Choosing A Linux for the Development of Intelligent Devices

Innova to Present 3D Design Technology at Embedded Masterclass 2009

Ada to C Conversion Tool Brings New Life to Legacy Code

SDC Systems Adds Device Security Expert Mocana To Its Embedded Systems Portfolio

Newly designed from the ground up, 45nm Intel® Atom™ processors pack an astounding 47 million transistors on a single chip measuring less than 26mm², making them Intel's smallest and lowest power processors.

Based on an entirely new microarchitecture, the Intel® Atom™ processor was developed specifically for targeted performance and low power while maintaining full Intel® Core™ microarchitecture instruction set compatibility. Intel® Atom™ processors also feature multiple threads for better performance and increased system responsiveness. All of this on a chip that measures less than 26mm², making it Intel's smallest and lowest power processor yet.

"We are looking forward to taking part in this year's Embedded Masterclass," said Kevin Beach, Technical Marketing Manager at Arrow . "The fact that it bills itself as a technical forum for embedded systems development makes this an ideal opportunity for us to exhibit and demonstrate Intel's exciting new Atom processor. This is Intel's smallest and lowest power processor to date, making ideal for the next generation of mobile wireless technology and handheld devices. We will have an engineer available to discuss reference design platforms and development tools for the Atom device."

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SDC Systems Appointed as UK Distributor for Birdstep Technology's Raima Database Manager

Specialist embedded systems tools and software distributor, SDC Systems, has announced that it has been appointed as the UK distributor for the Raima ® embedded database solutions that are developed by Birdstep Technology.

The Raima Database Manager (RDM), embedded database is found in a wide range of electronic products, from low cost consumer products to high performance, high-availability realtime applications. With over 20,000 developers enjoying the flexibility of the RDM database technology; this product is currently successfully deployed in over 25 million systems.

"We are excited to be introducing the RDM embedded database technology to our product range," said Stuart Parker, Managing Director of SDC Systems. "With embedded systems having to handle an ever increasing amount of data, embedded data management is still very much an emerging technology. In this respect, the RDM software is a very good fit for us, and for our customers. It is very effective and proven software. What's equally important to us is that the team that develop and support RDM are very knowledgeable and responsive. We are confident that our customers will appreciate this data management technology and will benefit greatly from the knowledge behind it."

SDC's new offering will include RDM ® Embedded, a high-performance, real-time, small footprint embedded database library that has been successfully deployed in millions of devices over the past 25 years. With support for all mainstream and RTOS operating systems, this highly optimized COTS database engine - which supports both disk based and in-memory tables - is designed to meet today's complex interconnected devices and applications. Supporting extremely high transaction rates, this embedded database engine pioneered the embedded database space in 1984 and has over time added complex functionality like data replication, data mirroring, and other fault tolerant functions to support today's carrier grade applications.

For more scalable applications, SDC will be able to offer RDM ® Server, a COTS Client/Server Embedded Database with support for both the Network and Relational Database Model. With its highly flexible plug in model combined with features like data replication, in-memory support, and data encryption, RDM Server has become the number one choice in many carrier grade applications needing a high degree of fault tolerance and reliability. Designed not only for fault-tolerance, but also for real-time processing, RDM Server has unique features to ensure real-time transaction processing accessible through both a high performance navigational API as well as industry standard API's such as SQL.

"We are very pleased to be working with SDC Systems," said Luca Pagni, Sales Manager EMEA for BirdStep Technologies. "Their depth of knowledge and expertise in the field of embedded systems makes them an ideal partner for us. They are also respected for their high level of customer care and technical support - values that both companies share. We are looking forward to introducing our new technologies to embedded developers within the UK." -

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SDC Systems Adds Device Security Expert Mocana To Its Embedded Systems Portfolio

European embedded systems tools and software distributor, SDC Systems, has announced that it has added the family of products that make up Mocana’s Device Security Framework™ to its range of software and development tools for embedded developers. Mocana’s NanoSSL™, NanoSSH™ and NanoSec™ IPSec/IKE solutions are among the fastest and smallest security protocol implementations on the market, offering performance multiples of up to 3x and memory footprints only 1/10th the size of comparable open source or commercial pc-based security implementation.
"This is another exciting addition to the SDC portfolio," stated Stuart Parker, Managing Director of SDC Systems. "Our objective is always to provide technologies that both accelerate development and aid the development of truly innovative products. Mocana provides an impressive list of proven device security solutions that will help our customers implement robust, high-performance security within their new embedded system designs."

Mocana's industry-leading infrastructure software solutions ensure that wired and wireless devices, networks and services perform and scale with the utmost security. Mocana’s device security offerings offer compelling advantages for developers that work in constrained device environments. Mocana was recently named one of Red Herring's "Top 100 Privately-Held Companies in North America" for 2008 and also won Frost & Sullivan’s “Technology Innovation of the Year” award for its work in device security.

