Japan's Ubiquitous Computing Architecture Is Ready for Prime Time
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FEATURED IN THIS ISSUE ■ T-Engine: Japan’s Ubiquitous Computing News Architecture Is Ready for Prime Time News contact: Shani Murray ■ [email protected] ■ Virtual Displays and the Future of Mobile and Portable Devices T-Engine: Japan’s Ubiquitous Computing Architecture Is Ready for Prime Time Jan Krikke apan is quietly positioning itself for the • Standard T-Engine (75 mm ´ 120 mm) available for T-Engine. According to J next phase in digital technology: ubiq- for portable information devices with the T-Engine Forum Web site (www. uitous computing. A sign of things to comparatively advanced user interface t-engine.org), it includes network pro- come is T-Engine, arguably the most features, such as smart phones; tocol stacks, filing systems, Japanese advanced ubiquitous computing platform • Micro T-Engine (60 mm ´ 80 mm) for language processing, eTRON-specified in the world. T-Engine enables the dis- devices with relatively basic user inter- security software, a GUI, and audio pro- tribution of software resources, includ- face features, such as home electronic cessing. Other middleware will soon be ing middleware developed on T-Kernel, appliances and musical instruments; added to support speech recognition, its compact, real-time operating system. • Nano T-Engine (coin-sized) for small MP3, and digital watermarks. The plat- The platform also features standardized home electronic appliances; and form has also attracted support from hardware and tamper-resistant network • Pico T-Engine for the smallest units in American software makers. Sun Micro- security. a ubiquitous computing environment, systems ported Java to T-Engine, Mon- Ubiquitous computing (one person, such as switches, lighting equipment, taVista did the same with its real-time many computers) is the third era in com- sensors, and valves. version of Linux, and Microsoft fol- puting. It follows the mainframe era lowed suit by porting Windows CE to (one computer, many people) and the Interest has shifted from T-Engine. The ports are referred to as PC era (one person, one computer). T- non-native kernel extensions or, infor- Engine’s developers consider it the first desktop computers to mally, as “guest operating systems.” platform to offer a complete end-to-end mobile computers such solution for ubiquitous computing. as cell phones, wearable FROM TRON TO ITRON The spiritual father of T-Engine and THE T-ENGINE FORUM computers, and advanced chairman of the T-Engine Forum is Uni- The project is an initiative of five PDA-like devices such as versity of Tokyo professor Ken Saka- leading Japanese chipmakers and 17 Ubiquitous Communicator mura, one of Japan’s most famous com- other Japanese tech firms. In 2002, they puter architects. Sakamura is a veteran formed the T-Engine Forum, the con- terminals. in ubiquitous computing. In the 1980s, sortium that developed the specifica- he launched the TRON Project, an open tions for T-Kernel and T-Engine’s devel- In 2003, the Forum adopted stan- computing and communications archi- opment boards. dards for ultrasmall (0.4 mm2) tags tecture. TRON was designed to make T-Engine enables developers to rap- capable of holding 6,000 times more computing a utility, like electricity and idly build ubiquitous computing solu- data than bar codes. The chips, part of water. It included ITRON, a real-time tions by using off-the-shelf components. the T-Engine family, are equipped with operating system for embedded devices, Among them are four standard T-Engine tiny antennae that can transmit data to CTRON for multitask network pro- boards of varying dimensions for dif- a reading device about 30 cm away. cessing, and BTRON, a multitask, multi- ferent application areas: A growing library of middleware is user OS with a GUI. TRON’s security 4 PERVASIVEcomputing Published by the IEEE CS and IEEE ComSoc ■ 1536-1268/05/$20.00 © 2005 IEEE architecture, eTRON, was introduced in the 1990s. Asked what led him to ubiquitous computing before the term gained cur- rency, Sakamura says, “I envisioned that the microprocessor, which had appeared in [the] 1970s and had become more powerful each year, would be embedded in many things. It was already obvious that industrial equipment like assembly line controllers and robots would have embedded computers, but I thought common objects like sunglasses and furniture could benefit from embedded computers.” For example, Sakamura and his colleagues built many micro- processors into the TRON Intelligent House. He explains, “When sensors The four standard T-Engine boards were designed for different application areas, detected a breeze outside, the windows from smart phones and home appliances to sensors and switches. opened. When they detected rain, the windows closed and the air-condition- ing was switched on.” between the behaviors of two different China, Korea, and Singapore. Asked TRON had