external Things (IoT). In such a scenario, users will be decision-making process considering a broad power, making them self-powered, opens up able to directly access data related to the range of criteria. Unlike the standard approach unlimited processing and monitoring applica- current situation, followed by calculations in of one or more sensors being connected to a tions where cables or batteries represent an in- real time and the intelligent control of actuators. central control unit, an Internet of Things al- surmountable hurdle. These features make en- The necessary networks built of sensors, actu- lows the sharing and reuse of available infor- ergy harvesting wireless technology the ideal ators and processors can be composed and mation between different partners. Thus, the solution to easily and reliably interconnect flexibly modified according to the actual user system collects data only once but uses the in- thousands of individual devices in a system requirements. In the process, data storage and formation for several applications. and with the Internet. Nowadays solutions processing can be done locally or within a predominantly use three energy sources: mo- cloud-based infrastructure (Infrastructure as Current control systems are usually local; for tion, light and temperature differences. The a Service – IaaS). The following 3 examples example sensors, control unit and actuators key challenge with all these energy sources is illustrate the concept: are often in close proximity and directly con- that they provide very small amounts of energy.

35 June 2014 INTERNET-OF-THINGS

in active state are to measure an external quan- tity and to wirelessly transmit information about its value. Both tasks need to be optimised for minimal power consumption. Specifically for the case of the wireless transmission this means that the chosen protocol must be as effective as possible. The payload associated with sensors is often small (a few bytes), therefore the protocol overhead must be limited as much as possible. This last requirement is difficult to achieve while using IPv6 as communication protocol, even on the individual sensor level, because it incurs significant overhead as the IPv6 header alone requires 40 bytes of protocol data (figure 1). Figure 1. IPv6 header structure In addition to that, UDP – probably the simplest communication protocol on top of IPv6 – would require an additional 8 bytes of protocol data (figure 2). Based on the IPv6 and UDP header structure, the transmission of 1 byte sensor data would require an additional 48 bytes of low level protocol data. IPv6/UDP is therefore not Figure 2. UDP header structure well suited for energy-efficient communication on sensor level in a network. In comparison, the industry-leading EnOcean protocol for energy harvesting wireless applications in accordance with ISO/IEC 14543-3-10 would incur only 7 bytes of protocol overhead for the transmission of 1 byte of sensor data (figure 3).

Translation between such an energy-efficient Figure 3. ISO/IEC 14543-3-10 protocol structure sensor protocol and IPv6 is provided by dedicated IP gateways that represent the state of each connected sensor node and act as their Energy release can occur either in short bursts is that they have an extremely low idle current. representative within the IPv6 network. This or as a continuous trickle. In both cases, it typ- This means that only a very tiny amount of en- approach allows exchanging data with individ- ically needs to be accumulated and often con- ergy is consumed while the system is sleeping. ual sensors even while they are sleeping and verted (to higher voltage levels) to be usable. Standard consumer electronics devices today therefore are unavailable for direct communi- This places significant challenges on the design have a standby current in the range of a few cation. Upon wake-up, sensors will then update of energy harvesting wireless sensor nodes. milliamperes (mA), whereas power-optimised their state information in the gateway and re- Specifically, such devices need to have a very embedded designs typically achieve standby trieve messages/commands intended for them. energy-efficient system design using a very currents in the range of a few microamperes low duty cycle (devices are sleeping most of (μA), an improvement factor of 1,000. In This integrated approach of protocol transla- the time) and requiring only extremely low comparison, the latest generation of EnOcean tion enables all parties to communicate with standby currents while sleeping. The commu- energy harvesting wireless sensors require stand- energy harvesting wireless sensor and actuator nication protocol used by such devices needs by currents of 100 nanoamperes (nA) or less, networks via IPv6. That way, a protocol such to be optimised for energy efficiency to min- an improvement factor of more than 10,000. as ISO/IEC 14543-3-10, which is optimised imise their active time. Achieving this level of performance requires for ultra-low power and energy harvesting very advanced design techniques and extensive wireless applications, can be used for the com- Since most energy harvesters deliver only very optimisation of each individual component. munication between the sensor and the gateway. small amounts of power, it is necessary to ac- This allows the deployment of a broad range cumulate it over time while the system is sleep- The second requirement is that the accumu- of maintenance-free and cost-effective devices ing and to lose only a small fraction of it in lated energy has to be used as efficiently as which are wirelessly connected. In conjunction the process. Therefore, the most fundamental possible when the system is in active mode. with IPv6 gateways, these nodes will form the requirement for such energy-efficient systems For wireless sensor devices, the two main tasks foundation for the Internet of Things.

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June 2014 36 MOTOR CONTROL

BLDC motor controllers for simple and complex systems

By Don Laskay, Data Device Corporation

Modern Brushless DC (BLDC) motor controllers housed in compact assemblies are ideal for integration into systems that require precision control and efficiency. This enabling technology fulfils the requirements of both simple and complex motor systems, while offering significant advantages and improving time to market. Complete enclosed motor controller solution

The demand for electric motors is increasing Thus the enabling technology is the ever im- of control loops and can be supported by data at a rate of 5-6 percent annually, and is pro- proving evolution of the BLDC motor controller. sheets, technical staff and formulas that aid in jected to rise through 2017 to a total available The most efficient controllers use Pulse Width optimum component selection. Each loops’ market of $14.4 billion in the US alone. The Modulation (PWM) sampling to drive a motor design characteristics must be chosen carefully. growth rate is even higher in China and Asia, from DC power. There are other power condi- as these countries modernize and improve in- tioning requirements that range from rectifica- In the case of a speed and torque controller, frastructure. Within these markets, the expan- tion of an AC signal to electromagnetic inter- the loops must be tuned correctly. These de- sion of mid-range horsepower motors outpaces ference (EMI) filtering that is required in most signs are application-specific and can require that of smaller fractional horsepower types. applications. Defining and understanding the additional optimization as the system is tested Driving this demand are heating and cooling motor application is essential to selecting the to the full range of performance. Changes are equipment markets, along with electric vehicles, optimum controller choice. The most common often required as motors and loads are changed which will provide the best growth opportuni- motor control techniques and applications can or added. The upside to the analog approach ties. All systems, from industrial, avionic, mili- be broken down as follows: is that these motor controllers come in a com- tary and space are seeing demand to improve pact form. The tuning is accomplished by efficiency and reduce weight. Along these lines, Control Technique Applications changing resistors and capacitors to set the European markets have issued a directive to Speed Rotate at constant Pumps, Fans and or proportional and integral loop gains of each improve motor efficiency. Reductions in size multiple RPMs Compressors loop. The compact size of analog controllers is Torque Maintain force while Doors, Wing and improvements in operating and ownership changing direction Slats/Flaps, Fins ideal for use in avionic applications due to the cost are also being driven in military and Position Move to precise Robotics, Radar, size and the cost of certifying programmable avionic markets worldwide. To achieve these location Satellite devices. Avionic specifications implemented goals, more reliable and efficient motors and Communications, by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) control techniques must be considered. Turrets in 2005 to ensure the safety of civilian aircraft Each of these systems utilizes specific motor electronic systems require rigorous design ap- The BLDC motor provides clear advantage control techniques that require tuning of one proach and certification. The specifications over other motor types in terms of optimizing or more control loops – torque, speed and/or that are used for design control are as follows. efficiency and size in demanding motor appli- position. Precision and efficiency is determined DO254 sets development and compliance stan- cations. BLDC motors do not have brushes on controlling voltage which sets the speed dards for complex electronic hardware such and require less maintenance and system down and current that controls the torque. A designer as processors, field programmable gate arrays time. Yet these motors require electronic con- must consider the approaches of analog and (FPGAs), digital signal processors (DSP), pro- trollers that range from simple to complex. digital motor control solutions. Analog motor grammable logic devices (PLD), and applica- The motors typically have efficiency of over controllers utilize resistors and capacitors for tion specific integrated circuits (ASICs). The 80%, and the controllers in the 95% range. loop tuning. This typically requires knowledge levels for this certification range from A: Flight