The Mocana Device Security Framework provides a holistic approach for securing networked devices and services and is ideally suited to the Networking market. The Framework is open standards-based, extensible, OS and CPU independent and contains FIPS-validated crypto algorithms. It includes modular software that gets embedded into devices at the time of manufacture as well as (optionally) capabilities delivered across the network. The Framework features an asynchronous architecture that leverages a common abstraction layer, and includes the Mocana Acceleration Harness™, a unique software layer that manages crypto offload to hardware to extract maximum performance and scaling benefits from emerging hardware acceleration technologies.

Mocana’s embedded device security solutions offer embedded developers best-in-class implementations of dozens of popular security protocols, including SSL, SSH, IPSec, IKE, MOBIKE, DTLS, RADIUS, WPA2, EAP, certificate management, secure device boots and updates, and even a sophisticated intrusion detection system for embedded devices called NanoDefender™. Developers can download free trial versions of any of these packages at http://www.mocana.com/evaluate.

"We are very pleased to have SDC Systems promoting and supporting our products in the UK," said Adrian Turner, CEO, Mocana. "Their deep understanding of embedded technology, the UK technology sector and their high standards of customer care and technical support are sure to help us grow our business in the UK. We are looking forward to working with them, bringing the many benefits of our technology to network equipment developers in this region."

SDC Systems will be exhibiting the Mocana family of products at the Embedded Masterclass, to be held in Cambridge and Bristol, May 7th and 12th. www.embedded-masterclass.co.uk. An engineer from SDC will be available at the event to discuss the range of Mocana products and their application within realtime and embedded system development.

About SDC Systems Ltd
SDC Systems Limited is a leading distributor of embedded development software, tools and hardware and a provider of professional services to the European embedded systems sector. Focused on innovative and leading-edge technology, SDC strives to provide ‘technology that makes a difference’, technology that will accelerate the development process and/or improve the quality and functionality of the final product. With many years' experience and talented engineering support, SDC Systems work closely with their customers to provide an important source of embedded systems expertise and products.
For more information please visit http://www.sdcsystems.com - or call Peter Heyes on +44 (0)845 658 8554

About Mocana
Mocana provides device management solutions and embedded security tools for consumer electronics manufacturers, datacom companies, telecom carriers, industrial automation applications and the enterprise. The company sells a portfolio of 18 product offerings and claims more than 100 major customers, including Cisco, Freescale, Philips, Dell, Nortel Networks and Honeywell among others. Mocana was founded in 2002, is privately held, and headquartered in San Francisco. The company was recently named one of Red Herring's "Top 100 Privately-Held Companies in North America" for 2008 and also won Frost & Sullivan’s Technology Innovation of the Year award. To request a free full source code and documentation evaluation of Mocana's security solutions, visit http://www.mocana.com/evaluate.

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Innova to Present 3D Design Technology at Embedded Masterclass 2009

Cambridge based design and modeling software specialists, Innova Systems have agreed to present and exhibit their 'SolidWorks' technology at this year's Embedded Masterclass, an event for developers of electronic and computer based systems. Embedded Masterclass 2009 will take place near Cambridge on 7th May and near Bristol on the 12th May, with Innova taking part in the Cambridge event. www.embedded-masterclass.com

"We are very pleased to be taking part," said Mark Bradford, Managing Director of Innova Systems. "SolidWorks is a powerful 3D design and visualisation software and is widely used in the hi-tech sector. Our presentation will focus on how easy and how fast it is to use. This kind of 3D design tool has come a long way over recent years and is now immensely powerful, yet very intuitive and easy to adopt into the design process."

Solidworks not only enables engineers to create a model of their product in a virtual world, but also enables them to assemble parts, test motion, generate production data, undertake heat flow analysis and even test enclosure strength and performance. Another popular feature of SolidWorks is its ability to generate photo-realistic images of new designs, ideal for use in marketing and for communicating with customers and other parties within the design project.

"SolidWorks can touch so many aspects of a company that many of our customers regard SolidWorks as a business tool, rather than a CAD tool," said Mark. "Certainly it can accelerate development, aid innovation and reduce commercial risk - so it does bring a lot of important benefits that help our customers compete in what is often a very aggressive market."

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JTAG/Boundary Scan Platform SCANFLEX ® with world's first Controllers for Cabled PCI Express Standard

GOEPEL electronic introduces a new controller series compliant with PCI Express External Cabling specification, a new addition to the revolutionary JTAG/Boundary Scan hardware platform SCANFLEX ® .

The new family of SCANFLEX ® Boundary Scan controllers (SFX Controllers) is named SFX/PEC1149 and includes three models in different performance classes.

“For the first time, our new JTAG/Boundary Scan controllers combine the excellent PCI Express bus performance with the application flexibility of mobile peripheral devices. Demonstrating our commitment to implementing new industry standards”, says Thomas Wenzel, Managing Director of GOEPEL electronic's Boundary Scan Division. “Users will not only benefit from higher test and programming throughput but the attractive price-performance-ratio of the newly developed controller series.”

