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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

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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 -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 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 magazine, plus over 36 EECatalog Resource Catalogs Embedded Intel ®Solutions is sent free to engineers and embedded developers in the U.S. and Canada who design with Embedded Intel® Processors. in vertical market areas. Embedded Intel ®Solutions is published by Extension Media LLC, 1786 18th Street, San Francisco, CA 94107. Copyright © 2012 by Extension Media LLC. All rights reserved. Printed in the U.S.

4 | Embedded Intel® Solutions — Spring 2012 | www.embeddedintel.com

NEWS

Product News

NEWS By Byron Adams

New Intel® Atom™ Processor N2000 and D2000 to Invest in Future of Automotive Computing Platform Solutions Technology Advantech, a global leader in the design and Intel Capital announced a $100 million investment fund to manufacture of embedded computing solutions, help accelerate innovation and the adoption of new technology announces a full range of new embedded and services in the automotive industry. Intel Capital is the platforms based on the latest generation of first global technology investment organization headquartered Intel® Atom™ processors N2000 and D2000 in Silicon Valley to announce a dedicated focus on automotive series. The new platforms’ key features include a technology innovation. 7 year longevity commitment and the capability The Intel Capital Connected Car Fund will be invested globally to outperform its predecessor, the Intel® over the next 4 to 5 years in hardware, software and services Atom™ processors N450 and D510 series, on companies developing technologies to promote new, compelling performance aspects for computing, graphic, in-vehicle applications and enable the seamless connection and power consumption. The product portfolio between vehicles and any connected device, including mobile includes: Computer On Modules, Single Board Computers and devices and sensors. Industrial Motherboards. These low-power platforms provide energy-efficient and Intel Invests in Product Development and Research environmentally responsible solutions and serve a wide range of to Spur Innovation in the Connected Car applications targeted at handheld devices, POS, kiosks, digital Intel Corporation announced several automotive signage, medical, and factory automation. investments and initiatives designed to spur innovation and product development that will enable new and innovative Intel Expands Smartphone Portfolio: New connected car experiences. The investments include the new Customers, Products, Software and Services Automotive Innovation and Product Development Center, At Mobile World Congress, Intel expansion of Intel Labs Interaction and Experience Research Corporation President and CEO (IXR) in automotive, an academic outreach program, and the detailed a number of establishment of the $100 million Intel Capital Connected announcements and plans aimed at Car Investment Fund. expanding the company’s smartphone “In today’s mobile world, personal computing touches product portfolio and customer ecosystem, every part of consumers’ daily lives while at home, at the including strategic new engagements with office and on the road,” said Intel President and CEO Paul Orange®, Lava International Ltd.®, ZTE®, Otellini. “By broadening our research efforts, academic and and Visa®. capital investments and opening the Automotive Innovation “We are very pleased to add new, and Product Development Center, Intel is deepening its important customers and capabilities understanding of how people interact with their cars and how to our phone offerings today. We remain focused on delivering Intel innovations can enhance the automotive experience.” exciting new features and outstanding performance to smartphone The Automotive Innovation and Product Development customers around the world.” said Otellini. Center will serve as Intel’s global center of competence for Otellini made the announcements during an Intel news the development of products and technologies for in-vehicle conference at Mobile World Congress. He also highlighted infotainment and telematics solutions for the connected car. the company’s plans to expand its smartphone SoC and The center will optimize Intel technologies for applications communications product roadmaps for the performance and and services as well as capabilities for consumer electronics value smartphone market segments. integration, performance optimization and system design.

6 | Embedded Intel® Solutions — Spring 2012 | www.embeddedintel.com Intel® Atom™ Processor Small, Fanless Embedded PCs

'PSZPVSOFYUEFTJHODPOTJEFS 8JO4ZTUFNTTJOHMFCPBSEDPNQVUFST SUMIT-ISM QPXFSFEXJUIBTJOHMFPSEVBMDPSF *OUFM¥"UPN™QSPDFTTPS0VS*OEVTUSZ 4UBOEBSETCBTFE4#$TIBWFBXFBMUI PGPOCPBSE*0 QMVT1$ 46.*5  BOE.JOJ1$* F FYQBOTJPODPOOFDUPST *OEVTUSZ4UBOEBSE1MBUGPSNT  t&1*$oYJODIFT EPIC  t oYJODIFT PC/104  t1$oYJODIFT  t46.*5*4.™oYJODIFT  4PGUXBSF4VQQPSU  t8JOEPXT¥$& 91F BOE8&4  t-JOVY  tYDPNQBUJCMF3504  t2VJDL4UBSU%FWFMPQNFOU,JUT  4UBDLBCMF*OQVU0VUQVU.PEVMFT  t"%BOE%"  t%JHJUBMBOE4FSJBM  "DDFTTPSJFT*ODMVEF  t$BCMFTBOE"EBQUFST  t1PXFS4VQQMJFTBOE.FNPSZ EBX  $PNNVOJDBUJPO&YQBOTJPO  tBCH8JSFMFTT  t.CQT&UIFSOFU  t4VQQPSUT.JOJ1$*BOE.JOJ1$* F  Call 817-274-7553 or  -POHMJGF1SPEVDU"WBJMBCJMJUZ Visit WinSystems.com/AtomEIS  &YUFOEFE5FNQFSBUVSF0QFSBUJPO Ask about our 30-day 0VS4#$TBSFUIFSJHIUDIPJDFGPSJOEVTUSJBM  product evaluation QJQFMJOF USBOTQPSUBUJPO JOTUSVNFOUBUJPO NFEJDBM  BOE.*-$054BQQMJDBUJPOT$BMMVTUPEBZ

714UBEJVN%SJWFt"SMJOHUPO 5FYBT 1IPOFt'"9 &NBJMJOGP!XJOTZTUFNTDPN NEWS

Intel, Micron Update NAND Joint Venture The XOLO X900 from Lava is Intel Corporation and , Inc. announced that based on Intel’s smartphone the companies have entered into agreements to expand their NAND reference design featuring the Flash memory joint venture relationship. Intel® Atom™ processor Z2460 The agreements, which are designed to improve the flexibility and with Intel® Hyper-Threading efficiency of the joint venture, include a NAND Flash supply agreement Technology and supporting for Micron to supply NAND products to Intel and agreements for HSPA+ with the Intel’s XMM™ certain joint venture assets to be sold to Micron. Under terms of the 6260 platform. agreement, Intel is selling its stake in two wafer factories in exchange Lava is a successful and for approximately $600 million—the approximate book value of Intel’s growing mobile phone brand in share. Additionally, Intel will be receiving approximately half of the the Indian market. In order to consideration in cash and the remaining amount will be deposited with bring a high performance and differentiated smartphones to the market, Micron, which may be refunded or applied to Intel’s future purchases Lava has collaborated with Intel to introduce its first Intel® processor- under the NAND Flash supply agreement. The agreements also extend based smartphone under the brand XOLO. The XOLO X900 Android the companies’ successful NAND Flash joint development program smartphone is expected to hit retail shelves in India early in the second and expand it to include emerging memory technologies. quarter this year and will support all major 2G and 3G networks.

Visa and Intel Form Strategic Alliance to Advance Intel Unveils First Videos in 60 Second Insights Mobile Commerce Campaign Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) and Intel Corporation announced a strategic Intel is launching an online video conversation platform called 60 agreement to develop mobile commerce solutions tailored to Second Insights, created to bring together leaders in their respective areas consumers in developed and developing countries. During a press to share their visions and perspectives on technology and mobility–how conference at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, the companies our culture, business, art to our youth, family and health are impacted outlined plans to collaborate to ensure consumers enjoy a consistent, and how technology and mobility will evolve going forward. 60 Second streamlined, secure mobile commerce experience across Intel® Atom™ Insights is out to capture the enthusiasm that we all share on mobility processor-based smartphones and tablets. and technology and also create a platform for an ongoing conversation “Visa’s agreement with Intel paves the way for financial institutions on where we go from here. The first of these videos featuring executives around the globe to offer their account holders mobile payments and from companies such as Ericsson, DreamWorks, Pandora and TechShop financial services using innovative mobile devices and technologies and innovators including a National Geographic explorer and fashion designed by Intel,” said John Partridge, President, Visa Inc. during designer are now LIVE for viewing. the press conference. “This is another example of how Visa is making mobile payments broadly available across devices and operating TenAsys® and Unified Automation collaborate systems and is ensuring that mobile commerce applications are on OPC UA Services for the INtime® Family of aligned with existing technology and security standards established Operating Systems by the global payments industry.” TenAsys Corporation (www.tenasys.com), a leading provider of real-time and embedded virtualization software, announces that it Intel Announces Intel® Cloud SSO Beta Backed by has been collaborating with Unified Automation GmbH based in Salesforce.com Schwabach, Germany to add OPC UA server support to the INtime Intel announced a beta version of Intel® Cloud SSO, an identity RTOS product line. The companies are demonstrating their solution and access management-as-a-service (IAMaaS) offering available on TenAsys’ INtime Distributed RTOS at Embedded World 2012. on Force.com. With Intel Cloud SSO, enterprise users gain single A feature of INtime is that multiple independent instances of sign-on access to all Salesforce.com applications and dozens of the RTOS can be run simultaneously on a multicore processor. other SaaS apps, through a secure, personalized portal. Strong This allows control application software and an enterprise network two-factor mobile authentication, user account provisioning and de- interface to run independently on different cores in the same system, provisioning, enterprise-class identity lifecycle management features, passing messages in a controlled and secure way. and integration with McAfee Cloud Security Platform provide end- to-end protection for cloud-based apps. The beta is available to a QNX Readies New Wireless Connectivity Solutions limited number of customers, with general availability scheduled for For Embedded Systems Developers Q2. To be considered for the beta, visit Salesforce.com. QNX Software Systems Limited, a leader in software platforms for connected embedded systems, a leader in software platforms for Lava First to Deliver New Smartphone Based on connected embedded systems, announced new preferred partnerships Intel Technology to Fast-Growing India Market with LS Research and Silex Technology to develop and co-market At Mobile World Congress, Intel Corporation and Lava wireless connectivity solutions for embedded systems based on the International Ltd., one of India’s fastest-growing mobile handset award-winning QNX® Neutrino® Realtime Operating System (RTOS). companies, announced that the companies are collaborating to The partnerships aim to bring mobile-class wireless connectivity launch the XOLO X900–India’s first smartphone with Intel Inside®. features to a new generation of embedded systems, for applications

8 | Embedded Intel® Solutions — Spring 2012 | www.embeddedintel.com Embedding Excellence

MSC Embedded offers a large variety of COM products in COM ExpressTM, QsevenTM and ETX®. Our COM products are scalable, easy to install and power ful to enable long-term support for industrial applications with an upgrade path to future needs.

COM Express™ Qseven™ MSC CXB-6S MSC Q7-TCTC Intel® CoreTM Processors – 2nd Generation Intel® AtomTM Processors

ƒMultiple Intel® Core™ i5, i7 and Intel® ƒIntel® Atom™ processor E6xx (600MHz..1.6GHz) ® processor options up to 2 GB SDRAM, opt. Flash SSD ƒSingle, dual and quad core solutions ƒup to 2x SATA-300 ƒIntel® HD Graphics 2000 / 3000 ƒ10/100/1000 Base-TX Ethernet ƒUp to 16GB DDR3 SDRAM, dual channel ƒLVDS-Interface (18 Bit, single-channel) ƒOne PATA, four SATA-300 interfaces ƒDVI (1920x1080) via Baseboard ƒLVDS (24 Bit, dual channel) and VGA ƒDual Independent Display ƒResolution up to 2560 x 1600 ƒExtended temperature range -40..+85°C ƒCOM Express Type 2 ƒWindows® 7, XP, WEC7 and Linux ƒ125 mm x 95 mm (4.92 x 3.74”)

MSC Embedded Inc. %D\KLOO'ULYHǧ6XLWHǧ6DQ%UXQR&$ GLUHFW  ǧID[   [email protected] V-3_2012-WOEI-5970 www.mscembedded.com NEWS

ranging from medical diagnostics and patient monitoring to secure Eurotech Announces CPU-111-10, the New 6U portable computing and industrial automation. Enabling best-in- OpenVPX SBC with Quad-Core Intel® ® class 802.11 Wi-Fi® solutions is the starting point for this new Processor and 10 Gigabit Ethernet Switch approach to partnering with industry connectivity leaders and is Eurotech announced the CPU-111-10, a rugged, high-performance part of a longer-term strategy that intends to simplify Bluetooth®, 6U VPX (VITA 46) Single Board Computer (SBC) featuring a quad-core Bluetooth low energy wireless technology, Long Term Evolution Intel® Xeon® processor L5408 and integrated 10 Gigabit Ethernet switch (LTE), and Zigbee® design for QNX developers. to support full-mesh backplane data layer interconnectivity for up to eight SBCs integrated into a single chassis. Available in air cooled or congatec introduces entry-level module for COM conduction cooled formats, the CPU-111-10 conforms to the OpenVPX Express Type 6 with new dual-core Intel® Atom™ (VITA 65) payload module profile MOD6-PAY-4F2T-12.2.2.4 with four processors fat pipes (10 GBase-BX4) and two thin pipes (1000Base-T). congatec Inc., a leading manufacturer of embedded computer The DynaCOR 10-00 system is modular and versatile with a modules, announces the conga-TCA, an entry-level model of its Type fanless design and rugged connectors for long-term reliability in 6 Pin-out COM Express module range. The conga-TCA is available in harsh environments. Application specific configurations are easy three variants of the new dual-core Intel® Atom™ processor generation, to implement in several vertical industries enabling reliable M2M which are manufactured in 32nm technology – the Intel® Atom™ solutions even under the most demanding conditions: with a low power, processor N2600 with only 3.5W TDP (1M Cache, 1.6 GHz); the Intel® highly efficient design, the DynaCOR 10-00 is a dependable platform Atom™ processor N2800 (1M Cache, 1.86 GHz) with 6.5W TDP; and featuring CPU speeds of 1.1GHz, 512MB RAM and a 2 GB flash disk. the Intel® Atom™ processor D2700 (1M Cache, 2.13 GHz) with 10W TDP and up to 4GB single-channel DDR3 memory (1066 MHz). The New Intel Server Technology: Powering the Cloud to chipset module, which is based on the Intel® NM10 Express chipset, Handle 15 Billion Connected Devices provides improved memory, graphics and display functionalities plus Addressing the incredible growth of data traffic in the cloud, Intel intelligent performance and greater energy efficiency. Corporation announced the record-breaking Intel® Xeon® processor Thanks to its low power consumption and compact E5-2600 product family. These new processors deliver leadership measurements (95 x 95 mm) the conga-TCA is particularly well performance, best data center performance per watt, breakthrough suited for applications in medical and automation technology, I/O innovation and trusted hardware security features to enable IT POS, kiosks and digital signage. Smart power and battery to scale. These processors are not only at the heart of servers and management guarantee long battery life, an essential factor for workstations, but will also power the next generation of storage and cost savings in portable devices. communication systems from leading vendors around the world. “The growth in cloud computing and connected devices is Intel Takes Gaming Graphics to Next Level with transforming the way businesses benefit from IT products and Developer Tools services,” said Diane Bryant, Intel vice president and general manager Intel Corporation introduced Intel® Graphics Performance of the Datacenter and Connected Systems Group. “For businesses Analyzers (Intel® GPA) 2012, the latest version of a powerful tool to capitalize on these innovations, the industry must address suite to optimize performance of gaming, media and entertainment unprecedented demand for efficient, secure and high-performing applications. Expanding upon Intel’s mobile momentum, Intel® datacenter infrastructure. The Intel Xeon processor E5-2600 product GPA 2012 will support mobile applications for Ultrabook™ devices family is designed to address these challenges by offering unparalleled, and Android*-based smartphones and tablets for the first time. balanced performance across compute, storage and network, while Previously available only on PC platforms, Intel GPA helps reducing operating costs.” developers improve the experience of game and media applications The key requirements to enable IT to scale are performance, energy by accessing powerful tools to analyze and optimize performance efficiency, I/O bandwidth and security. With the best combination of on Intel® Core™ and Intel® Atom™ processor-based platforms. The performance, built-in capabilities and cost-effectiveness, the new Intel tool suite enables developers to enhance application performance Xeon processor E5-2600 product families are designed to address on smartphones, tablets, Ultrabooks and PCs. Developers can these requirements, and become the heart of the next-generation data also optimize Web content for browsers that support hardware- center powering servers, storage and communication systems. accelerated rich media, including Microsoft Internet Explorer* 9, Google Chrome* and Mozilla Firefox*. Latest ATCA Blade from Emerson Network Power Sets “Gaming is one of the largest consumer segments for smartphones, New Performance Standard in Telecom Server and but nobody wants a game that drains a smartphone battery,” said Craig Control Plane Applications Hurst, Intel’s director of Visual Computing Product Management. A high-performance server blade introduced today by Emerson “There are few choices for developers who want to optimize apps Network Power, a business of Emerson (NYSE:EMR) and the global for power, so Intel GPA 2012 introduces power metrics, ensuring leader in enabling Business-Critical Continuity™, extends the processing, that a game not only has great performance, but also runs longer on memory and I/O capabilities available to designers of AdvancedTCA® Ultrabooks, Android tablets and smartphones.” (ATCA®) based telecom servers, supporting the most demanding control plane applications.

