Wireless Networks for Industrial Environments

Wireless Networks for Industrial Environments Cooling Large Systems The magazine of record for the embedded computing industry

July 2006 www.rtcmagazine.com

MEDICAL

INSTRUMENTS:

Big Power in Small Packages

An RTC Group Publication

Embedded Windows

EPIC™ XE–900 1.0 GHz CPU

Our kits are the shortest path to a successful OS on an Octagon embedded computer.

• Pick your Octagon SBC • Pick the OS you prefer: Linux, Windows, QNX Octagon delivers a high performance, total solution.

Features

XE–900

XE–800

XE–700

CPU

Via Eden

AMD Geode GXI

STPC

Clock speed

400 MHz; 733 MHz; 1.0 GHz

300 MHz

133 MHz

BIOS

General Software

Phoenix

Phoneix

DRAM support

to 256 MB

to 256 MB

32/64 MB

Compact/Flash

Type I or II

Type I or II

Type I or II

COM 1

RS–232

RS–232/422/485

RS–232

COM 2

RS–232

RS–232/422/485

RS–232/422/485

COM 3

RS–232

NA

RS–422/485

COM 4

RS–232

NA

RS–232

COM 5

RS–232/422/485

NA

NA

COM 6

RS–422/485/TTL

NA

NA

LPT1

0

0

1

EIDE

2

2

1

USB

2

6

2

CRT

1600 x 1200

1280 x 1024

1280 x 1024

Flat panel

LVDS

yes

yes

Digital I/O

24–bit prog.

48–bit prog.

24–bit prog.

Ethernet

10/100 Base–T

Dual 10/100 Base–T

10/100 Base–T

Expansion

PC/104 & Plus

PC/104 & Plus

PC/104

Power

3.6A operating

1.6A max.

1.6A max

Temp. range

–40° to 70/85° C

–40° to 80° C

–40° to 80/85° C

Shock/vibration

40/5g

40/5g

40/5g

Typical Linux kit includes: • Target CPU card • Preloaded OS image on 256 MB industrial CompactFlash • 256 MB SO–DIMM module • Interface cables • Hard copy of manual • Mouse • CPU OS bootable CD • Optimized OS version • Full driver support for on–board hardware • X–Windows support • Example applications and source code • Extra documentation

X–SRAM–2 MB • 2 MB high speed, SRAM • Read and write at full bus speed • Pointers to memory saved if CPU resets or loses power X–DIO–48 bit programmable digital I/O • 48 digital I/O, 5V compatible • Source and sink 16 mA per output • Direct connection to opto-module racks X–COM–2 dual UART • Up to 230.4 kBaud data rate • Supports RS–232/422/485 • RS–485 fault protected to ±60V

XBLOKs offer the best compromise in cost and function for both PC/104 and PC/104-Plus. Only 44% the size of a standard PC/104 card, you can add two functions to your system but increase the stack height by only one level. –40° to 85° C. Heat diagram shows enhanced cooling.

Designed for the XE-900, our conduction cooling system eliminates a fan even at 1.0 GHz.

X–LAN–1 Ethernet LAN • 10/100 Base–T, Intel 82551ER • Fully plug–n–play • High performance, PCI bus interface X–USB–4 quad USB 2.0 • Speeds up to 480 mbps • Mix and match USB 1.1 and 2.0 • Current–limited ports can supply 500 mA to external devices

For a full listing of Octagon Systems products, visit us at www.octagonsystems.com

GE Fanuc Embedded Systems

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Departments 9 Editorial: Will the World Go Wireless www.rtcmagazine.com

10 Industry Insider Secondary side cover

60 Products&Technology

Features Technology in Context

Primary side cover

Industrial Wireless Networks

14 Use Best Practices and Analysis for Success in Wireless Industrial Networking Gene Yon, Accutech Division of Adaptive Instruments

Solutions Engineering

Board

REDI’s higher maximum pitch between modules provides several cooling options, including the ability to fit side covers that can be used for either conduction or liquid cooling. • Pg. 18

Cooling Large Systems

18 VITA 48/REDI: Keeping the Future Cool Alan Storrow, Radstone Embedded Computing

22 Beating the Heat Martin Mayer, Advanced Digital Logic

26 Designing a Liquid Cooling Loop for High-Performance Systems Richard Goldman and Tracey Barber, Lytron

Industry Insight Small Medial Systems 30 DSPs and Zone Sonography Enable Portable Ultrasound Glen McLaughlin, Zonare Medical Systems

34 Panel PCs Tackle Next-Generation Small Medical System Requirements Colin McCracken, Ampro Computers

41 Ultra-Mobile PCs Enable Portable Diagnosis and Test

Zonare Medical Systems’ z.one system is one example of new portable ultrasound platforms based on zone sonography and scalable, highperformance DSPs. The 5.5-lb. scan engine is battery-operated and contains all electronics and processing required for producing an ultrasound image. • Pg. 30

Udi Levin, General Micro Systems

Executive Interview 45 RTC Interviews Joel Zackin, President, Cyclone Microsystems

Software & Development Tools Embedded Windows 51 How to Really Embed Microsoft Windows CE Michael Erickson, Logic Product Development

55 Windows XP and CE on Single CPU for a Reliable, Cost-Effective, PC-Based Soft PLC Heinrich Munz, Kuka

Liquid Flow-Through Electronics Chassis Supports Range of Backplane Technologies • Pg. 60 July 2006

July 2006 Publisher PRESIDENT John Reardon, johnr@r tcgroup.com VICE PRESIDENT, European Operations Zoltan Hunor, zoltanh@r tcgroup.com EDITORIAL DIRECTOR/ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER Warren Andrews, warrena@r tcgroup.com

Editorial

EDITOR-IN - CHIEF Tom Williams, tomw@r tcgroup.com SENIOR EDITOR Ann Thr y f t, annt@r tcgroup.com MANAGING EDITOR Marina Tringali, marinat@r tcgroup.com STAFF EDITOR Craig Choisser, craigc@r tcgroup.com COPY EDITOR Rochelle Cohn

Art/Production

CREATIVE DIRECTOR Jenna Hazlett, jennah@r tcgroup.com GRAPHIC DESIGNER Melissa Gaeta, melissag@r tcgroup.com PRODUCTION DESIGNER Kirsten Wyatt, kirstenw@r tcgroup.com DIRECTOR OF WEB DEVELOPMENT Jan Garcia, jang@r tcgroup.com WEB DEVELOPER Marke Hallowell, markeh@r tcgroup.com

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To Contact RTC magazine: HOME OFFICE The RTC Group, 905 Calle Amanecer, Suite 250, San Clemente, CA 92673 Phone: (949) 226-2000 Fax: (949) 226-2050, www.rtcgroup.com EASTERN SALES OFFICE The RTC Group, 96 Dudley Road, Sudbury, MA 01776 Phone: (978) 443-2402 Fax: (978) 443-4844 Editorial Office Warren Andrews, Editorial Director/Associate Publisher 39 Southport Cove, Bonita, FL 34134 Phone: (239) 992-4537 Fax: (239) 992-2396 Tom Williams, Editor-in-Chief 245-M Mt. Hermon Rd., PMB#F, Scotts Valley, CA 95066 Phone: (831) 335-1509 Fax: (408) 904-7214 Ann Thryft, Senior Editor 15520 Big Basin Way, Boulder Creek, CA 95006 Phone: (831) 338-8228

July 2006

Published by The RTC Group Copyright 2006, The RTC Group. Printed in the United States. All rights reserved.

All related graphics are trademarks of The RTC Group. All other brand and product names are the property of their holders.

DPM • VME64, VITA 31.1 • Pentium M to 1.8 GHz • 855 GME chipset with embedded graphics • Low power consumption • -40°/+71°C operation

CPM1 • CompactPCI, PICMG 2.16 • Pentium M to 1.8 GHz • 855 GME chipset with embedded graphics • Two PMC sites

KPM-S1 • Custom embedded • Pentium M 2 GHz • 7520 chipset with up to 8 GB DDR 400 • ATI M26 Mobility Radeon graphics on PCI Express

Conduction cooled versions of the VME and CompactPCI/PICMG 2.16 single board computers • Extended temperature to -40°/+85°C • Tested to MIL STD 810 and 901D • Tested to high shock/vibration • Conformal coating available • Customized interfaces supprted

Let Dynatem provide your next embedded processor solution

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GE Fanuc Embedded Systems

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NAME

DESCRIPTION

AMC.1

TELUM TSPE01

Processor AMC module with PowerPC 7447A processor

TELUM ASLP10

Intel® Pentium® M processor AMC module

•

TELUM 624/628-TEJ

WAN Edge Access I/O, 4 or 8 port T1/E1/J1, ITDM option

•

TELUM 1001-O12M/S

WAN OC-12 module

•

TELUM 1001-O3

WAN OC-3 module

•

TELUM 1004-O3M/S

WAN OC-3 module

•

TELUM 1001-DE

WAN DS3/E3 module

•

TELUM 1204-O3

WAN intelligent AMC.2 multi-service 4-port OC-3 module

TELUM GE-QT

Gigabit Ethernet AMC 4 port NIC

•

TELUM FC2312-FF

Fibre Channel HBA cards (fiber-optic media)

•

TELUM FC2312-CC

Fibre Channel HBA cards (copper media)

•

AT-AMC1

AdvancedTCA carrier for 2-4 AMC.1 modules

•

AT-AMC2

AdvancedTCA ® carrier for 2-4 AMC.2 modules

BCT4-AMC1

IBM BladeCenter T carrier for 4 AMC modules

TELUM GPSTC-AMC

GPS-based clock AMC module

TELUM 2001-VGA

AMC VGA module

®

®

®

AMC.2

•

®

•

• •

• •

•

Now a part of GE Fanuc Embedded Systems © 2006 GE Fanuc Embedded Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.

Editorial July 2006

Will the World Go Wireless?

by Tom Williams, Editor-in-Chief

I

recently attended a developers conference for Certified Wireless USB. The idea is simple; the technology behind it is complex. But what else is new? Instead of running wires all over the place to hook up your peripherals, you just put them within ten feet of each other or closer and you’re good to go. And it works at the same speeds and exactly like wired USB 2.0. The companies involved are targeting the PC market and will start out offering dongles that plug into USB ports so users of legacy systems can access the new wireless USB peripherals. Later, the electronics will be integrated onto motherboards, the cost will become insignificant, etc. We’ve seen this sort of thing happen many times before.

By now you may be thinking, “Well, that’s nice, but what does it have to do with my concerns as a developer of industrial grade embedded systems?” The answer is, “Not much—yet.” In fact, during the press conference I asked the impertinent question, “Has anyone yet done a study to characterize the performance in electrically noisy and harsh environments?” Dead silence. Nonetheless, a rather lively discussion ensued.

One person wisely and correctly pointed out that PC technology has historically migrated to the embedded space and gave the example of PCI, CompactPCI and PCI Express. Of course, there are many more. So a development like Wireless USB bears watching but not immediate exuberant multi-hyped coverage in RTC. Still, there are implications that should concern us in a wider context.

For example, we may soon see laptop PCs that contain three radio transceivers: 802.11, the Wireless USB and possibly Bluetooth. So an effort is underway by the WiMedia Alliance to develop a single WiMedia Ultra Wideband (UWB) radio platform that would have a number of protocol adaptation layers (PALs) for the different wireless interfaces, and on the other side interface to the computer through unified MAC and PHY layers. Then there are all the issues of reliability and security. In a sense, this is a microcosm of the issues facing the wider world.

Maybe the question should not be, “Will the world go wireless?” but rather, “Can the world go wireless?” We see by

contributions to this issue that setting up reliable wireless networks in industrial environments is a very different proposition from putting a wireless LAN in your home—and who among us hasn’t pulled their hair out doing that?

The titanic struggle between the cable companies and the telcos over that infamous “last mile” to the home and office, fiber or cable for high-speed Internet, is being quietly joined by a third alternative, wireless. But will it work out? The radio spectrum remains a limited resource; it is inherently insecure and there are a lot of services competing for a slice of bandwidth. Cost and convenience, however, are powerful motivators in the other direction.

In the industrial space, huge savings can be achieved by implementing wireless sensor and control networks over their wired counterparts. In addition, wireless offers flexibility to add to and reconfigure an existing network. It allows for mobility and is bound to proliferate. Still, one wonders late at night about how dense it can get before things start interfering intolerably. A completely trouble-free and limitless wireless ecosystem is difficult to imagine, but the advantages are so compelling that engineers will devote prodigious amounts of creativity to optimizing the potential of wireless networking in all kinds of areas.

And all this will, of course, be linked to the Internet via gateways, the phone system and smaller networks. That has already happened and there is a wireless analog underway. So as the cost of a technology like Wireless USB becomes more widespread among PC users and their associated consumer devices like cameras, videocams, displays, mobile PDAs, automotive systems and much more, someone will do a rigorous study on its applicability to the embedded space and all those strange applications that implies.

And the odds are that if it is found wanting in its present form, there may be a ruggedized or industrialized derivative, much as CompactPCI built upon PCI. By that time, there will be so much legacy value that it would be folly not to go that route. Still, that’s for later. It needs a certain amount of time to incubate.

July 2006

Industry Insider

July 2006

Initiative Tackles Liquid Cooling for Embedded Systems

Even Technologies Launches Production of IPTV System

A consortium made up of seven companies and an individual Even Technologies has has formed to develop a standard that will enable liquid-cooled announced that it will be delivering its first end-to-end embedded computing architectures. The Liquid Cooled EmbedInternet Protocol television, ded Computing (LCEC) Initiative is aimed at a standard that or IPTV, system to Silver Star will enable hyper-dense computing architectures now that Telephone Company in Freedom, the major obstacle to the continuation of Moore’s Law apWY. The Even Technologies pears to be the problem of dealing with the heat.

PSI_V solution uses a compression The key objective is to produce a standard that will entechnology system powered by able architectures that result in 500% better compute density potential than any existing the Pixelworks BSP-15 Broadband standard. Future silicon trends indicate the need for denser packaging to support ultraSignal Processors for delivering high-speed transmission designs. LCEC is designed real-time broadcast television and Getline Connected with technology and to enable “space efficient” and companies providing solutions video-on-demand applications. dense architectures that lend themselves to notnow only the telecom market but also to miliThe initial installation for Get Connected tary and other application areas. is a new resource for further exploration into products, technologies and companies.

Whether your goal Even Technologies’ PSI_V system The result of the effort is expected to minimize the need for numerous form-factor sizes is to research the latest datasheet from a company, speak directly will serve a roll-out of IPTV to suit all possible applications. intoturn is expected topage, contribute to higher volumes of with an Application Engineer,This or jump a company's technical the services by Silver Star Telephone “standardized” thatis can inwith a larger variety of market applications. One goal ofcomponents Get Connected to putbe youused in touch the right resource.

Company, which is able to utilize Whichever level of will service require for whatever type of technology, important consideration beyou the reduction of module depth so that both 300 mm and the existing telco infrastructure Get Connected will help you connect with thebe companies and products 600 mm telecommunication environments can supported.

There will also be provisionto deliver more than 125 channels you are searching for. ing for front or rear panel I/O options. of broadcast TV and video-onwww.rtcmagazine.com/getconnected The consortium says that the standard driven by this initiative will consciously work todemand to customers, including service to three televisions per ward limiting architectural choices so as to produce an interoperable commoditized market household. The system has been that can be supported by many hundreds of different companies. Backplane interconnect tested in ongoing field trials technologies, mechanical form-factor, physical interface and data link layer decisions will beginning in early 2005. all be made to minimize choice and maximize market interoperability.

Even has designed an IPTV Connected with technology and companies solutions now The membersGet of the LCEC initiative currently consist of theproviding seven companies ISR, Yasystem that employs BSP-15 chips maichi Electronics, Point Gavazzi, PenGetCypress Connected is aResearch, new resourceHarting for furtherTechnology exploration intoGroup, products,Carlo technologies and companies.

Whetherthroughout your goal is to research the latest the deployment in datasheetBob fromDowning. a company, speak directly with an Application Engineer, or jump to a company's technical page, the goal of Get Connected is to put you tair and one individual, both the encoding and decoding in touch with the right resource. Whichever level of service you require for whatever type of technology, roles, utilizing the programmable, Get Connected will help you connect with the companies and products you are searching for. video-centric architecture of www.rtcmagazine.com/getconnected the processor to implement its proprietary PSI video codec that order to help drive and develop art technologies such as PCIe, Advantech, congatec and enables DVD-quality video at 750 the specification further.

SATA, LPC, ExpressCard, highAmpro Announce New XTX Kbits/s, roughly half the bit rate XTX was developed by definition audio and additional Alliance needed for H.264 or VC1. Even’s the above founding members to USB ports.

Advantech, congatec and DME video encoder headend evolve the ETX standard and XTX brings together the Ampro Computers, have tasks multiple BSP-15 chips to close the gap between ETX and advantages of ETX and extends announced a new alliance to help encode content in real-time from COM Express. Customers looking them to include PCIe and other promote the XTX standard for QCIF up to HD resolution. for a logical and cost-effective industrial features with less computer on modules (COM).

Content from Even’s video upgrade path from ETX to highredesign risk to customers’ own The goal is to provide existing encoder is streamed over Silver performance I/Os can now choose carrier boards. ETX developers ETX users with a logical and Star’s existing infrastructure the XTX form-factor rather than can now quickly extend and cost-effective upgrade with pathcompanies that and Get Connected Get existing Connected to the consumer’s home, where re-engineer their designs. XTX expand their solutions, avoidsproducts large-scale board featuredcarrier in this section. companies mentioned is decoded and output to maintains the same mechanical maximize with their investment andin thisitarticle. www.rtcmagazine.com/getconnected redesign and provides access to www.rtcmagazine.com/getconnected the television by the dme-500 dimensions and connectors so reach the market faster. the newest serial technologies triple-play set-top box, which is ETX solution developers can such as PCI Express, SATA and keep their existing carrier board LPC. All embedded industrial and heat spreader designs giving platform providers are invited them a quick, simple, risk-free Get Connected with companies mentioned in this article. to join the new XTX alliance in to featured upgradein this to section. state-of-thewww.rtcmagazine.com/getconnected Get Connected with companies andway products

Ad Index

Products

www.rtcmagazine.com/getconnected

10

July 2006

End of Article

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Industry Insider

Event Calendar 08/17-18/06 Embedded Systems Conference Taiwan Taipei, Taiwan www.esconline.com/asia

08/21-24/2006 AIAA Guidance, Navigation Control Conf. & Exhibit Keystone, CO www.aiaa.org

08/22-24/06 TREXPO Chantilly, VA www.trexpo.com

08/22/06 Real-Time & Embedded Computing Conference Detroit, MI www.rtecc.com/detroit

08/24/06 Real-Time & Embedded Computing Conference Toronto, ON www.rtecc.com/toronto

09/12/06 Real-Time & Embedded Computing Conference Calgary, AB www.rtecc.com/calgary

09/15/06 Real-Time & Embedded Computing Conference Vancouver, BC www.rtecc.com/vancouver

09/24-27/06 Air & Space Conf 2006 and Technology Expo Washington, D.C. www.afa.org

09/25-28/06 Embedded Systems Conference Boston, MA www.esconline.com/boston If your company produces any type of industry event, you can get your event listed by contacting sallyb@rtcgroup.com.

This is a FREE industry-wide listing.

12

July 2006

based on the Pixelworks Sailfish hardware reference design. In the second half of 2006, Even plans to migrate its encoder and set-top box systems to the PWBSP-16 Broadband Signal Processor IC.

of the latest developments.

Projects will also receive valuable publicity and exposure.

