What makes the Embedded Masterclass unique is the quality of the presentations. Rather than being typical sales presentations, we strive to make sure that they are informative, entertaining and a productive use of your time.
We ask 'real' engineers to present, and we ask them to address 'real' issues regarding the latest embedded technologies and the challenges faced by embedded engineers on a daily basis. This is your chance to meet with experts in the industry and explore how you can address future designs, develop better code, gain access to more powerful tools or simply find answers to current challenges.
Seating at these events is limited and attendance has grown year on year, so we would recommend early registration to avoid disappointment.
Above is the provisional agenda - this will soon be updated with detailed information such as a synopsis and biography for each presentation.
Reduce the Time Taken to Test Your Next Embedded System
This is a talk about time-triggered systems.
In a time-triggered (TT) system, we have one (and only one) interrupt enabled. This interrupt is usually linked to a timer, which will generate periodic “ticks”: these ticks will, in turn, drive an appropriate (often very simple) operating system.
If you are used to developing systems using multiple interrupts, this approach to software development may sound a little crazy.
During this talk, I won’t try to pretend that a TT approach is a perfect march for all embedded systems or for all development teams. However, I will argue that a properly-planned “switch to TT” from a conventional (multi-interrupt) approach may help your company to produce systems which are more reliable, and provide other significant benefits, not least a dramatic reduction in testing times.
I will conclude my presentation by suggesting that – as you start your next project – you should ask yourself: “Should we use a TT architecture this time?” By the end of this talk, I think you might be surprised how often the answer is: “Yes”.
Speaker Bi - Michael J. Pontwww.tte-systems.com Michael J. Pont is CEO of TTE Systems Ltd and Professor of Embedded Systems Engineering at the University of Leicester. Since the mid 1990s, Michael has worked with an internationally-recognised research team to develop tools and techniques which support the rapid development of reliable embedded systems through the use of time-triggered architectures.
TTE Systems Ltd develops and sells the RapidiTTy® family of software tools. Building on time-triggered techniques, RapidiTTy tools support the rapid development of reliable embedded systems for a wide range of hardware targets, including microcontrollers, FPGAs and “embedded PCs”.
There is a general feeling abroad that a rigorous methodology and a tool chain that goes beyond just a compiler and some test tools is only necessary if you are building safety-critical and high-integrity systems. This is not true. And the quality of some of the software in some consumer products demonstrates this. From determining the initial requirements to managing variants through the product life-cycle, a structured methodology will save development time, improve time to market and improve product quality, all of which will translate to he bottom line. Thsi presentation will look at overall methodology, and discuss the tools that can improve it even further, using examples and anecdotes drawn from real applications.
Speaker Bio: Chris Hills, founder and CTO of Phaedrus Systems has extended experience in designing, implementing and supporting safety-critical and high-reliability embedded systems, both in the lab and in the field. He is an active participant in standards bodies, including ISO C, C++ and IEC 61508-3.
Chris writes regularly for US and UK based publications.
"The latest trace technologies could transfer the contents of a DVD in 4 seconds !"
At the other end of the spectrum we can run continuous trace for several days !
We will be explaining how the recent advances in debug technology work and what they can mean for your project in improving the quality and delivery time for your software.
With a light hearted look at system problems that occur we will try to provide you with some ideas that we hope will make your next project run quicker and with less problems. Culled from the 100 new projects we see every year there are some good ideas and some not so good.
With our exhibition stand running live demonstrations of debug on systems as diverse as a PIC32 and an 8 core Mips system we will be able discuss and demonstrate any aspects of debug technology that is of interest.
Speaker Bio - Barry Lock - Lauterbach Ltd
Barry Lock has now enjoyed 40 years experience in sales of high technology spent with several of the major silicon vendors and has been the UK Manager of Lauterbach since 2001. He has a wide knowledge of the industry and tries to give impartial advice as he has found this is the way to build long term relationships with customers.
Improve both Productivity and Quality using State Machines
The state machine concept is used as a software design methodology for many
control-oriented embedded systems as there are distinct advantages with it
compared to other techniques. For example increased productivity, simplified
maintenance and the possibility to verify the design are just a few of the
potential benefits a modern state machine tool can introduce.
- How a state machine tool can help you increase productivity and software
quality at the same time
- Basic state machine concepts
- Testing and debugging a state machine design
- Integrating state machine designs with existing C/C++ code
- Using formal verification of state machine design
Beyond the Device – Real-time Data Collection and Dataflow Using Embedded Database Technology
Today’s embedded system developers continue to face the difficult problem of efficiently storing and managing large amounts of data on resource-constrained devices. These single computer resource constrained devices range from sensors and robots on the shop floor to flight data systems deployed on fighter jets. Adding to this problem is the growing need of business intelligence and enterprise systems to gain real-time access to the data now captured and stored on these devices.
In this presentation we take a look at the options available to embedded system developers using an embedded database solution. We will quickly go over the options for data collection and then focus our attention data movement solutions. This is the ability to move data from one device to aggregation points, business intelligence systems and/or distributing the data to additional devices. One solution is RDM’s dataFlow engine which provides the ability to exchange of data not only between RDM databases but also other database systems technologies like Oracle, Microsoft, MySQL, Sybase and the like, solving the problem of data availability to from the smallest devices to the largest enterprise solution.
Developing a Software Test Tool Kit for Everyday Applications
Gone is the day when software testing needs to be confined to an idealised development process.
Engineers in many safety critical disciplines are subject to industry standards, and they have come to rely on standards checkers for such as MISRA C/C++ or the CERT C secure coding standing, which are often integrated into their static analyzers. Engineers meeting military specs also have to specify the level of code coverage, and to prove compliance, they use system- and unit-level dynamic testing.
Unregulated companies long for the same level of reliability that these exercises bring, but want to ensure their current productivity schedule is not compromised by tailoring their software testing programs to meet their own needs. The good news is that they can.
This presentation looks at how to develop a software test tool kit and to use such tools for a host of situations and circumstances. We’ll look at how to meet the demanding, externally stipulated standard, but we will also see how to program your static analysis or various program standards checkers according to the needs of your project. We’ll see how this same tool box can identify the causes of odd in-the-field problems. Using real world examples, we’ll demonstrate how the right tools and techniques can enhance your productivity, not just produce better code.
Speaker Bio - Mark Pitchford, LDRA Ltd
Mark Pitchford has over 25 years’ experience in software development for engineering applications. He has worked on many significant industrial and commercial projects in development and management, both in the UK and internationally including extended periods in Canada and Australia. For the past 5 years he has specialised in software test, and works throughout Europe and beyond as a Field Applications Engineer with LDRA Ltd.
Where is my Application Programming Interface (API)?
Creating a product that is reliable, secure and performs well is the Holy Grail of software development. Whilst a well-trained team will eventually make any piece of code reliable, performance and security requires a well thought through system architecture from conception. Unfortunately, the pressure of time and productivity can end up challenging the goals for reliability, performance and security. The end result is, perhaps, a product shipped with imperfections.
This session will discuss the importance of defining APIs for each functional block of a software product, starting with a few examples from common architectures (e.g. Linux, Windows, etc.), their advantages and their drawbacks. It will then concentrate on device driver design, covering most classic and some unusual device driver models, and explain why APIs are the best way to ensure development success while maintaining sufficient flexibility for the future project iterations, both from a technical and from a project management perspective.
Rolland Dudemaine has over 8 years of experience in the software industry, including embedded and real-time systems development, device driver development and various designs. At Green Hills Software, Rolland is the EMEA region technical lead for industry partnerships. He has a Master's Degree in Real-Time Systems and Networking from UTBM, France.