After SFX controllers for PCI, PCIe, PXI, PXIe, USB/LAN, FireWire and LXI, SFX/PEC1149-(x) is the eighth in the family of SCANFLEX ® controllers – available in three performance classes A, B and C. The models differ in the maximum TCK frequency (20, 50, and 80 MHz, respectively) and in the degree of implementation of the enhanced SPACE™ chip set for high performance scan operations. In contrast to conventional solutions, the integrated FASTSCALE™ technology allows an upgrade of the controller's performance class “on the fly”, without intricate fitting of additional hardware. Standard features on all SCANFLEX ® controllers include ADYCS™ II for signal path delay compensation, and HYSCAN™ for dynamic splitting of serial TAP vectors and parallel I/O vectors.

The new controller family's x1 configuration achieves transfer rates up to 264 MB/s in „zero wait state burst mode“ and is based upon the PCI Express external cabling hardware specification 1.0. The distance between PC and controller can be up to five metres without performance loss.

In combination with additional modular SCANFLEX ® components, such as SCANFLEX ® TAP transceivers (SFX Transceiver) and SCANFLEX ® I/O modules (SFX Modules) PCI Express controlled Boundary Scan systems with up to eight Test Access Ports (TAP) and 31 additional functional modules can be configured. All TAP are programmable in up to eight interface parameters. Furthermore, resources such as 32 dynamic I/O, two analog I/O channels, three static I/O, and trigger lines are standard features.

The new controller SFX/PEC1149-(x) is fully supported in the industry leading Boundary Scan Software SYSTEM CASCON™ from version 4.4.2 on. www.goepel.com .

Understanding the Transition from A Traditional RTOS to Linux

Embedded system tools and software company SDC Systems has announced that it is to run a series of embedded engineering workshops. The first of these will focus on the migration of software from a traditional RTOS to the Linux operating system.

"Linux has proven itself in the engineering sector with up to one third of 32 and 64 bit designs now being based upon it, more than twice the share of any other embedded OS," said Stuart Parker, Managing Director of SDC Systems. "However, most software engineers will consider the moving of a project to another operating system to be a daunting task, full of unknown issues. This workshop will highlight the challenges of moving to Linux and consider the options and strategies that are most appropriate to the nature of the project."

Working in conjunction with the leading realtime embedded Linux developer MontaVista Software, SDC Systems will hold the half-day seminar at Bracknell on the 4th November.

While embedded Linux increasingly takes the place of traditional RTOSs, executives, and kernels, the architecture of the Linux operating system is very different from legacy OS architectures. Moreover, there exist more than one means to host legacy RTOS based applications on a POSIX-type OS like Linux. Several migration approaches will be covered during this workshop: RTOS API emulation over Linux, runtime partitioning with virtualisation and full native Linux application porting.

This workshop will give engineers an extensive understanding of the porting process and will include such issues as the mapping of legacy constructs onto Linux, inter-process communication and synchronisation, context switch implications, process and thread creation, the Linux API and POSIX support and making use of real time extensions. In addition to these points, the workshop will offer a critical analysis of the technical benefits of moving to a Linux based solution, so that engineers will be equipped to evaluate such a migration for their own projects.

The presenter for this seminar will be Klaas Van Gend from Eindhoven in the Netherlands. Klaas has been professionally engaged in Linux software development for various companies including Philips and Siemens. In his current job as Senior Solutions Architect at MontaVista Software, he visits many customers across Europe and helps them with their strategy to apply Linux in embedded systems. Klaas also writes as a free-lance author for several magazines.

"We are very pleased to have Klaas presenting this workshop," said Stuart. "Many UK engineers will have heard him speak before at embedded system events and will be aware of both his in depth knowledge of real-world software development and his entertaining style of presentation. It's shaping up to be a great workshop."

SDC Systems intend to present further workshops that address such topics as software testing and embedded graphical user interface development.

Download PDF - website SDC Systems Ltd

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SDC to Exhibit PhotoShop Enabled GUI Tool At Embedded Masterclass

Embedded development tools and software specialists, SDC Systems have announced that they will be exhibiting their Tilcon graphical interface development tool at the UK Embedded Masterclass. The Tilcon IDS Suite has recently been upgraded and has introduced an Adobe® Photoshop® integration. This feature is now available to customers who have requirements for creating world class embedded GUI and HMI solutions in such diverse markets as medical, industrial, defense, and automotive.

"There is no doubt that the user experience of an embedded product can be greatly enhanced through the quality of the graphical user interface," said Stuart Parker, Managing Director of SDC Systems. "For software engineers working on the development of human machine interfaces, this new version of the Tilcon IDS Suite provides the capability for a whole new generation of embedded displays and touch screen applications."

