What’s New on Embedded.com (8-18-11)

New on Embedded.com

Exclusives

R.C. Cofer and Ben Harding

Basics of core-based FPGA design: Part 1 – core types & trade-offs

Robert Zeidman

Software forensics for embedded systems developers

Highlights

Embedded cyber-risks

Using PCIe & intelligent DMA to achieve blazing data rates in real-time recording instruments

Editor's Note

Bernard Cole Site Editor Embedded.com

This week I was glad to be distracted by the news that Google is buying out Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion. Reading various analyses of what the bid will mean took my attention away from the unsettling economic news. For example, yet another electronics firm – Analog Devices – is reporting bad financial results, In China, which up ‘til now had seemed relatively immune to the economic turmoil, mainland Chinese chip foundrySMIC is preparing for a long downturn.

Be sure to read “Embedded cyber-risks ” from Jack Ganssle, in which he ponders the impact of a dismayingly ill-informed and naïve report on cyber-security that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security presented before Congress.

Design How Tos

Basics of core-based FPGA design: Part 1 – core types & trade-offs

In Part 1 in this four part series, the authors of “Rapid System Prototyping with FPGAs,” provide an overview of FPGA processor core types – firm, hard and soft – and the pros and cons that need to be evaluated in the context of an embedded system's requirements.

Software forensics for embedded systems developers

In this chapter from his book “The Software IP Detective's Handbook,” Bob Zeidman describes some of the concepts behind the new field of software forensics, and how they can be used to safeguard the unique and proprietary Intellectual Property incorporated into your design.

Using PCIe & intelligent DMA to achieve blazing data rates in real-time recording instruments

How the use of PCIe, intelligent DMA and a real-time analog-to-digital front end as well as an efficient API messaging structure resulted in a data recorder capable of sustained data to disk rates of 2 GB/sec and higher.

e-MMC vs. NAND with built-in ECC

Ultimately, if your processor can support both e-MMC and MLC NAND with ECC, which should you choose? A look at the attributes, benefits and situational advantages of each

Optimize Energy Efficient Ethernet (IEEE 802.3az) performance in bundled links

Here is a technique that optimizes the use of Energy Efficient Ethernet in bundled links that improves responsiveness, and minimizes frame delay and loss. It can also be implemented by each link endpoint independently for easy deployment.

MILS architecture simplifies design of high assurance systems – Part 1

The Multiple independent levels of security (MILS) architecture provides a framework for development and validation of secure operating systems for military and avionics applications.

Cache-Coherence Verification

Cache coherency structures present complex problems for verification, and must be approached systematically.

Get control of ARM system cache coherency with ACE verification

In this Product How-Two article, the Cadence authors describe how to use the company's Verification IP solutions framework to implement ARM's AMBA 4 Coherency Extensions (ACE) in embedded SoCs

Making embedded processing development easy – part 2

We're on the second installment in a sequence created to introduce you to the fundamentals of embedded software design and considerations to aid with embedded processor design.

Resistors advance diverse medical diagnostic and therapeutic capabilities

This “lowly” passive component is critical to medical instrumentation circuitry

SIGNAL CHAIN BASICS #56: Clock Jitter Demystified—Random Jitter and Phase Noise

Understand some key parameters of this critical specification, which affects many aspects of the signal chain

Use LED lighting to improve user interfaces in appliances

LEDs, both low-power indicators as well as high-power Lights, can enable an advanced User Interface as well as a high-end look-and-feel for today's smart appliances.

Embedded Systems Bookshelf

Excerpts

Embedded Books Reading Room
Bernard Cole's favorite links to book excerpts.

Reviews

Engineer's Bookshelf
Airport fiction blows. A look at books other engineers are reading and why you should read them, too. Recommend and write a review yourself. E-mail Brian Fuller.

Jack Ganssle's Bookshelf
A list of book reviews by Jack Ganssle, contributing technical editor of Embedded Systems Design and Embedded.com.

Max's Cool Beans
Clive “Max” Maxfield, the editor on Programmable Logic DesignLine, often writes about interesting books.

Product News

GE HD daq8580 video streaming appliance is optimized for unmanned vehicles

GE Intelligent Platforms has announced the daq8580 rugged streaming network appliance, a complete, standalone, application-ready solution that, according to the company, delivers flexibility, high performance and excellent cost-effectiveness.

GE's new GFG500 Gb Ethernet video processor and 3U OpenVPX-REDI MCP500 processor offer flexibility, faster TTM

The 3U OpenVPX-REDI GFG500 Gigabit Ethernet Video Processor and the 3U OpenVPX-REDI MCP500 Processor from GE Intelligent Platforms are targeted for video and network processing applications deployed in harsh environments.

Software enables single-instrument WLAN measurement

Software for the Anritsu MS269xA and MS2830A series signal analyzers, as well as the MG3700A vector signal generator to create single-instrument solutions that support the IEEE802.11n/p/a/b/g/j wireless LAN (WLAN) standards.

Testing Mobile High-Definition Link compliance

Tektronix Inc.is providing a Mobile High-Definition Link (MHL) compliance test solution that works with its DPO/DSA/MSO70000 series oscilloscopes to enable seamless testing and analysis from the MHL PHY layer to the link layer and back.

GE's MIP3ES miniature image stabilizer targeted for harsh environments such as UAVs

The MIP3ES Miniature Image Stabilizer from GE Intelligent Platforms is designed for demanding military/aerospace applications in which size, weight and power (SWaP) are highly constrained.

Microchip's mTouch AR1100 USB Touch-Screen Controller features low cost and easy integration

Building upon the AR1000 Analog Resistive Touch-Screen Controller series, the AR1100 controller is a high-performance, USB plug-and-play device that offers advanced calibration capabilities as a USB mouse or single-input digitizer.

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