10 | Embedded Intel® Solutions — Spring 2012 | www.embeddedintel.com NEWS

The Emerson Network Power ATCA-7370 uses the new Intel® Xeon® high definition audio interface; and a PCOM-C211 developer COM processor E5-2600 family in a blade design which optimizes the flow Express Type VI carrier board. of data between processors, memory devices, the backplane and rear Packed with features like these, Portwell’s PCOM-B218VG transition modules (RTMs). The Intel Xeon processor E5-2600 family- is an ideal solution for applications such as medical devices, test based devices, which feature up to eight cores per socket and four equipment, industrial control, gaming machines, portable devices channels of high-speed DDR3-1600 memory interfacing directly to and COTS military. an integrated memory controller, offer markedly reduced latency and increased performance compared to previous generation processors. ADLINK Launches State-of-the-art ATCA Blade with Dual Intel® Xeon® Processor E5-2648L and AMC Bay PORTWELL expands its com express portfolio to ADLINK Technology, Inc. (TAIEX: 6166), a leading providerof include a Module with the Latest Intel® Atom™ trusted telecom computing products, announced availability Processor-based Platform of the aTCA-6200, anext-generation AdvancedTCA® (ATCA) American Portwell Technology, Inc. (http://www.portwell.com/), processor blade that demonstrates ADLINK’sleadership in the a wholly-owned subsidiary of Portwell, Inc., a world-leading innovator development of high performance compute blades with flexible in the embedded computing market and an Associate member of the expansioncapabilities. The aTCA-6200 features two 1.8 GHz eight- Intel® Embedded Alliance , announces PCOM-B218VG, the very latest core Intel® Xeon® processors E5-2648L, the Intel® C604 chipset, in a portfolio of Type VI compact size COM Express Basic module. At DDR3-1600 memory up to 128GB, and a PICMG® mid-sizeAMC a mere 95mm x 95mm (3.74˝ x 3.74˝), the compact PCOM-B218VG bay. On-card connectivity includes dual 10GBASE-KX4 Fabric includes the Intel® Atom™ processor N2000, N2600, N2800, D2000 Interfaces, dual GbEBase Interfaces, dual front panel GbE egress and D2700 series and the Intel® NM10 Express chipset. This platform ports, CFast socket, and quad SAS channels,which provide leading- includes an integrated Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) edge network performance and storage capabilities. The aTCA-6200 3600/3650 graphics engine to enhance 3D performance for media isideal for carrier-grade applications such as media servers in IPTV, applications such as high definition 1080p imaging; two Display Ports IP Multimedia Subsystem(IMS) broadband networks, and wireless that support multiple DP/HDMI/DVI functions; one SO-DIMM infrastructures, providing telecom equipmentmanufacturers socket to support DDR3 SDRAM up to 4GB; two SATA; one Fast (TEMs) and network equipment providers (NEPs) with a flexible, Ethernet; expansion (via the Com Express carrier board) of four PCI-E cost-effectivesolution for mission-critical applications and a reliable, x1 which can be configured to one PCI-Express x4, LPC interface and smooth path for scalability and expansion. An EPIC tale of rugged performance! High-performance / low-power dual-core Intel® Atom™ processor on EPIC form factor

With its rugged design and no moving parts, VersaLogic’s new “Iguana” embedded computer is adapted for extreme environments. Featuring the high-performance / low-power Intel® Atom™ processor D425 or D525, the 1.8 GHz Iguana delivers powerful CPU and video performance backed by legendary VersaLogic quality. The industry-standard 4.5” x 6.5” EPIC format provides extensive on-board I/O and expansion options for simplifi ed system integration and reduced total system cost.

Q Intel Atom processor D425 (single core) or D525 (dual core) up to 1.8 GHz Q Low power consumption (12W typ.) Q Fanless operation Q Industrial temp. version (-40º to +85ºC) Q Shock and vibe tested per MIL-STD-202G Q On-board analog I/O, digital I/O Q PCIe Mini Card Socket (Wi-Fi, GPS, fl ash, etc.) Q Very high-performance 2D video Recipient of the VDC With VersaLogic’s long-term (5+ year) product availability guarantee and Platinum Vendor Award customization options, the Iguana is assured to thrive in the wild! for six years running! With more than 30 years of experience delivering extraordinary support and on-time delivery, VersaLogic has perfected the art of service, one customer at a time. Experience it for yourself. Call 800-824-3163 for more information!

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www.embeddedintel.com | Embedded Intel® Solutions — Spring 2012 | 11 COM Express Type 6 up to Intel® Core™ i7 Processors 2.5 GHz

High end graphics performance

Intel® Turbo Boost technology 2.0

12 | Embedded Intel® Solutions — Spring 2012 | www.embeddedintel.com CONTACT INFORMATION

congatec, Inc. 6262 Ferris Square San Diego, CA 92121 USA +1 858-457-2600 Phone +1 858-457-2602 Fax www.congatec.us

www.embeddedintel.com | Embedded Intel® Solutions — Spring 2012 | 13 MARKET WATCH

Healthcare Trends Drive Design Requirements Multicore offers opportunities for medical device manufacturers, but overall adoption is slow.

MARKET WATCH

By Cheryl Coupé, Senior Editor

edical device requirements vary core processors,” Weiner says. “Then each year we get our end-user Mdramatically, from pace makers to survey and there’s maybe a small incremental growth, but certainly room-sized magnetic resonance imag- nothing to the magnitude that vendors and other people in the field ing (MRI) machines, but some common have indicated. Certainly there will be an impact, but I would look demands are driving innovation. Re- further out for when a significant change will occur.” quirements such as improved imaging A new trend that Weiner noted was the increased interest in capabilities, secure connectivity and inter- Android by medical device manufacturers. While he isn’t aware active, customized interfaces are making of specific Android-based medical devices coming to market yet, multicore and virtualized architectures developers are asking about it – primarily for its graphical capabili- VDC Analyst more attractive for many of these designs. ties and customizability. Weiner believes this direction could be a Jared Weiner Multicore processors can help medical good fit with multicore, which would allow the use of Android along device developers meet specifications for light weight, low power with a real-time operating system (RTOS) in a virtualized environ- consumption and low heat dissipation in a wide range of equip- ment. This would allow the developer to take advantage of Android’s ment. For mobile medical devices – as with mobile devices of any strengths – such as customization, touchscreen-based user inter- kind – one of the most important fac- face, high-quality and 3-D graphics tors is battery power. Multicore designs Multicore processors can help – while running sensitive or critical that enable cores to power down when processes, including transmitting sen- their processes aren’t running can ex- medical device developers meet sitive patient information on the cloud, tend battery life, offering advantages specifications for light weight, on a separate core. While Android has for equipment used in busy clinical set- low power consumption and low yet to make a dent in medical devices, tings as well as home medical devices, Microsoft Windows continues to play a for which long battery life may help heat dissipation in a wide range of role there, and provides similar advan- improve patient compliance. For large equipment. tages in virtualization. medical equipment, such as ultrasound Another trend Weiner has observed machines, x-ray systems and some pa- is the growth in the use of handheld or tient-monitoring devices, high-performance multicore processors mobile medical devices. He attributes this to a number of con- help meet high-definition and 3D-imaging requirements with faster verging effects, but certainly the aging Baby Boomer population is response time and increased throughput. And with continued inter- a significant element. In the U.S., hospitals are dealing with over- est by healthcare facilities in cutting power costs and environmental crowding through the use of technologies such as telemedicine and footprints, multicore’s power-management capabilities may become other approaches that allow care to be offered remotely – in the more attractive even for large equipment. home or other types of care facilities – with data securely uploaded But significant moves to multicore and virtualization in medi- to the care provider. At the same time, emerging markets such as cal – and in embedded markets overall – still haven’t occurred China, Brazil and parts of Eastern Europe are using telemedicine according to Jared Weiner, analyst in the VDC Research Embedded and mobile medical devices to bring care to remote areas where Software Practice. While companies continue to project growth in traditional healthcare facilities don’t exist. Even as the majority of that area, Weiner says sometimes they can get a bit ahead of them- software vendors Weiner talks to are pointing to these emerging selves. That seems to be the case with regard to the use of multicore regions as areas where they expect to see significant growth, he processors in general. “We’ve been hearing for years that this is the says large-scale changes are not occurring yet. The big spenders in year we’re going to see really significant growth in the use of multi- terms of medical devices are still in North America, with the U.S.

14 | Embedded Intel® Solutions — Spring 2012 | www.embeddedintel.com

MARKET WATCH

Applications report in January 2012, which covered several vertical markets including automotive, consumer, indus- trial and medical. The report looked at three to five specific applications within each vertical; in medical, that included defibrillators, ultrasound scanning de- vices and nuclear medicine equipment. Nuclear medicine uses small amounts of radiopharmaceuticals to image and treat the human body. It’s a relatively new technology that uses large devices and is costly to administer. Despite its innovation and medical successes, recent changes to reimbursement al- lowances (including Medicare) have prompted providers to reexamine their use of nuclear medicine in order to con- trol patient expenses. Primarily because of these changes, VDC is forecasting minimal growth in this sector in the near term.

Cheryl Berglund Coupé is editor of EECatalog.com. Her articles have ap- peared in EE Times, Electronic Business, 2011 Embedded Software & Tools Market Intelligence Service, Track 1: Embedded Software Microsoft Embedded Review and Engineering Market Technologies & Statistics, Volume 7: Vertical Markets & Applications.© Windows Developer’s Journal and she Copyright 2012 VDC Research Group, Inc. has developed presentations for the far ahead of these emerging markets in terms of adoption of large, Embedded Systems Conference and ICSPAT. She has held a va- complicated and expensive systems. He expects that investments in riety of production, technical marketing and writing positions emerging markets may be less cutting-edge and more about getting within technology companies and agencies in the Northwest. basic care out to people who need it. On the other hand, healthcare reform will continue to impact the U.S. market. VDC Research published its Vertical Markets and

Tablets to Become Fourth Largest Semi Market By Mark LaPedus, Senior Editor, SemiMD.com

In the 1990s, the pen-based computer industry emerged as Now, some believe that the tablet may actu- the “next big thing” that would soon displace the PC. Pen-based ally supplant the PC. Following the success of computers were bulky, hand-held devices that made use of an elec- the iPad, media tablets in 2014 will become the tronic pen as the input and handwriting recognition technology. world’s fourth-largest application for semicon- Not long after their introduction, the pen-based computer ductors, up from 35th in 2010, according to the market collapsed. The systems were slow and the technology was IHS iSuppli. In a parallel development, mobile handsets will become simply not ready for prime time. the world’s largest semiconductor application in 2012, exceeding Then, not long ago, the concept re-emerged in the form of a mobile PCs as the leading chip segment, according to the firm. tablet PC. And in 2010, Apple Inc. rolled out the iPad and many thought the product would have the same fate as its predecessor. Read the entire story at www.semimd.com

16 | Embedded Intel® Solutions — Spring 2012 | www.embeddedintel.com STANDARDS WATCH Body Area Networking Heats Up in Medical Field Standards battle brews for wireless chips

STANDARDS WATCH

By Mark LaPedus, Contributing Editor

or years, chip makers have been waiting for huge growth believe the industry wants more interoperability – or connected Fin the medical market. – devices. We also need to make sure these devices are secure.” So far, though, the medical semiconductor market has yet to For years, Intel has participated in the medical field. In 2006, see a major boom, but the sector has experienced steady growth. Intel rolled out the Mobile Clinical Assistant (MCA) reference It has become readily apparent that the medical electronics field design, a tablet-like, point-of-care bedside terminal for health- is complex and fragmented. In medical, chip makers and OEMs care. Panasonic and Motion Computing sell products based on alike face long design cycles, funding issues and FDA regulatory the technology. headaches. Intel also has a joint healthcare venture with GE. And Intel But one area that is suddenly generating steam – and creating also sells its latest and fastest embedded processors for imaging some debate on several fronts – is remote patient monitoring. gear and other medical equipment. “New compute platforms will And seeking to get a piece of the action, Broadcom, IMEC, open up new algorithms in medicine,” Hill said. Qualcomm, TI, Toumaz and others are developing a new class of multi-mode wireless chips for remote monitoring devices. In Growth Seen In Medical Semis addition, Intel, Qualcomm and others are backing or developing And it will spur growth in the medical arena. In total, the systems-level products in the arena. worldwide medical semiconductor market is expected to increase from $3.8 billion in 2011 to $5.9 billion in 2016, a nine percent compounded annual growth rate, according to Databeans Inc., a research firm. However, in 2012, the medical semiconductor market is pro- jected to see flat growth and reach $4 billion, said Susie Inouye, research director for Databeans. The problem is that “there are excess inventories in the worldwide industrial channels,” Inouye said. “There is also a lot of activity in China. There also are a lot of new design starts in Asia.” “The medical electronics field is diverse,” added Intel’s Hill. “Medical (electronics) is growing fast, but the growth is less than consumer electronics. And the refresh cycles are quite lengthy.” There are three major areas in the medical electronics field: These tiny electronic devices, which can be implanted or worn clinical, imaging and the home. The clinical electronics seg- externally, can remotely monitor the heart, glucose, pulse and ment–the largest medical chip market–includes diagnostic lab other vital data via a PC, and, more recently, through a wireless equipment and other systems. Meanwhile, imaging–the second network. The wireless chips themselves fall into a loosely defined largest segment–includes magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) category called body area networks (BANs). BAN has been talked and computed tomography (CT) equipment. about for years, but the technology is now moving into the lime- Home healthcare is the smallest market, but it is growing light. the fastest. In the past, the home market was limited to blood In fact, as the remote patient monitoring business picks up pressure monitors, digital thermometers and glucose meters, momentum, there is a wireless standards battle brewing in the among others. BAN arena. The wireless contenders in the BAN field include the The aging population, combined with soaring healthcare emerging IEEE 802.15.6 standard, a low power version of Blue- costs, is causing a sea of change in the home medical field. To tooth, Wi-Fi and Zigbee. There is no clear-cut winner yet. mitigate healthcare costs, there is a movement towards replacing “What the (medical) industry is asking for is greater con- care within hospitals to the patient’s home, said Intel’s Hill. nectivity across different products,” said Ed Hill, director of The trend has given rise to remote monitoring. For some time, marketing for the Intelligent Systems Group at Intel Corp. “We medical electronics firms have offered small implantable or worn

www.embeddedintel.com | Embedded Intel® Solutions — Spring 2012 | 17 STANDARDS WATCH

