FPGA Central

Embedded Technology Journal Update


a techfocus media publication :: April 21, 2009 :: volume XV, no. 03









FROM THE EDITOR



Embedded development is varied, so this week we look at three various topics. First off, there’s a new way to manage that age-old problem: stacks. Guessing stack size is tricky because we’ve generally got no idea how big a stack we need. Guess too large and you waste memory. Guess too small and your program crashes for no immediately apparent reason. Let’s look at a ***y new tool that may solve that problem. Next we look at a new business proposition: what happens when your chip supplier does your job for you? Is that a good thing or not? One company is giving it a try. Finally, we’ll make some friends online with two new community-building sites devoted to embedded developers.

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











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LATEST NEWS



April 21, 2009



Micro Digital Announces smxUSB 2.0 for Blackfin Processors



Tesla Motors Uses MathWorks Tools for Model-Based Design to Develop World’s First Electric Production Sports Car



Sidense OTP Memory IP Enables 65nm Mobile Handset Chip



PICMG Consortium Releases New COM Express Design Guide



Trusted Computing Group Announces Certification Program Starting with Trusted Platform Module Certification



ILS Technology Introduces deviceWISE Embedded Edition Product for Siemens S7 Programmable Logic Controller Family S7-300



Shanghai InfoTM Micro-electronics Expands SoC Platform with Vivante GPU IP for Mobile Gaming



April 20, 2009



Atmel Launches new AVR32 Microcontroller with High Speed Communication for Digital Audio Solutions



The MathWorks Introduces New Vehicle Network Toolbox



Mentor Graphics Strengthens Its Automotive Solutions with New Integrated AUTOSAR Design Environment



NEC Electronics Introduces Next-Generation V850E2M Dual Core Architecture For 32-Bit V850 Microcontrollers



DiSTI and TES Electronics Solutions are Driving Down the Costs to Develop On-Screen Displays



ARM Announces Availability of Industry’s Broadest 40nm G Physical IP Platform



Kilopass Technology Expands Embedded Non-Volatile Memory Offering to Address Mobile, Consumer, and Computing Markets



April 16, 2009



Research and Markets: 32/64-bit Microcontrollers, Embedded Microprocessors & DSPs - 2008 Edition



Digi-Key Stocks New Amulet GUI Color Starter Kit



Super Talent Launches 6GB & 3GB DDR3-2000 Kit



April 15, 2009



Lighting management unit reduces smart phone design time



Atmel Takes Industry’s Leading Position in 6-pin Microcontrollers



NXP Adopts Mentor Graphics’ Veloce Hardware Emulator to Accelerate Time-to-Market for Their HDTV and Set-Top-Box Chip Sets








CURRENT FEATURE ARTICLES



Programmers Appreciate a Good Stack
(Jim Turley)
Network Hardware & Internet Communities
(Jim Turley)
Fitting the Tool to the Job
(Dick Selwood)
The Twitter of Things?
Developments in Embedded WiFi
(Bryon Moyer)
Like Flash, But Different
(Jim Turley)
Safe, Secure, and ARMed
(Jim Turley)
15 Billion Nodes, and 8 Bits
(Dick Selwood)
Playing “What If…” With Multicore Processors
(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]











Programmers Appreciate a Good Stack
(Jim Turley)

Stack size is a matter of personal preference. Most programmers like large, well-endowed stacks that stretch the memory fabric to nearly overflowing. Others like to squeeze in smaller but perfectly formed ones with no wasted space. Whatever your predilection, handling an appropriately sized stack is usually done by feel instead of by the numbers. But that’s about to change.

Measuring stack size is the tricky part. It can be hard to get your arms around the problem. Most of us will just eyeball a passing stack and declare it too big, too small, or just right. But how do you quantify that decision? Without hands-on experience, it’s tough to know if a stack has room to grow or is bursting at the seams. Too big and you’re wasting memory; too small and you risk an embarrassing overflow. [more]







Network Hardware & Internet Communities
(Jim Turley)

MontaVista and QNX Open Up Open-Source. Open-source software development is all about community. “Crowd sourcing” of content and talent is all the rage these days, and various social media have made it easier to collaborate with people you’ve never met. Little wonder, then, that software companies have opened their virtual doors to all comers.

A case in point is MontaVista, a long-time supporter of open-source Linux, especially for embedded systems. The company has launched Meld, an online community for embedded-Linux developers, and not necessarily just users if its own products. MontaVista has shown admirable restraint in making Meld a community for all comers, regardless of application, industry, or corporate affiliation. (And no, the URL is not www.meld.com; it’s meld.mvista.com) [more]






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