New Engineering Competition Encourages Innovations Using Motion Control

The Service Availability Forum (SA Forum) has announced that 83% of survey participants stated they are currently, or will be in the near future, implementing SA Forum specifications. The SA Forum conducted its own survey of industry members, gathering information about current perceptions and awareness of the organization and its specifications.

Overall results showed positive support for the SA Forum, as well as promising future endorsement of specifications and certified products.

When asked if they are or will be using products that comply with SA Forum specifications, 85% of respondents affirmed that they were. Additionally, 73% of the audience said they are or will be including SA Forum specifications as requirements in their RFPs. The survey also revealed the top benefits for implementing standards or standards-based products.

Companies cited equipment provider choice, enabling faster time-to-market, reducing the need for product customization, and expanding the market for standard products, as the major benefits. Nearly all of the participants valued standardsbased products, with 97% citing them as important to their companies.

The survey was conducted online over a three-week period.

The majority of responders worked in engineering, with the next largest group of responders coming from the marketing and sales.

Most survey participants worked for telecom equipment manufacturers, enterprise computing suppliers or manufacturers, and service providers.

Performance Motion Devices, Inc. (PMD) has announced the launch of “iBot, Motion Control for Higher Education,” a new competition that will put the latest motion control products directly in the hands of students or student groups, masters and doctoral candidates, as well as professors and researchers. Through the iBot competition, PMD selects the most promising applications in academic research and development that include motion control in their design, and donates the appropriate motion control hardware. This way, iBot helps to significantly reduce the costs of designing and developing these important applications.

Applicants are encouraged to review all of PMD’s motion control chips, cards, modules and software to determine which product would best suit the project’s requirements. On or before the 1st of every month, PMD accepts applications via the Web site http://ibot.pmdcorp.com, and then reviews each application by the 15th of the same month.

Projects are judged on factors such as technical innovation, uniqueness of the project and overall feasibility. The project that shows the most promise/highest potential based on these criteria will be awarded their specified motion control hardware, free of charge, from PMD. Entries that are not selected in one month are welcome to re-submit in following months.

PMD follows the project through to completion and provides support when required.

Participants are encouraged to post progress reports and pictures

83% of Telecom Industry Plan to Implement SA Forum Specs

Solaris/SPARC Migration Initiative Reduces Software Barriers on New Platforms

Transitive Corporation has announced its new Solaris/ SPARC Migration Initiative. The goal of the initiative is to reduce the barriers organizations face when migrating Solaris/SPARC workloads to other servers.

At the heart of the initiative is a series of new QuickTransit hardware virtualization products that allow Solaris/ SPARC applications to run on other servers without source code or binary changes. As part of the initiative, Transitive will implement a new distribution channel strategy to sell QuickTransit products through its own direct sales force as well as through computer companies, systems integrators and IT service providers. To accelerate the adoption of QuickTransit products in the marketplace, Transitive is also initiating an industry partnership program that will include computer companies, microprocessor makers, Linux operating system developers and virtualization vendors.

The Solaris/SPARC Migration Initiative will allow applications to run on various server platforms—without modification—so that users are free to choose their strategic platform based on the best mix of price/performance, power and space benefits. Transitive also announced details of the first two products in a series of new QuickTransit products that will drive the Solaris/SPARC Migration Initiative.

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Ad Index

by G ene Yon, Accutech Division of Adaptive Instruments

W

Get Connected with technology and companies providing solutions now

Get Connected is a new resource for further exploration

ireless communications technol- intotinely accepted demanded by endyourusproducts, technologiesorand companies. Whether goal personnel when compared to the results obis to research datasheet from However, a company, speak ogy has exploded into all aspects ers inthealllatest walks of life. the directly one tained by a number of end users of existing with an Application Engineer, or jump to ato company's technical is page, the industrial wireless devices. of our lives. Products enabled notable exception this picture the goal of Get Connected is to put you in touch with the right resource. by wireless approaches appear to be rou- levelindustrial world. products Survey results obtained from over 200 Whichever of service you require Acceptance for whatever typeof of technology, to be in connect industrial facilities based Get Connected willused help you with the companiesisand products sources produced the following significant you are searching on for. meeting rigorous performance require- findings: www.rtcmagazine.com/getconnected ments in terms of safety and reliability, 1. Respondents do not feel very knowlwhich are far beyond those of products edgeable about current wireless used in the commercial and consumer technology. domains. It should be expected that new 2. Respondents are concerned with secutechnology will require rigorous proof of rity, reliability and cost issues. performance before achieving widespread 3.

S

ome respondents have a perception of Get Connected with technology and companies providing solutions now acceptance. unacceptable performance from indusGet Connected is a new resource for further exploration into products, technologies and companies. Whether your goal is to research There havespeak been numerous articles technology. datasheet from a company, directly with an Application Engineer, or trial jump towireless a company's technical page, the goal of Get Connec concerning approaches 4.whatever A significant percentage of the responin touch published with the right resource.

Whichever level of service youto require for type of technology, Get Connected will help you connect with companiestechand products youdents are searching for.that there are a large numachieving acceptance of thewireless believe www.rtcmagazine.com/getconnected nology in the industrial community. And ber of currently unserved applications there has been much debate on the role of that lend themselves to the use of wirestandards, the various forms of communiless-based technologies.

Figure 1 The conditions of a steel mill cation protocols, network capability, etc., are equally harsh with ambient temperatures exceeding +140째F for acceptable application in the industrial Contrasting the above first three rewith high concentration of space. Each of these various positions has sults with the results listed below, obtained airborne slag dust. The mill merit as part of the process in supporting from specific sites and representative of the pictured runs a continuous that objective. However, they may have also general findings from over 300 sites using caster line that produces led to much confusion and misconception industrial wireless applications, leads to a finished steel products. in the user community and become coun- very confusing picture: Temperature units monitor the temperature of the water before terproductive to a timely conclusion.

Getthe Connected This and can been clearly seen in the disGet Connected and after it enters molds, with companies products featured in this section. with companies mentioned in this article. parity between the perceptions reported and differential www.rtcmagazine.com/getconnected pressure units www.rtcmagazine.com/getconnected in several industry surveys of industrial measure flow rates.

Products

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July 2006

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TechnologyInContext

stallation costs than with wired approaches, with cost savings reaching as high as 90%.

• Maintenance costs were clearly lower than those of wired approaches.

• Enhanced personnel safety through elimination of manual inspections in hazardous locations.

• Productivity improvement reaching well over 10% .

This confusion can be avoided by focusing on some simple “best practices,” which when followed, can result in users achieving major benefits with today’s industrial wireless devices. As seen above, such benefits are measured in double-digit productivity improvements and 40% to 90% reduction in implementation costs and time. Due to the nature of wireless technology, future advances that may result from standards and various technology enhancements can be adopted without placing today’s investments at risk

Establishing a Basis for Analysis Suppliers have taken a great deal of literary freedom with the meaning of the word “industrial” in claims about the capability of their wireless technology in what can properly be called the industrial environment.

This certainly could stimulate user concerns or disappointment in initial evaluation tests.

The valid definition of the industrial domain and wireless-enabled applications that are producing reliable results today must address the real conditions that prevail there.

The industrial domain consists of process and manufacturing facilities such as chemical plants, refineries, power plants (coal and nuclear fueled), steel mills, primary metal production, oil well production sites, offshore platforms, etc. Acceptable industrial wireless applications require that wireless instrumentation provide data and information of the same or better precision and reliability as conventional wired devices while being exposed to rugged environmental extremes such as temperatures ranging from -40° to +85°C, severe thunderstorms, high humidity, vibration, exposure to corrosive chemicals, high levels of electrical noise

Safety

(always critical)

Class 0 : Emergency action Class 1: Closed loop regulatory control Class 2: Closed loop supervisory control

Control

(often critical) (usually non-critical) (human in the loop)

Class 3: Open loop control

NOTE: Batch levels* 3 & 4 could be class 2, class 1 or even class 0, depending on function *Batch levels as defined by ISA S88; where L3 = “unit” and L4 = “process cell” Class 4: Flagging Short-term operational consequence (e.g., event-based maintenance) Monitoring

Table 1

Class 5: Logging & downloading/uploading No immediate operational consequence (e.g., history collection, SOE, preventive maintenance)

Importance of message timelines increases

• Users achieved significantly lower in-

Initial Step in Defining Application Needs—Specify Usage Class of WSN. Source: International Society for Measurement and Control, SP-100 Working Group.

and the possible presence of other wireless systems competing for use of the communication frequencies (Figure 1). Wireless technology that cannot work reliably in these environments cannot properly be referred to as “industrial.”

That leads to the definition of the form of industrial wireless technology that may be considered. Wireless-based technology has been used in industry for decades. This has been primarily licensed radio transmitters, which were used in long distance data communications applications such as oil/gas pipelines, pumping stations, remote facility control, etc. These devices are not included in the definition used in this paper.

Now, a new wireless platform implementation has emerged in the past few years known as wireless sensor networks (WSN) and is constructed from use of wireless instruments in its platform. A wireless instrument is defined as an instrument with sensor/transducer and power supply housed and sold together with a wireless transceiver and antenna embedded in a single package.

Other forms of wireless instruments may be configured and attached via wire to independent sensors. We focus here on industrial wireless technology in the form of wireless sensor networks (WSN).

Use Best Practices for a Successful Implementation

More detailed analysis of the survey and site data, coupled with field experi-

ence, has led to four best practice recommendations for a successful implementation of industrial wireless applications.

The first step is to start with the definition of the basic application requirements.

Do not presume the selection of the implementation platform because “one size does not fit all.” It is not reasonable to expect that one implementation form of a wireless network will serve all industrial purposes. A logical approach to defining the basic application requirements is to segment the applications by the importance of timeliness in message reception from the wireless node.

Further details are available from ISA and the working group developing the SP-100 Wireless Standard (Table 1).

Three basic application categories are defined: Safety, Control and Monitoring.

This categorization resolves a majority of the current debates on the selection of a network format, such as self-healing mesh versus deterministic star. For example, a safety application is best and possibly only served by a deterministic star network rather than a mesh network. A Monitoring application could be very effectively served by a self-healing mesh for various specific applications.

The second step is to ensure that the application requirement is sufficiently detailed to result in the identification of the most effective WSN. Detailed requirements should include a prioritized listing of the following quantified parameters July 2006

15

TechnologyInContext • maximum latency allowed • frequency of data communications • frequency of data measurement • physical range of transmission • number of measurement nodes • power source specification Next, one must make sure that all WSN devices have proper security features embedded in the operating system.

First, identify the focus of any security concerns such as malicious prevention of

data transmission, data spoofing or illegal entry into other secure systems. These concerns can then be reduced or eliminated by including the appropriate WSN capabilities Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum (FHSS)-based protocols can be used to provide communication security that is “frequency agile” or hard for an intruder to follow. It is important to use a deterministic communication protocol and to provide secure node attachment procedures, error checking and some form of data encryp-

tion if needed. In addition, avoid the use of an IP address to the extent possible and also reduce the radiated power of each node to limit the range of transmission The fourth best practice is to make sure that reliability issues are properly evaluated prior to installation of the WSN. A first step is to ensure that all WSN devices have received the appropriate agency certifications, for example, FM, CSA, CE, ATEX and FCC. Secondly, a site survey should be mandatory. There is much debate about not requiring a site survey. A proper site survey searching for the presence of any interfering signal in the WSN operating bands should be done prior to installation, as well as ensuring that the required WSN signal quality, i.e., the link margin, can be achieved.

It is also recommended, as done in routine maintenance of wired installations, that the survey results be validated as part of the overall facility PM routine.

If other WSN systems are in operation at the site, a determination of any potential coexistence problems should be performed as part of the site survey. It is also recommended that the WSN vendor be asked to provide an analytical evaluation following the guidelines of the IEEE-802.19 Coexistence process.

The above steps have been proven to result in elimination of many of the sources of concern that end users have experienced.

Experienced vendors can minimize any user effort in following the Best Practice recommendations.

The success of industrial wireless instrumentation hinges not only on effective and clear communication, but also from successful implementations in the real world.

Promises and potential can no longer propel the adoption process in this traditionally conservative space without wireless instrumentation providing tangible results in financial, environmental, safety, maintenance and productivity benefits to industrial processes. WSN’s should not be viewed as a displacement of existing wired approaches.

Rather they can enhance the effectiveness of existing approaches in the industrial monitoring and control domain.

Accutech, Adaptive Instruments Hudson, MA. (978) 568-0500. [www.adaptiveinstruments.com].

16

July 2006

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®

SolutionsEngineering Cooling Large Systems

VITA 48/REDI: Keeping the Future Cool As high-end embedded systems continue to push the heat envelope with their thirst for more performance, VITA 48/REDI is poised to provide the infrastructure support needed for keeping them cool.

by A lan Storrow Radstone Embedded Computing

T

he advent of VPX, formerly VITA VITA 48: 46, in the VMEbus world brings with Baseline mechanical specification it some significant strides forward exploration VITA 48.1 Mechanical specifications for her your goal that will deliver state-of-the-art perforair-cooled systems peak directly mance to the high-end embedded computal page, the ing applications of today and tomorrow.

VITA 48.2 Mechanical specifications for t resource.

Specifically, through its adoption of the conduction-cooled systems chnology, and products 6.25 Gbit/s Tyco Multigig RT2 connector, VITA 48.3 Mechanical specifications for it brings support for serial switched fabliquid-cooled systems rics together with other high-speed serial I/O technologies, such as digital video, Figure 1 The VITA 48/ REDI standard serial ATA and FPGA interconnects. At comprises a number of the same time, VPX offers complete elecdisparate but related trical and dimensional compatibility with elements, including provision existing 6U and 3U VME products. VPX for multiple forms of cooling. mpanies providing solutions now boards are, therefore, VME boards as we oration into products, technologies and companies. Whether your goal is to research the latest know them in all important respects ex- which the fabrics are driven also adds to plication Engineer, or jump to a company's technical page, the goal of Get Connected is to put you one, the the total thermal load. vice you requirecept for whatever typeconnector. of technology, nies and products you However, are searchingas for.it has always done, this increased processing power and through- Enter VITA 48/REDI put capability comes at a price: the adThe arrival of VPX has, then, refoditional heat that must be dissipated. Se- cused attention on power dissipation and rial switched fabrics are, in themselves, the requirement for cooling paradigms a technology response to the need to pro- and technologies that enable systems devide ever higher bandwidth interconnects signers to leverage the inherent capability between ever more capable processors. of today’s embedded commercial comNot only does the current generation of ponents. In parallel to the development processors dissipate more heat than their of the VPX standard is the work that has predecessors, but the very high speeds at been undertaken on VITA 48, now known as Ruggedized Enhanced Design Implementation (REDI).

Get Connected There are three important things to with companies mentioned in this article. www.rtcmagazine.com/getconnected understand about REDI. First, while it

d

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18

July 2006 Get Connected with companies mentioned in this article. www.rtcmagazine.com/getconnected

describes a standard for creating rugged systems wherever they may be deployed, this standard is primarily driven by unusually harsh environments such as those found in military and aerospace computing. It is also driven by the fact that no commercial standards have yet addressed this requirement, just as they have not addressed requirements to deal with shock, vibration, humidity and ambient temperature extremes.

Second, REDI is a mechanical standard that is entirely independent of the VPX electrical standard. Third, although REDI is unquestionably highly complementary to VPX and the two are often discussed in the same breath, REDI should be viewed as a discrete standard that is highly applicable outside the VPX world.

REDI is thus a standard for ruggedization, which means that it deals with all aspects of creating high-performance embedded systems for environments that are far from benign. It describes board area and module volume, as well as structural ruggedization. It specifically addresses two-level maintenance, an approach that delivers greater logistical simplicity and the resulting substantial cost saving. Finally, it deals with thermal management.

How REDI Addresses Cooling

How, then, does REDI address the

SolutionsEngineering

cooling issue? As with all VITA standards, VITA 48 comprises a number of disparate but related elements (Figure 1). It is expected that all will have been approved by the end of 2006. In its comprehensiveness, REDI goes beyond the work previously done by the VITA 34 working group.

While VITA 34 was designed to accommodate liquid cooling, VITA 48 addresses it specifically. Because REDI deals with all forms of cooling within a single standard, it embraces common mechanical design approaches. This makes it simpler for manufacturers to create single board designs that can be cooled by convection, by conduction or by liquid, an important step forward.

One of the first things that REDI does is increase the maximum pitch between modules from the IEEE 1101 standard of 0.8 in. to 1.0 in. This increase is designed to do three things. First, it allows for the greater PCB thickness demanded by today’s sophisticated multi-layer boards, which can reach up to 24 layers. Second, the greater pitch makes it possible for more thermally demanding components to be placed on the secondary side of the board.

Third, it provides a number of cooling options to board manufacturers and systems designers. Perhaps the most important of these options is the ability to fit side covers that can be used for either conduction or liquid cooling (Figure 2).

These can be used for cooling components immediately adjacent to them.

Alternatively, the secondary side plate can be thermally linked to a primary side plate for increased heat transfer. An additional benefit of the ability to apply two plates to a board is that provision can be made for protection against electrostatic discharge (ESD), complementing the EDS protection that is inherent in the design of the Tyco connector. This allows in-field handling of the board and thus enables the implementation of two-level maintenance practices.

and its concomitant effect on cooling is driving an increase in the adoption of liquid cooling methods, which REDI addresses.

To some extent, liquid cooling has thus far been a solution looking for a problem,

since the applications and environments that generate the level of heat where liquid cooling becomes mandatory have been few and far between. Although such methods have been around in military/aerospace en-

Secondary side cover

Primary side cover

Board

Figure 2

REDI’s higher maximum pitch between modules provides several cooling options, including the ability to fit side covers that can be used for either conduction or liquid cooling.

Figure 3

Liquid-cooled chassis, such as Radstone’s 1ATR-LIV, are designed to accommodate the high pressures associated with liquid-cooled infrastructures.

The Need for Liquid Cooling

Conduction cooling has historically been the preferred cooling approach for applications such as those found in military and aerospace environments. However, the increasing demand for more processing power

July 2006

19

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vironments for several decades, the exceptions of yesterday are becoming the commonplaces of today. While VMEbus slots were limited to a maximum of 90W at 5V, REDI envisages a future in which power per module will be on the order of 200W, rising to 500W for liquid cooling.

Challenges of Liquid Cooling Methods

The lack of a mainstream requirement for liquid cooling, including spray cooling, has meant that the liquid cooling industry has been somewhat fragmented, with incompatibilities among different vendors’ offerings. Previously, boards that would be liquid-cooled were often designed specifically for that environment, making these boards more expensive than their more conventional counterparts. A key benefit of REDI, via VITA 48.3, is that it will introduce a commercial standard, leading to greater degrees of interoperability, increased competition and improved price/ performance.

Although REDI includes a provision for spray cooling, it is anticipated that liquid flow-through (LFT) cooling will likely be the more common approach, not least because of problems with material compatibility and the maintenance of “wet� electronics. However, in the medium to long term, spray cooling

Firmware • Device Drivers • Protocol Stacks DSP Programming • Embedded Software Board Support Packages Algorithm Integration

has significant potential. For LFT, REDI describes a paradigm in which the primary side cover has liquid flowing through it.

There is no reason why the secondary side cover could not also be so configured, although coupling it to the front side cover is a more likely scenario. Manufacturers are evaluating different schemas for the liquid to pass through the plate in order to maximize the plate’s efficiency.

The lack of interoperability in liquid cooling solutions often forces users to employ one or another proprietary solution to the exclusion of all others.

Perhaps the greatest contributor to this lack of interoperability has been the lack of commonality in the design of quick disconnects (QDs), which provide the critical physical interface between the liquid distribution rail and the liquid flow-through plate. REDI defines a standard in which the QDs from various vendors will be capable of interconnecting.