Tilcon IDS is a multi-platform user interface technology (GUI and HMI builder) that delivers robust, highly interactive user interfaces for real-time and embedded applications. It is used to bring graphical capabilities to embedded equipment in the automotive, medical, industrial, consumer and defence sectors and has gained an excellent reputation for its ease of use and its ability to add value quickly to embedded designs.

“We've introduced our Photoshop® integration feature as a way for designers to easily create their UI designs in tools they are familiar and comfortable with.

This allows them to import, export, and merge new designs into a functional interface builder, which then enables them to fully prototype and implement a production GUI without any coding.” says Prosanto Sarkar, CEO of Tilcon Software. "This is exciting because UI designers are no longer constrained by their choice of tools for creating their unique look and feel. Additionally, this feature streamlines the process of building an appealing, engaging interface which is both highly functional and easy to use.”

Tilcon will be presenting their GUI development technology at the Embedded Masterclass and will also be presenting a 3 hour workshop on GUI development. Website SDC Systems Ltd
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Designers Descend on Duxford Aviation Museum to Experience the Latest in 3D Design Technology

Designers and Engineers from across the UK converged at the Duxford Aviation Museum to experience the launch of SolidWorks 2009, the very latest version of SolidWorks, a 3D visualisation and engineering design software that is now used by over 750,000 designers and engineers worldwide. Presented by Innova Systems, the Cambridge based UK reseller, the day included presentations and workshops that introduced the many new features of SolidWorks.

Cambridge-based software consultancy Software Acumen have announced a new initiative to bring the best software speakers to the East of England. Operating under the banner of Software East the company will host regular events at Downing College, Cambridge.

Software East will focus on the state of the art in software practice, process and technology. The first event will take place on the evening of Thursday 20th November 2008 and will consist of talks from Steven Kelly, a worldwide
authority on Domain-Specific Modelling, and Danilo Beuche, a recognised expert on the
emerging Software Product Lines discipline.

Visit the www.software-east.co.uk for more information.

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RapiTime v2.1 reduces cost of measuring execution time of real-time systems

Rapita Systems, the leader in measurement-based worst- case execution time analysis solutions, announced the availability of RapiTime v2.1 from today. This tool suite allows developers of real-time systems to demonstrate that their applications meet real-time requirements at a much lower cost than using the conventional approach.

One of the challenges faced by the developers of real-time embedded software is to show that the software meets time (performance) requirements. This is normally done with an effort-intensive manual process. RapiTime v2.1 reduces the cost and effort of measuring software performance by automating the most effort-intensive activities: the instrumentation of code and analysis of timing traces that result from running the instrumented code on the target platform.

Still more value comes from ReportViewer, an Eclipse plug-in that shows not only measured execution time, but also a wide range of other information derived from the timing traces. This information includes: probability distribution of execution times, code coverage, worst-case execution time and “hot-spots” where optimization efforts are best focussed.

“The time and effort spent manually measuring the performance of real-time software introduces unnecessary delays into development projects” commented Guillem Bernat, CEO of Rapita Systems Pictured) “discussions with developers suggest that for a 50KLOC application, four to six person weeks of effort is required for each set of timing measurements obtained. With RapiTime v2.1 this measurement and analysis time can be reduced to minutes.”

In addition to an improved integration experience RapiTime v2.1 supports multi-core processors for analysis of timing results. RapiTime v2.1 also adds support for Microsoft Vista. Linux, Microsoft Windows XP and Microsoft Windows 2000 are already supported.

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GOEPEL electronic steps into the highest Performance Class with brand-new X-Ray Inspection System

At this year electronica trade show, GOEPEL electronics introduces OptiCon X-Line 3D , a brand-new in-line 3D X-ray inspection system with excellent system features.

Based on a revolutionary GigaPixel technology, the new system sets new standards in particular in terms of speed. A real-time multi angle image recording is the basis that enables a test speed of 40cm²/s at full 3D PCB capturing. Integrated reconstruction methods, based on digital tomosynthesis, allows defined evaluation of the board's single layers. Therefore during test of double-sided PCBs, upper and lower side can be inspected separately within the same process run. For maximum fault coverage of BGA components, it is possible to analyse solder joints on various levels and to determine the wetting state. Of course, solder joints on IC pins and 2-pin components, as well as the presence of voids can be detected with OptiCon X-Line 3D.

The system's modular concept enables configuration models for 2D and 3D systems with various test speeds.

GOEPEL electronic is a leading vendor of electronic and optical test and inspection systems. The Company of 140 employees generated revenue of 18.5 million EURO in 2007, maintaining support and sales offices in Germany, France, United Kingdom and the United States. An extended distribution and service network of more than 300 specialists ensures excellent local and on-site customer support for several thousand worldwide system installations. GOEPEL electronic has continuously been ISO9001 certified since 1996 and has been honoured with TOP-JOB and TOP-100 awards for being one of the best medium-sized companies in Germany. GOEPEL electronic's products have won several awards in recent years and are used by the leading companies within telecommunication, automotive, space and avionics, industrial controls, medical technology, and other industries. back to top>>

Additional information about the Company and its products can be found online at www.goepel.com

Embedded Masterclass 2009 To Discuss The Increasing Use of Commercial Database Technologies in Embedded Systems.