devices that can remotely send data to a health care provider via The company is apparently working on a 1-Volt, 5mA transceiver a PC. that supports 802.15.6, Low Energy Bluetooth and proprietary But the buzz in the arena started last June, when Medtronic protocols. Inc. launched its first mobile application for implantable cardiac Based on 0.13-micron technology, the chip operates in the devices. The software, dubbed CareLink Mobile Application, al- 2.36-GHz BAN spectrum, specifically allocated for medical de- lows clinicians to access cardiac device diagnostic and patient vices, and the worldwide 2.4-GHz ISM band. “The network needs data directly from their mobile devices. The CareLink Network to be secure and able to respond immediately,” Wong said. provides similar information as an office visit for pacemakers, In a separate presentation at ISSCC, IMEC and Holst Centre implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICDs) and implantable described a 2.3-/2.4-GHz transmitter for wireless sensor appli- cardiac monitors (ICMs). cations compliant with IEEE802.15.6/4/4g Then, in February of 2012, GE Health- and Bluetooth Low Energy. The transmit- care said it would distribute AirStrip ter has been fabricated in a 90nm CMOS Technologies Inc.’s patient monitoring process, and consumes only 5.4mW from a technology. The deal provides patient 1.2-Volt supply at 0dBm output. monitoring information to physicians via This is two to five times more power- the iPhone and iPad. AirStrip’s platform efficient than the current Bluetooth-LE allows clinicians to monitor the heart, solutions, according to IMEC. IMEC’s blood pressure, temperature, oxygen new transmitter saves at least 75 percent saturation, weight and pulse via a wireless of power consumption by replacing sev- network. eral power-hungry analog blocks with digitally-assisted circuits. Also in February, Qualcomm Inc. invested in AirStrip. The In a somewhat related field, the University of Washington two companies are working together to develop wireless chips. in Seattle and the University of Virginia at ISSCC described a And in a related development, Qualcomm, Intel and others re- 19uW battery-less energy harvesting chip for body area sensors. cently invested in Sotera Wireless, a startup that is developing Conventional wireless sensors are powered from a battery. In “body-worn sensors” for remote monitoring applications. contrast, the two universities propose a chip “powered by energy Despite the momentum in the arena, there are still several harvested from human body heat using a thermoelectric genera- challenges in remote monitoring, which impacts the growth of tor (TEG).” BANs. There is still a question just how doctors are paid – and The digital section includes a custom digital power manage- how insurance providers are involved–in remote monitoring, ment processor, general purpose microprocessor and SRAM. It said Intel’s Hill. also has dedicated accelerators for ECG heart rate extraction, Another challenge is sending critical data like patient informa- atrial fibrillation (AFib) detection, and EMG band energy calcu- tion across a wireless network. “Security is an inherit problem,” lation. A sub-mW 400/433-MHz MICS/ISM band transmitter said Karthik Soundarapandian, systems application manager for performs BFSK transmission up to 200kbps. health and fitness at Texas Instruments Inc. Besides the wireless front, TI will shortly expand its analog front-end lines for heart monitors, sports, and fitness applica- Standards Battle Brewing? tions. The ADS1291/2/2R line of AFEs are a family of 24-bit, Standards also remain a problem. In recent times, the BAN delta-sigma (ΔΣ) analog-to-digital converters (ADCs). community has worked together to develop a wireless standard – Based on a proprietary analog process, the parts represent dubbed IEEE802.15.6 – which is geared for the quality-of-service part of TI’s “ECG signal chain.” With the integrated AFEs, “we (QoS) levels for personal medical data. The standard is expected can take the complexity out of designs,’’ TI’s Soundarapandian to be completed this year. said. A variant of Bluetooth - Bluetooth Low Energy (LE) – has also Going forward, Ritesh Tyagi, director of product marketing emerged as a competing standard. ZigBee and WiFi are also in for Renesas Technology America Inc., said the medical field will the running. remain a steady growth market for chip makers, but not the Within the hospital environment, medical equipment may booming business many had hoped. He also warned that ven- end up supporting multiple protocols, Soundarapandian said. dors must have patience. The IC design cycle can take as much But in terms of using the smartphone as a gateway for remote as three years for a new system platform in the medical field, he monitoring, “Bluetooth is the best option today,” Soundarapan- added. dian said. “Bluetooth will prevail.” Another problem is power consumption. Many of BAN-like Mark LaPedus has covered the semiconductor transceivers use from 20mW to 50mW of power, which is still too industry since 1986, including five years in Asia high for use in autonomous and semi-autonomous sensor nodes, when he was based in Taiwan. He has held senior according to IMEC. editorial positions at Electronic News, EBN and At the recent Integrated Solid-State Circuits Conference Silicon Strategies. In Asia, he was a contribut- (ISSCC) in San Francisco, Alan Wong, head of IC design at U.K.- ing writer for Byte Magazine. Most recently, he based Toumaz, presented a paper on one solution to the problem: worked as the semiconductor editor at EE Times.

18 | Embedded Intel® Solutions — Spring 2012 | www.embeddedintel.com Multicore Is Key to Innovation in SPECIAL FEATURE Medical Applications Next generation of safety-critical medical systems requires secure, stable platform for innovation while reusing as much legacy code as possible. MULTICORE IN MEDICAL

Santhosh Nair and Jens Wiegand, Wind River he world of medical electronics is shifting fundamentally. Historically these sectors were driven by functionality, but TEquipment designs have traditionally lasted 20 years, with in each of these areas, safety, security, quality, maintainability years of heritage and testing behind each design. Now more in- and cost-efficiency are now of paramount importance. The novation is demanded, with new features and new versions being overarching safety requirements in the basic functional safety developed much faster, based on digital systems. More focus is standard IEC 61508 and its derivatives, applicable to all kinds being put on cost-effective implementation so more units can be of industries, are driving new challenges to comply with the deployed across more hospitals and surgeries. standard and still meet functional requirements. To develop this next generation of safety-critical medical and industrial device, designers and system architects must Multicore for Complex Medical consolidate hardware, reduce cost and reduce time-to-market Applications while never compromising their platform’s stability, safety In medical applications, there is an increase in the use and security. of complex equipment for diagnostics, covering X-rays, This article addresses what medical system designers re- CT scanners and dialysis machines that have to add fea- quire to meet today’s challenges: a combination of multicore tures such as automated report generation and networking hardware, operating systems specialized for device certi- while reducing costs. fication, hypervisor software and a consolidated but open Traditionally these areas have provided innovation and development tool chain. upgradability with separate hardware systems, particularly to conform to medical standards such as IEC 60601 for Today’s Safety-Critical Design Challenges electromagnetic compatibility – vital to prevent equipment Increasingly, more medical system innovation is moving to interference – and ISO14971 on risk assessment. This archi- software, which is creating a significant challenge in designs tecture has used one board for the safety-critical elements, where safety is critical. Some elements often hardwired without software or of the software have to remain fixed, with simple software that is well- providing verified safety-critical With the faster introduction of established and proven over many functions, while other parts can new features, certification of safety years. add new functions and innovations software is changing from a “prov- A second board is used to add while keeping the hardware fixed, the additional non-critical func- to comply with various standards en-in-use” model to a more formal tions such as administration and on interference and risk assessment. tools-oriented model. networking. Addressing the safety concerns While this has been adequate in and making the most of that heri- the past, adding new standards and tage is vital. However, these areas have been isolated and new features–as well as the consolidation of systems for fragmented, making them expensive and slow to take ad- cost and space reasons–means that the two-board approach vantage of the phenomenal changes in the performance and is no longer viable. Now, features added to software must cost of electronics systems, as well as making them slow to be proven and compliant with safety-critical standards as react to changing market conditions and costly to maintain directed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) over many years. or the European counterpart, where standards such as IEC New approaches – such as multicore processors and hy- 62304 define software lifecycle processes. pervisor software technology that has been optimized for the embedded market – are key enablers for making this Multicore Devices are a Key Way to Tackle happen. This is driving consolidation of hardware and These Demands. software that spurs innovation while providing a mecha- These devices are now becoming available for the embed- nism for enhancing safety requirements. ded market with the performance and support for the five to 10 years demanded by these industrial markets. However,

www.embeddedintel.com | Embedded Intel® Solutions — Spring 2012 | 19 they still take advantage of the availability of commercial op- allowing safety and non-safety applications to run on the erating systems and application software along with the cost same hardware platform. Multicore processor technology, to- reduction and integration that is driven by the PC and enter- gether with hypervisors, enables multiple operating systems prise markets. to run concurrently on the same hardware platform but in Using multiple processor cores can provide a way of con- partitioned, protected spaces. solidating the existing board architecture onto a single board, At the same time, safety-critical tasks can operate within making use of one core for the safety-critical software and a certified application in a real-time operating system, with

SPECIAL FEATURE SPECIAL other cores for other non-critical functions. communication protocols running under a VxWorks or Linux and perhaps another operating system, providing supervisory Hypervisor for System Consolidation functions on the same machine. Hypervisor technology also While this is all very well in prin- enables simpler porting of legacy ap- ciple, designing a system with this plications because the partitioned “bare metal” approach can re- Consolidated platforms will drive architecture allows different quire considerable time and cost the need for a variety of OS platforms. versions of the same operating as well as a large, experienced system to run simultaneously; design team. This approach also so that existing code can run un- requires the certification evidence to be developed with many changed, but new code can make use of the added features in thousands of lines of test and verification code that can take new versions. Integration services can further help custom- time to develop and run through the certification process. ers take the risk out of safety and consolidation projects by With the faster introduction of new features, certification guaranteeing a smooth and predictable route to market, with of safety software is changing from a “proven-in-use” model significant time-to-revenue advantages. MULTICORE IN MEDICAL IN MULTICORE to a more formal tools-oriented model. This is perhaps the biggest shift in this market, leaving developers unsure of how Conclusion to approach these changes and how to know that their invest- The combination of multicore hardware, operating sys- ment in software and associated tools will ensure certification tems specialized for device certification, hypervisor software while extending to third-party software components. The cri- and a consolidated but open development toolchain are key teria and requirements for pre market approval applications to providing the support medical system designers need. This as defined by the FDA require valid scientific evidence to sup- combination helps designers and system architects make use port a reasonable assurance of safety and effectiveness of the of the consolidation in hardware. They can reduce cost and device. Providing evidence to off-the-shelf software can be time-to-market while providing a secure, stable platform for expensive and causes unpredictability in the life cycle process. adding new features and innovation in software, and main- This is driving the move to new software approaches such taining a certified environment while reusing as much legacy as the hypervisor. This allows different operating systems to code as possible. All of this is vital for developing the next run on different cores on a single platform, allowing the de- generation of safety-critical medical systems. signer to make use of a wider range of third-party software alongside the existing legacy safety-critical software. Often this safety-critical software can be running on one dedicated Santhosh Nair is director for Wind River’s medical processor while others are running a real-time operating market segment where he is responsible for driving system such as Wind River’s VxWorks or a non-real-time op- vertical strategy for medical and mobile healthcare. erating system such as Wind River Linux. Different levels of Mr. Nair joined Wind River from GE Healthcare criticality on the same system platform or processor also drive where he was most recently the worldwide product the need to combine off-the-shelf software with a real-time manager for the CT business. As a veteran in the operating system specialized for device certification such as healthcare industry, Santhosh brings over 15 years of engineering VxWorks. and product management experience, having held various positions Consolidated platforms will drive the need for a variety at GE Healthcare locations in the United States, Japan and India. of OS platforms. Real-time operating systems have a greater advantage when considering determinism and decreased Jens Wiegand is vice president and general manager complexity compared to a non-real-time OS such as Linux, of Wind River’s industrial, medical, and machine- which makes them the ideal candidate for certification. Linux to-machine (M2M) market segments. Prior to Wind has advantages when implementing rapidly evolving con- River, Mr. Wiegand joined Motorola as a result of sumer communication standards or graphical user interfaces. their acquisition of Force Computers. While at Force It would therefore make sense to use both on the same system Computers, he was the corporate director of world- to get the best of both worlds. Using a consolidation technol- wide strategic marketing, with responsibilities in strategic planning ogy such as a hypervisor, this becomes a real possibility. of system solutions and new technologies. A veteran in the industry, Hypervisor technology makes it possible to consolidate Mr. Wiegand brings over two decades of high-tech industry expertise Linux and real-time operating systems at the software layer, in defense, automation and embedded computing sectors.

20 | Embedded Intel® Solutions — Spring 2012 | www.embeddedintel.com Pre-Conference: June 5, 2012 Conference & Expo: June 6-7, 2012    !  E + www.sensorsexpo.com X  E C E C The Leading Sensors Event in North America LLE N

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For more information, visit: www.sensorsexpo.com INDUSTRY PARTNER: PRODUCED BY: OFFICIAL PUBLICATION: Standards Vie for Mobile Medical Leadership Qseven modules running Windows or Linux applications on Intel Atom processors provide a proven and accessible path to market for mobile medical devices. SPECIAL FEATURE SPECIAL

By Colin McCracken, American Portwell Technology, Inc. mbedded computer manufacturers are placing their bets reputation for low power and low cost. The upcoming Win- Eon two competing module form factor standards in the dows 8 operating system promises to bring an innovative race for portable medical device design wins. In one cor- new GUI, connectivity and device drivers to the booming ner is the established Qseven form factor with four years of tablet PC consumer and commercial markets. Finally, the ultra-low-power Intel® architecture leadership. In the other success of using true standards in the x86 and Intel archi- is the upstart ARM-focused form factor “ULP-COM” an- tecture embedded computing markets can be parlayed into nounced in February 2012 at the Embedded World show in the traditional lawless one-off custom ARM SBC and mod- ATOM™ ON QSEVEN ATOM™

® Germany. Although the modules’ appearances and feature ule space. sets are quite similar on the surface – processor, soldered Module form factors architected only for ARM pro- memory, video, audio, basic I/O and gold-plated card-edge cessors have existed for 10 years already from a number INTEL interface into a memory-style socket – the key points that of small manufacturers and used more by hobbyists and will determine market adoption go much deeper, including small-system OEMs than by professional medical device market momentum, system-on-chip (SoC) I/O consistency, manufacturers. Lack of standards, supplier stability, long embedded lifecycle support, operating systems and host- lifecycle support and interoperability due to inconsistent target development tools. ARM SoC interfaces have plagued these modules in the Mobile medical devices medical arena until the an- must be small and light with nouncement of a brand new long battery life – enough to With ultra-low-power silicon German trade group in Febru- support a nurse’s long shift ary 2012. Unlike specification on a single charge. Popular across processor architectures and web pages and logo clubs for computer-on-module (COM) previous module standards standards, such as COM Ex- instruction sets, the race is on to to give the aura of an offi- press and Qseven, plug into cial trade organization, this custom application-specific establish form-factor standards for new Standardization Group carrier boards to create pa- for Embedded Technologies tient monitors and more. The these lightweight computing modules. (SGET) comes with a prom- modular architecture is easy ise of legal incorporation in to upgrade to the latest pro- Germany as well as vendor in- cessors and chipsets in the future without disturbing the dependence. application I/O on the carrier board, provided that the I/O ULP-COM seeks to unify a certain subset of ARM- and buses coming off the module will be the same in five based system-on-chip (SOC) components in the form of a to seven years when the current processors and chipsets board-level pluggable module solution. This specification are no longer in production. With ultra-low-power silicon wisely targets only those processors that were designed for across processor architectures and instruction sets, the tablet PCs. During the last 20 years, the ARM architecture race is on to establish form-factor standards for these light- has penetrated so many embedded market segments due weight computing modules. to the intellectual property (IP) licensing model of pro- cessor cores to ASIC vendors and fab-less semiconductor A Shot In the ARM manufacturers who serve those disparate markets. Most A group of module manufacturers recently announced of those ASICs and application-specific standard prod- a new club to promote their new low-power RISC-based ucts (ASSPs) contain wildly different off-chip interfaces, ULP-COM standard. On the surface, this looks like a great rendering unification at the module level virtually impos- direction for medical devices. ARM cores have earned their

