It amazes me that many users don't realize the power of reusing software that someone else has spent hours, days, months or even years optimizing and testing. By using a simple set of criteria, developers of the next generation of embedded systems can eliminate 80% or more of the work.
Today, for microcontrollers, users often code everything from scratch. They are going with what they understand; however the world of microcontrollers has changed quickly. Memory is more plentiful and using an embedded operating system saves huge amounts of effort. Yet many do not get it - these are smart people but they are used to banging bits and crafting a few lines of software rather than larger complex systems.
Their problems are created in part by the noise in the marketplace. There are many "real time operating systems" but many offerings are not even operating systems. There is a lot of I/O, extra libraries, testing, documentation and integration that goes into a complete operating system. It takes scores of test suites and thousands of hours of work to make sure that the system is reliable and easy to use while still conforming with industry standards. And yet users choose to do this themselves at great risk and expense rather than reuse available solutions.
Some situations are humerous. I was recently in a forum where kernel vendors were debating one narrow aspect of performance like this was a major consideration in the system design. They were ignoring all other aspects. Surely any system must be evaluated on the basis of all the various features and processing capabilities that it offers. Some systems will be better for some things and some for others. Experienced embedded designers understand this.
The thing that amazes me the most is that in the microcontroller world, narrow performance benefits are touted as a major advancement at the same time these vendors are discarding tens of thousands of programs and millions of lines of code that could be effortlessly reused. For this reason, standards like POSIX and Linux along with software reuse are paramount. We offer this
but don't take our word for it - check out the largest vendor too and see what they offer now, albeit on larger processors!
The criteria to eliminate most time and risk for microcontroller development are really very simple: portable C code, an operating system standard (the broader the better) and as much off the shelf software as possible including a complete RTOS. It takes no more than that to be a hero in your organization.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Monday, January 26, 2009
Vista and Quality
Well, it happened today. A blue screen of death appeared momentarily for the first time in over a year of use. I can remember the days when we counted these events per day and Microsoft had a reputation for very unreliable software.
In the past few months I've grown to like Vista a great deal. It offers good features and is very reliable. In this instance it recovered itself in about 5 minutes. I don't expect it will happen again. I did have one other problem in the last year but a system restore took care of this problem related to a virus. The world has changed completely. Windows is now as reliable as Solaris it would seem.
Now, when Linux gets there, we'll be in great shape.
In the past few months I've grown to like Vista a great deal. It offers good features and is very reliable. In this instance it recovered itself in about 5 minutes. I don't expect it will happen again. I did have one other problem in the last year but a system restore took care of this problem related to a virus. The world has changed completely. Windows is now as reliable as Solaris it would seem.
Now, when Linux gets there, we'll be in great shape.
Monday, December 1, 2008
ST Software and Cortex M3
I've been looking around at other cortex m3 platforms and I was really pleased by the ST offerings. They have great DSP libraries (optimized and C) as well as a full suite of motor control. The motor control suite comes with an application generator which sets all the parameters including closed loop tuning parameters using a variety of configurations.
It seems that the era of self tuning of motors is upon us. When traditional methods were used to tune processors using step responses, load tuning was a big part of the work. I suspect it still is if you want to get 100% out of the motor and driver for a specific application. These tools should make it easier though, getting you into the center of the envelope with zero effort.
But still, why no loop tuning option in the tools? Likely it introduces too many dependencies like host target communication, real time data collection and recovery and many more.
Great work ST
It seems that the era of self tuning of motors is upon us. When traditional methods were used to tune processors using step responses, load tuning was a big part of the work. I suspect it still is if you want to get 100% out of the motor and driver for a specific application. These tools should make it easier though, getting you into the center of the envelope with zero effort.
But still, why no loop tuning option in the tools? Likely it introduces too many dependencies like host target communication, real time data collection and recovery and many more.
Great work ST
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
International Product Life Cycle for Software
I was surprised to learn how many executives do not understand international product life cycle as it applies to software products. This short description is intended to describe international product life cycle in an abreviated fashion and then discuss how software's portability make it a unique case which promotes more rapid off shoring.
First, international product life cycle states that innovation starts in a home developed country and becomes successful as a product. Then it competes in other developed countries with products from within these countries. As the technology matures, it moves into the developing world by means of export. Then the developing world starts manufacturing for home use and eventually manufactures and sells back into the developed countries.
There are many examples of this. It transpires because of the dynamics of the theory of comparitive advantage as it occurs over time.
For software, the twists are the following:
a) It is much easier to move production off shore to reduce costs associated with add ons. For this reason this happens relatively early.
b) Because the knowledge associated with developing add on products and services allows the developing country to develop the same or better skllls as the parent, often the entire product or idea can be copied to provide a much lower cost version off shore sooner rather than later. If the product enhancement is done as a branch of the parent company, IP is protected. If the enhancement is done to an outsourcing company, it is very likely that the company is creating a vehicle to copy it's product.
Comments?
First, international product life cycle states that innovation starts in a home developed country and becomes successful as a product. Then it competes in other developed countries with products from within these countries. As the technology matures, it moves into the developing world by means of export. Then the developing world starts manufacturing for home use and eventually manufactures and sells back into the developed countries.