Birdstep Technlogy, a leader in embedded databases, have agreed to present at this year's Embedded Masterclass, to be held in Cambridge and Bristol on the 7th and 12th of May. Their presentation will introduce engineers to the concept of using commercial data management software within electronic devices and real-time computing systems.

"Whether it's an air traffic control system, a SATNAV, a medical scanner or a mobile phone; today's electronic systems often have to handle massive amounts of data," said Luca Pagni, Sales Manager EMEA for Birdstep. "Often the bigger issues can be such aspects as the speed of retrieval of the data or maybe even data security. Companies such as ourselves are focused on the development of software that can efficiently and effectively manage and protect this data. Our presentation will explain how this powerful and often essential technology is applied within embedded systems."

Birdstep develops the Raima Database Manager Family of embedded databases. They are found in everything from low cost real-time applications to high performance, high-availability applications. With over 20,000 developers enjoying the flexibility of these off-the-shelf databases, these products are successfully deployed in over 25 million systems. With support for all mainstream and RTOS operating systems, Raima databases have been thoroughly tested and proven in broad range of applications.

"Managing data has been an emerging issue for hi-tech developers," said Richard Blackburn, Organiser of the Embedded Masterclass. "Storing and moving data can take up a lot of resource, not just in the development of the software required to organise it and move it about, but also in terms of the demands on memory space and even battery power. Data management can be a major design challenge. In this respect, this presentation should be a very useful investment of an engineer’s time. Birdstep is a world leader in this area, and their engineers work with many of the worlds major technology companies."

The presentation will be given by Douglas Wilson who has been programming for over twenty years, developing on a variety of platforms including embedded and RTOS platforms. During this time Douglas has worked for several years within Birdstep Technology's database division, where he has become very familiar with Birdstep's embedded database products.

The Raima Embedded Database is distributed by SDC Systems in the UK

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Frontline Appoints Nohau To Service Protocol Analyzer Market In UK AND Ireland

Provider of PC-based protocol analyzers for special-purpose data communication networks, Frontline Test Equipment Inc, has appointed Nohau UK as a franchised distributor for the UK and Ireland.

Frontline, based in Charlottesville, Virginia, USA, pioneered portable troubleshooting software solutions for serial communication protocols over two decades ago. Since then it has expanded into the embedded developer tools market by building powerful test tools for Bluetooth, Bluetooth low energy, Wi-Fi, ZigBee wireless technologies and USB. As a result of collaborative work with the Bluetooth SIG and major developers, Frontline is firmly established as the global industry leader in Bluetooth technology protocol analysis. In addition to the developer market, Frontline also supports the industrial market with a robust family of protocol analyzers for serial, Ethernet, and field buses.

This appointment enables Nohau to offer an extremely wide portfolio of wireless control and communications solutions to the developer community. It already handles the complete connectBlue ™ range of Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and ZigBee wireless solutions, and supports development projects for demanding applications in medical, industrial, mobility, control, personal safety and security areas.

Kevin Pope, Managing Director of Nohau UK, comments: “The growing demand for wireless implementations across a wide spectrum of applications means that engineers need every leading-edge tool at their disposal. Our appointment by Frontline enables us to support this effort in the UK and Ireland with a superb range of general-purpose and industry-specific protocol analyzers. Frontline products are known and trusted worldwide by embedded software and hardware development engineers, application developers, test engineers, field service personnel, system installers and maintainers, and network operators.”

Frontline's entire product line is complementary to Nohau UK's existing portfolio from IXXAT, HCC-Embedded and Quadros Systems. The addition of the Frontline products also allows Nohau UK to provide a complete implementation and test solution for USB, Bluetooth, ZigBee and Industrial Ethernet.

Eric Kaplan, Frontline Founder, said: “Nohau UK has a great reputation and we look forward to working with them. Our customers will be well-served. Over a period of many years they have consistently demonstrated strong commitment to the embedded systems community and the industrial market.” www.nohau.co.uk

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SDC Systems Appointed UK Distributor for Mapusoft OS Porting Technologies

Embedded systems development tools distributor, SDC Systems Limited, have announced that they have been appointed to distribute technologies from MapuSoft Technologies, a USA company that develops software tools that enable engineers to re-use their application software rather than rewrite it when working with new processors and new real time operating systems.

Mapusoft’s products include OS Changer®, OS Abstractor®, OS PAL™ (OS Porting & Abstraction Lab), AdaMagic and WinDriver. These products offer engineers a broad range of solutions for the re-use of code and freedom in their choice of RTOS and microprocessor. MapuSoft’s customers include BAE Systems, IBM, HP, The Boeing Company and STMicroelectronics.