37 June 2014 MOTOR CONTROL

The processing power of DSPs also enables flexible motor control that can be utilized in a wide range of applications, from a sensorless motor system, such as a fan or pump, to a complex multi-axis design, such as those that are used in turrets and robotics. The speed controller uses internal sensing and algorithms that are required for speed regulation and also sets the control loop parameters for torque. Sensorless motor control system Torque is proportional to current and speed is proportional to voltage. The bandwidth for the current/torque loop is generally greater than that of the speed loop.

Torque controllers are used in applications that require holding torque and changes in direction, since these controllers maintain smooth transitions in torque through zero speed. This is known as a four quadrant controller. Con- trolling current/ torque to the motor will allow for precision speed control. Torque controllers utilize a position sensor on the motor to deter- mine the position of the shaft, in order to en- ergize the appropriate winding for precision control. This is most commonly a Hall Effect device, but can alternatively be resolvers, en- coders etc. A position controller utilizes an interface with position sensors on the motor Dual-axis motor control and at the load. The position loop is the outer control loop in this system. The speed and torque loops must be tuned as well. All three critical to E: Non Flight critical. DO178B sets plicated math out of the user design, requiring control loops must be tuned based on the development and compliance standards for only basic knowledge and support to meet the motor and system parameters. software used in avionic applications. expected motor system performance goals. The torque, speed and position loops are often Programmable motor control devices include Analog controllers are also commonly used in calculated for the designer based upon motor a GUI that will aid and perform these calcula- space applications to minimize the cost of ra- and system parameter entry. Many controllers tions based upon the motor used and system diation-proof components such as processors, offer multiple control options. requirements. As a system is implemented in ASICs or FPGAs. Radiation test and character- the lab or fielded, system parameters often ization is still required. Total Dose Testing pre- The embedded control and control logic in the change and may require tuning to attain the dicts the life of the electronics and Single DSP can contain complex mathematical calcu- desired performance. The GUI is the perfect Event Testing predicts reaction of events such lations and algorithms that are required to tool to minimize the time impact of additional as solar flares. Manufacturers of these devices gain the efficiencies of the field-oriented (FOC) tuning. Another benefit of tunable controllers such as Data Device Corporation (DDC) design sinusoidal motor commutation technique. This is that a motor can be swapped out and its re- to meet common radiation requirements and technique delivers power to the motor by placement made operational with the simple perform testing to verify radiation tolerance means of a sinusoidal (sine) waveform. The si- change of parameters in a short time. Multiple performance. Additionally, hybrid microcir- nusoidal signal provides maximum motors can be used with the same controller. cuits save space and weight. voltage/speed in relation to the DC bus voltage This will reduce the cost of ownership which is and reduces noise by over 30% relative to a a key consideration for motor control systems. Digital motor controllers offer several per- trapezoidal (trap) drive. The trap drive com- formance and efficiency advantages that make mutates the motor with a trapezoidal AC signal. DSP-based solutions also allow for interfacing them the controller selection of choice for The system losses in a sine drive are in the with host processor controlled systems that many applications. The versatility of digital motor, while the trapezoidal drive losses are in communicate on serial networks such as CAN, controllers has advanced as the evolution of the controller. Additionally, a sine wound motor RS-485, RS-422 etc. Alternatively, speed and/or DSP (digital signal processing) and ASIC (ap- will improve motor efficiencies as well. The torque can be set by means of an analog plication-specific integrated circuit) based torque ripple on a sinusoidal motor can be as voltage input when advanced features are not processors now enable designers to create flex- low as 1%, while the ripple for a trapezoidal required. Also, on-board or system processors ible products and improve time to market. motor is over 13-14%. The sinusoidal system can coordinate 2-axis movement as required The most versatile of these designs are based also reduces noise, which is essential to meeting in satellite base stations, radars, turrets or ro- on DSP architectures which allow integration EMI requirements. The trap drive system EMI botic systems. Motor control suppliers such as from simpler sensorless systems to complex signature and current ripple are higher due to Data Device Corporation offer products that multi-axis position control systems. The pro- the sharp edges and flatness of a trapezoidal incorporate all control algorithms and sensor cessing power of the DSP, along with associated signal. These signals are modulated by the interfaces, as well as provide advanced protec- graphical user interfaces (GUI), takes the com- PWM frequency in the motor controller. tion, such as overtemperature, overcurrent,

June 2014 38 MOTOR CONTROL

tronics will not interfere with or be interfered by other devices. Standards govern the devices radiated radio frequency (RF) emissions as well as susceptibility. There are commercial and military standards such as MIL-STD-461 that is typically used for US military and avionic systems and less rigorous FCC standards in the US. Europe issued an EMC Direc- tive (89/336/EC) in the 1980s and other countries have similar standards. A good motor and controller system will be designed to these standards and have an EMI filter integrated into the system. This can be found located in a box level motor control solution at or near the motor. In a larger system, an overall solution is used. The object is to reduce the cost of qualifying the system as well as meeting control system size and weight constraints.

