Scan this QR code to subscribe Embedded Intel® Solutions Spring 2012 Standards Vie for Mobile Medical Leadership Social and Mobile Players Change the Game Body Area Networking Heats Up in Medical Field Multicore Is Key to Innovation in Medical Applications www.embeddedintel.com Gold Sponsors Scalability conga-BM67 - Extreme Graphics Performance 2nd Generation Intel® Core™ i7 processors up to 2.1 GHz Maximum computing power and graphics performance conga-BS57 - Ultra Low Voltage Intel® Core™ i7-620LE processors up to 2.0 GHz Computing power and graphics performance at low power consumption conga-BE57 - ECC Memory Support Intel® Core™ i7-610E processors up to 2.53 GHz Error Correction Code (ECC) memory for controlled reliability conga-CA6 - COM Express Compact Lowest power consumption, extended temperature range Based on Intel® Atom™ processor E600 series and Intel® Platform Controller Hub EG20T congatec Inc. | 6262 Ferris Square San Diego | CA 92121 USA | Phone: 858-457-2600 | [email protected] Meet this attractive family at: www.congatec.us © 2011 congatec AG. 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Extreme Engineering Solutions 608.833.1155 www.xes-inc.com IN THIS ISSUE SPRING 2012 DEPARTMENTS TECHNOLOGY APPLICATIONS FROM THE EDITOR 33 A New Category of Rugged, Fanless Power Supply New approach meets large-load requirements at high ambient 4 Less Specs, More Feedback temperatures for medical, clean room or outdoor signage By John Blyler, Editorial Director applications. NEWS By Joel Zaens, Emerson Network Power 6 Product News 35 x86-Based Hardware and the Internet-of- By Byron Adams Things Devices Market MARKET WATCH Why x86-based technology is important to key companies worldwideand continues to evolve 14 Healthcare Trends Drive Design Requirements By Samuel Phung, ICOP Technolog Multicore offers opportunities for medical device manufacturers, but overall adoption is slow. By Cheryl Coupé, Senior Editor 37 Flat Program? Overheated Multicore Application? STANDARDS WATCH Roadside assistance with an industry-standard inter-process 17 Body Area Networking Heats Up in Medical Field communication - MCAPI Standards battle brews for wireless chips By Tedd Gribb and Martina Brehmer, Polycore Software, and By Mark LaPedus, Contributing Editor Markus Levy, The Multicore Association SPECIAL FEATURES LAST WORD 19 Multicore Is Key to Innovation in Medical 48 Small Form Factor Standards Co-Exist in Applications Harmony Next generation of safety-critical medical systems requires Don’t expect a shake-out any time soon; stackable small form secure, stable platform for innovation while reusing as much factor standards will continue to co-exist, each serving certain legacy code as possible. classes of applications. By Santhosh Nair and Jens Wiegand, Wind River By Robert Burckle, WinSystem 22 Standards Vie for Mobile Medical Leadership Qseven modules running Windows or Linux applications on PRODUCT SHOWCASE Intel Atom processors provide a proven and accessible path to market for mobile medical devices. By Colin McCracken, American Portwell Technology, Inc. 41 ADL Embedded Solutions Inc. 42 AXIOMTEK 26 Intel’s Power Play The implications of 2X performance-per-watt improvement will 42 AXIOMTEK be significant for server, desktop, laptop, tablet and smartphone applications. 43 DFI-ITOX By Bhanu Kapoor, Mimasic 44 Emerson Network Power 27 Internet Minute Drives Packet Acceleration 44 Emerson Network Power Intel’s latest two-chip Crystal Forest platform adds data packet 45 Emerson Network Power acceleration to existing telecommunication application and control plane functionality. 45 Emerson Network Power By Steve Price, Intel 46 Emerson Network Power 29 Social and Mobile PlayersChange the Game 47 VersaLogic Corp. The rise of the social, mobile Alpha-Influencers segment opens 47 Extreme Engineering Solutions, Inc. new horizons for the game-relatedtechnology and content- services industries. By John Blyler, Editorial Director Cover image: Intel Health Guide - Front Left Angle Image 2 | Embedded Intel® Solutions — Spring 2012 | www.embeddedintel.com FROM THE EDITOR Less Specs, More www.embeddedintel.com V.P. and Associate Publisher Feedback Clair Bright Editorial Editorial Director Engineers need specifications, but the consumer experience John Blyler [email protected] (503) 614-1082 must be quantified if designs are to be successful. Senior Editor Cheryl Coupé By John Blyler, Editorial Director [email protected] Managing Editor-USA ngineered systems succeed or fail based Byron Adams A basic engineering question Managing Editor - China Eupon the clarity and timeliness of detailed remains: How do you design elec- Jane Lin-Li specification. Not surprisingly, consumers of tronic systems for the emotional Contributing Editors highly engineered products like cell phones and Cheryl Ajluni, Mark LaPedus, experience of the consumer? Ed Sperling, Craig Szydlowski, Nicole Freeman, game handsets seem ambivalent to technical Ann Steffora Mutschler specs. To them, having the fastest processor or Creative/Production Production Manager the most cores in a system-on-chip is meaningless if the experience using the device is poor. Spryte Heithecker Some would say that this is why software – not hardware – makes a difference. But with Android Graphic Designers Nicky Jacobson looking more and more like the iOS phones, software seems to be less important than before. Again, Keith Kelly - Senior what matters to consumers is the experience – the total experience – of the device. That is why John Production Assistant Jenn Burkhardt Wang, chief marketing officer at mobile phone giant HTC, recently stated that consumers don’t care Senior Web Developer about numbers, but rather something more emotional. Mariam Moattari How do chip and intellectual property (IP) developers – even at a system architectural level – design Advertising / Reprint Sales Vice President, Sales emotionally? The answer is at the interface, between the user and the device – between the analog and Embedded Electronics Media Group digital world. This means that sensor, image and interface connections will become critical hardware IP Clair Bright components. Already, the IP community is experiencing this trend with the shift from component IP to [email protected] (415) 255-0390 ext. 15 subsystem blocks. Marketing/Circulation The importance of quantifying the consumer experience will also mean that software rapid proto- Jenna Johnson typing at the interface will take on new relevance. To Subscribe www.embeddedintel.com I asked this question of Tobi Saulnier, CEO of 1st Playable Productions – a game and entertainment company. Tobi is one of the few engineers in the gaming industry that has successfully led the develop- ment of consumer end products. When asked to explain, from an engineering perspective, what it’s like to design for an industry that covers both entertainment and engineering, she replied: Extension Media, LLC Corporate Office “The part that stands out to me is how inadequate up-front specifi- President and Publisher cation is when designing something primarily judged on aesthetics such Vince Ridley [email protected] as “fun” and art style. A game player’s experience is based on a synthe- (415) 255-0390 ext. 18 sized experience, very little of which can be quantified and predicted. So V. P. and Associate Publisher as an engineer you need to start relying on user feedback much earlier Embedded Electronics Media Group Clair Bright and develop systems that you can adapt to a changing specification.” [email protected] Her observations mirror those of semiconductor firms like Intel. Justin Rattner, Intel’s CTO, shared Vice President, Business Development Melissa Sterling these observations at last year’s IMEC Technology Forum: “User experience design makes engineers ner- [email protected] vous, since it relies on one’s perspective for what makes for a good experience. But this is now becoming a Human Resources / Administration formal, qualitative experience.” Rachael Evans This experience-based approach involves more than just getting the user interface correct. It requires Special Thanks to Our Sponsors a great deal of user input and feedback throughout the product development process. The key to user ex- perience- (UX) based hardware design seems to be determining the basic level of the needed experience. Could such user experiences be captured as semiconductor IP? Why not, especially if such experi- ences could be replicated in algorithms? It may require that hardware IP designers work more closely with their software IP (library and applications) brethren. A closer working relationship between hardware and software engineers might well lead to better feedback – a key spec for future successful designs. John Blyler is the editorial director of Extension Media, which publishes Chip Design and Embedded Intel® Solutions