22 | Embedded Intel® Solutions — Spring 2012 | www.embeddedintel.com SPECIAL FEATURE sible. Many are in production only as long as the demand off the upstart new ULP-COM challenge. Proven seven-year from the original target market remains viable. production lifecycle, ability to run Windows 7 today, and Finally, due to the advent of the tablet PC as the heir compatibility with desktop PC compilers, debuggers and apparent platform to the dominant desktop PC platform, enough SoCs have emerged from the likes of TI, NVIDIA, Freescale and others to make a single common module pin assignment possible at the card-edge connector that plugs into the MXM 3.0 memory-style connector. While on the surface this sounds like a compelling story, there is much to be improved in the areas of SoC longevity INTEL (production lifecycle), firmware and consistent behavior regarding power management, power-on attributes, I/O ® initialization, interrupts, software libraries and other ba- ATOM™ ON QSEVEN sic interoperability requirements. Two module sizes for ULP-COM exist at the outset, each with a width of 82mm due to the gold-plated card-edge con- nector (gold fingers). The Full-Size Module is 80mm long, while the Short Module is 50mm long. The signal interfaces contains PCI Express, USB, serial ports and general-purpose inputs / outputs (GPIOs), following in the footsteps of long- established x86 COMs. Both lengths of modules plug into a newer version of NVIDIA’s MXM connector for mobile express graphics modules (used in some high-end notebook computers) than the Qseven modules use. However, only at the processor core and on-chip bus level is the ARM architecture standardized. The system OEM is responsible for attaching peripherals using the Figure 1. Portwell’s PQ7-M105IT module comes with a choice of modest hooks provided. While these ARM modules can be processor from Intel® Atom™ processor E620 at 600MHz, well a modular replacement for OEMs who have done their own below 5W, to Intel® Atom ™ processor E680 at 1.6GHz along with 512MB—2GB soldered RAM for superb shock and vibration ARM board designs in the past, at a slightly higher price resistance, and integrated heatspreader as a low-profile thermal premium compared to a custom single-board solution, solution. these modules are not simple to deal with as a replacement for existing x86 COM-based systems. other development tools make Qseven a safe bet for cautious Even with the fresh start of a new trade group, and the medical device OEMs. eventual completion of the initial 1.0 specification later this Rather than the mixed bag of I2C, I2S, SPI and USART year, some time will be needed to establish ULP-COM’s interfaces of many ARM processors, the Intel® Atom™ interoperability considerations. These took the PICMG or- processor E6xx series utilizes the open PCIe standard for ganization additional years after the latter’s COM Express its processor-to-chipset interface, which delivers much standard was released. This needs to happen while simul- greater I/O flexibility and includes an onboard graph- taneously completing the initial specification, the legal ics controller, memory controller and audio integrated registration (approval of bylaws and governmental processes) within the processor. What’s more, the Qseven module of the new European trade group, and recruiting more mod- takes full advantage of hardware acceleration technolo- ule manufacturers to support the club and endorse the gies to facilitate faster web page downloads, multimedia specification. Much further ahead in stability and market and multi-windowing capabilities; all valuable benefits for adoption, COM Express and Qseven have been thoroughly hand-carried medical computing devices. wrung out in all these areas, making them the undisputed choices over ULP-COM for design starts this year for line- Carrying the COM To Production powered and battery-operated systems, respectively. Low-cost, off-the-shelf carrier boards from many man- ufacturers are small and affordable for prototyping and Intel® Architecture Holds Steady for low- to mid-volume production as well. Such carrier The Qseven form factor standard is an ideal low-power boards maximize the full benefits of the modular solution standard. Not only does it have four years of application compared to the full custom SBCs for previous handheld successes under its belt, but version 1.2 maps well to some generations. High-speed connection is also assured with of the tablet-oriented ARM SoCs as well. Drawing upon an the inclusion of up to 8 x USB 2.0 ports, which are read- existing proven standard and ecosystem of carrier boards ily available for mid-range analog-to-digital conversion. In and reference designs, Qseven is well positioned to ward order to speed time-to-market for these medical devices,

www.embeddedintel.com | Embedded Intel® Solutions — Spring 2012 | 23 some COM manufacturers have preloaded their carrier boards with all the necessary interfaces. Drawing upon an existing proven

The advantage of using carrier boards like the one standard and ecosystem of carrier shown is simple. The carrier board already includes proven features such as SATA, USB, LVDS and serial ports. The boards and reference designs, Qseven BIOS firmware and device drivers are already developed

SPECIAL FEATURE SPECIAL and tested. The lack of ARM firmware standards leaves it is well positioned to ward off the much to be desired by OEMs who are accustomed to Intel’s ecosystem. Pre-configuring all of these I/O interfaces onto upstart new ULP-COM challenge. the carrier board at its own design stage is much more effi- cient than the full custom design approach because it frees up the medical device designer from even having to think To Each His COM about resourcing these components. Instead of spend- Only time will tell how the ARM module versus x86 / ing valuable time and resources, medical device designers Intel architecture module war will resolve itself. For now, can concentrate on differentiating themselves from their many more standards, manufacturers and COM products competition by focusing on their value-added circuits that continue to flood the market, giving system manufacturers attach to these standard interfaces. unprecedented module choices. Operating systems and their development environments round out the platforms, which ATOM™ ON QSEVEN ATOM™

® are largely polarized at the moment: Windows 7 for x86, Android for ARM and Linux for all. Windows 8 will bring a hybrid (unified) tablet and desktop GUI and cross-archi- INTEL tecture support – x86 and ARM – for portable embedded applications. Android’s x86 support should continue to ma- ture, setting the stage for a truly epic platform war. For now, Qseven modules running Windows or Linux applications on Intel Atom processors give the most proven and accessible (available) path to market for mobile medical devices.

Colin McCracken is the director of solution architec- ture at American Portwell Technology, Inc. in Fremont, California. American Portwell is one of the only board manufacturers in the Intel® Embedded Alliance Pro- gram to be certified to ISO 13485 “Medical ISO” in the Figure 2. The Portwell PQ7-C100XL tiny form factor carrier U.S.A. Colin can be reached at [email protected]. measures 4.1” x 5.7” and includes useful interfaces for medical devices such as a Mini PCIe Wi-Fi socket for ubiquitous Wi-Fi connectivity in hospital and clinic environments.

Micron Buys Intel’s Share in Singapore, Manassas Flash Fabs By David Lammers, Editor-in-Chief, SemiMD.com

Micron Technology Inc. will take control of two flash memory Also, Intel and Micron will expand their fabs now owned jointly with Intel Corp., purchasing the assets joint flash development program to include of IM Flash Singapore (IMFS) and the IM Flash Technologies development of emerging memory technologies. (IMFT) assets in Manassas, Va., the companies announced Micron will supply Intel with NAND Flash Monday (Fab. 27). memory from its facilities, and the companies Intel said it is selling its assets in the two fabs for $600 million, said the IMFT joint venture NAND manufacturing facility in with half paid in cash and the remainder “deposited with Micron, Lehi, Utah — now producing 20nm NAND — will continue to which may be refunded or applied to Intel’s future purchases operate “with minimal changes to its existing operations.” under the NAND Flash supply agreement.” Read the entire story at www.semimd.com

24 | Embedded Intel® Solutions — Spring 2012 | www.embeddedintel.com REAL-TIME AND EMBEDDED COMPUTING CONFERENCE WWW.RTECC.COMW COME TO TAKETAKE A DDAY TO LEARN ABOUT AY TO LEAR THETHE NNEWEST IDEAS N ABOUT RTECC EWEST IDEAE EEMEMBEDDED INDUSTRY.AS IINN TTHE BEDDED IN REGISTER CHECK OUT THE LATEST DEMOS. LISTEN TO TALKS FROM THE IT’S COMPLIMENTARY! EXPERTS. AND MORE AWESOME GET OUT OF YOUR OFFICE. THAN WORK! RETURN WITH INSIGHT ABOUT RTECC.COM THE FUTURE OF THE INDUSTRY. Intel’s Power Play The implications of 2X performance-per-watt improvement will be significant for server, desktop, laptop, tablet and smartphone applications. SPECIAL FEATURE SPECIAL

By Bhanu Kapoor, Mimasic ith the Intel® microarchitecture, codename Ivy Bridge, capability to processor versions that didn’t have it earlier. On the WIntel claims half the power at the same performance power-sensitive mobile devices, it allows Intel to cut down on level or double the performance with the same power con- power while extending battery life. IVY BRIDGE

® sumption as the Intel® microarchitecture, codename Sandy There are some additional non-Intel power advances coming Bridge. into play with the systems using the next generation of proces- The implications of 2X performance-per-watt improvement sors, as well. The computing devices will start using DDR3L INTEL will be significant for server, desktop, laptop, tablet and smart- standard for memory, which gives a 15 percent to 20 percent phone applications. You can be operating at the same frequency power reduction in memory devices. DDR3L memories operate while either cutting the power con- at 1.35 volts compared to DDR3 de- sumption in half, or doubling the vices, which operate at 1.5 volts. number of transistors leading to Self-refreshing displays (LG’s different types of performance These displays include a small Shuriken) also will reduce power and feature improvements. consumption in the devices by The feature size reduction embedded-memory buffer relieving the CPU and GPU at from 32nm for times. These displays include a microarchitecture to 22nm for that holds the current display small embedded-memory buf- Ivy Bridge microarchitecture fer that holds the current display also gives you a more than 2X frame, relieving the GPU and frame, relieving the GPU and reduction in device size. Ivy CPU from refreshing when the Bridge technology uses Intel’s CPU from refreshing when display is static. 22nm 3D tri-gate transistors, Future Intel® microarchi- which are also stacked on top of the display is static. tecture, codename Haswell, its each other, allowing additional Tock processor at 22nm, will features for processors by plac- include a system-level power ing transistors both horizontally and vertically. With the new management framework that will allow a 20X reduction in some 22nm process technology, it represents a Tick in Intel’s processor aspects of power consumption. That equates to a full-day laptop roadmap. A Tick represents process technology advances and a and up to 10 days in standby mode. We’ll have more on this later. Tock represents architectural advances. At 32nm, Intel’s second- generation HKMG process technology (the rest of the industry is coming out with its first-generation HKMG technology), West- Dr. Bhanu Kapoor is the founder, president, and owner at Mimasic. mere and Sandy Bridge processors were the Tick and the Tock. He has played leading technology development roles in EDA start- At 45nm, Intel’s first-generation HKMG process technology, ups ArchPro (now Synopsys), Atrenta, and Verisity (now Cadence). Penryn and Nehalem processors represented the Tick and the Bhanu graduated from the Indian Institute of Technology (IITK) in Tock processors. 1987 with a degree in Electrical Engineering. He has received M.S. The 2X performance-per-watt improvement allows Intel to (1990) and Ph.D. (1994) degrees in Computer Science from SMU, increase the number of cores, improve HD graphics function- Dallas. ality with more samplers and shaders or simply add graphics

26 | Embedded Intel® Solutions — Spring 2012 | www.embeddedintel.com Internet Minute Drives Packet Acceleration SPECIAL FEATURE Intel’s latest two-chip Crystal Forest platform adds data packet acceleration to existing telecommunication application and control plane functionality. CRYSTAL FOREST

By Steve Price, Intel taying true to its telecommunication workload road- Several years ago, in anticipation of these needs, Intel laid Smap, Intel has just announced the addition of its next out a Four-to-One (4:1) communication workload consolida- generation communications platform, codename Crystal tion roadmap (see Figure 2). Similar to the familiar OSI layered Forest, based on Intel® microarchitecture, codename Sandy network model, Intel’s communication path started with the Bridge. This addition will consolidate application, control application and control processing layers. Based on the Nehalm and accelerated data control processing into a two chipset architecture, the Intel® Xeon® processor C5500/C3500 was the multimedia system. company’s first offering to cover the communication network Shipments of Internet-based consumer electronic devices is application and control domains. Since that time, the company’s expected to exceed those of traditional PC platforms for the first hardware and software offerings have been used in applications time in 2013, according to IHS iSuppli. The phenomenal growth such as billing and accounting services. In the network control of mobile phone and social media applications (see Figure 1) are domain, Intel has focused largely on the radio network control- placing a serious strain on network resources like bandwidth for ler (RNC), a critical element in wireless area networks (WANs) both the telecommunications equipment manufacturers (TEMs) that handles the set-up and tear-down of phone calls. The RNC and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). heralds back to the days of telephony. Today, however, this same technology must deal with social media networking usage like text messaging, instant messaging and Facebook sessions. These additional tasks mean that TEMs have had to develop a different way to design and manage the control plane. After the control plane, the next network challenge is moving data plane packets while main- taining the best performance per watt ratio. The key is to keep the thermal heat generation of the packet process as low as possible due to the thermally con- strained form factor environments of today’s mobile devices. Shrinking form factors vary from standard boards like ATAC and AMC to proprietary form fac- tors from Eriksson, Huawei (pronounced “wa-way”) and other TEMs. The former Intel Xeon processor C5500/C3500 platform was designed specifically for all three telecommunication challenges in the application, control and data planes. It reduced the overall number of chips from 3 to 2, namely, the Nehalem Figure 1: The Internet Minute demands greater bandwidth and faster deployment processor and its chipset that included Input/Output from telecommunication manufacturers, operators and service providers. (IO), memory control and DMA engine. (Courtesy of Intel) Crystal Forest Acceleration Perhaps hardest hit are the Internet service providers and op- Maintaining the same reduced chipset, today’s Crystal For- erators, customers of the TEMs and OEMs. The rise of the mobile est technology includes a 22nm processor and based on Sandy environment has increased the need for security and deployment Bridge microarchitecture a 32nm chipset that adds acceleration of faster networks at lower cost. to the existing IO and memory subsystems. The accelerators

www.embeddedintel.com | Embedded Intel® Solutions — Spring 2012 | 27 “Plus they had all the different tools that went along with that–a very complicated environment.” The value proposition offered by Crystal Forest is one of ef- ficient design based on the same Intel ® architecture (IA) -based tool suite. In other words, the same instruction set architecture for the processor can be used in a variety of implementation domains. “The bottom line is customers can build a common

SPECIAL FEATURE SPECIAL platform that runs different software loads for application, control or packet and use it in different points of their network element or different elements of the network like RNC, Gatways or edge routers,” said Price. Another advantage with IA tools is that common C/C++ code can be used to program the acceleration technology, instead of Figure 2: Based on the Intel® microarchitecture, codename more costly and involved DSP specific or network processing Sandy Bridge, Crystal Forest integrates communication workload code. Additionally, a new set of C/C++ libraries that run on na- functionality, including packet acceleration, into two chipsets. tive IA, will move packets much faster than before - up to 160 million packets per second. These optimized libraries can be ac-

CRYSTAL FOREST CRYSTAL include 0-100Gbps cryptography, compression and deep packet quired from Intel or the company’s ecosystem of providers, such inspection functionality via Intel® QuickAssist technology. This as WindRiver, 6Winds and others. means that no separate third party acceleration is needed at the Today’s Crystal Forest technology announcement introduces board level. the next milestone in the company’s communication platform, Data processing interfaces include SATA and USB, while Eth- i.e. acceleration of network services. The new platform is sched- ernet handless the communication I/Os. uled to be available later in 2012. In addition to greater acceleration and security offerings, scalability remains the chief benefit to both communication hardware developers and programmers. “Our customers cur- Steve Price is the marketing director for Intel’s rently have nine different silicon architectures - multiple ones for Communications Infrastructure Division. application, control, packet plane from multicore providers like MIPS, Intel, Freescale and others,” explains Steve Price, director of marketing for Intel’s communications infrastructure division.