The DSP-based devices feature graphical user interfaces (GUI) that can operate the motor and be used to optimize performance. Complex calculations are carried out for the control Screen shot of a data logger loops. The processor memory also enables users to save motor data, such as voltage and etc. This is true for both analog/trapezoidal motor energy Back Electro Motive Force current, which may then be viewed through a drives and digital/sine drives. These devices (BEMF) that is generated when the motor data logger for analysis. One can analyze start have protection built in the hardware. The shuts down. A large amount of mechanical en- up issues by reviewing motor current, voltage, DSP-based solution also can have soft limits ergy is converted back into electrical energy, as well as optimize the bandwidth to reduce set that interface with the motor control system and this must be considered in the overall sys- torque ripple to optimize motor performance. with parameters set by the GUI. The control tem design with implementation of a braking These types of tools have become the industry and power stages for these motor controllers resistor or other method to store or dissipate standard, and are included with the purchase are available in compact form, such as a hybrid this energy such as capacitor networks or bat- of the motor controller. or module, which can be integrated into larger teries. For higher voltage systems, the bus ca- systems. pacitor should be of good quality and low Modern motor control products will continue equivalent series resistance (ESR) to reduce to meet the growing demand for automation The controllers and supporting electronics bus ripple. This capacitor should be located and motor control, as complex systems can typically are mounted on or near the motor. close to the controller to reduce resistance. now be supported with compact solutions. The motor system will also include a DC bus These designs provide all the processing power capacitor to reduce ripple and possibly EMI Most electronic systems must meet electro required for precise and efficient motor control, filters to reduce noise on the system bus. Con- magnetic interference (EMI) standards for sys- and can easily be integrated into box and sideration must also be given to dissipate tem compatibility. This ensures that the elec- system level solutions. PRODUCT NEWS

GE brings supercomputing performance ripheral components under RUTRONIK EM- IBASE: stainless steel Panel PC series to harsh environments BEDDED. ‘Best-fit’ kit solutions of board, with 19” or 15” LCD display GE Intelligent Platforms announced the CRS memory and display offer optimally tailored IBASE presents the new panel PC series: INOSP, 48.5 HPEC rugged subsystem. A complete, in- solutions and a very short time-to-market. stainless steel panel PCs with 19” or 15” LCD tegrated, pre-tested, ready-to-run subsystem The comprehensive range of components is display. The new series utilizes the dual-core enabling faster development/deployment at complemented by support from the component 1.86GHz Intel Atom Processor D2550 in a lower cost and risk, it uses the most advanced selection and production through to RMA / fanless enclosure, providing high computing VITA 48.5 compliant air-flow through-cooling PCN / EOL services. and reliable performance. IBASE will launch to allow the integration of up to eight quad News ID 1512 the 19-inch INOSP-191-RE model in May and core Intel Core i7 processing nodes. This makes the 15” INOSP-151-RE counterpart in June of it capable of satisfying the most demanding DSM: 4U 19-inch system with Intel Core this year. rugged embedded computing requirements processor of the 4th generation News ID 1522 such as ISR and electronic warfare in the The 4U 19-inch Infinity 96I4408-MBQ87 sys- harshest, most challenging environments. tem from DSM Computer integrates the Intel ADLINK: Atom and Celeron SoC from News ID 1387 Q87 desktop chipset and desktop versions (S SMARC modules to rugged systems series) of the Intel Core processors of the ADLINK announced an array of new products VadaTech: FPGA mezzanine carriers in fourth generation. This makes the robust in- in various form factors based on the latest AMC form factor dustrial computer particularly suitable for so- Intel Atom and Celeron processors for intelli- VadaTech has released a full suite of FPGA phisticated applications that demand high gent systems, featuring a significant perform- mezzanine carriers based on Xilinx All Pro- computing, graphical and video power. ance per watt improvement over previous gen- grammable FPGAs. The VadaTech AMC mod- News ID 1355 erations, high integration of both low speed ules come in versions that include Virtex-5, and high speed IO’s, an advanced graphics en- Virtex-6, Artix-7, Kintex-7, Virtex-7 FPGAs Tiny Green PC: miniature fanless PC gine, and virtualization support — all on a and Zynq All Programmable SoCs. These AMC for signage and telecomms sub-10-watt that enables small, light, and modules come in the single-width size. The Tiny Green PC has launched the fit-PC3i; reliable embedded designs. Virtex-7 device was also selected for a 100G based on the tiny, robust, fanless, ultra-low- News ID 1363 Processor with an integrated FPGA in the energy fit-PC3 compact computer, it brings double-module AMC size. superior graphics performance and excellent Avalue: Intel Atom E3800 based product News ID 1388 connectivity to digital signage, surveillance family of embedded boards and telecommunications applications. The fit- Avalue Technology announce the Intel Atom Axiomtek: Intel Core-based 19” touch PC3i offers all the features of the fit-PC3, en- processor E3800 based family of embedded panel computer with PCI or PCIe slot hanced with an on board SIM socket, integrated boards, including ECM-BYT, EBM-BYT Axiomtek announced of the P1197E-861, a fit-Headless HDMI plug, dual GbE networking and EQM-BYT. These boards are powered by ruggedized 19-inch expandable industrial touch and CEC support for the dual HDMI graphics the newest Intel Atom processor E3800 product panel computer. The P1197E-861 supports channels. family, a system-on-chip. Based on the 22nm 3rd Generation Intel Core i7/ i5/ i3/ Celeron/ News ID 1351 Silvermont microarchitecture, these new Pentium processors in LGA1155 socket with processors are designed for intelligent systems the Intel H61 Express chipset. The P1197E- ARBOR: COM Express family powered and applications with low power consumption 861 is equipped with a 19-inch SXGA TFT by AMD G-Series SoC and high performance requirements. LCD display with high brightness LED back- ARBOR Technology has expanded its COM News ID 1469 light (350nits), and has an IP65/NEMA 4 com- Express product range by adopting the AMD pliant front panel. dual core G-Series SoC processor which pro- MEN: PX4 mini card for mobile audio News ID 1391 vides higher performance with low power con- transmission sumption. The EmNANO-a56M0 is a Mini The new PX4 can be integrated into MEN Avalue launches new 3.5” micro module Type 10 CPU module, and is suitable for the Micro’s full line of rugged, flexible box PCs. Avalue is unveiling ECM-DX2, which is highly applications require high graphic and interac- This allows voice and phone functionality integrated, low power consumption design, tive processing include medical equipment, across many popular communication networks fanless operation and extended temperature. security & surveillance, gaming, digital signage to be easily incorporated into a mobile system. ECM-DX2 has adopted the DMP’s and 3D display. Developers no longer need to implement a Vortex86DX2 4.5W @ 800MHz SoC solution News ID 1347 separate, costly audio system that enables the which is the 3rd generation SoC of Vortex86 driver to call the control room or the family. The ECM-DX2 supports onboard EKF: PCI Express mini card carrier control room to make an announcement to DDR2 memory that supports up to 32bit 1GB supports LTE, WiFi, GNSS the passengers, for example. and supports single channel 24-bit LVDS (op- EKF introduces the SP4-MAMBO, a peripheral News ID 1470 tional 18-bit) as well as VGA+LVDS or board for CompactPCI Serial systems, which VGA+TTL multi-display configurations. serves as a quad PCI Express Mini Card carrier, VadaTech: new MCH transforms News ID 1367 either full- or half-size style. An additional socket capabilities of MicroTCA-based systems is provided for an optional mSATA module. Up VadaTech now offers a MicroTCA Carrier Hub RUTRONIK bundles its portfolio of to six SMA antenna connectors are available via with a 40GbE option, synchronous Ethernet, boards, storage, displays, wireless mod- the front panel, for MIMO operation of wireless and advanced clocking/GPS capability. The ules and auto ID Mini Cards, such as WiFi (WLAN) or GPRS/LTE new MCH is VadaTech’s 3rd generation module Rutronik bundles its portfolio of embedded (WWAN). Any module socket is wired to an in- with several unique features that will transform boards, storage, displays, wireless modules and dividual Micro SIM card holder. the capability of a MicroTCA-based solution. auto ID components as well as specific pe- News ID 1369 The UTC004’s 40GbE option is a 4x boost in