There are many examples of this. It transpires because of the dynamics of the theory of comparitive advantage as it occurs over time.
For software, the twists are the following:
a) It is much easier to move production off shore to reduce costs associated with add ons. For this reason this happens relatively early.
b) Because the knowledge associated with developing add on products and services allows the developing country to develop the same or better skllls as the parent, often the entire product or idea can be copied to provide a much lower cost version off shore sooner rather than later. If the product enhancement is done as a branch of the parent company, IP is protected. If the enhancement is done to an outsourcing company, it is very likely that the company is creating a vehicle to copy it's product.
Comments?
Disruption of Microprocessors by Microcontrollers and Its Long Term Effects
I was fascinated to discover that the mpu vendors were being disrupted by mcu vendors by virtue of the fact that the increase in functionality of the parts and free memory is leading to ever expanding features, features that users don't necessarily need for many applications.
As Christianson predicts with the Innovators Dilema model, microcontrollers came in on the low end and started competing on a new parameter - system on a chip solutions. Ten years ago they could run a few assembler instructions. Today they can put enough memory on the processors to compete with mpu and board level solutions of 10 years ago. They are currently capturing this business.
Microcontrollers are gaining ground because mcu technology is being commoditized into consumer goods which are sold in very high volumes. This high volume is pushing prices down and microcontrollers are a natural solution. BOM costs can drop by substantial amounts resulting in a big improvement in profitability for the OEMs.
Too cool.... theory meets practice....
Comments?
As Christianson predicts with the Innovators Dilema model, microcontrollers came in on the low end and started competing on a new parameter - system on a chip solutions. Ten years ago they could run a few assembler instructions. Today they can put enough memory on the processors to compete with mpu and board level solutions of 10 years ago. They are currently capturing this business.
Microcontrollers are gaining ground because mcu technology is being commoditized into consumer goods which are sold in very high volumes. This high volume is pushing prices down and microcontrollers are a natural solution. BOM costs can drop by substantial amounts resulting in a big improvement in profitability for the OEMs.
Too cool.... theory meets practice....
Comments?
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
CeBIT 08
The CeBIT show was truly a spectacular event. I would compare it to the Comdex show of years ago. It was largely IT focussed, with many things being split off into separate shows now. This included:
- embedded systems totally moved to Embedded World
- consumer electronics largely moved to a Berlin show
- competing Auto electronics shows
- competing industrial shows
The coolest things for me?
- 3D Plasma TV - not shabby, good view angle
- Lane change and wander warning electronics for cars
- A rack of Sun servers (complete rack, 19" style) running on 1095-1097W ... thank multicore.
- Low cost bluetooth chips from Korea ($4.80 USD in 10k without negotiation)
- 50 Chineese vendors charged for IP violations with a 5 year penalty in jail waiting for them!!!
I think trade shows are still fashionable in Europe - its too bad we don't have travel budgets for this in North America any longer. It was educational.
- embedded systems totally moved to Embedded World
- consumer electronics largely moved to a Berlin show
- competing Auto electronics shows
- competing industrial shows
The coolest things for me?
- 3D Plasma TV - not shabby, good view angle
- Lane change and wander warning electronics for cars
- A rack of Sun servers (complete rack, 19" style) running on 1095-1097W ... thank multicore.
- Low cost bluetooth chips from Korea ($4.80 USD in 10k without negotiation)
- 50 Chineese vendors charged for IP violations with a 5 year penalty in jail waiting for them!!!
I think trade shows are still fashionable in Europe - its too bad we don't have travel budgets for this in North America any longer. It was educational.
Embedded World 08
Embedded World 08 was an exciting event - many thousands of attendees, all major exhibitors and much more. There was exciting new technology too - PIC32 was being pushed along with new MSP430 solutions and new offerings from nearly all the microcontroller vendors including: Renesas, Fujitsu, Luminary, Toshiba, NEC, and many more. Clearly microcontrollers, DSCs and DSPs are still hot.
One of the most interesting things I saw was the Luminary products. They are going to challenge the traditional microcontroller vendors with Arm M3 Cortex designs (32 bit design) at 8 bit prices. It should be interesting to watch.
The most interesting part for us was the fact that nobody knows that there is a tiny tiny embedded Linux compatible RTOS called Unison or DSPnano that they could use in the microcontroller space where other solutions simply don't exist. The microcontroller vendors understand the need but the customers don't know there is a solution. That is our challenge.
And Elke Antonia Bergmann, thank you for the great job at the show! You're the best! Now how can I hire more people with this attitude?
One of the most interesting things I saw was the Luminary products. They are going to challenge the traditional microcontroller vendors with Arm M3 Cortex designs (32 bit design) at 8 bit prices. It should be interesting to watch.
The most interesting part for us was the fact that nobody knows that there is a tiny tiny embedded Linux compatible RTOS called Unison or DSPnano that they could use in the microcontroller space where other solutions simply don't exist. The microcontroller vendors understand the need but the customers don't know there is a solution. That is our challenge.
And Elke Antonia Bergmann, thank you for the great job at the show! You're the best! Now how can I hire more people with this attitude?
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