“This is another exciting products for us,” said Peter Heyes, Sales Director at SDC Systems (pictured). “Our aim is always to offer technologies that can accelerate development and bring new functionality to embedded system design. The MapuSoft products certainly fit these criteria. With so much legacy code out there in the marketplace, code re-use is a big issue. We are very sure that once engineers understand how the MapuSoft products work in relation to their legacy code, they will be excited by the design freedom this technology offers and the amount of programming time and development budget that it can save.”

MapuSoft Technologies claim to be the number one provider of embedded software re-usability solutions and services that are designed to protect software investment by providing customers a greater level of flexibility and control with product development. MapuSoft offers porting, integration, support and training services to help developers easily migrate from legacy platforms to the next generation. Their solutions provide full source code with no royalty fees, making them affordable for engineers to incorporate into their embedded applications.

“We are very pleased to have SDC Systems distributing our products in the UK,” said Dan Arzonico, Director of Sales, MapuSoft Technologies Inc. “We fully appreciate their experience in embedded systems engineering and their understanding of the UK and European markets. Furthermore, they have a good reputation for engineering support and customer service, two issues that are very important to us also when selecting a company to represent us and deliver our technologies to customers effectively.”

SDC Systems will be exhibiting the Mapusoft family of products at the Embedded Masterclass.

About SDC Systems Ltd
SDC Systems Limited is a leading distributor of embedded development software, tools and hardware and a provider of professional services to the European embedded systems sector. Focused on innovative and leading-edge technology, SDC strives to provide ‘technology that makes a difference’, technology that will accelerate the development process and/or improve the quality and functionality of the final product. With many years' experience and talented engineering support, SDC Systems work closely with their customers to provide an important source of embedded systems expertise and products.
For more information please visit www.sdcsystems.com - or call Peter Heyes on +44 (0)845 658 8554

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Following its recent appointment as exclusive distributor for SYSGO products in the UK and Ireland, Nohau has announced the availability of two powerful SYSGO software products for mission critical applications. They are particularly suitable for high reliability solutions in military, aerospace, transportation, or medical application areas.

The first, PikeOS, is an innovative virtualisation platform providing an embedded systems environment in which multiple virtual machines can run simultaneously. This secure virtualisation technology allows multiple operating system APIs to run independently and concurrently on one machine - for example an ARINC-653 application together with Linux - which makes PikeOS the only RTOS providing a comparable field-proven solution today. The PikeOS safe and secure virtualisation RTOS platform provides the widest range of operational guest operating system or run-time environment “personalities” on the market.

The PikeOS microkernel architecture is designed for cost sensitive, resource constrained devices as well as large, complex systems. The simplicity and compactness of the PikeOS design results in real-time performance that competes head-to-head with conventional proprietary RTOS solutions while offering innovations in platform independence. PikeOS is certifiable to the DO-178B avionics safety standard, and is also compliant with the Multiple Independent Levels of Security (MILS) standard.

The second new product, ELinOS, is a Linux based development environment designed for the creation of intelligent devices. Unlike traditional Linux implementations, ELinOS is purpose-built for use in demanding industrial applications. It has evolved from 15+ years of field expertise, making it an embedded Linux offering well suited for complex real-world applications.

Both products include CODEO, an Eclipse-based integrated development environment that provides guided configuration, remote debugging (often down to the hardware instruction level), target monitoring, remote application deployment, and timing analyses in addition to standard application development features such as compilers and assemblers. www.nohau.co.uk back to top>>

• Independently certified RTOS available for Luminary Micro’s latest MCUs
• Simplifies and speeds time to certification for safety critical applications, FDA510(k), IEC61508
• Demonstration at Embedded World, hall 11, stand 136

WITTENSTEIN High Integrity Systems has announced the availability of the SAFERTOS embedded kernel for Luminary Micro’s Stellaris® ARM® Cortex-M3™-based microcontrollers, including the new LM3S9000 series. The release by WITTENSTEIN enables high integrity application development on the ‘most integrated’ embedded microcontrollers on the market. The product greatly reduces the time and risk associated with obtaining FDA510(k) and IEC61508 certification through WITTENSTEIN’s innovative Design Assurance Pack.