June 2014 40 PRODUCT NEWS

performance from today’s 10GbE solutions. Langer: system for comparative The MCH also provides PCIe Gen 3, SRIO EMC measurements Gen 2, and a crossbar switch option. The CBS Langer EMV-Technik introduced ESA1, a meas- allows any fabric to be utilized including urement system for comparative EMC meas- custom solutions. urements, which will help you make targeted News ID 1506 and efficient progress in the development of modules or devices. The ESA1 allows you to NAT: power supply for MicroTCA perform measurements directly at your work- achieved class A and class B certification place in the course of developments, you will N.A.T. announces that the NAT-PM AC600, save time and costs over the entire development a 600WAC power supply for MicroTCA sys- process. EMC measurements carried out with tems in single-width full-size form factor has the ESA1 are similar to far-field measurements successfully passed EMC tests for Class B ac- so that improvements to the device under test cording to EN55022 and safety tests according that have been identified with the ESA1 and to EN68950. The NAT-PM- AC600 is the then implemented have a proportional effect only AC power supply for MicroTCA in this on the result of the far-field measurement. form factor and being class A and class B cer- News ID 1394 tified makes the NAT-PM-AC600 a unique solution for any MTCA.0 and MTCA.4 based Kontron: multiscreen live transcoder applications. and VoD transcoder News ID 1463 Kontron and Vantrix announced two new high performance transcoding products: a multi- Advantech: fanless out-of-the-box screen live transcoder and VoD transcoder. solution for Internet of Things Both companies redefine multiscreen video Advantech and Intel are launching UTX-3115 transcoding performance. Vantrix’s software coupled with the Intel gateway solutions for is installed as a virtual appliance and operates internet of things. The solution features a pre- on Openstack, enabling flexibility and scala- integrated software and hardware platform bility. A single appliance can run concurrent ap- containing a Linux operating system, security plications, such as Live and VoD transcoding, and management features. This out-of-the- DRM encryption, and streaming with selectable box solution simplifies customer deployment resource assignments for different uses. of IoT products; and it allows secure data ag- News ID 1451 gregation, filtering, and analysis from edge devices to the cloud through WiFi and/or even EKF: peripheral slot board for 4G technologies. CompactPCI serial systems News ID 1460 The SK1-CHORD is a peripheral slot board for CompactPCI Serial systems and acts as IBASE: network appliance based on Atom carrier card for a PMC-style mezzanine mod- C2000 family with Intel QuickAssist ule. PMC modules are provided with a legacy IBASE launches the FWA6404 network appli- PCI interface and are widely in use for indus- ance featuring four high-speed Gigabit LANs trial and scientific applications. The SK1- and support for the new Intel Atom processor CHORD supports the most common 32-bit C2000 family and Intel QuickAssist technology. 33/66MHz PMC modules. The SK1-CHORD Built in a 1U rackmount chassis, the FWA6404 is equipped with a PCI Express to PCI bridge is designed for various networking applications for conversion of data from the CompactPCI requiring high computing performance and Serial backplane, to the on-board PCI parallel big bandwidth applications. bus. The PMC module fits on the PMC con- News ID 1475 nectors J11/J12 at 10mm height. The SK1- CHORD can be installed into any peripheral Advantech: 3.5” MI/O Extension fanless slot of a CompactPCI Serial backplane. SBC based on Intel 4th generation Core News ID 1479 i5/Celeron Advantech announced its MIO-5271 SBC in a VadaTech: MicroTCA.4 chassis solves 3.5” MI/O Extension(146 x 102 mm) form power redundancy problem factor, based on Intel 4th generation Core VadaTech offers an 8U high chassis compliant i5/Celeron processors. It supports with the MicroTCA.4 specification that offers 1600/1333MHz DDR3L, USB 3.0, SATA up to N+1 redundant power to 4400W. MicroTCA.4 6Gb/s (600 MB/s), Intel AMT 9.5 Release, and systems utilize double modules with an RTM has triple independent display capability. Ad- connector for rear I/O. By adding RTM and vantech has developed an optimized thermal higher power large modules, the overall power solution for MIO-5271, making fanless design requirement in chassis are higher. Many High- possible on this kind of compact, high per- Energy Physics and other applications require formance platform. full power redundancy in the system. News ID 1435 News ID 1481

