Index Dedicated Systems Magazine 01q4 on SYSTEM ARCHITECTURES

Index Dedicated Systems Magazine 01q4

Editorial
By Martin Timmerman, Chief-Editor of Dedicated Systems Magazine, Dedicated Systems Experts.
SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE - 01q4 - p. 3
.

AUTOMATION

Innovation in MEMS: Full Integration of Micro-machined Motion sensors with no Moving Parts
MEMS is an acronym is derived from Micro Electro-Mechanical Systems. “Smart-sensors ” is probably the most appropriate designation for these emerging, new product technologies. MEMS have an increasing variety of forms, functions, and capabilities. This article focuses on motion, inclination, and vibration; all of which are within the province of new integrated accelerometers designed and manufactured by MEMSIC.

By Mike Bugnacki, John Pyle of Memsic, Andover MA. and Paul Emerald of Sterling, MA.
SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE - 01q4 - p. 6
Back to top

Features of System ProcessLogix - Experience of integration in Russia
A Distributed Control System for a petroleum processing plant was entered into industrial operation by OAO NizhnevartovskASUneft. The Distributed Control System was developed based on the project ProcessLogix. It has high reliability of controllers (time between failures up to 400 thousand hours), high degree of Redundancy - Redundancy of controllers, ... This article tells you more about the development.

By Roman Krutskikh, Software developer and System Integrator, OAO "NizhnevartovskASUneft".
SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE - 01q4 - p. 13
Back to top

Software Architecture for Development of Mechatronic Systems: Service Robots
Currently mechatronic software systems are widely used and their complexity are increasing. Therefore, complexity and flexibility are very important topics related to the design problem. One promising approach to managing complexity and ensuring system qualities is through software architecture which is considered as the science and art of software structuring. The objective of this work is to introduce the concepts of software architecture in the development of one family of applications: the service
robots. For it, we offer a generic model for implementing this family of products. In this paper, the studies to achieve this goal are presented and we also provide a survey of some important architectural concepts developed in this domain and a short description of four robotic applications in which the proposed architecture has been reused.

By Bárbara Álvarez, Andrés Iborra, Juan A.Pastor, Carlos Fernández, Universidad Politécnica de Cartagena, Alejandro Alonso, Juan A.de la Puente, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid.
SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE - 01q4 - p. 17
Back to top

CHIPS

An Extensible Architecture for Multifunction Processor Design
Choosing a processor architecture for embedded applications requires a series of trade-offs: silicon area, operating speed and power consumption are all important factors. An innovative architecture from Hyperstone provides the embedded system developer with fresh alternatives. An extensible instruction set combines a RISC core with additional instruction sets optimised for specific application areas, such as DSP, without losing the original advantages of a RISC architecture, such as a small silicon footprint and a straightforward software development environment.

By Dr. Matthias Steck, Senior Engineer, Hyperstone AG.
SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE - 01q4 - p. 23
Back to top

Understanding the Key Architectural Features of a Microcontroller
Distribution channel customers designing high-performance, cost- and power-sensitive applications such as wireless networking and infrastructure devices, vending machines, building management and heating-ventilation-air conditioning (HVAC) systems, exercise equipment and lighting control need highly integrated microcontrollers off the shelf which reduce system component count and fit their product requirements. These applications require off-the-shelf microcontrollers running at speeds greater than 33mhz with on-chip RAM and FLASH memory as well as an array of sophisticated peripherals that are easy to program in a high level language.
This paper discusses the key elements of a general purpose microcontroller and their use in a real-time application. The interaction of the peripherals with the processor is essential for collecting, processing and outputting data. To better appreciate how these peripherals interact with the processor, a review of each of the major functions of a microcontroller will be discussed. The low power Motorola MMC2107 32-bit microcontroller architecture will be used as an example solution for designing a complex system using a minimum number of components.

By David Ruimy Gonzales, Senior Member of Technical Staff, Motorola Embedded Platform Solutions.
SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE - 01q4 - p. 28
Back to top

Residential Gateways Single Device Connects Multiple Broadband Access and Home Networking Technologies
The evolution of new data broadcasting services has created the need for a device to pass digital content between the Internet and home network. Residential Gateway (RG) is a platform for the deployment of high-speed Internet access and integrated voice, data and video services over the same high-speed pipe to different nodes (appliances) throughout the home.RGs combine the functions of a digital modem, SOHO router or hub for Internet access to multiple information appliances. This article lookes at the evolution of existing PC, digital modems and STBs, and new products into the residential gateway. Programmable logic solutions are necessary for the success of RGs as they provide time-to-market and time-in-market advantages in interfacing disparate technologies and system interfaces.

By Amit Dhir, Senior Engineer, Xilinx Corporation.
SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE - 01q4 - p. 33
Back to top

NETWORKS

New Softswitch Architectures Help To Manage The Network Industry Turmoil
Network equipment companies are rapidly embracing a new software-based switching solution, softswitch technology, that runs on standard computing hardware, to supplement or replace central office switching functions. Essentially this is because softswitches are functionally equivalent to many of conventional phone switch capabilities, only softswitches are cheaper and better at incorporating the major changes in industry.