Liquid-Cooled and Hybrid Chassis

Radstone has provided liquid-cooled ATR chassis for a number of years (Figure 3).

These chassis are designed to accommodate the high pressures normally associated with liquid-cooled infrastructures. The materials, coatings and construction techniques are compatible with the standard range of coolants, which are polyalphaolefin, water/glycol or fluorinated liquids.

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July 2006

Hybrid chassis are being developed that will allow mixing conduction-cooled VME and VPX boards with new VITA 48.3 modules. This 1ATR Short VITA 48.3 concept chassis has a liquid path through the side walls and entry points into the main chassis for coupling to VITA 48.3 modules.

SolutionsEngineering The coolant is coupled into the chassis by means of no-loss quick disconnect connectors.

These liquid-cooled chassis are designed to handle high-power systems of 1 to 2 kW, populated with conduction-cooled circuit cards. However, they can easily be modified to accommodate liquid flowthrough-cooled VITA 48.3 modules by extending the fluid path to interface to the blind-mating quick-disconnect liquid connectors of the modules.

It is anticipated that many hybrid chassis will be developed that allow populations of legacy conduction-cooled VME and VPX boards to be mixed with new VITA 48.3 modules. These modules will be designed to meet the significant increase in power dissipation of the next generation of DSP applications, especially radar processing. These systems will be expected to handle thermal power dissipations between 2 and 4 kW. A 1ATR Short VITA 48.3 concept chassis being developed for this purpose has a liquid path through the side walls and entry points into the main chassis for coupling to VITA 48.3 modules (Figure 4).

Further work and study are required before

the concept chassis can be characterized for backpressure, thermal performance and balance of liquid flow through the side walls and modules.

Of course, in liquid cooling as with any other form of cooling, heat still has to be removed from the enclosure. An approach that will likely come into its own is the use of an external heat rejection unit. It combines a pump, heat exchanger and associated control systems in a single enclosure capable of dissipating 1 kW. This enables the deployment of a complete, self-contained liquidcooled subsystem that includes an ATR enclosure and heat rejection unit.

There are a number of attractions to the use of an external heat exchange unit.

First, it allows liquid cooling technology to be inserted where no liquid cooling infrastructure had previously been provided. Second, it allows the system designer greater flexibility if two smaller boxes need to be accommodated within the platform rather than one larger one.

Finally, it also allows the rejection unit to be installed in the best place for transferring the heat away. However, the ongoing emphasis on smaller, lighter platforms in

high-performance systems such as military/aerospace will continue to put pressure on cooling solutions to reduce size and weight, since those must be factored in as part of the total solution.

The REDI standard can be seen as a vital contribution by VITA to the continued success of commercial solutions in highperformance embedded systems. Power and heat are becoming increasingly important considerations in semiconductor and processor design, with even Intel focusing more on the overall balance between raw processing power and heat dissipation. Nevertheless, high-end embedded systems continue to push the envelope with their unquenchable thirst for more performance. That thirst would remain unsatisfied were it not for the parallel availability of pragmatic, commercial cooling solutions. The REDI standard will be instrumental in providing the infrastructure support necessary for the intensive computing requirements of the future.

Radstone Embedded Computing Billerica, MA. (800) 368-2738. [www.radstone.com].

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To view the exhibitors’ list and all the open-door technical seminars you can attend for free, go to www.rtecc.com/detroit. Pre-register online and your badge will be waiting when you arrive. Walk-in registrations also welcome; bring your colleagues to take full advantage of this valuable event. Registration, Seminars, Exhibits, Parking and Lunch are complimentary!

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7/13/06 July 200611:26:02 AM 21

SolutionsEngineering Cooling Large Systems

Beating the Heat Traditional thermal solutions fall short in handling the power requirements and heavy loading of new system designs. Solutions to mounting and planar alignment issues include bearing-cooled fan-sinks, reliable sealing technology and flexible heat pipes.

by M artin Mayer Advanced Digital Logic

Ad Index

T

he three most important aspects in deA successful cooling solution meets also been challenged by increasing power signing successful high-performance or exceeds the performance goals of the consumption requirements, another driver embedded systems are efficient PCB OEM’s design. High-reliability designs of thermal management solutions. The design, meeting power requirements and must thrive in high-temperature environ- incorporation of Intel’s Pentium M CPU Get Connected with technology and an effective cooling solution. Since heat companies ments while maintaining proces- into small form-factors such as PC/104 has providing solutions sufficient now reduces system life, long-term reliability Getsor throughput to meet the pushed PC/104 solution power envelopes to Connected is a new resource for computational further exploration is a direct result of effective cooling solu-into products, demands of theandembedded application. new levels. In addition, full utilization of technologies companies. Whether your goal is to research the latest datasheet from a company, speak tions to heat dissipation issues. OEMs that Market forces are driving designs to directly opti- Intel’s Core Duo processor will more than with an Application Engineer, jump toand a company's technical page, partner with their solution providers early mize bothorprice performance, and the to double the 15W maximum power consumed goal of Get Connected is to put you in touch with the right resource. in the design and integration process willlevel of continue the trendfortoward utiliza- by the previous Pentium III generation.

Whichever service you require whateverfull type CPU of technology, find that a variety of cooling techniques are tion given deployment.

Thus,and it is imTraditional convective and conducGet Connected willfor helpayou connect with the companies products you are available. Often, innovative solutions in searching for. portant for thermal management tive cooling solutions may not be adequate heat dissipation issues create anwww.rtcmagazine.com/getconnected solutions to be capable of han- to meet the new demands and will end up improved operational envedling worst-case loads. costing more over the life of the system. lope and lower total cost Designers of Ineffective mounting and planar alignment of ownership for high-performance problems degrade the performance of most those sysembedded sys- thermal management solutions. By bringtems. have ing aerospace technologies to address this Get Connected with technology and tems companies providing solutions now issue, system life can be extended and both Get Connected is a new resource for further exploration into products, technologies and companies. Whether your goal is to research th andtechnical the overall cost ofofowndatasheet from a company, speak directly with an Application Engineer,time-to-market or jump to a company's page, the goal Get Connecte ership cantype beofreduced. in touch with the right resource. Whichever level of service you require for whatever technology, Get Connected will help you connect with the companies and products you are searching for.

www.rtcmagazine.com/getconnected

Products Figure 1

22

When the performance of traditional extruded heat sinks are insufficient, Getor Connected companies andof pin-fin heat sink and fan pin-fin heat sinks integratedwith combinations products featured in this section. can be used. Advanced Digital Logic’s bearing-cooled fan-sink combines www.rtcmagazine.com/getconnected a flat motor design with a customized pin-fin heat sink base.

Traditional Thermal Management Solutions

One popular method for traditional conductive applications is the deployment of a flat-surface heat-spreader. Such a spreader is designed to make thermal contact with the CPU and other support chips, providing a highly heat-conductive path from the contacted chips directly to the chassis wall.

Unfortunately, these one-piece, rigid solu-

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SolutionsEngineering

tions have the undesirable result of transferring the shock from an impact on the chassis directly to the CPU die. Additionally, in order to accommodate interior flat chassis wall mounting, heat-conductive solutions must adapt the board topography to a flat planar mounting surface.

For heat-convective applications that allow active cooling, the traditional extruded heat sink can be improved with the addition of an appropriately sized fan. Cooling solution attachment points are usually required on each chip to accomplish this. In the case of a Pentium M system, individual heat sinks for the CPU and the highly integrated 82855GME chipset are required. However, the ownership costs of maintenance—e.g., renewal of worn fans and cleaning of contaminated heat sinks—may only be acceptable to OEMs in certain market segments, or during early design, proof-of-concept creation and prototype phases.

In cases where traditional extrusion offers insufficient performance, pin-fin heat sinks can be considered. Integrated combinations of pin-fin heat sink and fan, or fansinks, are available to obviate the problem of bolting fans to a pin-fin heat sink. For example, Advanced Digital Logic’s fan-sink combines a flat motor design with a customized pin-fin heat sink base (Figure 1). The fan-sink solution can dissipate more than 30W when the full base area is in contact with the heat source, in a volume of space 37% smaller then equivalent traditional extruded heat sink solutions.

This fan-sink also protects the bearings, the most common point of failure in mechanical devices. By directing air flow through the central opening in the impeller, and therefore through the motor, the precision double ball bearings of the fan-sink are placed directly in the path of the inlet air flow. This keeps the bearings cooler than conventional brushless-DC motor designs, in which air is drawn around the motor, leaving the bearings shielded in a zone where heat can concentrate.

Graphic Chip

CPU Chip

PCB

Figure 2

CPU attachments must match the planarity of the interior chassis wall.

However, in Flip-Chip Ball-Grid Array chip packages, the thermal interface plane height varies with respect to the plane of the ball contact to the PCB.

required for drawing heat away from the chassis wall. Chassis exteriors are often ribbed to induce natural heat convection over very large surface areas. The chassis can also be outfitted with a secondary thermal interface to carry heat into the structure on which it is mounted. OEM designers are free to leverage the moderate complexity and larger surface area of the chassis exterior.

To keep chassis design simple and cost-effective, a flat interior interface surface is desirable. With traditional thermal solutions, the chassis surface must be planar with the PCB or die face for optimum heat transfer. In reality, this planarity is practically impossible to achieve. Extra work, design cost and installation cost are often required just to meet minimum requirements.

For example, accommodating PC/104’s mechanical stacking and interior thermal attachment is accomplished with ten loosefitting through-holes, drilled through the flat interior area of the chassis. For sealed chassis, precision drilling, gasket washers and counter-sinking of exterior holes may be deployed to produce a gas-tight system.

A flat mounting surface is also commonly found at the bottom of the chassis system. In such a case, a PC/104 stack is then constructed off the pin-side of the PC/104 interconnect system. In many cases, this type of mounting has the added benefit of locking connector headers in place when the CPU is mounted.

In all cases, a conductive solution that adapts the board topography to a flat chassis planar mounting surface is required for

Enclosure Considerations

Once conductive thermal solutions have transported heat from the PCB to the chassis wall, convective solutions are often

Figure 3

A highly reliable, soldered interconnect heat pipe solution solves planarity issues while also handling the maximum heat loads of Intel’s Core Duo processor and advanced chipset offerings.

July 2006

23

SolutionsEngineering optimal performance and reliable system longevity.

Planarity Control Problems

Since the inside wall of the OEM chassis is a flat plane, all attachment points provided by the CPU must match this plane.

To meet this need, it is necessary to resolve the uncontrolled nature of the CPU and chipset planes that source the heat supply of the thermal conductive interconnect.

In Flip-Chip Ball-Grid Array (FCBGA) chip packages, the thermal interface plane height varies with respect to the plane of the ball contact to the PCB (Figure 2). Solder ball plane-to-top surface height ranges are published for FCBGA-packaged chips delivered by Intel and other suppliers.

Along with the published ranges, a friendly disclaimer that reflow processing can affect both installed height and plane alignment is included for design considerations.

Considering that both the Pentium M CPU and the popular 82855GME chipset are housed in FCBGA packages, it can be concluded that there is also an uncontrolled planar relationship between the thermal interface points of each of the die.

24

July 2006

In one-piece heat-spreader solutions, the spreader must be mounted so that contact with the CPU die is maximized.

Use of a high-quality thermal compound is a must, because this mounting often results in a small gap of about 0.005 in. between the chipset’s die and the bottom of the heat-spreader. Several re-workable two-part gap filler compounds are available to provide the heat-conductive path to the support chip in a manner that does not increase mechanical stress on the board.

Once mounted, a single-piece heatspreader defines the mounting plane that will attach to the inside wall of the enclosure. For example, the standoffs used for PC/104 structural mounting must share the same plane as that of the enclosure. Achieving this may involve machining overly long standoffs to fit a particular unit, or adding small precision shims to raise short standoffs to the plane of the heat-spreader.

Achieving maximum performance with a one-piece heat-spreader requires attention to detail and patience. By performing these operations before shipment and providing fitted standoffs, the OEM receives an out-of-the-box solution that

can be bolted on to the end application with minimal effort. By designing this into the solution, the OEM does not need to perform the alignment process in the field.

When designing one-piece heat-spreaders, it is also critical to choose the nominal height of the spreader in relation to commonly available standoffs recognized by the PC/104 standard. Research shows that 15 mm is the predominant inter-board spacing in European integrations, while 0.600 in. has become the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) equivalent. The nominal difference between the two is roughly 10 mils, or 0.010 in. This is significant because original board planarity should be maintained to one-tenth of this difference, or 0.001 in. Adapters may be required to satisfy both SAE and European customers.

Gaining Control

The total cost of ownership is thus impacted by the detailed manufacturing required to achieve reliable performance with one-piece heat-spreader solutions. Since each spreader is custom-fitted to each CPU, there is little opportunity to benefit from economies of scale.

This results in a significant per-unit cost.

SolutionsEngineering A new approach to multi-chip conductive thermal management can improve and standardize European and SAE dimensional differences, reduce installation cost, lower the total cost of ownership, stabilize the Gaussian performance characteristics across all installations and improve reliability. To achieve these goals, Advanced Digital Logic is partnering directly with its customers’ PCB layout teams to implement a superior attachment method for the thermal solution.

After considerable review and parallel testing, the final solution (Figure 3) is a highly reliable, RoHS-compliant, soldered interconnect heat pipe solution.

Capable of handling the maximum heat loads of Intel’s Core Duo processor and advanced chipset offerings, this flexible solution meets all of the design goals. It is also backward compatible for OEMs with existing designs based on one-piece conductive interfaces.

Each chip to be cooled is attached to one of the adapter plates. The adapter plate makes contact with the CPU or chipset die and each is allowed to independently match the final plane of the assembled chip. As is the case with Intel’s desktop options, the

motherboard’s fiberglass is utilized as the tension mechanism. Full planar adjustment for each device is possible through tri-point mounting.

Differences in planarity are compensated for by the adiabatic section of the individual heat pipe, which loops above the chip to connect with the main thermal interface plate. Sufficient flex of the heat pipe easily accommodates differences in board-to-chassis planarity, so that any standoffs from 15 mm (0.5905 in.) to 15.875 mm (0.625 in.) may be utilized.

NASA has studied the reliability of heat pipe assemblies for deployment aboard spacecraft, in particular to regulate the thermal environment of DSP devices.

NASA’s results conclude not only that heat pipes accomplish the design goal, but that their reliability is directly correlated to the sealing process utilized.

Highly reliable sealing technology and the deployment of a sintered powdermetal wick allow freeze-thaw stability and zero-gravity operation. The CPU unit can be mounted in any orientation and in any environment, from a static factory floor to an acrobatic aircraft.

For the supplier, flexible heat pipe solutions reduce assembly time via their self-adjusting and simple fitting procedures. The OEM can choose structural standoffs, simplifying the supply chain.

The ability to field-swap a CPU unit onto an existing heat pipe unit also contributes to lower cost of ownership compared to one-piece conductive interfaces.

OEMs that partner early in the integration process with their suppliers to achieve effective thermal solutions will find that they can save considerable cost over the life of their systems. Traditional thermal solutions may be inadequate at handling the power requirements and the heavy loading of new system designs.

Mounting and planar alignment are real issues that need real solutions. These solutions are available in the form of bearingcooled fan-sinks, reliable sealing technology and flexible heat pipes.

Advanced Digital Logic San Diego, CA. (858) 490-0597. [www.adlogic-pc104.com].

July 2006

25

SolutionsEngineering Cooling Large Systems

Designing a Liquid Cooling Loop for High-Performance Systems A properly designed and integrated liquid cooling loop can provide highly effective heat removal, with low risk, for high-performance systems.

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by Richard Goldman and Tracey Barber Lytron Get Connected with technology and companies providing solutions now

E

Get Connected is a new resource for further exploration

mbedded systems are becominginto products, The complexities of designing a liqtechnologies and companies.

Whether your goal more and more complex, processuid the cooling systemfrom can be intimidating is to research latest datasheet a company, speak directly an Application jump to a company's technical page, the ing and analyzing a growingwith number forEngineer, those or unfamiliar with this set of techgoal of Get Connected is to put you in touch with the right resource. of sensors and signals. The result of this nologies. Although selecting the thermal Whichever level of service you require for whatever type of technology, increased computing is often higher and components for a with liquid coolingand loop is Get Connected will help you connect the companies products more concentrated electronic heat relatively straightforward, there are other you loads. are searching for. www.rtcmagazine.com/getconnected Because this excessive heat compromises considerations or nuances that can be the reliability of a system, air cooling is overlooked. These include materials comno longer adequate for some applications. patibility, corrosion prevention, condenMany engineers are turning to liquid cool- sation control, the position of the liquid ing to remove the heat. cooling loop, use of standard versus cus-

Fan Fan

Heat Exchanger

Pump

tom parts, joints, fittings, connectors and maintenance and service.

A liquid cooling loop typically consists of a cold plate, pump, heat exchanger and pipes or hoses (Figure 1). The board generates waste heat, which is transferred from the board to the thermally conductive plate, and then to the liquid coolant that flows through the cold plate.

Typically, the fluid path matches the hot spots on the board. The heated coolant is then pumped through the heat exGet Connected with technology and companies providing solutions now Board changer, where heat is moved from the Get Connected is a new resource for further exploration into products, technologies and companies. Whether your goal is to research th coolant to either the ambient air, or, in the datasheet from a company, speak directly with an Application Engineer, or jump to a company's technical page, the goal of Get Connecte Cold Plate case of atype liquid-to-liquid in touch with the right resource. Whichever level of service you require for whatever of technology, heat exchanger, Get Connected will help you connect with the companies and productsto you another are searching for. liquid coolant. The cooled www.rtcmagazine.com/getconnected coolant then flows through the pipes or hoses back to the cold plate, completing the cooling loop. Under normal operation, the liquid coolant continuously flows through the liquid cooling loop to keep the board cool.

Materials End ofCompatibility Article

Products

Since all of the materials and the fluid in the liquid cooling loop must Pipes/hoses

Get Connected with companies and Figure 1

26

featured in this section.

A liquid coolingproducts loop usually includes a cold plate, reservoir, pump, heat www.rtcmagazine.com/getconnected exchanger and pipes or hoses.

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July 2006

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SolutionsEngineering work together as a amount of dissolved Materials & DePolyalsystem and need to oxygen, changing Dielectric Fluids Fluids Water EGW ionized Oil phaolefin (e.g., Fluorinert) be compatible with the pH and switchCompatibility Water (PAO) one another, they ing the pipe material Copper X X X X X should be selected to a different metal together. or alloy.