41 June 2014 PRODUCT NEWS

MSC: medical PCs from Avalue Softing: enhanced modbus gateway and graphics solutions based on Tegra K1. GE will MSC Technologies announced Avalue’s AID- linking device be NVIDIA’s preferred provider of the new 173 series of medical PCs that combines a Softing’s modbus gateway and linking device technology to serve applications in harsh en- medical monitoring and diagnostic solution FG-110 FF for the integration of FOUNDA- vironments, most notably to customers in the with infotainment for patients. It enables au- TION fieldbus segments in existing plants and military/aerospace market. thorised medical staff to view electronic patient in Modbus control systems has been enhanced News ID 1386 records and retrieve medical information, X- with two new features „Configuration Upload“ rays or other documents. It also incorporates and „Firmware Download“. The new features ARBOR: robust 1U embedded computers infotainment functions, allowing the patient to will significantly simplify the configuration with AMD G-T40N platform use a wide range of multimedia such as enter- effort needed to expand an H1 system and en- ARBOR announced its new 1U-height fanless, tainment, telephone, games and the internet. able system integrators and control engineers embedded computers to expand its ARES-1500 News ID 1398 to update the field device firmware from a series, based on dual-core AMD Embedded G- central location. T40N APU, combined with the AMD A50M MEN: 3U CompactPCI board with 16 News ID 1410 chipset, allows end users to have a robust plat- digital I/O channels for railway applications form. The new embedded computers offer op- The new 3U CompactPCI board F403 with 16 TI: Sitara software development kit erating temperature range of -25 to 55°C range bidirectional digital I/O channels has been de- based on Mainline Linux kernel and provide a fanless as well as cable-free signed specifically for modern railway appli- TI provides a robust, stable Mainline Linux design, making them unique for industrial use. cations. The new board is suited for many dif- kernel for developers using Sitara processors. News ID 1502 ferent control functions, such as door-locking To ensure high quality, TI collaborates with control and interior lighting. The new F403 the Kernel.org community for code reviews HCC Embedded: MISRA-compliant supports a total of 16 bidirectional digital I/O with stringent acceptance criteria. TI also con- embedded SSL/TLS package channels, organized into four optically isolated tinuously stress tests the Linux kernel across HCC Embedded announced the release of a groups for reliable data transmission with four various customer use cases and applications SSL/TLS implementation designed for use in channels in each group. to guarantee stability. high quality, high performance embedded ap- News ID 1500 News ID 1409 plications. When used in conjunction with HCC’s MISRA-compliant TCP/IP stack, it pro- Axiomtek: high-performance PICMG 1.3 LieberLieber: graphical UML debugger vides a combination of verifiable quality and half-size single board computer integrates into Enterprise Architect speed and memory utilization. The new Axiomtek introduce SHB230, its high-per- enar uml debugger is a graphical UML debug- SSL/TLS implementation can be used as client forming PICMG 1.3 half-size single board ger which integrates into Enterprise Architect. or host and is designed especially for micro- computer. The SHB230 based on the Intel Q87 The product enables testing and debugging of controllers, ensuring a low memory footprint, PCH is designed to support 4th Generation software modeled in UML or SysML right at typically around 20kB ROM / 8kB RAM. Intel Core i7/i5/i3 and Celeron processors in the model layer. enar uml debugger is part of News ID 1407 the LGA1150 socket. The slot CPU card is the LieberLieber product chain targeting soft- equipped with two DDR3-1333/1600 SO- ware development for embedded systems and Mouser: evaluation kit for Atmel’s ARM DIMM sockets up to 16 GB memory capacity. is based on enar uml2code, the code Cortex A5 based processors The PICMG 1.3 specification brings advantages generator developed for generating platform Mouser Electronics is now stocking and shipping of PCI Express to this single board computer independent code from UML state machines the Atmel SAMA5D3 Xplained Evaluation Kit, that offers four PCIe x1 or one PCIe x4, and and activity models. a low cost prototyping board for the Atmel one PCIe x16 routed to the backplane. The News ID 1399 SAMA5D3 family of processors based on the onboard two SATA interfaces support RAID ARM Cortex A5 processor core. The board 0/1 functions to ensure reliable storage for DDC: real-time ARINC 429 data bus supports an external LCD interface, Gigabit multiple applications. Axiomtek’s SHB230 sup- analysis and simulation Ethernet, and Arduino R3 expansion headers. ports SATA RAID, Intel Active Management Data Device Corporation adds real-time data The Atmel SAMA5D3 Xplained Evaluation Kit Technology 9.0, and manipulation to the already feature packed available from Mouser Electronics is Atmel’s News ID 1441 ARINC 429 Data Bus Analyzer avionics soft- latest in a series of SAMA5D3 evaluation boards. ware. Scheduled ARINC 429 data can now be News ID 1488 Wind River: Toshiba is using Simics to modified while running. This powerful feature develop automotive application software allows test engineers and system designers to Softing: process data integration via Wind River announced that Toshiba is using extensively test and emulate avionics systems embedded OPC UA server Wind River Simics to develop automotive ap- using simulated flight data that accurately em- Softing Industrial Automation announces the plication software on image recognition sys- ulates airborne conditions. release of “echocollect UA”, a modern, stan- tem-on-chip platforms. Providing full system News ID 1471 dardized solution for the acquisition and man- simulation and breakthrough development agement of process, manufacturing and quality techniques, the added Simics capabilities can GE works with NVIDIA on data via an embedded OPC Unified Architec- help Toshiba’s automotive customers increase Tegra K1-based HPEC solutions ture (UA) Server. echocollect UA is designed their productivity by transforming their soft- GE Intelligent Platforms announced that it as a versatile gateway with OPC UA interface. ware development processes to be faster and has signed an agreement with NVIDIA to It independently collects data from program- more efficient. The Toshiba image recognition bring products based on the NVIDIA Tegra mable controller systems (PLC) and delivers it SoCs, the TMPV75 Series, are applicable to K1 mobile processor to the embedded com- to a higher-level management system (e.g. advanced driver assistance systems with auto- puting market. GE Intelligent Platforms will ERP or MES) directly via the integrated em- motive video cameras. develop and manufacture rugged high per- bedded OPC UA server. News ID 1465 formance embedded computing (HPEC) and News ID 1417

