FPGA Central

Embedded Technology Journal Update


a techfocus media publication :: April 1, 2009 :: volume XIV, no. 13









FROM THE EDITOR



Security is boring, difficult, and necessary. It also means different things to different designers. This week we look at three (or so&hellip different products that promise to make embedded projects more secure, more reliable, and maybe even more fun.

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











Introducing Xilinx® Virtex®-6 and Spartan®-6 FPGA Families. The Programmable Foundation for Targeted Design Platforms Reduce system cost by up to 50% - Lower power consumption by 65% Shrink development time by 50%.
Attend webcast and download documentation now




















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LATEST NEWS



March 31, 2009



Curtiss-Wright Controls Adds Multiprocessor Debugger to its Continuum Insights 3.0 Multiprocessor Tool Suite



ADLINK Revives Legacy EBX Market with Atom™-based LittleBoard™ 735 SBC



VersaLogic Selects SiliconSystems’ SiliconDrive Blade for its New Komodo EPIC-size Single Board Computer



Ramtron Announces Power Efficient 512-Kilobit and 1-Megabit Serial F-RAM V-Family Memory



AdaCore Launches GNAT Pro for 8-bit AVR Microcontroller



Dataram Launches DDR3 Memory Modules for Intel Based AIC Gemini Platform



Ethertronics Introduces Active FM and Tunable UHF Antenna Solutions to Drive the Next Generation of Mobile Entertainment Devices



Numonyx Announces 5-Volt NOR Flash Memory for Automotive and Embedded Applications



ADLINK Revolutionizes Rugged Small Form Factor (SFF) Computing with the CoreModule® 730 SBC



Aonix Teams with RTI on Data Distribution for Secure Systems



IMEC launches research program to improve dynamic behavior of embedded systems



IAR KickStart Kit for Toshiba ARM Cortex-M3 accelerates embedded design



Freescale Accelerates Multicore 45-nm Products to Market for Next-Generation Communications System



March 30, 2009



Altera Collaborates With National Semiconductor to Facilitate Routing High-Resolution Digital Video in Automotive Applications



Atmel’s MPCF-II Technology Brings ARM Processor-based Custom SoCs to 10K-unit Apps with No License Fees



Mixel’s MDDI PHY IP Embedded in QuickLogic’s Proven System Block (PSB) Targeting Qualcomm-Based Mobile Products



MIPS Technologies Continues To Gain Traction in Portable Market with Multimedia Phone Design Win



AMCC Debuts Advanced Storage Solutions with Power Architecture Processors at ESC Silicon Valley



Netronome Demonstrates Network Flow Processing at Embedded Systems Conference



New iDigi Development Kits Speed Time to Market, Enable More Robust Wireless Applications



Freescale Demonstrates Embedded Leadership at Embedded Systems Conference



March 27, 2009



Thin, Fanless & Strong, VIA Demos First Em-ITX Board with VIA Nano Processor at ESC Silicon Valley



March 26, 2009



University of California, San Diego Extension Offers “Practical Embedded Design with PSoC” Class Starting on March 30



AdvancedIO® Systems Announces Launch of V3021 Dual 10-Gigabit Ethernet AMC with PCI Express® Fabric



Skyvision and Stretch Announce Integration of Skyvision’s Industry Leading DVR Software with Stretch VRC6000 Series DVR Cards



InHand to Live Demo New Intel® Atom™-based System



Openmoko to Present FreeRunner Embedded Mobile Platform at Special Session During Embedded Systems Conference



IAR Systems to showcase products for wireless System Development at ESC



Avnet Expert to Share Insight on Design and Performance of Latest Generation Microcontrollers at Embedded Systems Conference



March 25, 2009



Actel Announces Free Training Session at ESC Silicon Valley 2009



C-MAC MicroTechnology partners with CISSOID to develop state-of-the-art high temperature microelectronic solutions