Aluminum X X X X Copper works Stainless Steel X X X X X X well for most appliCondensation cations, since it has and Liquid excellent thermal Figure 2 Various fluids are compatible with a number of standard cold plate and Cooling Loop heat exchanger materials. conductivity and Design is compatible with In addition to most non-corrosive fluids. Aluminum cooling loop. Galvanic corrosion occurs minimizing corrosion, it is important to is compatible with fluids such as polyal- when dissimilar metals are in electrical minimize or prevent condensation. One of phaolefin (PAO), oil, ethylene glycol and contact with each other in the presence the risks of using coolants below ambient water solutions, as well as Fluorinert, an of an electrolyte, i.e., a conductive liquid. temperatures is that condensation may form electrically insulating, inert perfluorocar- Most water-based coolants are electro- on the cool surfaces. This condensation bon fluid used in many electronics cooling lytic to some degree. could drip onto electronics, or collect in the applications. Stainless steel is compatible To prevent galvanic corrosion, either bottom of the system and cause corrosion. with most fluids, including corrosive flu- the loop should be designed with similar To avoid condensation, the surface temperids such as de-ionized water. Several dif- materials throughout the system, ideally ature can be maintained above the ambient ferent fluids are compatible with various with just one metal, or a non-conductive dewpoint by either insulating these surfaces standard cold plate and heat exchanger fluid should be used. The galvanic poten- or using higher fluid temperatures. materials (Figure 2). tials of all materials in the system should In a properly designed and maintained Most liquid coolants also need a be considered. This includes not only the liquid cooling loop, leaks are very unlikely. small percent of additives to inhibit cor- primary thermal components, but also However, to minimize the effect of any potenrosion and to lubricate the pump. How- all of the connectors, fittings, valves and tial leaks, the reservoir and liquid loop can be ever, it is important to note that corrosion junctions in the fluid path. located below electronics that would short out inhibitors can be rendered ineffective by Erosion corrosion is the acceleration if coolant or condensate dripped or sprayed incompatible materials elsewhere in the in the rate of corrosion in metal due to on them. Other options include installing a system, so this must be evaluated as well. the relative motion of a fluid and a metal liquid shield or barrier over the high-voltage Biocides, algaecides and pH value ad- surface. It is most often found in pipe portions of the electrical system. justments may also be helpful in main- bends (elbows), tube constrictions and When designing the liquid cooling taining the system, depending on which other structures that alter flow direction loop, there is also the option of using stanliquid coolant is selected. or velocity. Erosion corrosion is most dard or custom parts. There are advanprevalent in soft alloys, such as copper tages and disadvantages to each. Standards Corrosion Prevention and aluminum. are readily available if replacements are Corrosion can cause problems in two Some methods for minimizing ero- needed. Custom parts, on the other hand, different ways. Not only can material sion corrosion include allowing bends to are optimized for the application’s size, corrode away, which leads to leaks, but have larger angles, changing pipe diame- performance and device requirements. the corroded material can be deposited ters gradually rather than abruptly and im- However, they will have longer lead times elsewhere in the system and block fluid proving the flow lines within the pipe by and may have a higher cost. passages or filters. This can produce a deburring, i.e., smoothing out irregularidrop in pressure that, in turn, causes re- ties. Other methods include reducing the Joints, Fittings and Connectors duced coolant flow. In addition, The number of joints in if the deposition occurs the cold plate or heat on active heat transfer exchanger is imporsurfaces, the extra tant. When there are thermal resistance more joints that must caused by fouling be brazed, there is a can make temperahigher risk of leaks. It tures rise. is important to ensure Both galvanic that the manufacturer corrosion and erois highly skilled at sion corrosion brazing, has proper Figure 3 An aluminum cold plate with gold chemical conversion coating and custom test procedures in should be minisurface machining, designed to cool a circuit board. mized in the liquid place and eliminates 28

July 2006

SolutionsEngineering any unnecessary braze points within a custom component.

To prevent leaks, the right fittings must be selected and properly used (Figure 3). For a leak-free joint, a beaded tube fitting mates with a hose that is secured with a clamp. Hard plumbing is generally preferable to hoses, but hoses may be used in environments where systems are exposed to shock or vibration. A unit with a straight tube fitting can be welded into the system or used with a self-locking, torque-free fitting. With a quick-disconnect coupler that is not drip-free, an occasional drop of fluid must be expected when connecting or disconnecting the fittings. Another option is to use O-rings that are manufactured to Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) material specifications or those manufactured to military specifications. These fittings are available in various materials and sizes and provide a reliable leak-free seal.

Maintenance and Service

Although maintenance and service may be the last thing engineers consider

when designing a liquid cooling loop, including this consideration in the design process will help to reduce problems over the long term.

Several different types of questions must be answered. For example, will the pump need lubrication over its life or is the coolant going to perform that function?

Will the fluid reservoir need topping off?

Which components are field-replaceable?

What is the maintenance schedule? What is the required pump life? If pump replacement is needed, how does one charge the system and start the system up?

Other questions concern what the user must do to get the system working again. Does this require removing the electronics and cold plate, or just the electronics, and can both be easily removed and replaced merely by snapping in a new one? If the cold plate is replaced, will it be shipped with cooling fluid? Does the OEM ship the system or field-replaceable unit filled with fluid? If so, freezing of the fluid may be a concern, such as in airplane cargo holds that get very cold.

These questions must be considered by members of both the design team and the operations and maintenance team. Involving all of the affected individuals in these decisions will help to ensure smooth operations in the future.

Materials compatibility, corrosion prevention, condensation control, the position of the liquid cooling loop, standard versus custom parts, joints, fittings, connectors, hoses and maintenance and service requirements all must be considered when designing either a modified standard or custom liquid cooling loop.

When properly integrated into a system, liquid cooling can provide highly effective heat removal with low risk. Today, tens of thousands of cold plates and heat exchangers are liquid cooling electronics in some of the most demanding and highperformance applications.

Lytron Woburn, MA. (781) 933-7300. [www.lytron.com].

July 2006

29

IndustryInsight Small Medical Systems

DSPs and Zone Sonography Enable Portable Ultrasound Low-power, high-performance DSPs are being combined with zone sonography that reuses received data multiple times, speeding image processing and increasing image accuracy.

by G len McLaughlin Zonare Medical Systems

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B

ringing high-quality ultrasound perPortable ultrasound systems, however, Get with technology and formance in a portable system to companies can Connected be used quickly, increasing providing solutions now the number the hospital bedside has long been a Get ofConnected patients who can benefit from them and is a new resource for further exploration dream in the medical field. Hospitals with into helping hospitals toand recoup theirWhether investments. products, technologies companies. your goal large immobile medical imaging systems In emergency roomsfrom a portable unit can be is to research the latest datasheet a company, speak directly an Application Engineer, jump to a company's technicalUsed page, the have had no choice but to move theirwith patients brought to orthe patient immediately. in goal of Get Connected is to put you in touch with the right resource. to the equipment, despite the risks entailed to helicopter rescue or battlefield triage, portable Whichever level of service you require for whatever type of technology, the seriously ill or injured. Even roll-around ultrasound enables thatproducts can Get Connected will help you connect early with thediagnosis companies and consoles take time to move and set up. make you are searching for. emergency treatment more effective. www.rtcmagazine.com/getconnected

Until recently, however, portable ultrasound systems were inferior in both performance and functionality. Early portable units were based on traditional imaging algorithms and lacked the necessary processing power that could be scaled along with more advanced technology. In recent years, the development of zone sonography and high-performance DSPs has enabled a breakthrough in ultrasound capabilities.

As a result, portable ultrasound systems are now available that rival large units in imaging quality and diagnostic features (Figure 1). The scalable technology used will allow these systems to become even Get Connected with technology and companies providing solutions now more accurate in the future.

Get Connected is a new resource for further exploration into products, technologies and companies. Whether your goal is to research t datasheet from a company, speak directly with an Application Engineer, or jump to a company's technical page, the goal of Get Connect Sonography in touch with the right resource. Whichever level of service you require Zone for whatever type of technology, Get Connected will help you connect with the companies and products you are Thesearching need for. for portable ultrasound di-

www.rtcmagazine.com/getconnected

Products Figure 1

30

Zonare Medical Systems’ z.one system is one example of new portable Get Connected with companies and and scalable, highultrasound platforms based on zone sonography products featured in this section. performance DSPs. The 5.5-lb. scan engine is battery-operated and contains www.rtcmagazine.com/getconnected all electronics and processing required for producing an ultrasound image.

agnostics has led to the rethinking of sonographic imaging technology. In place of the traditional beam-formation algorithms used for more than 30 years, new systems are incorporating zone sonography, which reuses received data multiple times, thus speeding the imaging process and offering the potential for more accurate images. Low-power, high-performance DSPs provide the technology that enables these advanced algo-

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IndustryInsight

rithms to be processed by battery-operated equipment. High-speed interprocessor communications will allow these systems to be rescaled to improve imaging even further.

Traditional ultrasound systems are physically limited by the speed of sound within body tissue, around 1,540 meters/s.

This is because traditional beam formation is achieved by transmitting a wavefront into the tissue. Upon receiving the echoes back from the tissue, the data is summed to form a single beam or vector of data.

Hence, there is a single line of information for each transmit and receive cycle. This process is repeated many times until these single lines have covered the image space with an adequate Nyquist sample density.

In contrast, zone sonography is not limited by these physical constraints. Instead of throwing the data away after each beam is processed, data is cached so that it can be processed multiple times to extract the entire information content. Zone sonography therefore requires substantially fewer transmit-receive cycles, and much less time, to cover the image space adequately. As a result, the front end of a system can be put into sleep mode to conserve power when it is not required for data collection.

The data processing required to perform imaging calculations in zone sonography is substantially greater than the simple sum of the channels with an amplitude and phase correction used in normal beam formation.

Designed for a high level of computational performance, DSPs meet this requirement perfectly. Future increases in DSP processing power can be used to increase the frame rate, improve resolution, increase contrast or utilize additional ultrasound imaging modalities simultaneously, such as color Doppler for the detection of flow within vessels.

All of these can be accomplished without reaching the physical limitations of the propagation of the velocity of sound within the tissue.

Still more enhancements may be introduced in the future, if the particular DSP-based design integrates high-speed interprocessor communications that support scalability. In addition, a DSP that is designed for power efficiency can help keep a portable system functioning longer between battery charges and thus make it useful for more diagnoses.

A Portable Ultrasound System

One example of the successful use of DSPs and zone sonography to create portable ultrasound is Zonare’s z.one compact ultrasound system. This platform consists of a 5.5-lb. scan engine that is battery-operated and contains all the electronics and processing required for producing an ultrasound image. The portable platform can interface to a cart in a manner similar to the way that a laptop computer interfaces to a docking station. The cart provides the user with a larger display and a more feature-rich user interface (Figure 2).

The scanner unit consists of a threeboard stack that includes an analog board, a digital board and a power board. The scanner’s digital board has been modified to take advantage of the improved processing power that has been achieved since the initial scanner design. In designing this new digital board (Figure 3), the design team had to overcome several significant challenges, the most important of which were constraints of size, power consumption, heat dissipation and weight.

The power budget for the new system that will be based on the new digital board is 29W of power during an average operational Figure 2 Just as a laptop computer interfaces to a docking station, the portable z.one platform mode, including 9W for can interface to a cart that provides a larger the analog board and 10W display and a more feature-rich user interface. for the digital board. The power board is more than 80% efficient.

256 Mbytes of external memory, and a Several other small boards along with the Freescale embedded PPC5200CVR400B display and backlight make up the differwith 256 Mbytes of external memory. The ence. The system is designed to operate board has several communication chanwith a lithium-ion battery with a capacity nels, both internal and external, including of about 40 Whrs., providing a user with four USB 2.0 ports, a Compact Flash interabout 80 minutes of continuous use and face, a user interface, a display interface, several hours of standby. an audio interface and High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) video out.

The DSP-Based Design The finished board has 12 layers with For its signal processing, the new digiimpedance-controlled 4 mil traces and 4 tal board integrates three Texas Instruments mil spaces. There are blind epoxy-filled vias TMS320C6455 DSPs running at 1 GHz from layer 1 to layer 3 and from layer 10 to each with 128 Mbytes of external memory, layer 12. The bottom, shielding layer of the a Xilinx Virtex4 XC4VSX55 FPGA with board is used to prevent noise from coupling July 2006

31

IndustryInsight

Figure 3

The scanner unit’s upgraded digital board integrates three Texas Instruments 1 GHz TMS320C6455 DSPs, a Xilinx Virtex4 XC4VSX55 FPGA, a Freescale PPC5200CVR400B and associated external memory. It communicates with the analog board via 128 100‑MHz serial communication links.

between the digital board and the analog board, which is only 4 mm away. This fact excludes the use of any active components on this underneath side of the board.

In designing the digital board, particular attention was paid to the interfaces between the major components and their associated memory. The DSP memory interface

Figure 4

32

is DDR2-500-compliant. The speed of this interface requires the length of the traces to be matched to prevent signal skew, in order to provide as much timing margin as possible. For other component interfaces, passive in-line terminations are used, since the active termination provided by these parts are power-prohibitive and could introduce noise.

The portable ultrasound system can display dual images, such as these images of a liver, showing both color flow Doppler and power Doppler operating simultaneously. This is made possible by the fact that the data used to detect Doppler information is cached and can be processed multiple times in different ways.

July 2006

The digital board’s main components were selected based on their power-to-performance ratio. The DSPs, along with their attached memory, provide the most flexibility, as well as a modest power draw of about 2W each. The FPGA is used for some rudimentary signal processing, along with routing the data from the analog board to the appropriate processing block. The total power draw from the FPGA and its memory is around 2W. The PPC that coordinates processes between the user and the system burns about 1W. Other interfaces and peripherals consume the balance of the power budget.

The main data path between the digital board and the analog board consists of 128 100‑MHz serial communication links, totaling 12.8 Gbits/s of data. This data is buffered in the FPGA and then preprocessed and channeled to two of the DSPs through their External Memory Interface A (EMIFA) running at 133 MHz, with a 32-bit wide bus providing a throughput of about 512 Mbytes/ s for each DSP. These two DSPs are used to perform basic image formation, and the data tables used for this process are stored in the DDR2-500 memory. This memory is interfaced to a 32-bit wide bus and runs at an effective throughput of 500 MHz, providing a data rate of about 2 Gbytes/s. The data is then passed back through the EMIFA to the FPGA and stored until it is ready to be processed for display.

The third DSP is used to take the data from the FPGA after the image formation process has been completed, as well as to perform the final processing steps required to produce an ultrasound image (Figure 4).

The interfaces to this DSP and its memory are similar to those of the other two DSPs. All three are connected through their Serial RapidIO ports, which are capable of transferring data between the DSPs at a rate of 3.125 Gbits/s. This feature was added for future modalities, such as real-time 3D imaging, for which parallel processing might be required. The DSPs, FPGA and PPC communicate with each other through a 32-bit PCI bus. This bus also communicates with the Compact Flash device, which is used as the main storage memory of the system.

Image Processing Requirements

Zone sonography is not only processing-intensive, but also requires a significant amount of information storage and

IndustryInsight throughput. Unlike many applications that process a single channel, a zone-based ultrasound system needs to process multiple channels, ranging from 32 on low-range systems to 256 on state-of-the-art devices.

These channels can be either real or complex at RF frequencies, or they can be complex and mixed down to baseband or DC, as in this system.

The DSPs chosen are particularly well suited to the image processing tasks. Not only do they possess the necessary data throughput required, but they also have a large 2 Mbyte L2 cache. This allows many of the channels to be brought into internal memory through the DMA channel as the internal core is processing the data. The data used for image formation is processed as 16-bit real and 16-bit imaginary words.

Compared to previous-generation DSPs, an expanded instruction set gives these devices the ability to handle complex multiplication much more elegantly, with fewer programming contortions required for optimum results. The instruction set is optimized to perform many functions in a single instruction pipeline call that would previously have required two or more instructions. This not only makes the code significantly more efficient but also provides greater flexibility to the programmer for optimization.

This new digital board provides improvements of approximately 60% in performance in its DSP processing, about 40% in FPGA resources and a roughly 900% performance improvement in the PPC, since the original digital board used an outdated PPC823 running at 50 MHz. Because of the unique image processing algorithms used, the system can translate this additional processing power into clinically significant imaging performance improvements, whereas traditional ultrasound devices cannot.

Since these algorithms are extremely scalable, as more processing power becomes available it can be directly translated into image quality. Hence, in the future, the performance of a portable ultrasound device using this technology is likely to exceed that of traditional stationary systems using standard beamforming technologies.

Faster, Better Diagnostics

Unlike most traditional ultrasound systems where the electronic design con-

straints are mainly cost and current draw, portable ultrasound designs must meet additional requirements for size, power consumed, heat dissipation and weight. These constraints force the designer to choose components that not only provide a great deal of performance for the amount of power consumed, but also are extremely flexible for future growth opportunities.

Designs based on DSPs and other processors that support reprogramming in firmware as well as software will allow

future algorithmic advances to be incorporated without necessitating a redesign.

New portable ultrasound systems are already providing faster, more accurate diagnoses for medical practitioners and they will continue to improve diagnostic imaging in the future.

Zonare Medical Systems Mountain View, CA. (650) 230-2800. [www.zonare.com].

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IndustryInsight Small Medical Systems

Panel PCs Tackle NextGeneration Small Medical System Requirements Two design approaches allow the latest notebook and laptop computer technology to help medical electronics OEMs build smaller equipment.

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by C olin McCracken Ampro Computers

Get Connected with technology and companies providing solutions now

P

anel PCs of all sizes are currently Getsients and surges.

ESD,for3,000 are bigger and better Panel PCs, they certainly Connected is a newFor resource further volts exploration embedded into a number of medicalinto products, used for contactand testing andWhether 8,000your volts don’t help to shrink medical systems. technologies companies. goal is to research the latest datasheetalthough from a company, speak directly systems. The IEC 60601 from the for air discharge, an increase to Some newer 6.5” Panel PCs are an Application Engineer, or jump a company's technical page, the Worldwide System for Conformitywith Testing 6,000 volts for to contact is under consideravailable with RISC processors, but these goal of Get Connected is to put you in touch with the right resource. and Certification of Electrical Equipment ation. immunity testing covers CPUs do not run Windows XP. Although Whichever level of service Radiated you require for whatever type of technology, and analogous European MedicalGet Device 26will MHz to connect 1 GHz. to products these Linux and Windows CE will run on some Connected help you withIn the addition companies and you arecresearching for.

Directive EEN 60601 standards were requirements, the LCD must be protected of these Panel PCs, those might not have www.rtcmagazine.com/getconnected ated to pave the way for safe design, man- from fluid ingress and other hospital and enough processor performance or applicaufacture and usage of medical equipment. office hazards. tion compatibility.

Even non-invasive devices are governed Trends are moving toward portable by parts of the standard, such as electro- and less bulky systems, and the display size Notebook PC Technology magnetic compatibility and safety. Panel and level of electronics integration play Traditional embedded systems have PCs are used in diagnostic and laboratory a key role in the “downsizing.”

As more (at least) one thing in common—they are Get Connected with technology and companies providing solutions now equipment, such as blood cell separators. circuitry can be combined into smaller always running and always consuming lots Get Connected is a new resource for further exploration into products, technologies and companies. Whether your goal is to research th New processor and chipset technologies boards,speak system is greatly network routers process datasheetcircuit from a company, directlycabling with an Application Engineer,ofor power. jump to aFor company's technical page,and the goal of Get Connecte can help system manufacturers reduceinthe reduced, and consequently monitoring touch with the right resource.

Whichever levelemissions of service youand require for whatever typeequipment, of technology, that makes sense. will help youcan connect the companies and productsThe you are searching for.needs to run continuously, sizes of next-generation systems. Get Connected susceptibility be with reduced.

Notebook application www.rtcmagazine.com/getconnected PC-style power management can reduce or and often at a constant or maximum speed.

System Requirements eliminate the need for fans, increase batWith environmental issues and enSpecific requirements vary, as patient tery life and reduce energy usage. ergy consumption getting more attenmonitors and invasive instruments are The current generation of Panel PCs tion, dynamic CPU speed adjustment and quite different from nurse station IT sys- used in medical devices fall into two cate- power management from the desktop and tems and lab equipment. In some cases, gories. Late life cycle or end-of-life (EOL) notebook PC markets have a great deal off-the-shelf embedded Panel PC units processors are used in 6.5” Panel PCs, of appeal for new medical electronic deare used as touch control interfaces, while while the latest and greatest embedded signs. This phenomenon is not limited to in other systems they are used for entering x86 processors are in 12”, 15” and even portable devices, where battery managedata or displaying values and graphs.

19” displays. This has evolved because ment is also critical.