June 2014 42 PRODUCT NEWS

ADLINK: COM Express module with IAR adds stack usage analysis to its 4th Generation Intel Core processor development tools for Renesas RX ADLINK Technology rolled out a COM express IAR Systems announces a new version of its Type 6 module, adopting the 4th generation development toolchain IAR Embedded Work- Intel Core processor and delivering CPU per- bench for RX. Version 2.60 contains stack formance, graphics, and improved security usage analysis functionality and several other functions. The ADLINK Express-HL is among new features that make the world-leading tool- the first products delivering the computing chain for Renesas RX microcontrollers even power of Intel’s newest generation Core proces- more powerful. Calculating the stack space is sor family. The new module is well suited for notoriously hard for all but the smallest em- intelligent systems innovations in a variety of bedded systems. Worst case maximum stack market segments, such as retail, medicine, depth is very useful information in most em- gaming, transportation, defense, communica- bedded projects, as it greatly simplifies estimates tions, and industrial automation. of how much stack an application will need. News ID 1396 With stack usage analysis enabled in IAR Em- bedded Workbench for RX, a stack usage sec- Silica: reference board with Freescale tion will be added to the linker map file with i.MX 6Quad applications processor listings of the maximum stack depth for each SILICA is expanding its ArchiTech family of call graph root. development and reference boards with the in- News ID 1501 troduction of a high-end system based on the Freescale Semiconductor i.MX 6Quad appli- NI: USRP RIO next-gen wireless cations processor. The Tibidabo development prototyping platform platform comes with SDK, Linux images and National Instruments announced an integrated a board support package based on Yocto to re- software defined radio solution for rapidly duce development time. As well as its quad prototyping high-performance, multichannel ARM CortexTM-A9 CPU clocked at 800 MHz, wireless communication systems. The NI USRP the Tibidabo board carries a host of features RIO platform is built on the NI LabVIEW to satisfy developers targeting high-end em- RIO architecture and combines a high-per- bedded applications such as digital signage, formance 2 x 2 multiple input, multiple output automotive infotainment and gaming. RF transceiver capable of transmitting and re- News ID 1425 ceiving signals from 50 MHz to 6 GHz with an open LabVIEW programmable FPGA SYSGO: extensive testing on the next architecture. version of ELinOS News ID 1486 SYSGO is working on the new 6.0 release of ELinOS. In addition to its own in-house test Green Hills: INTEGRITY RTOS for suites always used for new versions, SYSGO is ARM-based processors using an extensive test suite provided by Green Hills Software announce INTEGRITY- OSADL which focuses on stability and capa- 178 tuMP real-time operating system for bilities of the real-time Linux kernel. Months ARM-based processors. Company’s partner before its official release, ELinOS 6.0 has been Richland Technologies also announced the in- integrated into the OSADL Realtime QA Farm, dustry s first Open Standard Reconfigurable a set of industrial boards and Linux programs and Certifiable Computing Architecture avion- configured to perform quality checking. The ics computer based on an ARM multicore pre-release of ELinOS is running on a phyFLEX processor and INTEGRITY-178 tuMP. It sig- i.MX 6 platform from Phytec. nificantly improves the flexibility in how the News ID 1427 ARM processor cores can be used. News ID 1456 Axiomtek: Box PC with Intel Core processor for railway environments Green Hills Software: enhanced version Axiomtek offers advanced industrial-grade and of Green Hills Compiler ruggedized box computers and panel computers Green Hills Software has announced a new re- that are in compliance with railway standards lease of its Green Hills Compiler. New optimi- and related regulations. Axiomtek’s advanced sations in Green Hills Compiler 2014 extend tBOX321-870-FL adopts onboard high-per- the Green Hills lead over other compilers in formance Intel Core processor and onboard automotive software, as demonstrated by up DRAM which greatly reduce the impact of vi- to 10% improvement compared to latest pub- bration and shock in railway environments. It lished EEMBC Automotive benchmarks. Also is certified with EN50155/EN50121 for rolling renowned for its market-leading robustness, stock, and complied with EN45545-2 for fire the tool is the only commercial compiler cer- resistance which greatly advancing the system tified to the stringent IEC 61508 Safety Integrity performance and reliability. Level 4 and ISO 26262 ASIL D. News ID 1345 News ID 1423

43 June 2014 PRODUCT NEWS

ITTIA: DB SQL advances in-memory data footprint together with a BSP for the on- management for Embedded systems board peripherals, minimizing development ITTIA announces new capabilities of ITTIA time. DB SQL that empower embedded systems to News ID 1373 Editors store a large volume of data in-memory for Jürgen Hübner processing and analysis. Applications use this Altium partners with Octopart in phone +49(0)8092-2477413 technology to find specific details in a very Developer Program for Altium Designer fax +49(0)8092-2477429 large data set and perform complex queries in Altium announces a third party developer [email protected] seconds. Storing and retrieving large amounts partnership with Octopart, a provider of an Wolfgang Patelay of data constitutes an important aspect of electronic parts search engine. Around 70- [email protected] managing any business. Decision-makers are 80% of the life cycle cost for a new product is constantly challenged to extract insight from a direct result of decisions made during the Tony Devereux real-time data to increase productivity. design phase. This is because designers are [email protected]

News ID 1524 creating a blueprint for everyone else to follow For Reader Inquiries and Address Changes and is the reason why it is very important to please contact: Wind River: VxWorks MILS platform for have the right information to make prudent [email protected] avionics communications system decisions early in the design process. Wind River announced Lockheed Martin relied Sales & Marketing Director News ID 1371 Manfred Blumoser on Wind River VxWorks MILS Platform to phone +49(0)8092-2477411 provide a separation kernel-based security Atego combines model-based systems fax +49(0)8092-2477429 foundation for its new avionics communica- and software engineering [email protected] tions system that was recently flight-tested. Atego has launched Atego Vantage, an inte- Claudia Mellein Lockheed Martin’s independently funded re- grated solution combining Model-based Sys- [email protected] search and development effort, called Project tems and Software Engineering, Asset-based Missouri, demonstrates how an open system Modular Design and variable Product Line Christiane Lockner [email protected] architecture enables quick and affordable in- Engineering. The combination of these three tegration of new capabilities on multiple plat- proven approaches into Model–based Product Sales Office - UK and USA, Benelux, forms without major changes to the aircraft. Line Engineering can reduce development Scandinavia News ID 1450 costs by 62% and bring 23% more projects in Blue Sky Communications on time. Malcolm Cameron 21 Cliffe Avenue dSPACE: SYNECT data management News ID 1365 Westbrook, software with model management Margate, Kent CT9 5DU, UK Version 1.3 of the dSPACE SYNECT data man- IAR Systems: updated version of devel- phone +44 (0)77 88-10 84 11 agement software adds powerful model man- opment tools for Freescale HCS12 fax +44 (0)80 82-8010 57 agement to its test, signal, parameter and vari- IAR Systems releases an updated version of its [email protected] ant management for model-based develop- complete development toolchain IAR Embed- Sales Office - Asia ment. Engineers, software developers and ar- ded Workbench for HCS12. Plenty of new Jean Cheng, [email protected] chitects using model-based design can now functionality is added to further improve ease Vivian Hung, [email protected] manage system, function and plant simulation of use and make the workflow more efficient Innovative Media Information & Services 7F-3, No. 26, Sec. 2, Ming-Quan East Rd. models together with the associated interface for developers working with the 16-bit HCS12 Taipei 104 Taiwan data, parameters and files. microcontrollers from Freescale. In addition, phone +886 2 2563 1186 News ID 1473 the IAR C/C++ Compiler incorporated in IAR Embedded Workbench for HCS12 now uses Head Office Micro Digital announces smx vs. the ISO/IEC 9899:1999 standard, known as FreeRTOS comparison C99, as the default C language. Micro Digital has completed a detailed com- News ID 1404 parison of smx, a commercial RTOS kernel, to ICC Media GmbH Rauwagnerstr. 5 a typical free generic kernel called FreeRTOS. SYSGO: integration of PikeOS with 85560 Ebersberg / Germany Many people in the embedded community Lauterbach’s TRACE32 debugger tool believe that RTOS kernels are all equivalent. SYSGO is announcing a new integration of Editorial Office UK This comparison shows that smx offers many its certified RTOS/hypervisor PikeOS with 36a Blackacre Road more and better features than a typical generic Lauterbach’s TRACE32 Debugger tool Theydon Bois kernel. What is not in the kernel must be de- that supports the debugging of ELinOS, its Essex, CM16 7LU veloped in the application embedded Linux product, running as PikeOS’ Copyright© All rights reserved. News ID 1359 personality. PikeOS developers were already No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in able to use TRACE32 from Lauterbach, a any form or by any means without the prior express written permission of ICCMedia. SILICA: development board with Linux debugging capability that applies to a full Although we make every effort to present up-to-date, accurate optimised for Renesas RZ/A1H MCU range of items, from bootstrap code to inter- information, boards&solutions will not be responsible for any SILICA is launching a new ArchiTech devel- rupt routines and drivers. The new version of errors or omissions or for any results obtained from the use of such information. The magazine will not be liable for any loss opment board that offers a low cost streamlined Lauterbach’s Kernel awareness provides now caused by the reliance on information obtained on this site. platform for Linux based designs. The Ar- the possibility to debug any thread of ELinOS, Furthermore, boards&solutions does not warrant the accuracy or completeness of the information, text, graphics in this maga- chiTech Hachiko board is supplied with a used as PikeOS Linux Personality, and in SMP zine. The opinions expressed in the articles are those of the Linux kernel optimised for the Renesas mode if needed. authors and not necessarily the opinions of the publisher. RZ/A1H MCU, to work with a small memory News ID 1457