Intel and AMD End Membership with WSTS www.SemiMD.com

In another blow for collectors of semiconductor market data It represents 62 semiconductor companies representing more than and forecasts, Intel Corp. has ended its membership with the 75 percent of the world semiconductor market. World Semiconductor Trade Statistics (WSTS) organization. Now, without Intel, the WSTS data will be incomplete. Need- Rival Advanced Micro Devices Inc. discontinued its member- less to say, Intel provides critical data on processor shipments for ship with the WSTS in December of 2011, according to a report the WSTS. The chip giant, according to some observers, dropped from The Wall Street Journal. As a result, AMD and Intel will no out of the organization, because it gives its competitors far too longer provide their respective chip shipment data to the WSTS. much insight — or intelligence — about its processor shipments. “I can confirm that we are no longer a member,” according to a “If Intel drops out of WSTS, it will be a major blow to the spokesman from Intel. “From time to time, we evaluate organiza- reliability of WSTS semiconductor market data. Intel accounts tions where we have membership and make decisions about our for over 16 percent of the semiconductor market. WSTS will needs and the benefits of that membership. We decided the WSTS be able to adapt, but it will have to make significant changes — was no longer a fit for us.” perhaps dropping microprocessors from its product coverage,” Founded in 1986, WSTS has provided critical data for the said Bill Jewell, principal for Semiconductor Intelligence LLC, a industry. WSTS is a non-profit corporation that provides market research firm. statistics to the semiconductor industry. The organization is said to be the singular source for monthly industry shipment statistics. Read the entire story at www.semimd.com

28 | Embedded Intel® Solutions — Spring 2012 | www.embeddedintel.com Social and Mobile Players Change the Game SPECIAL FEATURE The rise of the social, mobile Alpha-Influencers segment opens new horizons for the game- related technology and content-services industries. GAME DEVELOPMENT

By John Blyler, Editorial Director

he stellar growth of social media and mobile devices has 2011. The social, mobile, massively multiplayer online and middle- Tchanged the entire gaming market. Dubbed Alpha Influenc- ware sectors led the industry, according to Tim Merel, managing ers in a recent IGN.com report, early-adopter game players are director at Digi-Capital and author of the report (see Figure 1). impacting both entertainment-content sites and the embedded hardware-software game-development ecosystem. Who will service this growing market segment in terms of technology and content? The “content” lines between these two industries are becoming blurred. Chip and embedded-board companies now offer inexpensive mobile games and social-media communities, following the lead of traditional consumer game-console giants like Microsoft, Nin- tendo, Sega, Sony, and others. How can media and electronic companies work together to satisfy the attention and ravenous online appetites of Alpha Influencers?

Gamers Dilemma Technology’s relentless march to the drumbeat of Moore’s Law means gaming systems of all kinds have gotten faster, better and cheaper. Ever-increas- Figure 1: Investment dollars are favoring the “online-mobile” world for both ing processor power in shrinking form factors has hardcore and casual gamers. opened the flood gates on new technology plat- forms—especially in the mobile space. The emergence—and, in some cases, merging—of social me- These changes—combined with the rise of the social-media dia and mobile devices has forever changed the dynamics of the phenomenon—have resulted in three key gaming segments, game-playing community. According to the IGN study, the three explains Peer Schneider, SVP of content & publisher, IGN Enter- most influential gaming segments consist of Alpha Influencers, tainment. (This online media and game-services site has roots in Social Mainstreamers and traditional core groups (see Figure the electronic-design-automation [EDA] and semiconductor world. 2). Engineers and other technology professionals won’t have to Originally co-founded by Ken Keller, who also co-founded Cadence “cross a chasm” to note a striking similarity between these three Design Systems, the company has grown through acquisitions into gaming segments and the innovation adoption lifecycle. one of the premier sites for gaming and entertainment enthusiasts.) The Alpha Influencers are the early technology adopters. Highly In a recent study, IGN.com confirmed the major changes that active on the social network, they share their real or imagined exper- are taking place in the gaming world. Smart phones—mainly the tise on all things related to technology. They tend to be the highest iPhone and Android platforms—have emerged as dominant play- wage earners of all three segments and married with children. ers in the mobile-gaming space. Furthermore, almost half of all The Social Mainstreamers are by far the largest group, rep- gamers now play games on smart phones or tablets. This trans- resenting the mass-market gamers. To them, gaming is but one lates into considerable social-media influence and potentially of their many online activities, which include listening to music huge revenues for game-related companies. and watching movies. Mainstreamers are very social and active How big is this market? An annual report by game investment on Facebook and Twitter. Unlike Alpha Influencers, this group advisor Digi-Capital states that the game industry had a record year isn’t the first to pick up new technology trends. But their critical of $2 billion (growing 160%) for investments and acquisitions in mass decides whether the trend will go mainstream.

www.embeddedintel.com | Embedded Intel® Solutions — Spring 2012 | 29 While the last seg- of-Duty series now exceed the box-office sales for the Star Wars ment may be somewhat and Lord of the Rings film series, notes an Activision spokesman. smaller in size, it will How does a gamer destination site like IGN.com maintain never disappear. The its core following while expanding into the mobile-online game traditional core gamer segment and mega-franchises? This is a question that all content is very brand-centric. providers are wrestling with—namely, how to provide the right Once a brand earns the content to the right audience on the right type of device. What

SPECIAL FEATURE SPECIAL core gamer’s support, is the correct balance of niche-to-general coverage? How will the that gamer remains different devices—ranging from mobile smart phones, tablets, loyal for a lifetime. and gaming handsets to desktops, TV-game consoles, and oth- This group is more in- ers—dictate the type and amount of content to display? sular than the other Figure 2: This image depicts the segments, preferring the Chip Sites Get In the Game gaming segments in 2011. (Courtesy company of fellow core The stellar growth potential of the gaming industry hasn’t of IGN.com) gamers rather than the been lost on the electronic ecosystem—from chip and board other, more socially in- companies to consumer consoles. A quick look at the upcoming clined groups. These players are slower to adopt new social-media Game Developers conference offers a glimpse of the increased services like Facebook and Twitter. Instead, they prefer Internet hardware and software tools aimed at game development. forums like NeoGAF (formerly named the Gaming Age Forums). On the hardware side, chip companies are offering ever-faster

GAME DEVELOPMENT processors, graphic engines and sensor platforms for both mo- Game Market Challenge bile devices and consoles (e.g., Intel, AMD, ARM, Imagination For many game developers and content-service providers, the Technologies, nVidia, ATI, IBM, Freescale and others). These main challenge is how to keep the traditional brand-centric core hardware offerings also include a software-development envi- happy while wooing the growing population of social-media- ronment to help game designers optimize to and prototype on adept and mobile consumers. This isn’t a trivial issue, as solving given hardware architectures. it will decide the winners in a large and booming market. To address the inherent tradeoffs between performance and Schneider explains that this challenge has taken a new turn with power consumption between mobile and console devices, most the emergence of Alpha Influencers as major players. “For example, hardware vendors highlight the scalability of their chip sets. Scal- the way we cover games for the console and PC platforms won’t work ability is one way to shield the game developer from the challenges for an iOS audience, because they go to the Apple Apps store to down- of migrating between different hardware platforms (including the load games. They don’t go online to seek games or related content.” cloud-based systems favored by many mobile devices). This exemplifies the problem with the new mobile game Another processor-intensive tradeoff for mobile-gaming devices player. Unlike the traditional core gamer, few Alpha Influencer is augmented reality, which requires real-time data synchronization (early-adopter) gamers go online to seek walk-throughs to over- with the user’s physical world. Augmented-reality features are appear- come different portions of a game or even to read helpful reviews. ing in many new gaming devices and mobile phones. For example, Those reactions don’t yet seem to be part of their mobile-gaming Sony PlayStation’s new Vita touts augmented-reality capabilities experience. Content providers will have to find other ways to (see Figure 3). At this year’s recent Mobile World Congress, Intel an- reach this emerging segment. At the same time, they’ll have to nounced the expanded growth of its mobile-phone offerings, which maintain traditional communi- cation modes with mainstream and core gamers. Further complicating the challenge wrought by the emerging game market segmentation is the rise of mega-franchises, notes Sch- neider. “Mega-franchise games are now so huge that people search for them on Google rather than on actual platform sites.” Consider Activision’s lat- est update to the “Call-of-Duty” franchise, Modern Warfare 3. It sold more than 6.5 million cop- ies in the first 24 hours after its release. Total sales for the Call- Figure 3: Playstation’s Vita merges the real world and the game world via augmented reality.

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AnDevCon™ is a trademark of BZ Media LLC. Android™ is a trademark of Google Inc. Google’s Android Robot is used under terms of the Creative Commons 3.0 Attribution License. A BZ Media Event Register NOW at www.AnDevCon.com includes an augmented- Even software-centric, game-console companies such as reality feature set. Microsoft see the convergence of game application and hard- In addition to new ware systems. During a recent presentation at DesignCon, Ilan hardware offerings, Spillinger, VP for hardware and technology within Microsoft’s chip companies con- Interactive Entertainment Business, acknowledged the shift to- tinue to move into ward more pervasive displays (graphics), cloud computing and Figure 4: Inexpensive mobile games the software space. the integration of more sensors as key gaming trends. are now being offered for Tegra- SPECIAL FEATURE SPECIAL Hardware providers The social-media and mobile-gaming movements have cer- powered devices. are creating their own tainly left their marks on the traditional game-console market. “apps” stores, which are tailored to their unique platforms. Last Electronic companies must provide ever-faster mobile and year, Intel announced its “Appup” store, which included mobile server-based platforms to satisfy the needs of this growing mar- and PC game applications. Graphic hardware giant nVidia’s ket. Online-media and game-services companies also must adapt TegraZone offers inexpensive mobile games that are optimized by offering customized content that is targeted to each audience for Tegra-powered devices, including Android-based tablets and segment on a myriad of display and device options—ranging smart phones (see Figure 4). In addition, gamer sites like Ign.com from smartphones and tablets to PCs and consoles. might team up with semiconductor-chip-company sites to target The lines are blurring between who provides content to whom content to social-media and mobile-gaming enthusiasts in the and in what fashion. Electronic companies continue to move into Alpha-Influencer player segment. the social-media and gaming worlds, while media providers are Yet faster mobile processors and graphic chips still don’t targeting content for every imaginable electronic device. To the

GAME DEVELOPMENT provide enough raw processing power to satisfy today’s mobile- gaming consumer, however, these blurring lines are irrelevant. The game and social-media applications. That’s why server-based only thing that matters is the quality of their online experience. cloud-computing technology has become an essential element in mobile applications. For example, game middleware vendors are using the cloud to offer more and varied tools for game devel- John Blyler is the editorial director at Extensionme- opers. Middleware vendors provide an integrated development dia. He is an affiliate professor in System Engineering environment of reusable software components. These compo- at Portland State University. Also, John writes the nents simplify game creation with key elements like graphics, ‘IP Insider” blog at Chipestimate.com. He can be sound and realistic visual effects. Among these companies are reached at: [email protected] Autodesk, Unreal, Epic and Unity—to name a few.

IP Trumps Moore’s Law in SoC Costs By John Blyler

Apple continues to reduce system costs through of critical IP. Acquisition of IP allows a customized chip design via IP integration and software company to customized the IP to meet tailoring, not through traditional cost per gate. specific design needs or processes, e.g., No one doubts the intrinsic value of design reuse via such as low-power. Further, acquisi- third party semiconductor intellectual property (IP). tions give a company access to valuable Incorporating IP of known quality into a chip design technical IP in the form of engineers and allows companies to concentrate on their core design process professionals. Finally, acquisitions may afford a competencies while adding all the other functionality strategic advantage to a company, allowing them to limit required for today’s complex System-on-Chip (SoC) competition to key IP technology. integrated circuits. Large ecosystems of third party IP suppliers exist to fill this need within a royalty-based Read the entire story at: www.chipestimate.com/ business model. blogs/IPInsider A large company can gain additional advantages over the royalty-based model through outright ownership

32 | Embedded Intel® Solutions — Spring 2012 | www.embeddedintel.com TECHNOLOGY APPLICATION A New Category of Rugged, Fanless Power Supply New approach meets large-load requirements at high ambient temperatures for medical, clean room or outdoor signage applications. FANLESS SUPPLY POWER

By Joel Zaens, Emerson Network Power here is a category of application which has been poorly of air, which means that the power supply’s components are Tserved by makers of standard AC-DC power supplies. likely to operate near the top end of their operating tempera- These applications combine high ambient or operating tem- ture range. But ordinary open-frame units are not specially peratures with a requirement for a rugged, reliable power designed for high- or low-temperature operation. At extremes supply serving loads up to 250W. Particularly when fanless of temperature, standard open-frame power supply units have operation is required, original equipment manufacturers to be de-rated. So, depending on the ambient temperature in have struggled to find a cost-effective solution. which the device is to be used, the designer might then find that This problem particularly affects designers of outdoor the power supply cannot support the load under all operating applications, such as exterior lighting and billboards, commu- conditions. nications towers and remote monitoring devices, which require Designers of applications which require a high power out- a high power output. Here, there is a benefit to avoiding the use put at high temperatures might then consider adding forced-air of equipment that contains a fan. This is because a fan can sig- cooling in the enclosure – but the use of a fan is undesirable for nificantly lower the equipment’s reliability (usually measured all the reasons outlined above. as a mean time between failure, or MTBF), and some applica- The problem, then, is how to deliver a low-cost, ruggedized tions cannot bear the risk of premature failure. This might be power supply rated for up to 250W which can operate at full because unexpected downtime causes large financial losses. power at high temperature, but without requiring a fan. For end products such as advertising billboards and communi- A new category of power supplies that use conduction- and cations masts, it is also because the cost of repairing faults in convection-cooling techniques, which are commonly found remote or awkward locations is high. in DC-DC power converters, but which have not generally Fanless operation at high power is also required in other cat- been used in AC-DC egories of application: in clean rooms and hospital equipment, power supplies could for instance, the movement of air has to be kept to a minimum be the answer. Unlike in order to avoid the circulation of particles or microbes. In the conventional ap- other applications, such as airport signage, silent operation is proach of enclosing a a key requirement. Here again, therefore, power supplies must standard open-frame Figure 1. A new category of AC-DC operate at high power with no fan. unit, the development power supplies, such as Emerson’s Most system designers facing this problem are working in of this new category of LCC250 series, is optimized for highly competitive markets and with small- to mid-volume AC-DC power supplies enclosed and fanless operation up to 85°C baseplate temperature production runs: for them, the luxury of specifying a custom is intended from the power supply is not financially realistic. To keep materials costs beginning to enable the power supply to be both enclosed and low, these systems must use a reasonably priced standard power fanless, and they are optimized for this mode of operation. supply. In this type of power supply, the metal baseplate serves as So for designers of products used outdoors, which require both the mounting point to the host device and as a thermal a certain amount of protection from the elements, the typical interface to ambient air. The power supply therefore needs to approach today is to ruggedize an open-frame standard power be mounted to a thermally conductive surface – normally this supply unit by mounting it within an enclosure which resists will be the metal case or cabinet of the host device. This metal the ingress of liquid. Enclosing an open-frame unit does of surface then serves as a large heat sink draining thermal energy course provide protection against moisture and contaminants, from the power supply. but technically this approach entails many undesirable trade- Convection-cooled variants are for systems in which heat offs. cannot be transferred to ambient air via a surface of the host Crucially, open-frame units are designed to operate in the device. In these variants, the top surface of the power supply presence of airflow; an enclosure stops the free movement (which is not thermally conductive) provides the mounting

www.embeddedintel.com | Embedded Intel® Solutions — Spring 2012 | 33 points, and a large integrated heat sink attached to the base rated operation up to just 80°C; at the other extreme, standard plate allows for heat to be dissipated. Figures 1 and 2 show that units only operate normally down to 0°C. conduction-cooled power supplies offer a higher power output As an alternative to today’s normal procedure of enclosing at high temperature than the convection-cooled variants. a standard open-frame unit, the new category of power sup- But the provision of a ther- plies offers markedly superior mal interface to ambient air is power output and operating tem- not the only reason for the high perature range, while offering a

TECHNOLOGY APPLICATION TECHNOLOGY performance of these power sup- moderate degree of ruggediza- plies. As stated above, these new tion. units are being designed from the outset for enclosed opera- Conclusion tion without a fan. This required Through careful design of optimization of the thermal path the thermal pathways inside the from components to the thermal power supply unit, and from the interface (the base plate). So the unit to ambient, it is possible to layout of the unit’s circuit board produce a 250W AC-DC power is designed to provide direct supply which can operate at full thermal coupling between the power at very high and very low system’s hottest components Figure 2. Conduction-cooled versions of Emerson’s LCC250 temperatures, and with no re- offer higher usable power at high temperature than is – such as mosfets and recti- quirement for forced-air cooling common in fanless AC-DC power supplies fiers – and the base plate. In at high temperature.