Compliance testing involves EN the embedded graphics chipsets get betGet 55011 Class A or Class B forConnected emissions,with companies ter with and each new generation, basically Get Connected products featured in this section. with companies mentioned in this article.

EN 61000 and IEC 801 for immunity and following Moore’s law. Whereas kiosks www.rtcmagazine.com/getconnected www.rtcmagazine.com/getconnected ESD, and IEC 801 for electrical fast tran- and point-of-sale terminals can use these

Products

34

End of Article

July 2006

Get Connected with companies mentioned in this a www.rtcmagazine.com/getconnected

IndustryInsight

Hub Link

South Bridge

BIOS

or ISA Bridge LAN

Super I/O UARTs Parallel PS/2

Audio

CODEC

ISA LPC

(6) USB 2.0 (2) SATA IDE/PATA (4) x1 PCIe PCI

AC’97

SDVO

CRT LVDS

North Bridge

x16 PCIe

FSB

CPU

Two Architectural Approaches

PC-Style Connectors, Bus Connectors, and Pin Headers

The conventional SBC architecture targets fixed I/O with optional bus expansion.

taining development tools and support.

Of the 40 form-factors, three stand out as appropriate for new designs: ETX, XTX and COM Express. All have pros and cons, although we will see that XTX is the most practical for both business and technical reasons.

ETX has been a multi-vendor standard for five years, with many revisions along the way. Stability has been reached with versions 2.6, 2.7 and 2.8.

These versions are functionally equiva-

COM Standards

There are more than 40 COM formfactors in existence, most of which are proprietary rather than open standards.

For long life cycle systems such as FDA approved medical devices, proprietary form-factors can be a risky bet. If the supplier discontinues a module for any of a number of reasons, there is nowhere else to turn. Many of these use RISC processors, which may limit the choice of operating systems or increase the cost of ob-

COM Module

DDR RAM

Pin Headers

Figure 2

Audio

CODEC

Custom & Standard Connectors

(6) USB 2.0 (2) SATA IDE/PATA (4) x1 PCIe PCI

AC’97

South Bridge

BIOS

or ISA Bridge LAN

Super I/O

ISA LPC

Hub Link

North Bridge

SDVO

FSB

CPU

Custom Circuits

UARTs Parallel PS/2

Figure 1

CRT LVDS

The conventional architecture of a Panel PC consists of a small form-factor single board computer (SBC) and a few cables for power, I/O and hard disk drive.

Newer approaches offer solid-state media, such as compact flash, and even custom mezzanine cards to customize the I/O to the application. A TTL display and serial touch screen controller round out the Panel PC (Figure 1).

For instruments and other specialized equipment, additional boards in the system are dedicated to real-time control, acquisition, power filtering and distribution, and other functions. These boards are cabled together so that the complete system is quite complex to assemble, test and certify.

Fortunately, a second architecture has emerged to address the customization and cabling issues. Dubbed “computeron-module” or COM, this approach consists of dividing the system into two very distinct pieces.

The x86 processor and I/O core are integrated into a single small module.

Expansion buses and all core I/O are provided to a carrier board or baseboard.

There, the subset of I/O signals that are useful to each custom system design are routed to molded PC-style connectors and pin headers as appropriate. The baseboard designer interfaces custom I/O circuitry to the expansion buses. Device drivers must be located or developed, then integrated with the operating system used (Figure 2).

This architecture is very flexible. I/O connector locations are determined with the goals of minimizing cabling, assembly, test, emissions and safety issues. I/O connectors can be located along one edge, or multiple edges, as needed for subsystem connectivity or operator ease-of-use.

SBC

DDR RAM

x16 PCIe

Certain models of the latest Pentium M and Celeron M processors are on Intel’s embedded roadmap for extended product life cycles. These feature ACPI power management, and offer the power savings to medical electronics OEMs when designed into the board and BIOS.

Baseboard

The COM architecture allows baseboard customization to minimize system cabling.

July 2006

35

IndustryInsight

Figure 3

The new ReadyPanel 6.5 features a Pentium M SBC with standardized I/O block.

lent, limited to documentation and semantics differences.

It is estimated that 500,000 or more modules were produced and sold by more than 20 vendors in 2005 alone. There is no question that ETX is the reigning COM standard, and those based on Pentium M or Geode LX 800 processors have life cycles that are worth considering for new products.

36

July 2006

Most other x86 processors in 6.5” Panel PCs are already end-of-life (EOL), or are unproven successors to those EOL CPUs. ETX supports “legacy” buses and I/O, such as the ISA bus, serial ports (UARTs), floppy/parallel port, EIDE/Parallel ATA and PS/2 keyboard and mouse. Modules provide analog VGA/CRT video, plus either TTL or LVDS LCD displays. Mod-

ules also support one 10/100 Ethernet port and four USB ports. Being five years old, it did not anticipate PCI Express, Serial ATA (SATA) or Serial DVO (SDVO).

COM Express was developed in the last two years to support the serial interface technologies of new mobile PC chipsets. PCI Express lanes range from x1, pronounced “by-one,” up to x16 “bysixteen,” using differential pair signaling.

PCI Express is a point-to-point data communication interface, rather than a traditional multi-point bus. It is well poised to replace the parallel 32-bit, 33 MHz PCI bus with over twice the bandwidth in a fraction of the pin count. Differential signals aren’t new to the PC platform, having been long established in Ethernet and USB topologies.

Serial ATA applies the same signaling to IDE / PATA / ATAPI storage devices.

Cabling is much simpler, and 3.5” and 2.5” SATA drive prices have approached their legacy counterparts.

The PCI Express x16 lane has already replaced its AGP 8x predecessor on desktop motherboards. Power consumption of the incredible high-end graphics cards

IndustryInsight reaches 70 watts and even 90 watts. This is certainly overkill for small form-factor medical systems; providing that much power and cooling is expensive and complex. Luckily, the notebook chipsets come with high-resolution 3D integrated graphics, which is more than adequate for 6.5�

Panel PCs. COM Express is touted as legacy free, without serial ports, ISA bus, and the rest of the I/O that no longer ships with new PCs. Some of these are still widely used in medical equipment; for those systems, COM Express is not a viable choice.

Instead, COM Express features the new generation of I/O. PCI Express, SATA, USB 2.0, Gigabit Ethernet and Figure 4 A Panel PC containing the XTX architecture to meet the unique needs of x16 high-end graphics (up6/19/2006 to 32 lanes 4:31 of PM Page 1 mcs_rtc_ad_7-06.qxp each medical system.

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TM

July 2006

37

IndustryInsight PCI Express total) pack a lot of bandwidth “punch.”

COM Express gives quite a bit of flexibility to module vendors. Five pinouts, which are not even plug-compatible, coupled with two module sizes and a third on the way, gives system OEMs the burden of sifting through and deciding which modules are second-sourceable and making bets about which pinouts will survive long-term. By the end of 2006, it should be clear which of the 15 types will settle out. The standard has to consolidate or it won’t be viable.

COM Express uses completely new connectors, board sizes and pinouts compared to ETX. Whether or not it is suitable for long-life medical programs may come down to how much of the 500k/year installed base migrates to it.

Enter XTX

The XTX Alliance was launched recently at Computex Taiwan in June. Industry leaders gathered to create a more suitable successor to ETX, with applicability suitable for the mainstream embedded markets. Using the established me-

chanicals and replacing only the ISA bus with SATA, PCI Express, high-definition audio, LPC bus and two more serial ports, XTX provides a smooth bridge to the future, rather than complete baseboard redesigns. For more information about the standard, visit the Alliance Web site at www.xtx-standard.org.

The LPC bus provides much of the functionality of the ISA bus, although limitations of address space and 8-bit DMA transfers exist. By offering a simple migration path for baseboards using the ISA bus, and a direct drop-in replacement for baseboards not using ISA, XTX allows OEMs to adopt the new SATA and PCI Express technologies when it’s convenient.

Understanding this broad market dynamic is important to making wise selections in the medical electronics market.

The ReadyPanel 6.5 features a 6.5inch LCD with touch screen and Intel processors from 400 MHz to 1.4 GHz. Only embedded roadmap CPUs are used in order to offer the longest available life cycle. Figure 3 shows how the standardized I/O block is available outside of the Panel PC.

In addition, Figure 4 shows how a Panel PC has been customized where an XTX module is used with an applicationspecific baseboard in order to use exactly the connectors and locations that the medical system OEM prefers. The reduction of cabling and elimination of unused exposed I/O connectors make it much easier for the entire system to pass EN 60601 testing.

Both Panel PC design approaches offer benefits to the medical electronics industry. Whether the I/O can be fixed or needs to be customized, the power management and long life cycle benefits of the Pentium M processors are well suited for systems that require FDA certification.

Using a rare combination of 6.5” LCD and Pentium M processors helps OEMs get the best of both worlds to shrink system sizes.

XTX modules are poised to pick up where ETX has left off—in high-volume production for long life cycles.

Ampro Computers San Jose, CA. (408) 360-0200. [www.ampro.com].

See

AMPRO August 22, 2006

at the RTECC Detroit

Detroit Marriott Troy Hotel

Visit Ampro Computers at the Real-Time & Embedded Computing Conference (RTECC) and talk directly with their technical experts. Find out about COM Express, featuring the new generation of I/O. See how PCI Express, SATA, USB 2.0, Gigabit Ethernet and x16 high-end graphics (up to 32 lanes of PCI Express total) really do pack a lot of bandwidth “punch.”

To view the exhibitors’ list and all the open-door technical seminars you can attend for free, go to www.rtecc.com/detroit. Pre-register online and your badge will be waiting when you arrive. Walk-in registrations also welcome; bring your colleagues to take full advantage of this valuable event. Registration, Seminars, Exhibits, Parking and Lunch are complimentary!

www.rtecc.com 38 rtecc_ampro_july.indd July 2006

1

7/13/06 11:26:38 AM

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IndustryInsight Small Medical Systems

Ultra-Mobile PCs Enable Portable Diagnosis and Test The emerging handheld UMPC platform combines connectivity and high computing performance with low power and heat dissipation schemes to usher in a new era of mobile diagnosis and test equipment.

by U di Levin General Micro Systems

T

he Ultra-Mobile PC is a relatively used in harsh environments. It has pow- latest connectivity standards and power new kind of portable, lightweight, erful processors from Intel’s mobile fam- control. With all of these features, the handheld computer. It combines the ily—the Pentium M and Core Duo—big, UMPC compares favorably to a full-sized loration bright displays, easy data entry options, a laptop computer, but is much smaller and our goal power of major operating systems such as k directly Windows 2000/XP and Linux with mowide variety of I/O options, support for the more portable (Figure 1). age, the bile-ready technology that makes it easy source. to use application software on the go. With Feature UMPC Laptop Desktop computer ology, products its small size, light weight and ruggedized Mobile processor Mobile processor hardware design, the UMPC can be carried Any desktop or serverProcessor (Pentium M, Core Duo, (Pentium M, Core Duo, level processor everywhere. Users can accomplish a varietc.) etc.) ety of computing and data acquisition tasks, Up to 2 Gbytes of DDR/ Up to 1 Gbyte of DDR/ Up to 8 Gbytes of DDR/ communicate with a network and connect Memory DDR-2 soldered on DDR-2 SO-DIMM DDR-2 DIMM to multiple types of medical equipment.

Display 7-in. LCD display 15-in. LCD display No limit UMPCs have been available for some time and have always been conceived of nies providing solutions now Touch screen, functional PS/2 or USB keyboard Data Entry Built-in keyboard as relatively small devices. The definition buttons and mouse on into products, technologies and companies. Whether your goal is to research the latest of or“relatively,” however, has changed over tion Engineer, jump to a company's technical page, the goal of Get Connected is to put you USB 2.0, Gigabit Ethernet, USB 2.0, Gigabit Ethernet, A few ago, the UMPC’s size you requiretime. for whatever typeyears of technology, IEEE 1394, WiFi and IEEE 1394, WiFi and I/O All standard I/O and products you small are searching for. to a desktop PC. Later, was relative Bluetooth, general-purBluetooth, external it was small relative to a laptop. At present, pose I/O, customized I/O display it is small compared to the Tablet PC, a deATA-100 or SATA internal A number of ATA-100 ATA-100 or SATA internal vice that is between a laptop and a PDA in Mass Storage HDD, internal CD/DVD or SATA internal HDD, HDD, PCMCIA size, weighing 3.2 to 6.3 lbs. and measurdrive, PCMCIA internal CD/DVD drives ing about 8.5 in. x 12 in.

Weight Up to 2 lbs.

6 to 8 lbs.

Not designed for portability Unlike older types of portable, handheld, low-end computers, the UMPC’s Designed to work on Designed to work on battery power for 5 to battery power for about Designed to work on line memory is soldered on, its electronic comPower Supply 6 hours. Equipped with 3 hours. Equipped with power only. Does not ponents work in extended temperatures and power control to save power control to save include power control. its mechanical design allows the unit to be battery power. battery power.

End of Article Get Connected

Figure 1

with companies mentioned in this article. www.rtcmagazine.com/getconnected

Smaller and more rugged, yet with powerful processors, plentiful connectivity and I/O and sharp displays, the Ultra-Mobile PC compares favorably with a typical laptop computer.

July 2006

Get Connected with companies mentioned in this article. www.rtcmagazine.com/getconnected

41

IndustryInsight Feature

Description

Note

Processor

Pentium M up to 1.4 GHz or Celeron 423 @ 1 GHz

These processors were selected due to their low power dissipation

North Bridge

855GME/945GM

855GME supports Pentium M and 945GM supports Celeron 423

I/O Hub

6300ESB/ICH-7

6300ESB supports Pentium M and ICH-7 supports Celeron 423

System Memory

Up to 2 Gbytes DDR/Up to 2 Gbytes DDR-2

855GME supports DDR and 945GM supports DDR-2. In both cases, this memory is soldered on the board.

Figure 2

To achieve the smallest possible system size, General Micro Systems’ UMPC design places the main CPU and some of the I/O on more than one board. The CPU module, which dissipates most of the system’s heat, is one of two, or sometimes three, total boards in a system.

One market that benefits from the emergence of the UMPC is the medical market. More and more medical applications are taking advantage of it, primarily mobile applications. These include using the UMPC as a mobile eye tester for field testing and as a “test and report” center that records all of the medical data on a patient in the field. This unit is sent with the patient to the emergency room where the data is extracted, saving time and often saving the patient’s life.

Other, system-level questions include how heat dissipation will be dealt with.

How will battery life be managed to a reasonable level of about 5 hours? How will unit cost and price be controlled in order to attract commercial customers? These and many more questions pop up when one considers designing a UMPC, especially when the design is based on a high-end processor such as the Intel Pentium M. This processor offers high speed, high performance and computing power, but the whole solution—including the Challenges of UMPC Design chipset and high-speed memory—disDesigning and producing a UMPC is sipates power in a minimum range of 11 not a trivial task. Special skills are needed to 13W and requires a very careful PCB to lay out its approximately 1,700 compo- design for the many high-speed, sensitive nents on a 5-in. x 4-in. board. Many ques- signals and buses. Other options for protions need to be resolved in order to do cessor technology are available. However, this. For example, how much room will they either do not offer the same perforbe left for vias? What size of via should mance for this level of power dissipation be used? What size of traces are needed? or the solution is not complete and not as Given these sizes, can the board be proconvenient to design with. duced reliably enough?

The specific answers to many of these design questions are, of course, proprietary. Although the Gerber files and solutions for heat dissipation are usually defined as proprietary—since these are the most difficult to resolve—a few of the solutions used to help with the design can be mentioned. Examples include smaller Figure 3 An information screen on the “quick diagnosis” vias, as small as 10 mils UMPC shows a series of photos taken in the field using a mobile X-ray machine. These photos for many of the signals.

In addition, buried and will be downloaded to the radiologist’s computer blind vias may be used in the emergency room as soon as the patient arrives, saving valuable time. for some of the critical 42

July 2006

functions, although too many of these will substantially increase the unit price. Supporting these small vias are traces that may be as narrow as 4 mils to allow up to three traces between pads on the board.

For its design, General Micro Systems places the main CPU and some of the I/O on more than one board to allow the smallest possible unit size. This makes the solution a two-board or, in some applications, even a three-board solution. However, this does not resolve the main issue of heat dissipation, since most of the heat is dissipated by the main CPU module (Figure 2). When using the Pentium M processor, this power dissipation is by no means trivial. The total maximum power of the CPU module may be on the order of 15W. This generates a large amount of heat that must be dissipated without affecting the operator, who must be able to easily and comfortably hold and operate the unit.

UMPCs for Mobile Diagnosis and Test

The UMPC opens up entirely new applications, as well as new possibilities for existing applications that can take advantage of the ultra-high mobility and ruggedization of this design platform. These applications come from a very broad range of markets, including defense, aerospace, medical and automation, among others.

It would not be an exaggeration to say that the UMPC is dramatically changing many applications. The fact that it can function as a complete computer out in the field gives people the ability to take their office with them everywhere. For example, they can communicate with their networks using WiFi, record instructions and do actual work while traveling. In other applications, soldiers can go to a mission carrying a UMPC pre-programmed with all instructions, maps, GPS for navigation and communication codes. With its many input options, the UMPC can be used as an information and data gathering device for automation systems or to automate law enforcement work.

The fact that the UMPC offers the same computing power as a full desktop or laptop computer makes it very suitable for a large number of mobile medical test equipment applications. Its use in this market segment is continuously growing.

Some of the applications that have become

IndustryInsight possible because of the UMPC, either fully implemented or in various stages of design, include mobile ultrasound systems, mobile X-ray units and mobile fetal development monitors for pregnant women.

How quickly and accurately information is gathered at the scene of an injury, and how this information is conveyed to the next level, the emergency room, may sometimes determine life or death for an injured person. The paramedics who provide first aid to the injured are usually equipped with basic medical test equipment. Since they are often the first to see the injured, they may be in possession of many details important to the ER doctors, including any initial treatments given. But how can all of this information get to the ER teams?

The UMPC can help with that task.

Since it is actually a full computer with many types of standard I/O interfaces, it can connect to multiple types of medical test equipment and automatically record test results. The UMPC’s voice recording capability provides paramedics the option to voice record everything that they find or do to the injured person. The unit’s touch screen allows the paramedic to enter data into the UMPC’s memory. This touch screen offers the functionality of a display as well as that of a data entry device.

The device’s IEEE-1394 and USB 2.0 interfaces allow a digital camera to be connected to the UMPC for taking still photos or video clips at the scene of an injury. These pictures can provide information to the ER doctors that helps increase their understanding of the injury and allows them to give the patient the most appropriate treatment for a faster and more complete recovery.

The UMPC may even contain special application software that recommends a list of tests and checks so the paramedic does not forget to perform any of these important steps. If this option is used, the UMPC sets itself to automatically record all of the findings and results from those tests and checks. This “quick diagnosis” version of the UMPC accompanies the patient to the emergency room (Figure 3).

UMPCs are also being used by eye doctors. In this application, an IEEE-1394, USB 2.0 or Gigabit Ethernet-attached camera is attached to the UMPC, which allows the eye doctor to take pictures of one of the patient’s eyes or of both simulta-

Figure 4

A UMPC used to perform eye tests displays the main application screen and the multiple options available for analysis that allow doctors to emphasize different parts of interest in the eye.

neously. These pictures may be displayed on the UMPC’s screen so the doctor can use the digital or optical zooming feature to better see the details of the areas of interest and analyze the pictures (Figure 4).

Alternatively, the UMPC camera can be equipped with high-magnification lenses.

Since the UMPC has the computing power of a full-size computer, it can be used to run special application software that recognizes patterns and performs image processing and analysis. These units may be used to detect various anomalies of the eyes, such as cataracts that are forming and growing, as well as problems with blood vessels inside the eyes.