June 2014 44 PRODUCT NEWS

Schroff: online system selection tool Bluetechnix: automotive image sensor module Schroff VME, VPX, VXS, CompactPCI, CompactPCI Serial and Mi- The newest Bluetechnix image sensor module ISM-AR0132AT combines croTCA systems from Pentair are configured to customer specifications high-dynamic-range and 60 fps recording. Its sensitivity exceeds the from off-the-shelf parts and components including cooling and power human eye as well as it exceeds the comfort zone of most human ob- supply, etc. The modular design of these products allows some 95% of servers with a range of operation temperature from -40 to +85°C. The all customer requirements to be catered for. The remaining 5% can be ISM, which is based on an 1280 (H) x 960 (V) Aptina-AR0132AT, will served by making simple modifications to the standard systems. therefore operate and collect detailed, precise and true-color information News ID 1389 even in adverse weather or light conditions. News ID 1434 Xilinx: SDNet software defined specification environment Xilinx announced the industry’s first solution for “Softly” Defined Net- Maxim: single-phase electricity meter SoC works, expanding programmability and intelligence from the control Using the ZON M3 (MAX71315) single-phase electricity meter SoC to the data plane. The design of the programmable data plane functions from Maxim Integrated Products, engineers now have a highly accurate, is enabled by the new Software Defined Specification Environment for low-cost design system for e-meters and solid-state meters. Automotive Networking, with functional specifications automatically compiled into Superior metering metrology is essential for accurate monitoring and Xilinx’s All Programmable FPGAs and SoCs. billing. The ZON M3 energy-meter solution integrates four 24-bit News ID 1402 ADCs for 4-channel data collection and ±0.1% measurement accuracy over 5000:1 dynamic range. ETAS: test operations services for embedded systems News ID 1466 ETAS, a leading provider of solutions for embedded automotive systems, announced the launch of ETAS Test Operations Services as a new area, SEGGER: J-Link now supports Microchip’s PIC32 family offering complete test specification, implementation, execution, analysis microcontrollers and reporting services for embedded systems in the automotive and J-Link now fully supports direct debugging via JTAG on Microchip commercial vehicle industries. PIC32 devices. This includes support for the IEEE 1149.2 traditional 4- News ID 1382 wire JTAG interface and the Microchip proprietary 2-wire JTAG interface. Debugging via 2-wire JTAG is supported on all 2-wire JTAG Imagination: WebRTC media engine with enhanced compliant PIC32 devices. To start using the J-Link with PIC32, the voice/video conferencing only thing required is a current J-Link model and the Microchip adapter. Imagination Technologies introduces an innovative WebRTC media News ID 1401 engine that promises to deliver a new level of quality to companies building native or browser-based voice and video conferencing services based on WebRTC. Imagination’s HelloSoft WebRTC engine with its unique, proven algorithms provides enhanced voice and video quality for a superior user experience across mobile and tablet platforms. News ID 1482

TI: programmable microcontroller solution to handle resolver-to-digital decoding Texas Instruments announces the C2000 MCU Resolver Kit, its first programmable microcontroller solution to handle resolver-to-digital decoding.The C2000 MCU Resolver Kit shows designers how to implement the digital conversion using software on programmable C2000 MCUs, saving system cost and space in a variety of industrial applications, including robotics, servo drives, automation, avionics and transportation. News ID 1452

Apacer rolls out SATA 3 SSD with storage capacity of 1TB In order to respond to the worldwide rapid growth of Cloud and Big Data, Apacer launched SATA 3 large capacity SFD 25H-M SSD. It pos- sesses a storage capacity of 1TB, with sequential read/write speed of 510/420MB/sec, marking a significant specification enhancement and an advance to virtualization technology of Big Data storage. Enterprises’ overall data processing performance will be strengthened. News ID 1510

Freescale: QorIQ multicore processors family Freescale Semiconductor is introducing the QorIQ LS2085A and LS2045A SoCs based on Layerscape architecture. The QorIQ LS2 incorporates a processing domainbuilt around the industry-leading 64- bit ARM Cortex-A57 core. Tightly coupled to this domain is a set of debug, I/O and acceleration technologies, including a packet processing engine that abstracts hardware complexity and enables customers to focus their resources on innovation at the application level. News ID 1446