Developed specifically for applications such as medical and industrial devices, SAFERTOS has been independently certified by TÜV SÜD, as having been developed in compliance with IEC61508 SIL3, and uses a compiler independent methodology. SAFERTOS, a finalist at the Elektra Awards 2008 Embedded Product of the Year, was originally developed from the popular and robust open source kernel, FreeRTOS. Migration from FreeRTOS to SAFERTOS enables costs to be controlled during development. Luminary Micro’s Chief Marketing Officer Jean Anne Booth said, “Stellaris microcontrollers are widely used in medical and industrial devices, and we are seeing a growing demand for certification in these markets. The launch by WITTENSTEIN vastly simplifies what can otherwise be a complex task.” www.HighIntegritySystems.com

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Developing Safety Critical Software - Meet the Experts

This year's UK high-tech developers conference, the Embedded Masterclass will give engineers developing safety critical software a chance to meet with several experts in this field and even undertake a half-day workshop in Software Timing Analysis. Several of the vendors exhibiting at this event develop products for mission critical software development within automotive systems, avionics, medical and safety control systems. The Embedded Masterclass will take place in Cambridge and Bristol on the 7 th and 12 th May - www.embedded-masterclass.com

"For anyone involved in the development of high-integrity software, this event will be a very productive use of their time," said Richard Blackburn, the organiser. "There will be workshops relating to development using MISRA C++ and an understanding of software timing analysis, a critical factor is safety related software development. In addition to this, several of the exhibiting vendors such as Wind River, Nohau, Wittenstein and SDC Systems have new products and technologies that will be of considerable interest to engineers working with ADA, DO-178B or similar safety standards for software development."

Engineers from SDC Systems will be available to discuss their product AdaMagic, that allows automatic error free conversion of ADA code to C/C++ while providing time and cost savings and preserving Ada codes' comments, file structures and variable names to ease ongoing maintenance. With many companies seeking to migrate legacy ADA code to C/C++, AdaMagic is attracting a lot of attention in the marketplace.

Software Timing experts, Rapita Systems, will be undertaking a half-day workshop offering a tutorial that will cover key aspects on-target timing analysis: finding worst case execution times (WCET) and the worst case path, and why worst case optimization is not the same as average execution optimization. Practical issues of looking for the worst-case "hot-spots", identifying timing bugs and verifying optimisation opportunities will be explained with examples of worst case optimization.

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The Embedded Masterclass has announced that a key presentation will be an exploration of the use of ZigBee and similar low power wireless technologies. The Embedded Masterclass will be run at both Cambridge and Bristol on the 7th and 12th may. www.embedded-masterclass.com Zigbee and 802.15.4 have become increasingly popular due to their low power consumption and ease of use.

ZigBee is a specification for a suite of high level communication protocols using small, low-power digital radios based on the IEEE 802.15.4 standard for wireless personal area networks (WPANs). At the moment its main application area is in monitoring and control; mainly using battery powered designs for various control functions. Such applications include utility metering, tank level monitoring, irrigation systems, temp and pressure gas monitoring. The technology defined by the ZigBee specification is intended to be simpler and less expensive than other WPANs.ZigBee is targeted at radio-frequency (RF) applications that require a low data rate, long battery life, and the option of a secure self-healing mesh network topology.

"This presentation centres on the requirements for embedding 802.15.4 into a system," said the presenter John Schwartz, Technology Strategist at Digi International. "The first part of the presentation will focus on the 802.15.4 specifications and what questions need to be asked in order to make sure that 802.15.4 will work in the target application. Some treatment of protocols that are currently running on top of 802.15.4 will also be discussed. The latter half of the presentation will center on actual design and certification requirements including FCC/CE approvals, spacing of PCB components, and Antenna selection and placement." link to presentation

The IEEE 802.15 TG4 refers to a standard for a low data rate solution with multi-month to multi-year battery life and very low complexity and is intended to operate in an unlicensed, international frequency band. Potential applications are sensors, interactive toys, smart badges, remote controls, and home automation.

The Embedded Masterclass will also have a vendor exhibition where engineers will have chance to speak with vendors such as Solid State Supplies Ltd that offer complete end to end Zigbee development platforms which include GSM Gateways and Zigbee Modules for fast development and prototyping.

"The Embedded Masterclass is very much about offering engineers an event that is informative, useful and a productive use of their time," said Richard Blackburn. "In this respect, this is another great opportunity for engineers to meet with experts in their field, learn about an emerging technology and see what new hardware and tools are available to help them exploit this technology. The Embedded Masterclass is growing each year, it's panning out to be a great event this year with greater vendor support and an increase in delegate registrations."

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Ada to C Conversion Tool Brings New Life to Legacy Code

SDC Systems Limited have announced the availability of AdaMagic®, an Ada to C conversion tool that gives developers the ability to automatically convert legacy software written in Ada to the C programming language. This automatic code conversion process eliminates the need for a costly and tedious code re-write which provides development companies with extensive cost and time savings.

In the past the Ada Programming language has been popular for use in high-reliability mission-critical applications, such as avionics, and has been widely used for military applications. Today, more engineers are working with the C/C++ language and development companies face the challenge of converting older systems over to the more modern C/C++ code based software.