The UMPC’s reduction of the size of this eye test equipment is a big advantage, since eye doctors can use essentially the same test equipment with the same level of performance both in their clinics and out in the field. Furthermore, since many doctors work in more than one location, they can carry this smaller-sized test equipment from one location to another, saving money and making all of their databases available wherever they go.

Service and Support Issues

One may wonder about the longevity of these units and how this industry will be supported in the future. First, since electronic medical equipment has a fairly long system life, service and spare parts for a specific system must be available for many years. In addition, next-generation

medical equipment requirements may include higher computing performance. The answers to these questions are, of course, in the hands of the suppliers.

Having worked for many years with the defense market, producers of SBCs such as General Micro Systems are already set up to supply and support their products over long system life cycles.

In addition, technology suppliers such as Intel ensure longevity through their roadmaps for many embedded processor types. In particular, Intel’s roadmap for mobile processors shows its commitment to the low-power, high-performance processors needed to provide the answer to more demanding future applications.

The emergence of the UMPC as a design platform is opening up many possibilities for medical equipment, because of its high computing performance, combined with low power and various proprietary solutions for heat dissipation. At the same time, a commitment to long-term support and supply from SBC suppliers and the commitment to long-term roadmaps from processor suppliers make these new-generation computers an excellent solution on the business side. The UMPC has ushered in a new era in medical test equipment applications.

General Micro Systems Rancho Cucamonga, CA. (800) 307-4863. [www.gms4sbc.com].

July 2006

43

Executive Interview

RTC Interviews Joel Zackin, President, Cyclone Microsystems

RTC: CompactPCI continues to be a From our viewpoint, big force in the industry. Our recent the next big thing in the research points to the total amount of embedded space is the cPCI business approaching the $1.2 rapid shift to cost-effective billion per year mark. From your enterprise server hosts. perspective, do you see this market There has always been a pull at the low end Currently, we have no plans for Get Connected with technology and continuing to grow, flat or declining? companies to use commodity PCs tonow host embedded CompactPCI Express. Our CompactPCI providing solutions What are the market drivers pushing Get systems.

However, Express enterprise products are migrating toward multiproConnected is a new PCI resource for further exploration it in that direction? with 32 and GbytesWhether of buffered into servers products, technologies and64 companies. your goal cessor and mutlicore stand-alone commuis to research the latest datasheetafrom a company, speak DRAM represent compelling pulldirectly for nication blades. Our customers are replacwith an Application Engineer, or jump to a company's technical page, the Zackin: We have some very strong image- and data-intensive applications at ing multi-board systems with a multi-blade goal of Get Connected is to put you in touch with the right resource.

CompactPCI customer accounts and Cy- levelall ranges the embedded spectrum.

For system design. Our cPCI blades collapse Whichever of service youof require for whatever type of technology, clone is developing new Power PC,Get Power systems toward architectural Connected will helpheaded you connect with thethis companies and products the functionality of our system down to you these are searching for.

QUICC and XScale products for implementation, we are producing PCI a single board. This allows one existing application areas. We are makingwww.rtcmagazine.com/getconnected a large Express Intelligent I/O Processing Boards chassis to host multiple blade boards. commitment to CompactPCI and we feel and our PCI Express Expansion Systems. that CompactPCI is viable to implement Our PCI Express Expansion System lever- RTC: We notice that one of your speembedded systems for some time. ages the capabilities of the commodity en- cialties is with Intel’s XScale procesThe key dynamic in the cPCI market terprise server hosts. sors. Perhaps you can give our readers is that CompactPCI can effectively tap some idea of what the benefits of that Get Connected with technology and companies providing solutions now into the diverse industry offering of cPCI RTC: Cyclone continues to offer In- processor architecture are over others, Get Connected is a new resource for further exploration into products, technologies and companies. Whether your goal is to research the boards and systems. finiBand products.

However, and describe what technical types of applications datasheet from a company, speak directly with an Applicationthe Engineer, or jump to a company's page, the goal of Get Connected broader for InfiniBand boards works in. in touch with the right market resource. Whichever level of service you require XScale for whatever type of best technology, Get Connected will help with the companies products you are searching for.

RTC: ATCA continues to be a strong appears toyoubeconnect shrinking.

Whatandapwww.rtcmagazine.com/getconnected player in the communications sector. plications might our readers think Zackin: Cyclone currently produces Does Cyclone have any plans to jump of employing InfiniBand boards in? boards and has design expertise with into the ATCA/AMC/microTCA mar- What kind of applications are your XScale, PowerPC and Power QUICC ket? Why? Why not? current products going into? Do you architectures. With the high processors have any plans ahead for supporting moving toward SoC (system-on-chip), we Zackin: Cyclone has not yet produced CompactPCI Express? find that different processors excel at difany ATCA products. Currently, our comferent tasks. The XScale processors have munication sector customers are very Zackin: InfiniBand is a great technol- been great data movers and have built-in happy with CompactPCI. We are seeing ogy for clustering servers. It augments XOR and CRC engines, allowing them to inroads by proprietary blades and rack- PCI Express very well in embedded ar- excel at applications with those requiremount servers. The ATCA specification chitectures. For several of our customGet Connected companies seems to be very well thought out and with ers, PCI and Express becomes the local bus Get Connected products featured in this section. with companies mentioned in this article.

Cyclone will produce ATCA boards and and InfiniBand becomes the server inwww.rtcmagazine.com/getconnected www.rtcmagazine.com/getconnected systems upon request. terconnect.

Ad Index

Products

End of Article

July 2006

45

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ExecutiveInterview ments. The Power QUICC processors are, of course, great for implementing designs that require Time Division Multiplexing (TDM) and ATM over E1, T1, E3, T3 interfaces. The PowerPC is a great choice for applications benefiting from deep caches.

Our choice in processors is solely about selecting the right processor architecture for the right application requirement.

RTC: There has been significant speculation that the European Union’s direc-

tive on the Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) will cause problems as many leaded components go to end of life. One of the technology areas that may well be under fire is PCI, as Intel and other commodity PC makers shift to PCI Express, it’s likely PCI parts will disappear and not resurface with RoHS part numbers. First off, do you see this as a threat to products such as cPCI and PICMG 1.0? What steps has Cyclone taken to comply with the directive?

Zackin: Even though the transition to RoHS has been challenging at times, we applaud the EU directives and environmental leadership. All of Cyclone’s new products are compliant with the EU’s directives. It has taken awhile to cross over, but we are now seeing an overwhelming amount of our components available as RoHS-compliant. This is good.

In the long view, it should lead to a safer environment for our children. Our biggest frustration is that our U.S. government is not embracing these advances. I believe that the most respected and successful businesses of our lifetime will be the ones who embrace environmental stewardship as a core component of their competitive strategy.

We are not seeing components going obsolete just because the packaging is leaded. We are seeing the semiconductor companies shifting components with active sales volume to RoHS-compliant packaging as demand accelerates. Cyclone is already on top of the process issue and we welcome the change.

RTC: Over the past years we’ve seen tremendous growth among companies producing small form-factor embedded computers ranging from ETX and PC/104 to 3U cPCI and COMM Express. Applications range from military and aerospace to industrial control and medical diagnostics/therapy. Is Cyclone looking to enter the small form-factor, embedded computer business in the near future? What are the advantages?

Disadvantages?

Zackin: The form-factors you mention are for packaging X86 designs, which Cyclone does not produce. We have seen a decided shift toward using commodity server motherboards and chassis in embedded systems. Consequently, we are designing products to complement the enterprise server marketplace. Cyclone produces an extensive line of Intelligent PCIe and PCI-X intelligent I/O boards, and our PCIe Expansion systems allow larger embedded systems to be constructed from inexpensive, off-the-shelf servers.

RTC: Over the past five of six years or so, there’s been tremendous consolidation within the embedded computer

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July 2006

ExecutiveInterview industry. At least 20 acquisitions have occurred and it’s reported that more are on the way. At least part of the rationale for many of these acquisitions is so larger companies can control more and more of the product that goes into a system. What do you make of all this acquisition? Do you believe that eventually most of the smaller companies will be acquired by a small handful of larger companies, reducing the rich selection of product offerings in favor of more commodities? What other impact do you envision this consolidation to have? d1

1

design.

Zackin: Acquisitions and consolidations have always been a part of the technology sector. As the embedded computer market is dynamic, there is space for all sizes of companies, as there are many different kinds of problems that need to be solved.

While we see some value of having mass in the embedded marketplace, our privately held independence has allowed us to focus our long-term attention on our customers’ challenges and not on the whim of the stock marketplace during any specific quarter. Cyclone

2

develop. d

2

3

d3

deploy.

Are You Board With Me?

Microsystems has, for 20 years, been successfully meeting the changing requirements of our customers.

RTC: Referring to the question above, do you believe there is a possibility that the consolidation within the industry could actually kill the traditional board business, which has flourished under a model of low volume and high margins?

Zackin: If customers continue to need lowvolume products that are not addressed by the high-volume PC market, then the 30-year-old board level business will continue. Ultra-high-volume commodity computers are very capable, but they can’t solve all the embedded system requirements problems. Cyclone Microsystems is here to help address and solve special computing problems and needs.

RTC: Cyclone has been in the board business since 1986. Since that time, it has grown and has a very wide product portfolio. What does the future hold for Cyclone? What new products and product families can our readers look forward to?

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Zackin: Looking forward, Cyclone is continuing to expand our product portfolio with our PowerPC, Power QUICC and XScale boards. We are very excited about some of the multicore projects we are working on. We are also expanding our PCI Express Expansion Series products. We feel that PCI Express offers a low cost way to integrate complex systems in a very flexible manner.

Our whole value equation is in our long-term view of proactively developing new products to intersect with our customers’ future needs. Over the past twenty years, we have seen many major twists in the way embedded systems are architected and deployed, and we look forward to the many twists in the road over the next twenty years.

Software&Development Tools Embedded Windows

How to Really Embed Microsoft Windows CE Here’s a step-by-step guide to stripping Windows CE down to the bare iron and implementing a headless, no-frills but extremely efficient and reliable real-time embedded operating system with a Ad Index simple and efficient device driver model.

Get Connected with technology and companies providing solutions now

by M ichael Erickson Get Connected is a new resource for further exploration Logic Product Development

E

into products, technologies and companies. Whether your goal is to research the latest datasheet from a company, speak directly with an Application Engineer, or jump to a company's technical page, the goal of Get Connected is to put you in touch with the right resource. mbedded systems code Whichever level ofengineers service you need require to for write whateversmall, type of fast technology, Get Connected will help you connect the companies and products that touches real hardware.

Most with information available searching for.Windows CE operating system tells about you theareMicrosoft

we want to actually write and run an application, we need to add a couple of features.

Without a file system (filesys.exe) included in the image, the WinCE kernel will just hang after booting. To prevent this, add the catalog component found under “Core OS->Windows CE devices->File Systems and Data Store->File System – Internal

you how towww.rtcmagazine.com/getconnected leverage this or that high-end graphic or multimedia feature. This information won’t help the software engineer in Milwaukee designing an industrial controller. That engineer wants to know if he can respond to an interrupting peripheral and shoot a control message out his CAN port quick enough to avoid getting somebody hurt. This with is not the timeand to companies talk aboutproviding solutions now Get Connected technology ActiveSync and DRM. For these scenarios, it further is necessary to products, technologies and companies. Whether your goal is to research the latest Get Connected is a new resource for exploration into datasheet from down a company, speak directly with an Application Engineer, or jump to a company's technical page, the goal of Get Connected is to put you strip a Windows CE system to its bare knuckles and write in touch with the right resource.

Whichever level of service you require for whatever type of technology, an application that touches real hardware, right now.

Get Connected will help you connect with the companies and products you are searching for.

The first challenge is getting some control over your build.

Platform www.rtcmagazine.com/getconnected Builder comes with a “New Target Wizard” complete with several design templates engineers can follow to make their lives easier. These templates are great if you don’t mind having the kitchen sink included in your final image. If you really want to get down to brass tacks however, there are only two things that you need to know about: “Tiny Kernel” and “Custom Device.”

The Tiny Kernel design template produces the smallest possible Windows CE image. It includes nothing but the kernel by default.

No display, no audio, no Web browser, etc. In short, it is perfect for evaluating Windows CE in a resource-constrained environment. You can achieve the same effect by using the Custom DeConnected withand companies and items as you see fit. I just Get Connected viceGet design template removing products featured in this section. with companies mentioned in this article. prefer to add things rather than take them away. www.rtcmagazine.com/getconnected

Products

End of Article

www.rtcmagazine.com/getconnected

Make a Trimmed OS Image

After you select a Tiny Kernel image, you will notice that the wizard stops almost immediately. You will also notice that Platform Builder’s platform window is basically empty. You can Get Connected with companies and products featured in this section. actually build a kernel like this, but it won’t do anything. Since www.rtcmagazine.com/getconnected

Figure 1

Platform Window with minimum components added.

Get Connected with companies mentioned in this article. www.rtcmagazine.com/getconnected

July 2006

51

Software&DevelopmentTools

Figure 2

The Platform Settings dialog configured to create the smallest possible build.

(Choose 1)-> ROM-only File System.” This component will also drag in a couple of dependencies like the “Full C Runtime” and “String Safe Utility Functions.” That is fine as we will actually use those later. To get some output from our test program via calls to “printf” and similar functions, add the “Core OS->Windows CE devices->Applications and Services Development->C Libraries and Runtimes->Standard I/O (STDIO)” component to the build as well. Once these components have been added, the platform window should look similar to Figure 1. Note the items prefixed with “LoCE” are unique to Logic Product Development’s Windows CE BSP and may not appear on your system.

Now that we have added the bare minimum components to our operating system image, let’s adjust the build settings to cook the smallest image possible. Pull up the “Platform->Settings” dialog box and head to the “Locale” tab. According to the Platform Builder Help topic on decreasing run-time image size, not localizing a build yields a smaller “nk.bin.” Before you hit the “OK” button, stop by the “Build Options” tab and uncheck everything except for “Enable Ship Build.” Checking that box will set the “WINCESHIP” environment variable. When “WINCESHIP” is set, the OS does not generate debug messages (Figure 2).

Building this platform will create an operating system image that is only 600 Kbytes. That sounds suspiciously like an embedded operating system to me. Just as important as the size of this image is what it includes. The final “nk.bin” file only contains: • nk.exe (the kernel) • coredll.dll • filesys.exe • ceconfig.h (information about the modules included in this image) • initobj.dat (initial directories, files, shortcuts, etc.)

• default.fdf (initial system registry)

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July 2006

Code Segment 1 Simple, super-loop application to memory

map and toggle an LED.

When configured as above, there can be no “surprise” applications running on the end system consuming resources and potentially crashing the device.

Write an Application

Now that our basic operating system image has been trimmed down nice and tight, let’s write a quick C-language application to crank on some actual hardware. One of the nicest things about Windows CE is the simple device driver model.

Essentially, a WinCE device driver is no different than a regular user-space application or library. Drivers do not reside inside the kernel, rather, they are typically packaged inside a dynamically linked library (DLL) and loaded by a process called “device. exe.” Because of this model, WinCE must provide specific functions for mapping a physical address into a process’s virtual address space. There are several ways to do this, but my favorite involves a call to the function “MmMapIoSpace().” This function is part of the CE Device Driver Kit (CEDDK). Since the device manager has not been included in our image, “ceddk.dll” will not actually be built. However, as long as the application can link to ddk_map.lib and ddk_bus.lib, the compiler will be able to find “MmMapIoSpace()” just fine. These libraries can typically be found at: • $(_PROJECTROOT)\cesysgen\oak\lib\$(_CPUINDPATH)\ ddk_map.lib • $(_PROJECTROOT)\cesysgen\oak\lib\$(_CPUINDPATH)\ ddk_bus.lib

Software&DevelopmentTools If your BSP doesn’t build these libraries, you can always use a combination call to “VirtualAlloc()” and “VirtualCopy().”

However, “MmMapIoSpace()” is cleaner because it will transparently take care of offsets from page boundaries.

Use Platform Builder’s “New Project Wizard” to get a start on your application by going to “File->New Project or File” and then selecting “WCE Console Application.” Choose to create “An empty project” and you will be able to get rid of some of the MS-vagaries of C-coding. When you are finished with the Wizard, right-click on the new project and choose the “Settings” option. In the “General” tab, changing “Ship Build” to “yes” will result in a smaller application. You also need to define the environment variable “WINCEOEM.” When “WINCEOEM” is set to “1,” Platform Builder allows an application, DLL, or library to link to special system libraries and header files. Because we want to use “MmMapIoSpace(),” we need to set “WINCEOEM” or the compiler won’t be able to resolve that function. Select the “Custom Variables” tab and use the “New…” button to add this variable.

In the “C/C++” tab, changing “WinMainCRTStartup” to “mainACRTStartup” will allow you to code with a standard main function to keep your application portable across tools. By standard, I mean “int main(int argc, char **argv)” as opposed to “WinMain()” and other MS-style functions. In the “Include Directories” entry box, add “$(_WINCEROOT)\public\common\ddk\inc” so the compiler can find “ceddk.h” and the system headers it includes.

Finally, in the “Link” tab, make sure to include the paths above to ddk_bus.lib and ddk_map.lib. If you followed everything this far, you now have an empty project that you can use to write standard C-code and access hardware.

Code Block 1 shows a small program to access and toggle an LED on a Logic Product Development PXA270 Zoom Development Kit. This Platform Builder project may be downloaded from Logic’s Web site (http://www.logicpd.com). Note the call to “MmMapIoSpace()” before accessing the CPLD’s GPIO register.

If the application had just attempted to write to the physical address 0x08000030, the kernel would have killed it for trying to leave its protected, virtual address space. When the application runs, it reports that it has mapped the CPLD GPIO register from physical address 0x08000030 to virtual address 0x60030. After a good look at the Windows CE virtual memory model for a process, this should sound reasonable to you.

Measure the Results

How “real time” is this little application? I hooked up the development kit to a Tektronix TLA5204 Logic Analyzer and captured the waveforms shown in Figure 3 at a 2 nano-second resolution.

To get a further measure of reliability, I set the logic analyzer to trigger on any pulse that was less than or equal to 4.75 ms or greater than 5.25 ms long. With the exception of a few hardware glitches, this trigger never realized. That tells me that the WinCE kernel can reliably wake and run my application every 5 ms as configured. After this test, I changed the call to “Sleep()” to toggle the LED every 2 ms and achieved the same results. As shown in Figure 4, the actual pulse is slightly longer than 2 ms. Again,

Figure 3

Several cycles of the LED toggling at 5 milliseconds.

Figure 4

A 2 ms pulse running at 2.0112 ms actual.

the application proved to stay well within the plus or minus .25 ms range allowed.

This application is relying on the “Sleep()” system call and the WinCE kernel’s scheduler for its timing control. With a little more effort, we could add “device.exe” into our operating system image and write a small device driver to trigger on an interrupt and remove the polling altogether.

What we have shown is that Windows CE can be stripped down to a very small footprint. Furthermore, we have shown how to take advantage of the Windows CE user-space device driver model to easily write an application that works on actual hardware. Finally, we have demonstrated that the Windows CE kernel will reliably provide real-time response to an application.

Logic Product Development Minneapolis, MN. (612) 436-5118. [www.logicpd.com].

July 2006

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Software&Development Tools Embedded Windows

Windows XP and CE on Single CPU for a Reliable, Cost-Effective, PC-Based Soft PLC Ad Index Get Connected with technology and A singlecompanies system cansolutions offernowthe user-friendly Windows providing Get Connected is a new resourcewhile for further exploration XP Embedded interface meeting the hard realinto products, technologies and companies. Whether your goal isrequirements to research the latest datasheet company,using speak directly time offrom a aPLC Windows CE on the with an Application Engineer, or jump to a company's technical page, the goal of Get Connected is to put in touchrepresent with the right resource. same processor.