Healthcare Robotics Featured at RoboBusiness Conference and Exposition



Ampro ADLINK Technology Establishes Design Partner Network



Continuous Computing to Demonstrate the Future of DPI and Wireless Convergence at CTIA Wireless 2009



Renesas Technology releases RX610 group, first microcontrollers in RX Family offering industry-top-level code efficiency and excellent high-speed and low-power performance



Unique multimode mobile WiMAX/GSM-EDGE smartphone reference design platform by Comsys Mobile



New Release of QNX Middleware Enhances Performance of Automotive Handsfree Systems



CURRENT FEATURE ARTICLES



Safe, Secure, and ARMed
(Jim Turley)
15 Billion Nodes, and 8 Bits
(Dick Selwood)
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)





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]











Safe, Secure, and ARMed
(Jim Turley)

It’s a tough world out there. Bad guys try to hack into our computers and embedded systems. Even without the hackers, systems sometimes just crash. Building tough and reliable systems is hard to do. That must be why we get paid the big bucks.

This week, three companies are doing something about that (the security, not the pay). Open Kernel Labs, CPU Tech, and ARM all have new products designed to make secure, reliable, affordable systems easier to design and build.  

“Can You Text Me Now?”

In this corner, we have Open Kernel Labs, an Australian company that specializes in virtualization – the technique of running multiple applications or operating systems on one microprocessor. Virtualization has become a big deal in the world of big iron: servers and mainframes. But it’s only now catching on in embedded systems. In part, that’s because embedded systems are now becoming powerful enough and complex enough to support the necessary overhead. It’s also because they’re complicated enough to need it. That’s where Open Kernel Labs comes in.

If you smash your average cell phone, you’re likely to find two processors inside: a traditional microprocessor and a digital signal processor (DSP), otherwise known as the application processor and the baseband processor, respectively. One processor handles the phone/RF functions while the other manages the (increasingly important) user interface, address book, applications, and other “computer-ish” tasks. Wouldn’t it be cool if all of that code could run on one processor? And wouldn’t that be cheaper, too?

In fact, it would be and it is. Open Kernel Labs’ hypervisor software runs underneath mobile phone operating systems, fooling them into thinking there are two processors by abstracting away the details of the hardware. It’s the same trick server customers have been using for years to reduce their hardware costs. If the underlying chip is a multicore processor, so much the better, but it doesn’t have to be. The majority of cell phones today run on conventional single-core ARM processors, and that’s Open Kernel Labs’ primary target.

The business plan is to enable makers of low-end cell phones to upgrade their wares. Through virtualization, a handset manufacturer can add gee-whiz features to an existing hardware design without redesigning the entire thing around a second processor. Given that Open Kernel Labs has already shipped about 300 million copies of its hypervisor, the plan seems to be working.

The Unhackable PowerPC
Counterfeiting. It’s not just for greenbacks any more. Counterfeit embedded systems have become a surprisingly nettlesome problem for makers of network equipment, games, security systems, and others. The good guys battle the bad guys in a proverbial arms race of measures and countermeasures designed to keep the other side off balance.

The threat might be commercial, as when a processor or embedded subsystem is cloned and counterfeited, depriving the rightful vendor of customer revenue. Or it might be viral, such as when malicious software is inserted into an otherwise sound system. Or the threat might be clandestine, where the system is hacked and examined only to determine its weaknesses and to develop countermeasures. In any case, the system fails: it fails to work, fails to provide revenue, or fails to protect its intended users.

Enter CPU Tech, a well-established chip company that’s taken it upon itself to give the good guys a leg up. The company makes PowerPC processors, but their new Acalis CPU872 is a processor with a difference.

Over and above its security features (about which more anon), the ’872 is a darn nice microprocessor. It’s a dual-core PowerPC with two 440 processor cores, each with its own 32K first-level cache and its own 256K L2 cache. Each core also has its own 4 MB bank of on-chip DRAM and a DDR2 controller for off-chip memory. Oh, and separate floating-point units, too. You could almost cut the chip in half and have two respectable PowerPC processors. [more]










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