45 June 2014 PRODUCT NEWS

Atlantik presents Holtek s blood glucose providing an accurate, maximum current across meter flash MCU different input voltages. Additionally, the COMPANY PAGE Atlantik Elektronik presents the HT45F65 and UCC28630 controller’s ability to support pri- HT45F67, Holtek’s new electronic glucose mary side regulation technology improves reli- meter flash MCUs that will enhance the pres- ability in 10- to 100-W power supplies. ADLINK 7 ence of Holtek’s products in the medical in- News ID 1343 strumentation product application area. The AAEON 9/33 devices contain a high accuracy programmable Wibu-Systems announced “Protection reference voltage, a dedicated operational am- Suite” plifier as well as an A/D converter and tem- Wibu-Systems announced its „Wibu-Systems abe 24 perature sensor functionality. Protection Suite“. The suite includes the all- in-one CodeMeter encryption and licensing News ID 1390 Advantech 17 tool that enables manufacturers to quickly Freescale: Kinetis microcontrollers for motor and easily protect their ready-made software control and digital power conversion and their know-how against piracy and reverse CESYS 41 Freescale Semiconductor introduces the new engineering, and safeguard their equipment Kinetis V series, optimised for motor control and from tampering or cyber-attacks. The Suite congatec 27 digital power conversion applications and the also includes the automatic “AxProtector” en- Kinetis Motor Suite, a bundled enablement tool cryption tool for software applications, and that helps to maximise motor efficiency while re- “ExProtector”, an encryption tool specially de- Conrad Electronic 25 ducing development cost and time to market. signed for embedded operating systems. Advertisers Index Both are based on ARM Cortex-M processors. News ID 1418 Digi-Key 2 News ID 1433 Digi-Key: ISO 14001 certification Atlantik Elektronik presents blood underscores green initiatives EBV 11 pressure meter flash MCU Digi-Key announced its continued efforts around Atlantik Elektronik presents the HT45F3W, sustainability and environmental management. Holtek s new electronic blood pressure meter The company has put into place a series of Ecrin 19 flash MCU that will enhance the presence of green initiatives including ISO 14001:2004 cer- Holtek s products in the medical instrumen- tification, environmentally friendly packaging, Elma Electronic 45 tation product application area. The device company-wide policies and best practices around contains multiple fully integrated amplifiers reducing energy, waste, and paper usage, as well with programmable gain and bias values as as increased recycling awareness. Express Logic 23 well as a 13-bit A/D converter and a constant News ID 1487 current generator. Additionally, the HT45F3W Green Hills 5 also features a charge pump and regulator Microchip: highly integrated, automotive functions. AEC-Q100-qualified motor driver News ID 1358 Microchip announces the MCP8063, a highly Lauterbach 39 integrated, automotive AEC-Q100-qualified TI: flyback power devices with PSR motor driver in a small, 8-pin, 4x4 mm MEN 31 achieve sub-30-mW standby power DFN package. It is also combine all of those Texas Instruments introduced two flyback power features with 1.5A peak phase current for solutions that achieve the highest energy effi- the 180-degree sinusoidal drive of a variety Microchip 15 ciency and lowest standby power consumption of three-phase brushless DC motor and for 5- to 100-watt AC/DC power supplies. The fan applications. MSC 3 UCC28910 700-V flyback switcher and News ID 1443 UCC28630 high-power, Green-Mode controller expand TI’s leading portfolio of flyback con- Green Hills Software: security services PEAK-System-Technik 43 trollers covering the complete power range of for Internet-of-Things AC/DC adapters and power supplies used in Green Hills Software launched a new services PLS 13 personal electronics, printers, white goods and group, IoT Security Advisors, comprised of smart meters. Combining high density with security experts from all of Green Hills Soft- high efficiency, TI’s UCC28910 switcher with ware s business units to provide security serv- Renesas 48 integrated high-voltage power MOSFET achieves ices for organisations that must manage the the industry’s best stand-by power consumption daunting privacy and security challenges as- for 5- to 10-W designs and features the lowest sociated with the IoT. VadaTech 21 constant-current output tolerance of 5 percent, News ID 1415

ore information about each news is available on Mwww.Embedded-Control-Europe.com/magazine You just have to type in the “News ID”. —

June 2014 46 This is a selection of technical highlights which are available right now for free access

Embedded-Know-How.com White Papers • Articles • Webinars & Videos

How to build robust and scalable M2M V series consists of multiple MCU families jet engines or electric power turbines can gen- infrastructures for the Internet of Things with scalable performance, memory and feature erate similar amounts in a matter of hours. This webinar examines the differences between integration to address everything from entry Even smart grid measurements can generate IoT and M2M, and the critical characteristics level BLDC motors to advanced PMSM and terabytes of data over the course of a month. needed in any system that is to be deployed ACIM motors. During this webinar you will Capturing, analyzing, and sharing this data is for Internet of Things applications. Eurotech learn about its high performance cores, analog a “Big Analog Data*” problem. has over 15 years of experience in building and timing peripherals and best-in-class en- M2M systems based upon paradigms that have ablement including reference designs, software Virtualization for embedded solutions in since been gathered together and become libraries and motor configuration tools. industrial and automation applications known as the Internet of Things. Today, this This webinar discusses AMD-V technology, a critical knowledge is distilled into an integration VxWorks 7 – the real-time operating set of unique on-chip features that help AMD platform and device framework which does system for the Internet of Things processor-based platforms run multiple oper- the heavy lifting for users wanting to build In this talk, Dinyar Dastoor, Vice President, ating systems and applications on a single and deploy reliable managed M2M solutions Wind River takes us through an interesting platform by improving the efficiency of virtu- where data can be easily shared between journey on how the world is changing with alization software. AMD supports choice in devices, applications and stakeholders. Internet of things. In this new world, device the marketplace. DAS 1.0 and open standards- manufacturers face new set of challenges of based management tools and technology Advanced power management helps scalability, security and safety related applica- provide the essential management features bring improved performance to highly tions. Apart from elaborating these challenges, businesses need to easily and flexibly support integrated x86 processors he also explains how the latest generation of embedded systems. AMD DAS is a term used Complex heterogeneous processors have the VxWorks 7 RTOS is designed to address these to describe the various open standards based potential to leave a large amount of perform- challenges. This would be also be a good watch technologies used to help fulfill the increasing ance headroom untapped when workloads for anyone trying to find out what is “Internet security and reliability needs of embedded don’t utilize all cores. Advanced power man- of Things” and how it affect design of device solutions and includes DASH, AMD Virtual- agement techniques for x86 processors are functionality. ization, and Security. designed to reduce the power of underutilized cores while also allowing for dynamic allocation New methods for debugging of deeply Why engineers should take a 2nd look of the thermal budget between cores for embedded multicore systems at MicroTCA improved performance. The webtalk illustrates the new challenges for In this talk VadaTech Marketing Director Justin a debugger with the new multicore architectures Moll takes a view of the MicroTCA architecture Turn-key authentication and brand AURIX (Infineon), Qorivva (Freescale) and today vs. the early days, because many people protection SPC57x (STMicroelectronics). It describes so- have misperceptions about the architecture. The counterfeit business in electronic devices lutions in the Universal Debug Engine from The compact size, performance, and low cost continues to expand - pushing demand for PLS for a multicore awareness of the user in- of MicroTCA has made it increasingly popular robust authentication and brand protection terface and a method for run control and for high-performance embedded computing solutions. To meet the growing counterfeit synchronization. Other important topics like applications in Mil/Aero, Communications, challenge, Infineon decided to take the com- the observation of multiple cores during run Physics, and many Industrial applications. But, plexity and cost out of embedded security time and functions of system level debugging many people have misperceptions about the designs for electronic devices - introducing like code coverage and profiling are also part architecture. The presentation shows the vast OPTIGA Trust. of the presentation. differences of this cutting-edge architecture from inception to today. Motor control no longer needs to be Big Analog Data: the big data for inefficient, noisy or difficult engineers and scientists With the new Kinetis V series microcontrollers, Engineers and scientists worldwide are ac- motor control no longer needs to be inefficient, quiring vast amounts of data at very high noisy or difficult. Built on the latest ARM® speeds. Physics experiments can generate tens Cortex®-M0+ and Cortex-M4 cores, the Kinetis of terabytes in just a few seconds. Testing of