FPGA Central

Embedded Technology Journal Update


a techfocus media publication :: March 17, 2009 :: volume XIV, no. 11









FROM THE EDITOR



Everyone talks about multicore processors but who’s doing anything about it? Not most programmers; they’re left in the lurch with conventional software tools while the hardware guys blaze ahead with new silicon. This week’s article looks at a brand-new tool that highlights exactly where your code can – or can’t – be modified to take advantage of multicore processors.

Thanks for reading! If there's anything we can do to make our publications more useful to you, please let us know at: comments (AT) embeddedtechjournal (DOT) com. If you'd rather sound off in public, please post your comments or questions in our new Journal Forums.

Jim Turley – Editor
Embedded Technology Journal









EVENTS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS











Nios II Embedded Evaluation Kit, Only $449
If it's time to try FPGAs for your embedded system, it's time to check out the Nios® II Evaluation Kit! With this kit, you can evaluate dozens of processor demos and designs targeting low-cost, low-power Cyclone® III FPGAs. Using the color LCD touch screen couldn't be easier!
Buy the Nios II Eval Kit for only $449 today!




















Take our BRAND NEW
SUPER QUICK, JUST A COUPLE OF QUESTIONS,
WON'T TAKE MUCH TIME AT ALL (WE PROMISE)
2009 Journal Reader Survey.

WEIGH IN NOW!!











LATEST NEWS



March 17, 2009



Leading Embedded COTS Vendors Declare Support for Open Standards Model



NEC Electronics Europe Introduces Ultra-Thin New MOSFET Devices in a SOT-23F Package



SiliconSystems Announces Third Generation SSD Technology Platform



Sun and Wind River Deliver Carrier Grade Linux for Next-Generation Networking on Sun's UltraSPARC® T2 Processor



Micron Recognized by Semiconductor Insights for Innovations in NAND Flash and DRAM Technology



March 16, 2009



Altera's Embedded Systems Development Kit Accelerates the Creation of Cyclone III FPGA-Based Embedded Designs



K-micro Announces Availability of FPGA Board for the CatsEye Development System



Atmel Collaborates With IAR Systems to Accelerate Application Development for AT91SAM ARM Micros



Actel Announces softconsole version 2.2 - Free Embedded Software Development Environment



Atmel Introduces an AVR32 Digital Audio Gateway Reference Design for Digital Audio Streaming, Decoding and Playback



March 13, 2009



IPSO Alliance Announces Success of First Global Interoperability Test for IP-Based Sensor Networking



Microsoft Windows Embedded Names Finalists for the “SPARKs Will Fly” Developer Contest



March 12, 2009



SiliconSystems Ships 4-Millionth SiliconDrive with SiSMART Technology



OMRON and Renesas Technology to Jointly Develop Touch Sensor Solutions



High temperature Logic ICs in plastic package sustain continuous operation at 175°C



March 11, 2009



Microsoft Unveils Its Developer Strategy for the Next Generation of Windows® Phones



10th Annual ISQED Draws Record Attendance; Free Registrations Include Access to Exhibits, Technical Presentations, Keynotes and Embedded Tutorials



ViXS Systems Selects Virage Logic’s High-Performance Intelli™ DDR 2/3 Memory Interface IP Solution for Video Processing Systems



Embedded Alley Launches Personalized Support and Collaboration Portal for Growing Customer Base and Partners



Evatronix Releases High Resolution Display Controller IP Core.



MIPS Technologies Announces Multi-Core Milestone



GE Fanuc Intelligent Platforms’ New Proficy® HMI/SCADA CIMPLICITY® 8.0 Delivers New Features To Reduce Cost, Increase Flexibility and Accelerate Development



Micron Announces Industry’s Highest Density Block Abstracted NAND Flash Memory Portfolio



CURRENT FEATURE ARTICLES



Playing “What If…” With Multicore Processors
(Jim Turley)
Scopes
Much More than Just a Wriggly Line
(Dick Selwood)
Free Linux Microprocessor*
(Some Restrictions Apply)
(Jim Turley)
Penguins, Bees, Cathedrals and Wikis
The Changing Face of Open Source and Collaboration
(Dick Selwood)
Software Archeology
Modernizing Old Systems (Bryon Moyer)
Cleaning Up the Garbage
(Bryon Moyer)
Freescale Bets on “Net-Book” Processor Chip
(Jim Turley)




JOURNAL WEBCASTS



CHALK TALK From Desktop to Target: What You Need From A Development Suite. Is embedded software development and debug a challenge for your team? Join Amelia Dalton as she chats with Jit Sivalogan of Mentor Graphics about setting up a productive environment for embedded development. (Mentor Graphics)

CHALK TALK Simplified Verification of DSP Algorithms in Hardware. Moving algorithms from MATLAB to FPGAs? Join Amelia Dalton as she explores options for verifying DSP designs implemented in FPGAs with Tim Vanevenhoven from Xilinx. (Xilinx)

CHALK TALK Using Embedded Hypervisors in Mobile Devices. Join Amelia Dalton as she explores the use of embedded hypervisors to create safe and secure software for mobile devices with Rob McCammon of Open Kernel Labs. (Open Kernel Labs)

CHALK TALK Embedded Networking With MicroBlaze and Spartan-3A FPGAs. Join Amelia Dalton as she works her way to "Hello World" on an FPGA-based embedded system with Xilinx Spartan-3A and MicroBlaze. (Xilinx)



[click here for more webcasts]











Playing “What If…” With Multicore Processors (Jim Turley)

Multicore processors are upon us, but how much do they really help? If your boss were to ask you right now, “how much faster will our code run on a two-, four-, or eight-core processor” could you answer the question? How many of us have any idea how much performance we’d gain by moving from a single-core to a multicore processor?

Well, wonder no more. A Scottish prism is here to answer that very question.

“Prism” is the name of a new software-analysis tool from CriticalBlue, a Scottish company that’s been analyzing multicore software for a wee bit o’ time. The company was previously focused on SoC developers but has now turned its attention to the broader market of multicore programmers. All of us, in other words.

Prism is designed to answer the question, “how would my code perform if it ran on a multicore processor?” It’s an analysis tool, and an important one for anyone wondering how much performance headroom there might be in their existing code. Prism also enables “what if…” kinds of experimentation. You could see, for example, if your code would benefit from an 8-way processor or if it tops out after two cores. In short, Prism provides a quick way to estimate multicore performance without prototyping any multicore hardware. Prism is a type of crystal ball.

In Search of the Lost Vector
For the uninitiated, CriticalBlue made its name creating automatically generated coprocessors. Users of the company’s Cascade tool could feed it their C code and watch in awe as Cascade analyzed the code and synthesized a custom coprocessor tailored specifically to execute the thorniest parts of the code. Cascade was (and still is) impressive, but it’s useful only to SoC developers. Mere mortals using commercial chips couldn’t benefit from it.

That’s where Prism comes in. It’s a code-analysis and –optimization tool for the rest of us. It leverages CriticalBlue’s experience in spotting areas of potential parallelization but instead of producing custom hardware it produces a report. [more]












You're receiving this newsletter because you subscribed at our web site www.embeddedtechjournal.com.
If someone forwarded this newsletter to you and you'd like to receive your own free subscription, go to: www.embeddedtechjournal.com/update.
If at any time, you would like to unsubscribe, click here. (But we hope you don't.)
If you have any questions or comments, send them to comments (AT) embeddedtechjournal (DOT) com.



All material copyright © 2003-2009 techfocus media, inc. All rights reserved.
Privacy Statement