Ityoumay the next generation Whichever level of service you require for whatever type of technology, Connected help you connect with the companies and products ofGet soft PLCwilltechnology. you are searching for. www.rtcmagazine.com/getconnected

by H einrich Munz Kuka Get Connected with technology and companies providing solutions now

F

Get Connected is a new resource for further exploration into products, technologies and companies. Whether your goal is to research the latest datasheet from a company, speak directly with an Application Engineer, or jump to a company's technical page, the goal of Get Connected is to put you in touch with the right resource. Whichever level of service you require for whatever type of technology, decades, logic controllers the clasetary, becomes a standard product that is subject to marGet programmable Connected will help you connect with thewere companies and products you arebut searching for.

or sic example of an extremely reliable embedded system. The www.rtcmagazine.com/getconnected need for a well-functioning, reliable programmable logic controller (PLC) is readily apparent. With programmable logic controllers, no allowance needs to be made for the types of system failures with which we are familiar when working with PCs on an everyday basis.

Every time a Windows PC crashed, the PLC community longed for a PC designed for use in the office but which was able to offer the reliability of a PLC. It was therefore all the more incomprehensible that anyone would choose a Windows PC as a control platform with the functionality of a PLC. Against this long-time PLC developGet Connected with background, companies and featuredare in this section. ers products and users wondering why a soft PLC is necessary www.rtcmagazine.com/getconnected alongside the conventional embedded control concept with PLCs; the answer is simple, the soft PLC offers a wide range of advantages.

Buyers of a soft PLC will know that, in principle, they will be able to use any industrial PC as a hardware platform.

Get companies and products featured in thissemi-proprisection.

As a Connected result, the with system hardware is no longer

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ket forces.

Since PC hardware is produced in far larger quantities than other computing platforms, purchasers can buy what they need at significantly better prices. In addition, PC specifications and the interfaces are already precisely defined or standardized, and further improvements and innovations are also guaranteed due to the rapid rate at which (industrial) PCs themselves are changing. This eliminates the problems that may otherwise occur when proprietary or limited product lines are discontinued, since the PCs are, in principle, fully compatible with each other. A guarantee of hardware supply going beyond the standard ten-year period thus entails no risk for soft PLC suppliers.

Get Connected Moreover, the mentioned processing capacity can be flexibly adwith companies in this article. www.rtcmagazine.com/getconnected justed to suit each individual application. If a faster system is required, it may be sufficient in some cases to merely replace

End of Article

Get Connected with companies mentioned in this article. www.rtcmagazine.com/getconnected

www.rtcmagazine.com/getconnected

July 2006

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Software&DevelopmentTools

Windows XP Embedded

User Interface

Desktop Tools (Excel, etc.)

Networking

Enterprise LAN, Internet, etc.

TCP/IP Disk

TCP/IP Shared Memory

Real-Time Applications

Networking

CAN bus, Field bus, Internet, etc.

Windows CE

Figure 1

Running on a single CPU, Windows XP Embedded and Windows CE occupy separate and protected memory address spaces and communicate through shared memory via networking protocols. Real-time applications run separately, at a higher priority, and are unaffected by the Windows operating system.

the processor with a faster CPU of the same type. With the standard embedded control systems, the extent to which the hardware has been improved depends largely on the manufacturers, since they will decide when to convert to a new generation of processors, how many scaling options there will be in the interim, and what the general price level for the hardware should be.

A PLC system that uses a PC platform also offers particular advantages when the overall application is used for operation or visualization purposes in addition to the actual control functions, or when other specialized tasks need to be completed, such as image recording, image evaluation or complex control processes.

With the switch from proprietary embedded hardware to industrial PCs, a supplier of PLC solutions becomes a special type of system house providing high-quality hardware in a bundle together with the appropriate control software. An overall hardware/software system of this type, which also contains hardware developed or configured by the supplier itself, alongside software developed in-house, can then be optimally designed for the application and any possible scenarios that may arise in connection with it.

A Soft PLC offers the convenience of the Windows XP interface on the user side, while at the same time providing hard real-time by utilizing the Windows CE real-time operating system—all running on a single x86-based computer (Figure 1). These two operating systems are bridged by Kuka CeWin real-time virtualization software. The key element that makes the new industrial PC solution able to operate in hard

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July 2006

real-time is the real-time extension technology. This enables Windows XP to operate on the same CPU in parallel with the Windows CE real-time operating system, without Windows XP negatively affecting the ability of the system to operate in real-time.

Avoiding Problems from the Past

For several years, real-time extensions have been available for Windows; the real-time function being realized at the Windows XP kernel mode driver level. In principle, this has made real-time control possible and extensions are available on the market based on this concept.

These real-time drivers are an extension of Windows and are stored in the same memory as Windows, resulting in a certain degree of protection against a Windows blue screen.

However, it is always possible that a faulty driver running under Windows will disable the entire real-time function. In theory, all the drivers in such a system should be customwritten in order to provide the necessary degree of operating safety. Usually, however, a driver will be used that is neither written by the real-time supplier nor by Microsoft. As a result, errors can easily occur that can cause the real-time application to crash.

This issue causes problems with regard to product liability.

If a machine is operated using a real-time extension running in the Windows memory space, a driver error may result in the machine crashing when the motor is running at full capacity.

For this reason, machine developers have always avoided using Windows XP when it came to critical control systems, since they

Software&DevelopmentTools

had already experienced crashes of this nature on their own office computers.

When developers program a real-time extension for Windows XP at the driver level, they are not working with a well-accepted, open and standard operating system, but a niche product. Furthermore, only very few programmers are available who are familiar with the finer points of real-time extensions of this type. Due to the subsequent high support costs, this solution is unsuitable.

Loading and Starting of CeWin

Shared Memory Windows CE Exclusive Memory Anchor

Separated by MMU NDIS-Drivers

The key element that makes the new industrial PC solution able to operate in

Win32 Applications

hard real-time is the real-time extension

Uploader

technology. This enables Windows XP to operate on the same CPU in parallel

Windows XP Exclusive Memory

with the Windows CE real-time operating system, without Windows XP negatively BIOS, Memory-mapped Hardware For Example, Ethernet

affecting the ability of the system to operate in real-time.

RAM

A New Look at Real-Time Virtualization Solutions

Instead of using one of these conventional real-time extensions for Windows XP, a real-time virtualization technology brings hard real-time to Windows XP using Microsoft Windows CE to perform the real-time processing. In this context, Windows CE runs as a “headless device,” leaving out the display and keypad control, since this function is provided by Windows XP. As an added benefit, the full capabilities of both operating systems are supported; including all development environments and debugging tools. Full binary compatibility is maintained with their stand-alone versions.

In contrast to conventional real-time extensions, the realtime Windows CE operating system runs in parallel with standard Windows XP. Both Windows XP and Windows CE run in separate and protected memory areas. An important factor here is that neither of the two operating systems has access to the memory of the other. Thanks to the clear separation of the memory areas, any blue screen that may occur under Windows XP, will not influence the real-time functioning of Windows CE. Alternately, a Windows CE thread will

Figure 2

DISK

Windows CE Image File

Setting up the dual operating system scheme involves first booting Windows XP and defining a separate, protected memory domain for Windows CE. The previously configured CE image is then loaded from disk into the protected memory area and a “shared” area is set up for communication via a virtual network and TCP/IP.

not be able to accidentally write to Windows XP memory (Figure 2).

As far as Windows XP is concerned, the memory occupied

by Windows CE does not exist. This therefore provides complete protection. If one of the drivers within Windows XP were to try to access this memory, an exception error message would be generated by Windows XP. Hardware protection is also provided, since CeWin uses the x86 MMU to ensure that both operating systems are completely separated from each other in memory.

Even when Windows XP has been completely disabled, the realtime environment continues to run properly, so that defined states can be restored in due course.

July 2006

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Software&DevelopmentTools

Higher priority Windows CE IRQ occurred

Execution Priority High

Windows CE At least one task active

ISR Level

Windows CE

Task Level

Windows CE IRQ occurred Idle

No task active

Task

MS-Windows Level All tasks are idle Low

Figure 3

This state diagram shows Windows CE is invoked when a real-time interrupt occurs. As long as any CE task is active, control of the CPU remains with the Windows CE. Only when all real-time tasks have completed does Windows XP run again. Any Windows XP interrupts that occurred during the time Windows CE was active can now be serviced.

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Software&DevelopmentTools

Windows Exceptions No Longer a Problem

In the PLC environment, not only are interrupt latency and determinism important, but also reliability and stability. It must be possible to handle all exceptions from the Windows XP environment in a well-defined manner. In addition, if Windows XP enters an unrecoverable state, the operation of the PLC should not be affected.

This problem is addressed using the standard fault handler capabilities of the real-time virtualization software. At the point at which Windows XP enters a blue screen, the exception is intercepted and the processor context is switched to Windows CE; the blue screen handler is frozen and an event is triggered to which the application is able to react. The application is able to decide how to continue. The machine can therefore continue its production process through to the end of the shift in the normal way. At the end of the shift, the machine can then be restarted. The application can also decide to bring the machine into a safe state before initiating a full restart. The decision as to what should be done after a blue screen is determined by the Windows CE application.

Scalability can be achieved by using modular firmware in which certain functions are realized using dedicated modules.

The module firmware enables device configurations to scale down to a highly embedded PLC without the Windows XP front end. Since, in effect, the Windows CE RTOS is virtualized, no changes are required to run the same PLC software in a stand-alone Windows CE-only environment (Figure 3).

The real-time virtualization solution offers far more options than competing solutions. As a result, flexible solutions can be provided to meet the needs of customers, and to adapt product range to the market in each case, or even, if appropriate, to individual requirements.

These dual-OS systems communicate with the outside world via plug-in cards or Ethernet. A variety of possible network cards can be used for the real-time application so that the computer then has two network connections: one for Windows XP and one for Windows CE. This is necessary because the control systems also process real-time Ethernet protocols, which need to continue running under all circumstances, even during a blue screen event.

The firmware can be structured in such a way that when operating on a real-time system, the files are accessed simultaneously: the computer accesses them, and can either read them, or receive a read error in response. As a result, these calls are no longer deterministic when they have been conducted via the network drive. It could therefore take an indeterminate amount of time, in theory, before the function call returns. In this case, the firmware would simply block and therefore the real-time behavior would be partially lost. To address this, an interim layer can be inserted to make each of these calls asynchronous. An “asynchronous mechanism� is created for the access to the network drive; if the calls have not been completed within a specified time period, the call always returns to the firmware.

Such an open and versatile communication platform

provides support for a wide range of automation systems, by virtue of being based on internationally recognized standards. The use of innovative real-time operating system virtualization technology makes it possible to bring a reliable and cost-effective Soft PLC to market to provide a solution to the demand for an economically viable automation system.

Kuka Tustin, CA. (714) 505-1485. [www.kuka.com].

July 2006

59

Products&Technology Modulation Analysis Capability for WiMediaBased UWB Applications

Real-Time DSP Sleek Box for Vibration Applications

Agilent, Palo Alto, CA. (970) 679-5739. [www.agilent.com].

Data Translation, Marlboro, MA. (508) 481-3700. [www.datatranslation.com].

A full-featured, MB-OFDM (multi-band orthogonal frequency division multiplexing) ultra-wideband modulation analysis capability is now available for Agilent 89600 Series vector signal analysis software. Featuring a comprehensive set of measurements and error vector magnitude specifications, R&D developers can troubleshoot MB-OFDM ultra-wideband signals at any stage of the design process and more quickly identify the root cause of any potential problem in wireless USB and ultra-wideband (UWB) components, subsystems and systems.

MB-OFDM is a UWB specification from WiMedia Alliance. It is designed for wireless personal-area networks delivering high-speed (480 Mbits/s and beyond), lowpower multimedia capabilities for the PC, consumer electronics, mobile and automotive market segments. Agilent’s new Option BHB provides an advanced troubleshooting and evaluation tool set for analyzing MB-OFDM ultra-wideband signals.

It will support the WiMedia Alliance Physical Layer Specification Release 1.1, for FFI (non-hopped) and TFI (hopped) time-frequency codes.

Using Agilent’s Option BHB, the 89600 Series software and the DSO80000 Infiniium Series of digital scopes together effectively provides developers with one-stop shopping for hardware and software. A beta version of the Agilent 89600 VSA Option BHB MB-OFDM ultra-wideband modulation analysis software is now available as part of Agilent’s beta program.

Liquid Flow-Through Electronics Chassis Supports Range of Backplane Technologies

An advanced standards-based technology liquid-cooling demonstrator for high-power embedded electronics applications supports manufacturers and users of open system architectures. Designed with the defense and aerospace communities in mind, the product from Parker Hannifin is called a liquid flow-through (LFT) electronics chassis. The packaging for the LFT demonstrator chassis is an air transport rack (1-ATR long) standard-sized enclosure of approximately 8”h x 10”w x 20”l. The system is entirely self-contained, with its own closed-loop liquid cooling system.

The system contains coolant, a control system, smart pump, filter, accumulator, heaters (for cold-system startup), and three different board-level heat-absorbing technologies to demonstrate the variety of options available to the electronics designer.

The LFT chassis is capable of cooling up to a maximum of 850 watts per slot, a total of 2,000 watts with dielectric fluids such as hydrofluoroethers (HFE) and synthetic oil (PAO), or 4,000 watts with non-dielectric fluids such as water or water/glycol mixtures. The product can be scaled to accommodate the required amount of technology integration for individual applications, and is hybrid-backplane capable to accommodate any board technology, including VME, VITA 41/VXS and VITA 46-48/ VPX (REDI). Depending on the board-level cooling method, the electronic components may or may not be wetted by the cooling fluid as required or desired by the user. Pricing starts at $25,000 to $35,000 depending on options and volume.

Parker Hannifin, Cleveland, OH. (216) 896-3000. [www.parker.com].

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A real-time DSP data acquisition Sleek Box is capable of accepting eight simultaneous IEPE sensor inputs. The DT9841-VIB is the latest addition to the Fulcrum II Series of DSP data acquisition products for USB 2.0 from Data Translation. It provides excitation, signal conditioning and anti-aliasing filtering for real-time, high-accuracy integrated electronic piezo-electric (IEPE) sensor values.

The DT9841-VIB board contains eight simultaneous 24-bit sigma-delta analog input channels with a sampling rate of 100 kHz per channel, plus two 24-bit deglitched waveform analog output channels to control a shaker table, for example, and stimulate systems under test. Sixteen digital I/O lines for control and monitoring, and three 32-bit counter/timers provide highly accurate timing functions. All subsystems can be run simultaneously and monitored in real time with an onboard 32-bit floating-point processor. With sampling rates up to 100 kHz per channel and uninterrupted data transfer, the DT9841-VIB board is suitable for real-time operations.

Host and DSP communication libraries ship with the board and are compatible with TI Code Composer Studio and Microsoft Visual Studio, providing access to all onboard real-time functions and communication to/ from the PC. The DT9841-VIB, in a Sleek Box version, is priced at $5,690.

Base/Fabric ATCA 1Gb/10Gb Ethernet Switch

A new base-fabric Gbit/10 Gbit Ethernet switch fully utilizes all the advanced capabilities of the PICMG 3.0/3.1 specifications. Designed specifically as an interconnect for network-centric packet and protocol processing typically seen in modern telephony systems, the ATC6640 targets greatly increased platform bandwidth, network performance and reliability in high-availability applications including VoIP, media and signaling gateways, IP media equipment, Remote Access Servers (RAS), telecom switching/routing infrastructure and SS7 network elements.

The ATC6640 features two independent switches, each with its own dedicated management processor and memory, enabling users to isolate control and production traffic for optimum system performance and security. Each switch features support for IPv4/IPv6 switching/routing at wire-speed, as well as 10 Gbit uplinks. To ensure system reliability, the ATC6640 can be configured to monitor network status. It also continuously checks its own health through real-time integrity tests. In the event of system or network failure, data can be automatically re-routed to an alternate path.

The ATC6640 has dual, full-height, single-width AdvancedMC (AMC) sites, each with a single 1 Gbit connection from the base and up to two 10 Gbit connections from the fabric. These positions can be populated with a number of options, including adjunct processing modules or dual 10 Gbit optical or copper uplink modules. Rear panel I/O cards are also available. The ATC6640 offers easy FTP/TFTP updates to platform flash memory to preserve investments. System software is available that greatly simplifies and eliminates the need for dedicated onsite network administration.

Performance Technologies, Rochester, NY. (585) 256-0200. [www.pt.com].

Line of MicroTCA Chassis Will Cover 4U and 7U Subrack and 7U Cube

The first in a new line of MicroTCA chassis from Elma Electronic, which will include a 4U subrack, a 7U subrack and a 7U cube, is the 4U subrack. The enclosure features front-to-rear cooling and a 14-slot single star backplane. The chassis is compliant to the MicroTCA.0 Rev 1.0 specification and has slots for 12 AMC modules, 1 MicroTCA Carrier Hub (MHC) and 1 power module. The chassis has high EMC shielding and a superior airflow through the card cage due to the implementation of honeycomb filter structures.

MicroTCA defines a modular backplane architecture designed to support redundant “pods” of AdvancedMC (AMC) modules. The MicroTCA architecture allows large arrays of AMC modules to be used in a wide array of applications where a lower cost solution is required than could be achieved by the standard AdvancedTCA architecture. The MicroTCA backplane allows single or redundant virtual carriers to provide power management, platform management and fabric connections to greater numbers of modules than a single physical carrier card could support in a classic ATCA application.

MicroTCA systems will support up to 48 single-width, half-height AdvancedMC modules in a 19” EIA rack or an assortment of full-height modules either in single or double widths. AdvancedMC modules are targeted for such modular applications as storage arrays, firewalls, blade servers and even home entertainment centers. Pricing starts under $2,000, depending on options. The lead-time is 6-8 weeks.

Elma Electronic, Fremont, CA. (510) 656-3400. [www.elma.com].

Motion Control Software Includes Auto Tuning

A Windows-based tool to accelerate the development of motion control systems comes with capabilities that can be shared by the software, electrical and mechanical engineering teams in a motion control project. The release of Pro-Motion 3.5 from Performance Motion Devices includes auto tuning. For ease of use, an axis wizard enables quick and easy tuning of position loop, current loop and field-oriented control parameters.

Pro-Motion 3.5 provides servo loop auto tuning, which lets engineers specify the desired control loop response. Pro-Motion then analyzes the test motion profile and automatically calculates the PID parameters, providing a more accurate and faster tuning method than the trial-and-error of traditional approaches. Other features include status and event monitoring, a programmable motion shuttle and a complete motion oscilloscope. Pro-Motion 3.5 supports PCI bus, serial and multiple CAN interfaces as well as a dual encoder. In addition, the C-Motion library is available for developing applications using C and C++. The latest version supports Performance Motion Devices’ family of ION devices as well as its Magellan family of chips and boards and ships free with all ION and Magellan development kits.

Performance Motion Devices, Lincoln, MA. (781) 674-9860. [www.pmdcorp.com].

AdvancedTCA Platform Based on Pair of DualCore Xeon Processors

Designed to meet the needs of Telecom Equipment Manufacturers (TEMs), a new ATCA processor board features two Dual-Core Intel Xeon processors LV 2.0 running at GHz with 2 Mbyte 2nd level cache plus support for two AdvancedMC modules. The AT8020 from Kontron is an open modular processing platform that is expected to increase the number of deployments of ATCA solutions at the heart of every computerintensive mobile-IMS network element—from the transcoding of live multimedia mobile content on a multimedia resource function processor (MRFP) to concurrent processing of subscriber data on home subscriber locator (HLR) systems.