FANLESS POWER SUPPLY FANLESS other words, the board layout is As an alternative to the com- not optimized for cost or ease of assembly, as it would be in a mon approach of enclosing a standard open-frame unit, this standard open-frame power supply unit, but for thermal per- new category of power supplies offers far superior performance formance. and reliability in applications which require moderate rugged- In addition, an effective thermal path from other components ization, at comparable cost. which are not directly coupled to the base plate is provided by potting the enclosure with thermally conductive compound. As a result, the thermal resistance from components inside units Joel Zaens is a product manager with the Embed- to ambient air is far lower than in a ruggedized (enclosed) stan- ded Power business of Emerson Network Power, dard open frame unit. This approach offers full power operation with responsibility for rapid modification and supporting a 250W load right up to 85°C baseplate tempera- value-added services, fanless and conduction ture, and down to -40°C, and de-rated operation between 85°C cooled products and board-mounted DC-DC mod- and 100°C baseplate temperature. ules. His experience in the power industry spans By comparison, standard mid- to high-power supply units over 17 years in various manufacturing, project management and typically offer full power operation up to just 50°C, and de- marketing roles. He holds a B.S. in electrical & communications engineering from De La Salle University in the Philippines.

Wireless IP Grows in Surprising Ways By John Blyler While growing, analog and wireless IP usage may face to exceed those of traditional PC platforms challenges in manufacturing preferences at lower nodes and for the first time in 2013. emerging LTE technology trends. An Internet Minute - courtesey of Intel. Does it even need to be stated that mobile data rates are This unprecedented growth in mobile growing at amazing rates? In-Stat’s reports a doubling of “everything” translates to a huge poten- mobile data every year, like Moore’s Law on steroids. tial market for analog and wireless IP in Interactions that were once measured in weeks or months both front-end mobile devices and back-end platforms that now occur in an Internet minute via YouTube, Google, service them. For the designers of both ends, the challenge Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and other social media applica- is to provide greater bandwidth at lower power and for faster tions. This accelerate connectedness is all thanks to the rise deployment cycles. of mobile devices. In fact, IHS iSuppli recently notes that Read the entire story at www.chipestimate.com/blogs/ shipments of Internet-based consumer devices are expected IPInsider/?p=649

34 | Embedded Intel® Solutions — Spring 2012 | www.embeddedintel.com TECHNOLOGY APPLICATION x86-Based Hardware and the Internet-of-Things Devices Market Why x86-based technology is important to key companies worldwide and continues to evolve CONNECTED COMPUTING CONNECTED

By Samuel Phung, ICOP Technology he fast pace computing technology evolution and rapid ex- to upgrade existing legacy devices and create new types of devices, Tpansion of the Internet during the past two decades created which we refer to as the Internet-of-things devices. the environment which enables technology companies to develop highly efficient, low-cost and connected computing devices to serve The Internet-of-Things Device the commercial, consumer, industrial and government markets. In the Internet-of-things device domain, many of these devices are built with a low-power and low-cost processor, with limited processing resources and minimal system and storage memories. Currently, many of these devices are built with low-cost microcon- trollers and ARM-based processors. What is the opportunity in the Internet-of-things domain for devices built with an x86 CPU? Without a specific business sce- nario, this is a vague question. To address this vague question, we need to look at how the Internet-of-things devices fit into a system which we can relate to. Let’s consider the following scenarios: Using a simple home automation system as an example, the In- ternet-of-things devices in the home automation system, as shown in Figure-1, are the connected sensor, actuator, lighting control Figure-1: Home Automation System and security devices. The system is connected to the Internet and enables the user to access each of the devices remotely through the Internet from a PC, smartphone or tablet. The system in Figure 2 illustrates a simple sensors network for a manufacturing or processing plan, where different types of sensors and actuators are deployed to different locations and attached to different machinery to monitor operating status. The system is connected to the public or private cloud and enables the user to access each of the sensor and actuator devices remotely from a PC, smartphone or tablet. Let’s consider the following for the above home automation and sensor network systems: t The ability for the system’s sensor/actuator devices to con- nect to the cloud or Internet alone is not sufficient to make Figure-2: Sensor network the system intelligent. t Should the sensor/actuator devices be connected to the As part of the continuing computing and Internet technologies Internet directly? evolution, connected computing technology is being adopted to build t Connecting the sensor/actuator devices directly to the intelligent devices around our daily living. Not counting the PC, most Internet poses serious security risks. Instead, the sensor/ of us interact with multiple computing devices on a daily basis, such actuator devices should be connected to a local gateway, as the ATM at the bank, information kiosk at the shopping center, which in turn provides the facility for the user to access each self-check-out terminal at the supermarket, ticketing machine, vend- of the sensor devices in a controlled environment, based on ing machine, smartphone, digital camera, multimedia entertainment the user’s security role. system, etc. Aside from these devices, the connected computing t What value can a system like this provide? technology evolution created the environment and opportunity t In addition to being able to access each of the sensor/actuator devices remotely, a system like this can provide more value

www.embeddedintel.com | Embedded Intel® Solutions — Spring 2012 | 35 by collecting data, performing analytics, providing historical tions adhered to by key companies that deliver x86-based hardware trends and triggering events under certain conditions, which solutions. These design specifications, spanning across both hard- are valuable forms of business intelligence. ware and software, also include I/O peripherals common to the x86 t In order to be an intelligent system to be able to provide valu- CPU hardware platforms. Many of these development resources are able business intelligence, the system needs to do the following: available off-the-shelf, enabling the development team to develop t Collect and archive data. and build working proof-of-concept units quickly with minimal t Analyze real-time data, comparing real-time cost and effort. These readily available technology resources also

TECHNOLOGY APPLICATION TECHNOLOGY data against archived data and deliver meaning- translate to lower production cost to the final product. ful analytical information. Within the x86 hardware technology provider community, t Based on the real-time data, comparing against ar- which includes the main processor board, module and I/O periph- chived data and historical trends, trigger event and erals, there is a high degree of compatibility where you can use initiate appropriate function response to the trig- processor boards and I/O peripherals from different vendors to gered event, based on pre-configured parameters. build a system that supports off-the-shelf software solutions. The well-established and recognized design specifications that For the Internet-of-things devices that are part of an intelligent revolve around the x86 CPU hardware platforms provided the en- system, x86-based hardware is suitable for the following roles: vironment that drives technology providers to compete based on t Being a local gateway connecting the sensor/actuator de- quality, features, price and service that greatly benefit the end users, vices to remote user with controlled access based on the which also generates a strong sense of confidence in the technology user’s security role. and creates more opportunities. t Being a local data storage to collect and archive data from Contrary to the x86-based hardware, hardware platforms built the sensor/actuator devices. with ARM processors by different vendors are not compatible.

CONNECTED COMPUTING t Processing resources to analyze real-time data and deliver And it’s hard to find an off-the-shelf software solution that is able appropriate analytic information to designated recipients. to support ARM-based hardware from different vendors. Many t Processing resources to analyze and compare real-time hardware development projects based on the ARM processor are data against archived historical one-of-a-kind products, which incur an trends and pre-determined unpredictable development sched- conditions, trigger event and In general, many developers ule and the risk of not being able to initiate appropriate function consider x86 CPU to perform complete the development or meet all responding to the triggered specified requirements. event, based on a set of pre- better than ARM CPU in terms of configured parameters. processing capability and low- Summary Note: One or more of the above The x86-based technology provid- connected intelligent system’s func- power consumption, as well as ers were able to form a community tions/tasks can be allocated to a single being at a lower cost. and establish a set of design specifi- x86 device. cations more than two decades ago. This community was able to evolve, x86 Processor Advantage adapt new technology and maintain a set of design specifications Computing hardware based on other processors, such as ARM, adhered to by all of the key companies worldwide, which created is able to perform these intelligent system’s functions. What is the an environment that benefits the user and provides solid founda- advantage of using x86-based hardware? tion for x86-based technology to continue to evolve. In general, many developers consider x86 CPU to perform better While x86-based technology is not able to be everything to than ARM CPUs in terms of processing capability and low-power everyone, it’s one of the best processor platforms with the largest consumption, as well as being at a lower cost. developer community and support resources, both commercial In recent years, the advance in silicon technology enabled x86 CPUs and open source. to be built with much smaller silicon and significantly lower power consumption. The computing market’s explosive growth created huge demand, caused technology providers to manufacture x86-based hard- Samuel Phung works for ICOP Technology, an x86- ware in unprecedented quantity and caused a dramatically lower cost. based hardware technology provider. Mr. Phung In addition to looking at the processing resources and hardware has worked in the computing technology field for cost, we also need to consider development cost, risk and how quickly more than 20 years. Although he works in the sales the development team is able to bring new products to the market. & marketing side of the business, he likes to tin- Time-to-market, initial development cost and the risk of not being ker with technology and is continuing to learn and able to complete the development process are key business concerns. keep up with new technology. He published two books, “Profes- With over two decades of cumulated hardware and software sional Windows Embedded CE 6.0” in 2008 and “Professional design resources from key global companies, x86-based hardware Windows Embedded Compact 7” in 2011. His blog can be found at: established a large pool of design resources and a set of specifica- http://www.embedded101.com/Samuelp101/

36 | Embedded Intel® Solutions — Spring 2012 | www.embeddedintel.com TECHNOLOGY APPLICATION Flat Program? Overheated Multicore Application? Roadside assistance with an industry-standard inter-process communication - MCAPI COMMUNICATIONS API MULTICORE

By Tedd Gribb and Martina Brehmer, Polycore Software, and Markus Levy, The Multicore Association Planning the Multicore Journey ent platform, source code reuse for next-generation platforms Approaching multicore is like planning a road trip; the ve- is beneficial, and selecting a standard programming model with hicle should be in good shape and ready for travel. Similarly, tools support is important. a multicore project must be carefully planned. Engineering Let’s take a look at shared memory and zero copy. Factors projects come with unknown factors and a multicore project to consider are: how much transaction data exists, the num- adds complexity. ber of cores sharing the memory, the memory architecture and One perspective of the multicore journey can be seen in access to DMA. When moving large amounts of data, copy by the roadmap of the Multicore Association’s (MCA) roadmap, reference is attractive. However, if many cores are randomly ac- with the primary goal being to develop an extensive set of ap- cessing the same memory, moving the data to a local memory plication programming interfaces (APIs) and the may be more efficient. establishment of an industry-supported Lastly, it is often misunderstood set of multicore programming practices that with SMP, the application will and services. One of these is the com- The MCAPI programming automatically run faster. In a system munications API, MCAPI, the underlying with multiple applications such as a focus of this article. model works with AMP personal computer or a server, this would likely be the case up to a cer- Questions that Designers and SMP systems. tain number of cores, because the Face in Planning a Multicore applications are mostly independent. Journey However, embedded systems typically Is the application ready for multicore? Does it have “built-in” have a single application and that single application needs to concurrency characteristics or will it require some restructur- be distributed across multiple cores. The application must have ing to efficiently run on a multicore platform? Modification is opportunity for concurrency, and data dependencies must be likely. considered. Is message passing a good approach? Synchronization may be more challenging with true concurrency. How to Prepare What is the best way to ensure scalability and code re-use Consider which programming model is the best match, for the future? The next platform may have many more cores based on application behavior and the platform of choice. The and designers should be able to re-use the application as the model should be reusable in upcoming trips. number of cores increases. Can the tool model the application and allow for review What tools are available? Good tools are always useful; with of different possibilities before committing to a platform and multicore, they are critical. design? Do the tools provide the flexibility to adapt and scale? Tools that support and enable designers to use standards sim- Common Misconceptions plify the journey. Migrating to and optimizing for multicore is Some engineers consider homogeneous platforms to be SMP an iterative process, so multiple passes of design and optimiza- and heterogeneous platforms to be AMP. The application’s tions typically occur. behavior should be the deciding factor for symmetric or asym- metric, rather than what type of core is being used. Multicore Fundamentals Another debate is the importance of a programming model when using dual-core. If multiple communication channels are Symmetric Multi-Processing (SMP) involved, then queues and data should be safeguarded and com- With SMP, there is a single OS instance running on mul- munications quickly become complicated even with just two tiple cores, and work queues are serviced by the next available cores. Second, if the application would need to scale to a differ- core. Shared memory is used for management and data sharing,

www.embeddedintel.com | Embedded Intel® Solutions — Spring 2012 | 37 and the cores must be homogeneous because they are executing code that’s compiled with a single instruction set. The OS manages the scheduling of threads or processes. Typically, SMP offers high throughput because of its scheduling. However, response

TECHNOLOGY APPLICATION TECHNOLOGY latency is unpredictable. Threads/pro- cesses can be pinned to cores, which introduce asymmetry. The more cores that are on the same bus and the same memory, the greater the diminishing returns will be.

MULTICORE MULTICORE Asymmetric Multi-Processing (AMP) AMP has multiple instantiations of one or more OSes, simple sched- uler or no OS on each core. A system could have multiple different types of COMMUNICATIONS API COMMUNICATIONS operating systems. Cores can be ho- Figure 1: MCAPI communication modes mogeneous or heterogeneous. AMP is quite scalable because it is more loosely coupled than SMP. Multicore Approach Different types of memory are available, which can be shared or local and across chip boundaries with a variety of interconnect Take Advantage of Standards types. Cores can be dedicated to certain functions, allowing The programming model should be suitable for your tar- them to have deterministic behavior and more precise con- get market, work the same way on few and many cores and be trol over the system. The ability to use different kinds of cores, agnostic to the type of core, OS and transport, and thereby matched to the workload, such as DSP for signal processing, facilitate scalability. Seek actively supported standards by an provides for better power efficiency. However, multiple tool sets organization with broad industry support, including hardware are needed when different types of cores are in the system. and software vendors and consumers. The standard should be available and proven to be portable.

Programming Models MCAPI Communication Modes MPI is used for widely distributed computing, and MCAPI “Connectionless messages,” the most flexible mode, is sent for closely distributed computing. Message passing is a ubiq- from a source to a destination, without requiring a connection, uitous model, available within OSes and used for networking. using both blocking and non-blocking functionality. Commu- Message passing can be applied to SMP and AMP or a combi- nication is buffered with per-message priority. Packet channels use connected unidirectional FIFO channels, with blocking and non-blocking functionality. Com- Consider which programming model is munication is buffered with per channel priority. Scalar channels are for 8, 16, 32 or 64 bits scalars and use the best match, based on application connected unidirectional FIFO channels, with blocking func- tionality and per-channel priority. behavior and the platform of choice. Other functional groups are for node and endpoint manage- ment, for managing non-blocking operations and one for other support functions.

nation thereof and scales well. MPI can be found in distributed Inspect Before Embarking on the Journey supercomputers with many cores, whereas MCAPI primarily The MCAPI programming model works with AMP and SMP targets closely distributed computing, defined as multiple cores systems. MCAPI is very scalable and should take us well into on a chip, multiple chips on a board or a combination thereof. the future, allowing reuse across platforms and product gen- OpenMP is primarily used for SMP systems and often used erations, and is targeted at closely distributed computing and for distribution of loops across multiple cores. OpenCL is an- embedded systems. other model that is primarily used for GPU programming. Multiple commercial implementations are available as well as an open source implementation. MCA membership spans

38 | Embedded Intel® Solutions — Spring 2012 | www.embeddedintel.com TECHNOLOGY APPLICATION

the industry, providing a body of expertise and knowledge that Tools – SW vs. HW can be leveraged and tools that are readily available. Accelerator MCAPI can be used stand-alone, or in combination with Setting up a DMA other synergistic MCA standards. transaction takes time and must be balanced Tools Simplify the Journey with the amount of data to be moved. For Application Mapping a small transaction, Ideally, all flows in an application are mapped to a multicore software copy may be platform in the most efficient way. The graphic below is a func- better, whereas for a COMMUNICATIONS API MULTICORE tion pipeline. The more compute-intensive functions, in the red large transfer, DMA is Figure 3: Instant MCAPI – Code ovals, are replicated and applied in parallel steps to equalize the better. Being able to set generated with an MCAPI template time of each step in the pipeline. a threshold for a DMA tool speeds up the programming Rapid prototyping capabilities lighten the programming transfer based on the process and reduces errors/ load. If mapping can be done in a timely manner, then different transaction cost for the debugging. topologies and configurations can be evaluated and fine-tuned specific DMA, i.e., auto- for optimal results. Mapping to multicore is an iterative process, matically determine whether to use soft or hard copy, would and a rapid prototyping capability will expedite the process. be preferred. Programming a DMA can also be complex and time-consuming. A tool that configures the DMA instead Tools - MCAPI Enable of programming, including setting a trigger, will make life a On a single processor, function parameters are passed on the lot easier and faster. To use or not to use the DMA should be transparent to the MCAPI-enabled ap- plication. Tools provide a platform for such experimentation and optimization.