"Until now, converting legacy systems from Ada to C/C++ has been a very costly and time consuming process," said Peter Heyes, Sales Director of SDC Systems. "AdaMagic gives developers peace of mind by providing an error free tool that prevents mistakes being made in the error prone task of a manual rewrite. AdaMagic is compatible with Ada 83 and Ada 95 source code and it generates ANSI C output as well as certain C++ features while preserving the Ada code’s comments, files structures and variable names to ease ongoing code maintenance. It's a powerful technology that we feel sure a lot of companies in the defence and aerospace sectors will want to explore."

AdaMagic's key features include keeping “static” trees as symbolic expressions rather than evaluating them to literal values. It also retains the original comments in the generated C code and keeps “.h” information as separate files. It will also preserve the original Ada names (globals and locals) as much as possible in the generated C and offers user configurable options, such as suppressing all run-time checks in generated C, to improve performance. Furthermore AdaMagic can make use of C++ exceptions rather than setjmp/longjmp and make use of C++ namespaces rather than using prefixed names.

"AdaMagic offers engineers the opportunity to enhance older equipment without having to develop a completely new software package," said Peter Heyes. "With this technology they will have more freedom when they need to move to newer, more powerful hardware and to choose their real time operating system and microprocessor to best fit their requirements. The high level of engineering support available for AdaMagic will also be a major benefit to engineers looking to bring legacy systems up to date." www.sdcsystems.com

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Choosing A Linux for the Development of Intelligent Devices

A key presentation at this year's embedded systems developers' event, the Embedded Masterclass, will explore the use of the Linux operating system for electronic systems and realtime computer systems. The Embedded Masterclass is to be held in Cambridge and Bristol on the 7th and 12th May.

Over the past 10 years, various commercial Embedded Linux solutions have evolved. Several are now highly refined operating systems that not only exhibit robust real-time performance but can also address the needs of mobile wireless devices. Whether to 'roll your own' Linux OS or buy off the shelf remains a common question in todays embedded space. This presentation will lift the lid off of commercial Linux and show engineers what is inside the very latest offering and why a commercial solution might offer both engineering and commercial benefits to your next project.

This presentation is to be given by Aschwin Marsman, a computer science engineer that has been working with Linux since 1993 and with UNIX since 1990. He worked as a software engineer in a number of technical embedded environments, including wafer steppers, air traffic control, self-checkout systems etc. He is also a writer and has published articles in magazines in the Netherlands such as Linux Magazine and Bits&Chips. He started his own company, aYniK Software Solutions in 2001 and is currently working for MontaVista as the Solution Architect for the UK and Benelux.

"In theory Linux is for free," said Richard Blackburn, the organiser of the event. "In practice and in reality there is a cost and it's not insignificant. To get Linux working on a specific hardware and working with specific peripherals can be time consuming and costly. Then there are performance considerations, as many Linux versions are not optimised for real-time systems or systems with limited memory. So, many engineers find themselves asking 'should I buy a commercial version or build my own'. This presentation will focus on what they can expect if they buy it in, and what are the commercial considerations of this route. It should be a popular presentation."

This event will also include a half-day workshop entitled “An Introduction to Embedded Linux”. This workshop was oversubscribed last year and held in very high regard by those engineers fortunate to attend. The workshop was is in the form of a technical presentation and hands on development using ARM based hardware.

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Wind River Platforms Reduce Development Risk for Safety Critical Devices

New VxWorks Platforms Specialized for Stringent Certification Requirements of IEC 61508 and DO-178B

Wind River have announced the immediate availability of two new software platforms for customers requiring safety certification. The software platforms, called VxWorks 61508 Platform and VxWorks DO-178B Platform, allow customers to reduce development risk of safety certified systems by leveraging the portability of existing VxWorks 6 software components, development tools and partner ecosystem, while maintaining confidence in meeting critical business requirements for lower cost, faster time-to-market, higher quality and increased performance.

The VxWorks 61508 and VxWorks DO-178B Platforms are based on the commercial-grade VxWorks 6.6 operating system and are specialized for stringent certification requirements of IEC 61508 and DO-178B found in the avionics, energy, industrial control, medical, process automation and transportation market segments.

The platforms include full commercial versions of VxWorks 6.6 as an integral part of the development package, which provides access to a broad set of core features and hardware board support packages (BSPs) that can be adapted for use in certification projects. Both platforms include the award-winning Wind River Workbench development suite, an Eclipse-based collection of tools for debugging, code analysis and testing designed to accelerate time-to-market for developers building devices. The optional Wind River Network Stacks for 61508 and for DO-178B use the same socket APIs as the standard Advanced Networking Technologies used for VxWorks and Wind River Linux, easing migration of code into certified networking environments.

"VxWorks has been in wide commercial use in embedded applications for more than two decades, throughout which we've consistently supported a broad set of certified systems, spanning a large set of vertical markets and systems," said Marc Brown, vice president of VxWorks marketing at Wind River. "These VxWorks platforms build upon that market leadership, particularly for those customers who want to leverage safety certification as a competitive differentiator."

More information about Wind River can be found at www.windriver.com/announces/safe-and-secure/

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