The two Dual-Core processors feature multicore technology and 2 Mbyte 2nd level cache.

Also unique to this board design is its two mid-size AMC sites for customization, up to 16 Gbytes of DDR 400 Registered ECC SDRAM, and a flexible mezzanine switch fabric featuring a CrossSwitch for SAS Get Connected with Timing technology and and Ethernet. The AT8020 is designed with a Network Subsyscompanies providing solutions now tem for clocking support to integrate with a wide assortment of telecom Get Connected is a new resource for further exploration I/O AMC modules such as T1/E1, OC-3 and others. into products, technologies and companies. Whether your goal The Kontron AT8020isisto built with Intel E7520from chipset with 667 research thethe latest datasheet a company, speak directly MHz FSB and support Express.

Included aretotwo rear 10/100/1000 withfor anPCI Application Engineer, or jump a company's technical page, the of Get Connected to put you in touch with the right resource.

Mbit/s Ethernet (Basegoal Interface), Dual-Dual is 1000Base-BX Ethernet (Option level of service for whatever of technology, 3), 1x serial RJ45, 1 Whichever x USB 2.0 (front) and you 1 Xrequire 10/100BaseT andtype SAS via Get Connected will help youonconnect withconfiguration. the companies and products RTM. OEM pricing starts at $5,000 depending memory

Ad Index

you are searching for.

Kontron, Poway, CA. (858) 677-0877. [www.us.kontron.com]. www.rtcmagazine.com/getconnected

Server Class Manageable Dual-Core Xeon VMEbus Blade

A new server class manageable VMEbus blade uses the low-power Intel dual-core Xeon processor running at 1.67 GHz. The PENTXM2 Get Connected with technology and companies providin from Thales combines the dual-core Xeon with the Intel E7520 serverGet class memory is a new resource for further exploration into produc Connected from aiscompany, speak directly with an Application Engineer, controller hub (MCH). Thedatasheet PENTXM2 in touchof with the right resource. Whichever level of service you require fo available with up to 4 Gbytes DDR2Get Connected will help you connect with the companies and products 400 SDRAM. When paired with the support of VITA 31.1www.rtcmagazine.com/getconnected backplane networking, the PENTXM2’s VITA 38 intelligent platform management interface (IPMI) feature provides for easy scaling into a multiprocessing system. The PENTXM2 provides a dual SATA-150, a triple USB 2.0 port and an EIDE interface for an onboard disk or compact flash support.

The PENTXM2 runs Red Hat Linux and features as an extensible firmware interface (EFI) standard BIOS/Firmware that is able to boot Linux 2.6, VxWorks, Lynx OS, Microsoft Windows and Red Hat Linux operating systems. The PENTXM2 is available as a stand-alone board component or pre-integrated in large systems (PowerMP6) with full Get and Connected with companies data transport management softwareand based on standards such as products featured in this section.

MPI and HTTP. Pricing for the PENTXM2 starts at $3,950 in small volwww.rtcmagazine.com/getconnected ume and subject to specifications. A rugged conduction-cooled version of the PENTXM2 will be available in the third quarter of 2006.

E

Products

Thales Computers, Edison, NJ. (732) 494-1011. [www.thalescomputers.com].

Get Connected with companies and products featured in this section. www.rtcmagazine.com/getconnected

July 2006

61

Products&Technology

PCI Express Analyzer Reduces Debugging Time

High-Speed A/D Data Acquisition Board Targets

Developers need a PCI Express analyzer with a breadth of features High-Frequency Apps that can be used for a wide variety of development projects. A new anaIn high-frequency sonar, test and measurement and radar applicalyzer from LeCroy fills that need for server, workstation, desktop and tions, the primary challenge of a high channel count, high-speed A/D add-in-board developers. converter card is moving data to the host processor or recorder. A data The PETracer Edge is based on a card platform that supports x1/ acquisition board from ICS, part of Radstone Embedded x2/x4 lane widths at 2.5 Gbyte/s speeds. Two versions are available. The Computing, tackles this problem by providing two PRO is a full-featured, low-cost analyzer and the EXPERT boasts adhigh-bandwidth data paths for communicavanced features that enable deep analysis of bus management and protion with host systems. tocol operation issues for error troubleshooting.

The ICS-645B’s Both versions let users quickly find errors 64-bit/66 MHz PCI via powerful triggering, filtering and interface provides error reporting. Difficult to undersustained aggrestand protocol traffic can be easily gate data rates in followed with annotated views and excess of 300 Mbytes/s, charts that display events by logical while the FPDP II port and chronological occurrence. CRC provides a 400 Mbyte/s re-checking displays reliable and dedicated connection from multiple cards, bypassing possible complete decodes of transaction layer PCI bus bottlenecks. With 16 Mbytes of onboard storage, the full-length packets, data link layer packets andand all Get Connected with technology ICS-645B can tolerate the unpredictable interrupt latencies encountered PCI Express primitives. companies providing solutions now in non-real-time operating systems. It provides 32 single-ended 16-bit TheConnected PETracer isEdge uses the CATCexploration Get a new resource for further A/D converter input channels, simultaneously sampled even in multiintosystem products, andincompanies.

Whether goal systems by high-speed oversampling Analog Devices AD9260 A/ Trace software totechnologies assist users analyzing how yourcard is to research the latest datasheet from a company, speak directly PCI Express components work together in diagnosing problems.

D converters at up to 20 megasamples/s. with an utilizes Applicationa Engineer, or jump to agraphical company's display, technical page, the The CATC Trace, which Windows-based goal of Get Connected is to put you in touch with the right resource. Options include 8x, 4x, 2x and 1x oversampling modes. Windows embeds detailed knowledge of the protocol hierarchy and intricacies, as and Linux device drivers and MatLab libraries are available. Pricing Whichever level of service you require for whatever type of technology, defined in the protocol specification.

List price is $9,950. starts at $8,580.

Get Connected will help you connect with the companies and products you are searching for. 425-2000. [www.lecroy.com].

LeCroy, Chestnut Ridge, NY. (845) Radstone Embedded Computing, Billerica, MA. (800) 368-2738.

Ad Index

www.rtcmagazine.com/getconnected

[www.radstone.com].

FPGA FFT Core is 10x Faster

A new FPGA FFT core for signal processing applications performs T1/E1/J1 PMC is Conduction-Cooled 4K point FFTs at least 10 times faster and more efficiently than any preIn the harshest environments, heat, cold, shock and vibration vious implementation. It is targeted at demanding military and indusGet Connected with technology and companies providing now can destroysolutions telecommunications hardware. A new conduction-cooled trial signal processing applications and can significantly reduce system PMC from Extreme Engineering provides size, weight and power. Get Connected is a new resource for further explorationT1/E1/J1 into products, technologies and companies.

Whether your goal is totelecommunicaresearch the latest datasheet from Microsystems a company, speakperforms directly with Engineer, or jumpfor to amultiple company'sprotocols technical page, goal of Get in Connected is to put you tions support andtheinterfaces applications The Extreme FFT Core from TEK upan toApplication one in touch with the right resource. Whichever level of service you require for whatever type gateways, of technology,ISDN PRI, PCM such as PBX-to-VoIP million 4K point FFTs/s, and is pre-integrated with TEK Microsystems’ Get Connected will help you connect with the companies and products you are searching voice, LAN/WAN datafor.transNeptune and Triton VXS-based products. It features run-time programwww.rtcmagazine.com/getconnected port, frame relay, Signaling System 7 (SS7) and wireless basestations.

The conduction-cooled PowerQUICC II-based XPort2001 is the industry’s first to support the Asterisk PBX. It supports fully channelized HDLC and transparent protocols over four software-configurable T1/E1/J1 interfaces, and includes CSU/DSU support. The card’s Freescale MPC8270 Power QUICC II processor runs at up to 450 MHz. Up to 256 Mbytes of ECC mable FFT sizes of 1, 2 and 4K along with a run-time programmable DDR SDRAM and up to 64 Mbytes of soldered flash are provided, along window. This design uses only about 10K slices, which takes up about Connected and Getsoftware-configured Connected with four T1/E1/J1 interfaces on the P14 rear I/O. one-third ofGet a Xilinx Virtex IIwith Procompanies 70, and incorporates optimized arithproducts featured in this section. with companies mentioned in this article. metic for maximum signal/noise ratio.

Operating temperature range is -40° to +85°C, and power conwww.rtcmagazine.com/getconnected www.rtcmagazine.com/getconnected sumption is under 4W. Options include 10/100 Mbit/s Ethernet on the Pricing of the Extreme FFT Core is $10,000.

P14 rear I/O, an RS-232 SMC port and SS7 support. Integrated PCI TEK Microsystems, Chelmsford, MA. (978) 244-9200.

Asterisk software drivers are available for Linux. Linux and VxWorks [www.tekmicro.com].

BSPs are also available. OEM pricing is under $2,000, depending on Get Connected with companies in this article. memory configuration, processor clock speed andmentioned annual volumes. www.rtcmagazine.com/getconnected Get Connected with companies and products featured in this section.

Extreme Engineering Solutions, Madison, WI. (608) 833-1155.

Products

www.rtcmagazine.com/getconnected

62

July 2006

End of Article

[www.xes-inc.com].

Device Server Connects Non-Traditional Equipment to Enterprise Nets

As the number of networked factory and building automated systems continues to grow, more non-traditional machines are being connected to enterprise networks. A new device server from Lantronix makes it easier to establish secure, standards-based connections and provides a development platform for controlling attached equipment.

The EDS4100 delivers these features via its incorporation of the company’s Evolution OS, which enables the creation of easily managed, large-scale machine-to-machine (M2M) device networks. It supports the protocols used to connect traditional network equipment, such as servers, routers and switches. An extensive security suite of enterprisegrade, open standards-based protocols such as SSL 3.0 and SSH2 encryption are included. The server incorporates “Ciscolike” Command Line Interface (CLI) capabilities, familiar to most network engineers, enabling the device servers to be quickly and easily added to and configured for existing networks. A Web server and SNMP are included for maximum configuration flexibility.

The EDS4100 comes equipped to support XML and RSS for configuration and information transport. It is fully IEEE 802.3af Powerover-Ethernet-compliant and RoHS-compliant. Price for a single unit is $475.

Lantronix, Irvine, CA. (800) 526-8764. [www.lantronix.com].

Rugged Flash Disk Mezzanine Card Delivers High Density

In some harsh environments, extreme temperature, shock or vibration make the use of mechanical hard disk drives impractical. To meet that need, Curtiss-Wright Controls Embedded Computing has introduced a ruggedized flash disk PMC/XMC card that delivers up to 64 Gbytes of high-speed storage.

The PBOD can function either as “just a bunch of disks” (JBOD) or as a RAID device via software support. In systems that support USB flash drives it appears to the host OS as up to eight drives that can be independently operated at over 10 Mbytes/s each. Using RAID software, the array appears as a single logical drive with a sustained aggregate data rate exceeding 40 Mbytes/s.

ECC NAND flash correction includes 1 bit per 256 correction and 2 bit error detection. Other features include PMC 32-bit, 33/66 MHz or XMC 1 lane PCI Express, hardware write protect and SmartMedia page management.

Options include Hardware Flash Destruct for secure applications.

The PBOD is available in 8, 16, 24, 32 and 64 Gbyte configurations, as well as L0, L50 and L100 air-cooled configurations and L100 and L200 conduction-cooled ruggedized levels. Pricing starts at under $2,500 in volume for the 8 Gbyte version.

Curtiss-Wright Controls Embedded Computing, Dayton, OH. (937) 252-5601. [www.cwcembedded.com].

July 2006

63

goal of Get Connected is to put you in touch with the right resource.

Whichever level of service you require for whatever type of technology, Get Connected will help you connect with the companies and products you are searching for.

Products&Technology

www.rtcmagazine.com/getconnected

PXI Embedded Controller Is First with Intel Core Duo

Dual-core processors bring a wealth of benefits to multithreaded applications and multitasking environments, as well as multi-channel, multi-rate data-logging applications. A new dual-core PXI controller from National Instruments is the first to use the 2 GHz Intel Core Duo T2500 processor, improving the performance of multithreaded applications up to 100% compared to single-core PXI controllers with the same processor clock rate.

The PXI-8105 controller works with all PXI modular instruments and data acquisition modules. It uses the Mobile Intel 945GM Express chipset, which includes the PCI Express bus. The controller’s ExpressCard/34 slot uses the PCI Express and USB 2.0 serial interfaces to provide up to 2.5 Gbit/s throughput in each direction. Other integrated peripherals include Gigabit Ethernet, four USB 2.0 ports, GPIB, serial and parallel. 512 Mbytes of dual-channel 667 MHz DDR-2 memory, along with analog and digital DVI-I video and a 60 Gbyte serial ATA hard drive, are included.

Windows XP Professional is preinstalled. The controller supports all National Instruments software, as well as C, C++, Visual Basic and Microsoft Visual Studio .NET. Pricing begins at $4,499.

National Instruments, Austin, TX. (512) 683-0100. [www.ni.com].

98390_2p4c_Analog.qxd 1/4/06 8:20 AM Page 1

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Multi-function 12 and 16-bit analog I/O including high density signal conditioning & AWG

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Digital I/O up to 120 bits including models with counter/timers and change of state detection!

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8, 16, and 32-channel digital input/relay output boards

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Optically isolated and multi-port RS-232/422/485 serial communications

Single-Chip WiMAX Radio is FieldReconfigurable

The first single-chip Get programmable radiowith thattechnology can be reconfigured Connected and companies provi in the field to support multiple frequency Get Connected is a new resource for further exploration into pro bands, as well as currently specified datasheet fromIEEE a company, speak directly with an Application Engine 802.16e bandwidth configurations, is right nowresource. Whichever level of service you require in touch with the available from AsicAhead.

The chip elimiGet Connected will help you connect with the companies and produc nates the need for multiple RFICs and enwww.rtcmagazine.com/getconnected ables worldwide deployment of WiMAXconnected devices and systems, such as customer premise equipment, wireless data devices and mobile phones.

The CMOS AA1001’s reprogrammable wideband transceiver overcomes the major challenges faced by WiMAX developers, such as regional frequency band variation, multiple radio bandwidths and the need for low power consumption. In addition, the AA1001 eliminates the need for expensive SAW filters and a temperature compensated crystal oscillator (TCXO), lowering overall BOM cost. It covers all frequency bands continuously 700 MHzwith to 6companies GHz. A and dual-band reference design is Getfrom Connected products featured in this section. also provided.

Smallwww.rtcmagazine.com/getconnected quantity pricing for the AA1001 is $18 for 10,000 units.

Large volume pricing is also available.

Products

AsicAhead NV, Hasselt, Belgium. +32.11.350810. [www.AsicAhead.com].

Get Connected with companies and products featured in this section. www.rtcmagazine.com/getconnected

Complete Integrated PC/104 Embedded Systems

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800-326-1649 www.accesio.com 64

July 2006

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is to research the latest datasheet from a company, speak directly with an Application Engineer, or jump to a company's technical page, the goal of Get Connected is to put you in touch with the right resource.

Whichever level of service you require for whatever type of technology, Get Connected will help you connect with the companies and products you are searching for.

www.rtcmagazine.com/getconnected

Advertiser Index Get Connected with technology and companies providing solutions now Get Connected is a new resource for further exploration into products, technologies and companies. Whether your goal is to research the latest datasheet from a company, speak directly with an Application Engineer, or jump to a company's technical page, the goal of Get Connected is to put you in touch with the right resource. Whichever level of service you require for whatever type of technology, Get Connected will help you connect with the companies and products you are searching for.

www.rtcmagazine.com/getconnected

Company

Page

Website

ACCES I/O Products..............................................................................................64..................................................................................................www.accesio.com Acromag................................................................................................................39................................................................................................ www.acromag.com Advanet Technologies............................................................................................16...........................................................................................www.advanettech.com

Products

End of Article

Advantech Technologies, Inc..................................................................................46..............................................................................................www.advantech.com ARCOM.................................................................................................................36....................................................................................................www.arcom.com ARM Developers Conference..................................................................................65....................................................................................................... www.arm.com

Get Connected with companies and Get Connected BitMicro Networks, Inc.. .........................................................................................63................................................................................................. www.bitmicro.com products featured in this section.

with companies mentioned in this article.

Dynatem, Inc..........................................................................................................7................................................................................................. www.dynatem.com www.rtcmagazine.com/getconnected www.rtcmagazine.com/getconnected Elma Bustronic Corp..............................................................................................29........................................................................................ www.elmabustronic.com ELMA Electronic, Inc..............................................................................................24...................................................................................................... www.elma.com Embedded Planet..................................................................................................48.................................................................................... www.embeddedplanet.com

Get Connected with companies mentioned in this article. www.rtcmagazine.com/getconnected Embedded Systemswith Conference/Boston................................................................40..................................................................................www.embedded.com/esc/sv Get Connected companies and products featured in this section.

www.rtcmagazine.com/getconnected GE Fanuc Embedded Systems............................................................................... 4,8................................................................................ www.gefanuc.com/embedded Hunt Engineering Ltd..............................................................................................6.................................................................................................. www.hunt-rtg.com Hybricon Corporation.............................................................................................33.................................................................................................www.hybricon.com Interactive Circuits and Systems............................................................................47.................................................................................................... www.ics-ltd.com Kontron America....................................................................................................68..................................................................................................www.kontron.com Logic Supply, Inc....................................................................................................6..............................................................................................www.logicsupply.com Mercury Computer Systems...................................................................................37................................................................................................. www.mercury.com Octagon Systems................................................................................................. 2,3.....................................................................................www.octagonsystems.com One Stop Systems.................................................................................................49.................................................................................... www.onestopsystems.com Phoenix International.............................................................................................59................................................................................................ www.phenxint.com QNX Software Systems, Ltd...................................................................................13........................................................................................................ www.qnx.com Real-Time & Embedded Computing Conference................................................... 21,38....................................................................................................www.rtecc.com Red Rock Technologies, Inc...................................................................................63........................................................................................... www.redrocktech.com RTC Digital Delivery...............................................................................................54........................................................................................... www.rtcmagazine.com SBE, Inc............................................................................................................. 50,58.....................................................................................................www.sbei.com Teligy....................................................................................................................20..................................................................................................... www.teligy.com TenAsys Corporation..............................................................................................67..................................................................................................www.tenasys.com Themis Computer..................................................................................................27................................................................................................... www.themis.com VadaTech..............................................................................................................11................................................................................................www.vadatech.com WIN Enterprises/AMD............................................................................................44.................................................................................................. www.win-ent.com WinSystems..........................................................................................................17............................................................................................www.winsystems.com Xycom VME...........................................................................................................25..............................................................................................www.xycomvme.com RTC (Issn#1092-1524) magazine is published monthly at 905 Calle Amanecer, Ste. 250, San Clemente, CA 92673. Periodical postage paid at San Clemente and at additional mailing offices.

POSTMASTER: Send address changes to RTC, 905 Calle Amanecer, Ste. 250, San Clemente, CA 92673.

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INtime keeps Windows on time. ®

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Speed your design cycle with power and grace. Using Microsoft ® Visual Studio ® tools to develop and debug both Windows and INtime applications is easy and saves time. You’ll pass the competition with real authority.

It pays to be prompt. Learn how the union of Windows and INtime really works, and how 25 years of practical innovation profits you. Call toll-free (877) 277-9189 or visit www.tenasys.com/intime

2004

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Copyright © 2006 TenAsys Corporation. All rights reserved. TENASYS, INTIME, and IRMX are registered trademarks of TenAsys Corporation. Other trademarks and brand names are the property of their respective owners.