By Peter Palm, Group Marketing Manager, Sun Microsystems.
SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE - 01q4 - p. 39
Back to top

KNOCK! KNOCK! "Who's There?"
Network-Enabled Devices Can Use UPnP to Respond to Who's There? What machines are on the net? What is their status? How are operations controlled on the machines? Will the machines notify when they have a significant event? Is there a simple human interface for the networked machines? These questions are handled with the network Universal Play and Play (UPnP) technology standard promoted by Microsoft and the UPnP Forum. Inquiry.

By Edward F. Steinfeld, Embedded-Computing Market Consultant, Automata International Marketing.
SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE - 01q4 - p. 44
Back to top

PLATFORMS

The Role of CompactPCI & RAID in Telecommunications Applications
Today, the ultimate solution for building reliable high-performance storage systems for mission-critical database applications requires a combination of industry standards: the CompactPCI system bus architecture; the RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks) mass-storage methodology; and the SCSI peripheral bus. Besides providing high performance and excellent reliability, availability and serviceability, these standards offer the built-in flexibility and versatility for building systems that meet a broad range of different price/performance goals.

By Thomas J. Szala, Director of Marketing, Cyclone Microsystems.
SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE - 01q4 - p. 49
Back to top

CompactPCI IP Backplane Standard Proposed for Next-Gen Network Needs
The constant challenge for designers of high-availability and next-generation IP-telephony systems for competitive carriers is building systems increasingly more dependable, smaller and cheaper to own and use. Though still in wide use, first-generation solutions are no longer sufficient. Things improved significantly with second-generation architecture taking advantage of the CompactPCIÒ form factor. But even that has limitations. Compact Packet Switching Backplane (cPSB) now emerges as a far more efficient network architecture. Its technological value can best be appreciated by overviewing this design progression.

By Hank Heneghan, Senior Product Manager, Performance Technologies, Inc.
SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE - 01q4 - p. 53
Back to top

High-availability Computing in an Open Systems World
High-Availability Computing and Open Systems have been concepts in conflict for years. The vast majority of applications for Open Systems do not require "5-nines" availability (systems available 99.999% of the time, implying no more than 5 minutes of down time per year). Thus, the design points for industry standard open systems emphasise other priorities-notably cost -over non-stop availability.
Many telecom and internet applications, meanwhile, demand high-availability. This has led to the creation of numerous proprietary computing solutions for telecommunications.

By David McKinley, Director of Engineering-High Availability, RadiSys Corporation
SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE - 01q4 - p. 57
Back to top

CompactPCI Solutions Fully Exploite the Potential for Rear I/O
Increasing demands are being made on industrial computer systems, especially by telecommunications. And this is where CompactPCI, with its special hot-swap and computer telephony solutions, is steadily gaining market share. Often when consideration is given to system requirements the attention focuses on the front panel, while aluable potential in the rear I/Os remains unexploited. Thanks to its well designed products, Schroff is able to provide comprehensive support to customers in making full
use of these options.

By Andreas Lenkisch, Product Manager Backplanes, Schroff GmbH.
SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE - 01q4 - p. 63
Back to top

COTS Lifecycle COTS Lifecycle Challenges
In the last 8-10 years COTS has experienced a quick start but a tough implementation both from the COTS supplier's view and the defense contractor's view. The initial goals set for COTS including cost reduction, performance improvement, and accelerated development cycles have, to some degree, been realized. However, in today's highly competitive electronics market place, only a few companies have made a commitment to life cycle planning and analysis for the Defense community. Defense contractors need to get these critical life cycle predictions from their COTS supplier. This article discusses the different aspects of life cycle planning.
.
By Edmond Hennessy, Worldwide Vice President Sales and Marketing, SKY Computers, Inc.
SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE - 01q4 - p. 67
Back to top

SOFTWARE DESIGN

QuickUML Simplifies UML QuickUML Simplifies UML Design
Excel Software recently introduced QuickUML to make UML accessible to any object-oriented project, regardless of project or team size, target environment, language preferences or budget constraints. QuickUML implements a core set of the UML notation with emphasis on extreme ease-of-use and model integration. This article illustrates a popular set of UML models applicable to any OO project and gives you a feel for how the modeling process works.

By Harold Halbleib, Product manager of software design tools, Excel Software.
SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE - 01q4 - p. 71
Back to top

Efficient Detection of Complex, Critical Defects in Embedded Software Using Automated Software Inspection
This article introduces automated software inspection (ASI), a method for validating and improving software quality. It covers the general principles of ASI, provides examples of defects that ASI finds, and draws comparisons between ASI and traditional testing methods while showing how they complement each other. This is followed by an explanation of the techniques employed by ASI and the use of a code analysis engine.
Subsequently, a methodology based on automatic software verification is given. The paper presents this methodology and compares it with existing techniques like code analysis tools, non-automated software inspections and automated software testing. The examples are taken from embedded systems development.

By Rix Groenboom, Technical Support Manager, Reasoning.
SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE - 01q4 - p. 75
Back to top

OTHERS

Company Directory
SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE - 01q4 - p. 82

Dedicated Systems Gazette
SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE - 01q4 - p. 85

Dedicated Systems Virtual Pressroom
SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE - 01q4 - p. 86

Bookstores
SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE - 01q4 - p. 96

Subscription Form
SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE - 01q4 - p. 97