mixed success, but its implementations of [the] ITRON OS why membership has grown so rapidly, operating system for embedded systems, under certain conditions that were never Sakamura says T-Engine is an idea ITRON, became the most widely used explicitly mentioned in the specification. whose time has come. OS in the world—it’s used in robots, fax The subtle difference between imple- “Interest has shifted from desktop machines, digital cameras, and a host of mentations is akin to the different vari- computers to mobile computers such as other devices. Prior to the introduction eties of Posix-based Unix flavors we have cell phones, wearable computers, and of ITRON, Japanese electronics makers had in the past.” advanced PDA-like devices such as wrote their own OSs for embedded To address this problem, T-Kernel is Ubiquitous Communicator terminals,” chips, a time-consuming process. More- governed by the T-License, which allows he says, adding that advances in chip over, it resulted in a plethora of incom- developers to alter the code for specific technology are also a factor. “If today’s patible software. ITRON addressed this devices. However, altered code can’t be CPU’s were not powerful enough to run need. It offered specifications for a stan- distributed without Sakamura’s per- a lite version of Oracle database pro- dard real-time kernel that could be mission, because he holds the copyright. grams, Oracle would not have joined reused for different devices with minor Software written for one T-Kernel device the T-Engine Forum. The same applies adjustments. According to estimates by should in principle run on all T-Engine to Sun Microsystems. Java can now run the Japanese media, three to four billion devices. Unlike the GNU license, T- on small embedded computers. This is microprocessors are running ITRON. License doesn’t require developers to why Sun has joined the Forum.” Despite its popularity, ITRON has a make their code public. T-Kernel is pri- Windows and Linux, not real-time major flaw. It was based on the concept marily used in embedded systems, and OSs, are tweaked to simulate real-time of “weak standardization,” so devel- product know-how is often tied up with behavior. But Sakamura believes that opers could modify the OS to suit their the software. serious real-time embedded system devel- own requirements. TRON was meant opment requires T-Kernel or another to allow for competition while main- GROWING SUPPORT real-time OS kernel. taining compatibility, but as middle- The T-Engine Forum has grown from “The task dispatch time in the T- ware grew in size, weak standardiza- 22 members when it was founded in Kernel is in the sub-microsecond range,” tion made it difficult to create a unified 2002 to nearly 500 members today. he says. “RTLinux’s task/process switch development environment. Among them are nearly all of Japan’s time is larger than this. In MontaVista’s “When we produced the ITRON spec- blue chip companies and a growing scheme, the events that need to be ification,” Sakamura notes, “we didn’t number of global tech giants such as addressed with real-time response—say, spell out the implementation details. As Sony, Toyota, Microsoft, and IBM. The sub-microsecond range—are handled by a result, there were subtle differences Forum has development centers in native T-Kernel tasks. Application pro- APRIL–JUNE 2005 PERVASIVEcomputing 5 NEWS NEWS in brief... Virtual Displays and the Future CEO and founder. “I think we will likely see the first of Mobile and Portable Devices affordable virtual display eyeglasses for use with mobile wireless devices and portable media players as soon as this Bernard Cole Christmas, at a price that will be attractive to the average consumer,” he says. “By the following 2006 Christmas A postage-stamp-size computer display incorporated season at the latest it is likely that every new portable into eyeglasses—the visual equivalent of a 32-inch to 40- player and mobile device sold will be offering virtual dis- inch screen at 10 feet—might soon be possible in a form play eyeglasses as part of the package or as an optional that will appeal to the average user’s imagination and accessory.” pocketbook. The reason, Fan believes, is that all the critical elements According to Ross Rainville, product manager at IO Dis- are converging to make such devices a reality: the decreas- play Systems, there’s always been a modest market for ing cost of the basic building blocks, one or more high-vol- wearable displays that use stamp-sized LCDs positioned ume markets that will help lower costs, and one or more close to the eye. But the cost of the basic silicon, liquid “hot apps” that are ideally suited to drive adoption of vir- crystal building blocks, and glass optics—plus the weight— tual displays for mobile and portable media players. have made their use practical only in industrial, military, “The problem we have always faced in the headmounted and limited consumer markets such as gaming.