Tools – Memory Utilization Using shared memory is simple be- cause one can pass a pointer referencing the data, along with some metadata. The small amount of data movement is attractive for efficiency reasons. On the other hand if a number of cores randomly access the data in shared memory, bus contention may reduce performance. In some cases, moving the data from one local memory to another local memory may be better. The data can be processed faster, because local memory is undisturbed by other cores. Should DMA be avail- Figure 2: The application flow and the corresponding tools-generated topology map. able, the DMA would offload the CPU and provide a compact transaction, occupying the bus for a short period of time. Some call stack. With functions on different cores (AMP) parameters parts of the data flow may be best served with copy by reference are passed by explicitly communicating. Functions are simply and others by data movement. Predicting memory behavior in encapsulated by communication calls. a multicore platform can be challenging and having the tools and runtime capabilities to experiment with memory usage will Tools – Instant MCAPI likely produce more optimal results. The tool exemplified in the picture is aware of the underly- ing topology, nodes and ports, and the information is used in Tools - On-Chip / Off-Chip coding templates. The programmer selects an MCAPI function, What if the platform spans across multiple chips? The inter- e.g., send message or receive message; then decides whether chip transport could be shared memory or a serial connection, to use the blocking or non-blocking version, selects the des- requiring data movement. Does the application have to be aware tination node and ports. The next step is to select parameters, of the topology, and if so, how about portability and spanning either from existing variables or those offered by the tool. The across multiple platforms? The application doesn’t have to know template is completed, and MCAPI code inserted in the applica- what’s under the hood, just as drivers do not have to understand tion at the programmer specified location. The code generation all that goes on under the hood of a car in order to be able to speeds up the programming and reduces errors and debugging. operate the car.

www.embeddedintel.com | Embedded Intel® Solutions — Spring 2012 | 39 Figure 4: Tools SW vs. HW – A tool that configures the DMA instead of programming, including setting a trigger. TECHNOLOGY APPLICATION TECHNOLOGY

Figure 5: Tools off-chip/on- chip – There is no programming

MULTICORE MULTICORE required to invoke the SRIO transports.

Let’s call roadside assistance on this one as well. The tools Ted Gribb is PolyCore Software’s vice president COMMUNICATIONS API COMMUNICATIONS can assist in both selecting the proper transport and configur- of sales. Prior to joining PolyCore Software, ing the transport, and the application will remain unchanged. Gribb had sales management positions for As we can see in the case of the SRIO, transport we can select Wind River, Diab Data and Mentor Graphics. the communication type (9 or 11) and a few other parameters Previously, he held management positions in and we are ready to communicate. There is no programming software engineering. Gribb received a Bach- required to invoke the SRIO transports. elor of Science degree in mathematics from DeSales University.

Martina Brehmer is the director of market- Summary ing for PolyCore Software. Prior to joining If you’re planning for a multicore journey, improve the trip PolyCore Software, Brehmer received her Bach- with a better route and fewer surprises along the way. When elor of Science in International Business from planning your project, consider the application’s behavior and the Eberhardt School of Business at University of characteristics as well as the platform. Then select a matching the Pacific. She is also dedicated to photography. programming model. Experiment before committing to the design. Access to rapid prototyping tools can be very valuable. Markus Levy is president of The Multicore Asso- Also, reusable programming models are cost-effective because ciation and chairman of the Multicore Developer’s they allow applications to span multiple platforms, both within Conference. He is also the founder and president of a product line and between product generations. EEMBC. Mr. Levy was previously a senior analyst MCA offers a family of standards that can be used individu- at In-Stat/MDR and an editor at EDN magazine, ally or combined. Runtime solutions and tools are available, focusing in both roles on processors for the embed- supporting MCAPI on multiple platforms, scaling various ded industry. numbers of cores and offering code reusability. The process is iterative and being able to rapidly complete the first pass and experiment is key to a successful multicore journey. Code- generation tools speed the process, provide consistent code and repeat-ability. Multicore journeys are complex, but can be simplified. Ac- cept all available roadside assistance.

40 | Embedded Intel® Solutions — Spring 2012 | www.embeddedintel.com Product ShowcaseProduct Product Showcase Index

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www.embeddedintel.com | Embedded Intel® Solutions — Spring 2012 | 41 D525 Fanless Embedded System –eBOX620-801-FL

The eBOX620-801is our cost-effective fanless embedded solution that features Intel’s high performance dual- core Intel® Atom™ processor D525 1.8GHz with Intel® I/O Controller Hub 8M. Our embedded computer system has a unique thermal solution, expandability, has a wide Product Showcase operating temperature range and is IP40 protected. The eBOX620-801 is the reliable and robust box solution ideal for various embedded applications of gaming, digital signage, POS, kiosk, industrial control automation, medical equipment and more!

Features t *OUFM¥"UPN™QSPDFTTPS/()[%()[ t *OUFM¥*0$POUSPMMFS)VC. t Y64#QPSUTY$0.QPSUT t 'BOMFTTPQFSBUJPOEFTJHOXJUIGVMMGFBUVSF*0T t )JHI1FSGPSNBODF%%340%*.. /TVQQPSUT DDR3-667 max. up to 2 GB, D525 supports DDR3-800 max. up to 4 GB) t Yw4"5"ESJWFCBZY$PNQBDU'MBTI™TMPU t Y1$*&YQSFTT.JOJ$BSETMPUYJOUFSOBM64# AXIOMTEK 8J'JNPVOUJOHTQBDF 18138 Rowland St City of Industry, CA 91748 USA 1.888.GO.AXIOM Toll Free 1.626.581.3232 Telephone [email protected] us.axiomtek.com

NEW! PICMG v 1.3 half-size CPU Card with DDR3 & USB 3.0 –SHB213

"YJPNUFLT /&8 1*$.(  IBMGTJ[F $16 TVQQPSUT UIF 2nd generation Intel® Core™ i7/i5/i3 processors and the Intel® Celeron® processors in Socket G2 with the new Mobile Intel® Celeron® HM65 Express chipset. The SHB213 comes with two DDR3 1066/1333 MHz SO-DIMM slots with up to 8GB memory. Equipped with the latest interface technologies including: RAID-capable (optional for Mobile Intel® QM67 Express chipset) SATA-600 and USB 3.0. Integrated with Intel® HD Graphics 3000, advanced 3D graphics and a VGA port. The PCI Express 2.0 x16, x4 or x1 lanes are available for versatile applications uses. Our CPU card is an ideal solution for embedded applications of DVR, digital security surveillance, gaming machines, visual inspection instruments, and video servers. Features t 4PDLFU( S1("# OEHFOFSBUJPO*OUFM¥$PSF™ i7/ i5/ i3/ or Intel® Celeron® processor t .PCJMF*OUFM¥).&YQSFTTDIJQTFU PQUJPOBM.PCJMF Intel® QM67 Express chipset) t %%3NBYUP(#NFNPSZDBQBDJUZ AXIOMTEK t 4VQQPSUT*OUFM¥)%HSBQIJDT 18138 Rowland St City of Industry, CA 91748 USA 1.888.GO.AXIOM Toll Free 1.626.581.3232 Telephone [email protected] us.axiomtek.com

42 | Embedded Intel® Solutions — Spring 2012 | www.embeddedintel.com Product ShowcaseProduct EC200 Series System Uses Modular Construction Targeting Industrial Computing Applications

The industrial grade ITOX EC200 series system features sealed construction and anti-shock drive bay mounting designed for factory floor environments. Up to 12 modular system configurations are supported using four riser cards and three I/O module types. Virtually unlimited configuration options are possible using low-cost custom I/O modules designed to meet specific customer requirements. All configurations feature passive cooling and a 1.8 GHz dual core Intel® Atom™ processor D525 with Intel® 82801 HM I/O $POUSPMMFS)VCSFRVJSJOHPOMZ8BUUTNBYJNVNQPXFS5IF integrated Intel® Graphic Media Accelerator 3150 with DX9.0c and OpenGL 1.4 compliance supports VGA displays up to 2,048 x 1,536 @ 60 Hz. Systems can be configured with up to 4 GB DDR3 800 MHz memory, 8 USB 2.0 ports, 10 RS232/422/485 serial ports, 16 GPIO, and 3 PCIe/PCI expansion slots. This low-power industrial system is ideal for applications EC200-LRA060 System Model Features (pictured) requiring a stable revision-controlled platform, such as t ()[EVBMDPSF*OUFM¥"UPN™QSPDFTTPS% industrial control, factory automation, POS and other t 'BOMFTT QBTTJWFIFBUTJOLDPPMJOH applications requiring flexible system configuration. t 4JOHMF7%$QPXFSJOQVU XJUI"$BEBQUFS t $PNQBDUNNYNNYNN )Y%Y8 DFI-ITOX t %FTLUPQ 7&4" BOEXBMMNPVOUJOH 8 Elkins Road t w4"5")%%CBZ $PNQBDU'MBTITPDLFU East Brunswick, NJ 08816 t 6QUP(#%%3.)[NFNPSZ USA t (JHBCJU-"/ 64# BOE34 732-390-2815 Telephone t .JOJ1$*FFYQBOTJPODBSETMPU 800-200-4869 Toll Free t DIBOOFM"OBMPHBOE)%"VEJPTVQQPSU 732-390-2817 Fax t 6- $&BOE'$$$MBTT#BQQSPWBMT [email protected] www.itox.com

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www.embeddedintel.com | Embedded Intel® Solutions — Spring 2012 | 43 3U & 6U VITA 46 VPX & VITA 65 OpenVPX Processor Boards

The 6U iVPX7220 and 3U iVPX7223 VITA 46 VPX & VITA 65 OpenVPX™ processor boards from Emerson Network Power features the dual-core and quad-core 2nd generation Intel® Core™ i7 processor @ 2.20 GHz, with integrated graphics and memory controller and the Mobile Intel® QM67 Express chipset Product Showcase with leading edge I/O functionality. This high compute density platform offers both high speed fabric connectivity with PCI Express and Gigabit Ethernet control plane connectivity with data transfer rates up to 5Gbps. On-board memory includes up to 16GB DDR3-1333 memory (soldered), embedded USB flash and 256KB non-volatile F-RAM. Additional connectivity includes a variety of USB 2.0, Features: serial and SATA ports, GPIO, DisplayPort, VGA and XMC sites t ()[EVBMPSRVBEDPSF OEHFOFSBUJPOJOUFHSBUFE*OUFM® GPSNBYJNVNnFYJCJMJUZ"OPQUJPOBMw4"5"44%JTBMTP Core™ i7 processor & Mobile Intel® QM67 Express chipset available. t 6QUP(# 6 PS(# 6 &$$QSPUFDUFE%%3 The boards are fully rugged for extreme environments with t 7*5"3&%*UXPMFWFMNBJOUFOBODF -. extended shock, vibration, temperatures and conduction t &YUFOEFEUFNQFSBUVSF VQUP¡$UP ¡$ BOESVHHFE cooling. They are designed for a range of industrial, variants communication and military/aerospace applications. t "JSBOEDPOEVDUJPODPPMFE Software support includes Solid and Stable BIOS with password protection and a wide range of operating systems. Emerson Network Power 2900 S. Diablo Way, Suite 190 Tempe, AZ 85282 USA 1 800 759 1107 Toll Free 1 602 438 5720 Telephone [email protected] Emerson.com/EmbeddedComputing

CPCI7203 Air- and Conduction-Cooled 3U Processor Board

The CPCI7203 3U SBC from Emerson Network Power features the integrated dual-core Intel® Core™ i7 processor for use in high performance, space-constrained applications. This leading edge thermal and rugged solution makes the CPCI7203 ideal for harsh environments. On-board memory on both variants includes up to 8GB DDR3; and on the air-cooled variant, 256KB non-volatile F-RAM and 4GB MicroSD flash. Connectivity is optimized for maximum throughput and flexibility. The air-cooled variants have two Gigabit Ethernet ports, two USB 2.0 ports, and one VGA on the front panel. Rear IO includes one serial port, two SATA ports and four PCI Features interfaces to the rear. Conduction-cooled variants also provide t *OUFHSBUFEEVBMDPSF*OUFM® Core™ i7 processor (up to 2 GHz) rear VGA. The Trusted Platform Module (TPM) enhances data t 6QUP(#&$$QSPUFDUFE%%3 TPMEFSFE security and encryption capabilities. t ,#OPOWPMBUJMF'3".POBJSDPPMFEWBSJBOU t .PCJMF*OUFM® 5 Series chipset: Ibex Peak-M PCH The CPCI7203 is a low-power, high-performance SBC that offers t 0OF7(" UXP64#POCPBSE(JHBCJU&UIFSOFUJOUFSGBDFT full hot swap compliance per PICMG® 2.1 and supports the t (#.JDSP4%POBJSDPPMFEWBSJBOU PICMG 2.9 System Management specification. It also supports t "JSBOEDPOEVDUJPODPPMFE a range of operating system and software options. t &YUFOEFEUFNQFSBUVSFSBOHF ¡$UP ¡$  It is ideal for a wide range of industrial, medical and military/ t 0QUJPOBMSFBSUSBOTJUJPONPEVMF aerospace applications, such as railway control, factory Emerson Network Power automation, semiconductor processing, robotics, image 2900 S. Diablo Way, Suite 190 processing, vetronics, VoIP and first responder. Tempe, AZ 85282 USA 1 800 759 1107 Toll Free 1 602 438 5720 Telephone [email protected] Emerson.com/EmbeddedComputing

44 | Embedded Intel® Solutions — Spring 2012 | www.embeddedintel.com Product ShowcaseProduct

Embedded Computers

The Emerson Network Power Embedded Computers are based around x86 Intel® architecture embedded motherboards with processor and memory, plus a disk. These are integrated into an application-specific enclosure that is designed for long- life applications with very little or no maintenance. Typical uses include medical clinical instruments, digital security and surveillance, industrial control and digital signage. Emerson is offering two classes of Embedded Computers that are ideal for digital signage applications: t 'BOMFTT  TNBMM  NFUBM TPMVUJPOT UIBU BSF EFTJHOFE UP CF mounted to a screen or instrument. These are noiseless, maintenance-free embedded computers that are available to suit a variety of operating temperature environments. They are easy to use and offer capability to fit a wireless module. t 4NBMM MPXDPTUFNCFEEFEDPNQVUFSTXJUITPNFFYQBOTJPO The MCASE series consists of a Mini-ITX plastic enclosure and ® capability. These are typically supplied in a plastic enclosure features the 2nd gen Intel Core™ processor family. MCASE is a XJUINPVOUJOHPQUJPOT PQFSBUFJOBOFOWJSPONFOUPG¡$ fully configured, application-ready platform ready to be powered UP¡$BOEBSFBJSDPPMFE up and loaded with applications.

The KR8-315 is a fully integrated embedded computer. Enclosed in a custom, fanless case, the KR8-315 features the Intel® Atom™ Emerson Network Power processor E640 running at 1.0 GHz. Two versions are available – 2900 S. Diablo Way, Suite 190 a standard temperature and an extended temperature version. Tempe, AZ 85282 USA The extended temperature version utilizes a solid state drive 1 800 759 1107 Toll Free eliminating all moving parts. 1 602 438 5720 Telephone [email protected] Emerson.com/EmbeddedComputing

iVME7210 Dual-Core VMEbus SBC

The iVME7210, with Intel® Core™ i7 processor variants and the Mobile Intel® QM57 Express chipset, is designed for a range of industrial, medical and military/aerospace applications including robotics, image processing, radar/sonar and C4. The dual-core processor has integrated memory and graphics controller. On-board memory includes up to 8GB DDR3 soldered memory and 256KB non-volatile Ferroelectric Random Access Memory (F-RAM). F-RAM does not require batteries or periodic refreshes and offers much greater read/ write cycles and faster performance than flash. The iVME7210 has additional storage of 64Mb of SPI boot flash, up to 4GB of embedded USB flash, and an 80GB SATA hard drive accessory option. Connectivity includes four Gigabit Ethernet ports, up to five USB 2.0 ports, five serial ports, two SATA ports and dual XMC sites or one XMC site with DVI port. P0 connectivity includes dual Gigabit Ethernet, one USB 2.0 and two SATA ports. Compatible operating systems include 8JOE3JWFS7Y8PSLT -JOVYBOE(SFFO)JMMT*OUFHSJUZ&YUFOEFE temperature and rugged versions will be available via Emerson alliance partners. Product Features Emerson Network Power t %VBMDPSF*OUFM® Core™ i7 processor (1.06 ULV or 2.0 GHz 2900 S. Diablo Way, Suite 190 LV) with integrated memory controller Tempe, AZ 85282 USA t *OUFM® Ibex-M Peak Platform Controller Hub (PCH) 1 800 759 1107 Toll Free t (#PS(#&$$QSPUFDUFE%%3NFNPSZ 1 602 438 5720 Telephone t (#F64#nBTINPEVMF [email protected] t ,OPOWPMBUJMF'3". Emerson.com/EmbeddedComputing t 0QUJPOBM)%NPVOUJOHLJU

www.embeddedintel.com | Embedded Intel® Solutions — Spring 2012 | 45 RapiDex™ Board Customization Service

In addition to standard motherboard and Computer-on- Module (COM) products, Emerson now enables cost-effective embedded solutions by tailoring the motherboard design to match your requirements.

Product Showcase Introducing the RapiDex™ board customization service from Emerson Network Power. Emerson’s unique design and manufacturing technology delivers quick turns with minimal setup fees. First boards are delivered within eight (8) weeks of the order. Any following production order has a volume commitment of only 100 pieces, with unit costs comparable to standard products. Emerson’s rapid customization capability can remove the need to use a less optimized standard product, leading to improved cost, space and power profiles. As one of the most respected vendors in the embedded board space, Emerson is a Premier member of the Intel® Embedded Alliance and collaborates closely with Intel to enable customers to bring products to market quickly. Emerson’s RapiDex service is based on select embedded Intel® processors and chipsets, with custom boards available within a few weeks of silicon launch. The first supported platform is the Intel® Atom™ processor E6xx series coupled with the Intel® Platform Controller Hub EG20T. This ultra low power Intel Atom processor variant supports soldered down memory and a wide variety of interfaces. The manufacturing setup fee covers a number of services including: t $VTUPNIFBUTQSFBEFSEFTJHO t $VTUPNTIJFMEEFTJHO t %FWFMPQNFOUTVQQPSU t $VTUPN#*04TQMBTITDSFFO t 'MBUQBOFMTVQQPSUBEBQUBUJPOGPSDPNNPOQBOFMT t 5ISFFZFBSTVQQMZDPNNJUNFOU t 5XPZFBSXBSSBOUZ

Additional services available include: t -POHFWJUZPGTVQQMZ t &YUFOEFEXBSSBOUZ t .BKPS#*04DVTUPNJ[BUJPO t #*04TFDVSJUZVQEBUFT t 04DFSUJmDBUJPO t %SJWFSEFWFMPQNFOU t $VTUPNGPSNGBDUPSEFTJHO t $IBTTJTBOEQPXFSJOUFHSBUJPO

Features: t $VTUPNNPUIFSCPBSET $0.T PS$0.&YQSFTTDBSSJFST t *OUFM® Atom™ processor E6xx series t 'BTUUVSOBSPVOEUJNF t %FTJHOFEBOECVJMUCZ&NFSTPO

Emerson Network Power 2900 S. Diablo Way, Suite 190 Tempe, AZ 85282 USA 1 800 759 1107 Toll Free 1 602 438 5720 Telephone [email protected] Emerson.com/EmbeddedComputing

46 | Embedded Intel® Solutions — Spring 2012 | www.embeddedintel.com Product ShowcaseProduct

Low power Intel® Atom™ processor Z5xx on a PC/104-Plus form factor

VersaLogic’s Tiger is a compact single board computer on a SVHHFE w Y w 1$Plus form factor. Featuring the low power Intel® Atom™ processor Z5xx (Menlow XL), Tiger packs powerful 1.6 GHz performance backed by legendary VersaLogic RVBMJUZ"WBJMBCMFJOCPUIDPNNFSDJBM UP $ BOEJOEVTUSJBM UP $ UFNQFSBUVSFWFSTJPOT "EE 7FSTB-PHJDT MPOHUFSN   ZFBS  QSPEVDU BWBJMBCJMJUZ guarantee and customization options and feel the power of the Tiger! 8JUI NPSF UIBO  ZFBST FYQFSJFODF EFMJWFSJOH FYUSBPSEJOBSZ support and on-time delivery, VersaLogic has perfected the art of service, one customer at a time. Experience it for yourself. Call 800-824-3163 for more information! Technical Specs t *OUFM¥"UPN™QSPDFTTPS;YYVQUP()[ t -PXQPXFS 8 UZQJDBM t )JHIQFSGPSNBODFWJEFPBOE)%BVEJP t (JHBCJU&UIFSOFU t 6QUP(#%%33". t 1$**4"FYQBOTJPO VersaLogic Corp. t 'BOMFTTPQFSBUJPO 4211 West 11th Ave. t *OEVTUSJBMUFNQ UP $ WFSTJPO Eugene, OR 97402 USA 541-485-8575 Phone 1-800-824-3163 Toll Free 541-485-5712 Fax [email protected] www.VersaLogic.com/tiger

Intel® Core™ i7 Processor SBCs and Processor Mezzanines

Max Product Form CPU Name Factor Processor Speed Memory NVRAM Mezzanines SATA Ethernet USB 3U VPX 2nd Gen 2.1 GHz 8 GB DDR3-1333 32 MB NOR 1 PMC/XMC 2 3 Gb/s ports, 2 1000BASE-T 2 USB 2.0 XPedite7470 Intel® 16 GB NAND 2 6 Gb/s to XMC or 1000BASE-BX Core™ i7 COM 2nd Gen 2,2 GHz 16 GB DDR3-1333 32 MB NOR N/A 4 3 Gb/s ports 1 1000BASE-T 8 USB 2.0 XPedite7450 Express Intel® 16 GB NAND Core™ i7 XPedite7430 3U cPCI 2nd Gen 2.53 GHz 8 GB DDR3-1333 32 MB NOR 1 PMC/XMC 4 3 Gb/s ports 2 1000BASE-T 2 USB 2.0 Intel® 16 GB NAND Core™ i7 XCalibur4440 6U VPX 2nd Gen 2.1 GHz 16 GB DDR3-1333 32 MB NOR 2 PMC/XMC 4 3 Gb/s ports 5 1000BASE-BX 5 USB 2.0 Intel® quad- 128 GB NAND or 1000BASE-T Core™ i7 core XCalibur4401 6U cPCI 2nd Gen 2.53 GHz 16 GB DDR3-1333 32 MB NOR 2 PMC/XMC 4 3 Gb/s ports, 2 1000BASE-BX 2 USB 2.0 Intel® 128 GB NAND 1 6 Gb/s to XMC Core™ i7 XPedite7371 3U VPX .53 GHz 8 GB DDR3-1066 32 MB NOR 1 PMC/XMC 2 3 Gb/s ports 2 1000BASE-T 2 USB 2.0 i7 16 GB NAND or 1000BASE-BX XPedite7370 3U VPX Intel Core 2.53 GHz 8 GB DDR3-1066 32 MB NOR 1 PMC/XMC 2 3 Gb/s ports 2 1000BASE-T 2 USB 2.0 i7 16 GB NAND or 1000BASE-BX XPedite7332 3U cPCI Intel Core 2.53 GHz 8 GB DDR3-1066 32 MB NOR 1 XMC 4 3 Gb/s ports, 2 1000BASE-T 2 USB 2.0 i7 16 GB NAND 2 3 Gb/s to XMC XPedite7330 3U cPCI Intel Core 2.53 GHz 8 GB DDR3-1066 32 MB NOR 1 PMC/XMC 4 3 Gb/s ports 2 1000BASE-T 2 USB 2.0 i7 16 GB NAND XMC Intel Core 2.53 GHz 8 GB DDR3-1066 32 MB SPI N/A - 1 1000BASE-T - XPedite7302 i7 256 MB NOR XMC Intel Core 2.53 GHz 8 GB DDR3-1066 32 MB NOR N/A 2 3 Gb/s ports 1 1000BASE-T 4 USB 2.0 XPedite7301 i7 16 GB NAND XCalibur4341 6U VPX Intel Core 2.53 GHz 16 GB DDR3-1066 32 MB NOR 2 PMC/XMC 4 3 Gb/s ports, 5 1000BASE-BX 3 USB 2.0 i7 128 GB NAND 1 3 Gb/s to XMC or 1000BASE-T XCalibur4331 6U Intel Core 2.53 GHz 16 GB DDR3-1066 32 MB NOR 2 PMC/XMC 1 3 Gb/s ports, 4 1000BASE-BX 3 USB 2.0 VME i7 128 GB NAND 2 3 Gb/s to XMC XCalibur4301 6U cPCI Intel Core 2.53 GHz 16 GB DDR3-1066 32 MB NOR 2 PMC/XMC 4 3 Gb/s ports, 3 1000BASE-BX 3 USB 2.0 i7 128 GB NAND 1 3 Gb/s to XMC

X-ES has an extensive portfolio of Intel® processor-based Extreme Engineering Solutions, Inc. products. Designed for both conduction- and air-cooled 3225 Deming Way, Suite 120 applications, X-ES provides Intel® platform-based 3U and Middleton, WI 53562 6U VPX, 3U and 6U cPCI, and VME single board computers 608-833-1155 Telephone 608-827-6171 Fax (SBCs) and Processor PMC (PrPMC), XMC, and COM Express [email protected] processor mezzanines. www.xes-inc.com

www.embeddedintel.com | Embedded Intel® Solutions — Spring 2012 | 47 LAST WORD Small Form Factor Standards Co-Exist in Harmony Don’t expect a shake-out any time soon; stackable small form factor standards will continue to co-exist, each serving certain classes of applications.

By Robert Burckle, WinSystem he consumer market has taught us to think that only a different application segment. PCIe/104 Types1 and 2 target Tfew platforms or even just a single main platform can medium- to high-performance processing applications and are exist. Whether it’s a device such as a PC, smartphone or becoming popular for military and computation-intensive ap- tablet, or operating system such as Windows or Android, plications. SUMIT-ISM targets low- to medium-performance the market very quickly consolidates for the masses. requirements for instrumentation, pipeline, communications, While it’s tempting to view the small form factor (SFF) em- utility, medical and transportation applications. Each has pros bedded computing market in the same manner, the truth is quite and cons for each application. the opposite. Unique requirements for each application don’t al- The stackable SUMIT connector architecture offers PC/104 low excess baggage. There is simply no space for any I/O circuits legacy support as well as support for new high-speed I/O. SUMIT that are not absolutely needed. supports ultra-low power chipsets from Intel while providing a While full custom or a computer-on- lifeline for the vast PC/104 I/O ecosys- module (COM) mounted on an optimized tem that constitutes 70-80 percent of carrier board can yield perfect-fit solutions, Unique requirements for all stackable I/O module production most system manufacturers using a SFF volume. SUMIT can be used on in- single board computer (SBC) cannot afford each application don’t dustry-standard 90 x 96mm modules the design time or non-recurring engineer- as well as for I/O expansion on EPIC, ing (NRE) cost of such an approach. COMs allow excess baggage. EBX and Pico-ITXe SBCs. It handles are optimized for cost, short height, CPU the entire range of low-speed SPI and upgradability and minimal cabling. Stack- LPC buses to USB and PCI Express on ables are optimized for flexibility and I/O expandability. The two the same connector since its bandwidth supports up to 5 GT/s. approaches are analogous to capitalizing versus expensing a de- Intel’s sub-10W processors are easily adapted into a stackable, sign, or owning versus renting. Commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) low-power, 1.66GHz legacy-friendly, 90 x 96 mm ISM board with is more practical than COMs for quick-turn, moderate-volume both SUMIT for high-speed I/O and PC/104 for legacy I/O. A designs since a custom baseboard design is not necessary. A SUMIT-ISM product is the best evolutionary, legacy-friendly stackable SBC – along with application-oriented I/O cards from step for mainstream applications. the stackable ecosystem – allows systems to be configured and Don’t expect any shake-out of SFF specifications or stan- placed in service quickly. dards any time soon. More trial balloons are being floated and The PCI and ISA legacy parallel bus architectures are yield- pin-out types are being created to address the many niches in ing to higher-speed serial buses such as USB and PCI Express. this market. Innovative ideas, although quick to generate, play During the last several years, some new standards have been out in an incredibly slow fashion. Specification definition, SFF launched as replacements for the incumbents. But for stackables, module design, sampling / design-in, qualification / certification which standard is better? The simple answer is: it depends upon and production combine to take ten years or more. Neverthe- the application. less, stackable SFF standards will co-exist, each serving certain Stacking architectures need to offer sufficient bandwidth and classes of applications. flexibility to serve a myriad of I/O bandwidth and software inter- facing needs. I/O requirements may be as simple as a slow relay Robert A. Burckle is vice president of WinSystems. or switch closure to a high-speed vision system. Yet as diverse as Burckle’s background includes over thirty-five these are, they both must be able to be mounted on a stackable years of experience as a project engineer in such expansion connector on top of a SBC. PC/104 (ISA) and PC/104- applications as biomedical, test and computer Plus (PCI) are the established stackable standards for a variety design, interface and simulation. Burckle earned of environmental conditions. They have scaled well from low- to an MBA at North Texas State University and moderate-bandwidth I/O devices. both master’s and bachelor’s degrees in electrical engineering Three different PCI Express solutions for PC/104 stackable from the University of Louisville. He can be reached at bburckle@ modules are available in the market today, each addressing a winsystems.com.

48 | Embedded Intel® Solutions — Spring 2012 | www.embeddedintel.com All things mobile period

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With the Embedded Computing business of Emerson Network Power, you get leading-edge integrated platforms, chassis, blades, modules and software building blocks. And with Emerson as your partner, you get to market first with reliable products that last. You get innovative, proven technology all backed by global service from a trusted partner. See the difference for yourself at EmersonNetworkPower.com/EmbeddedComputing

EmersonNetworkPower.com/EmbeddedComputing 1.800.759.1107 or +1.602.438.5720

Emerson is a trademark of Emerson Electric Co. Intel is a trademark of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries in the US or other countries. ©2011 Emerson Electric Co. All rights reserved.