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Get up to speed fast at embedded conference

By Julie Anne McNamara, Contributing Editor -- Design News, April 9, 2001

San Francisco's Moscone Center will be the place for mechanical engineers to learn more about embedded systems this month. During the week of April 9, the Center will host the twelfth annual Embedded Systems Conference (ESC).

Embedded systems continue to find their way into myriad electromechanical applications. One re-cent example is hand drills, says Lindsey Vereen, conference chair of the Embedded Systems Conference and editorial director of "Embedded Systems Programming." New high-end drill models feature a digital signal processor controlling the motor for increased efficiency. In one drill, the DSP actually sits inside the hollow plastic trigger.

"Engineers don't do this gratuitously just because there are microprocessors out there and they can," says Vereen. "There are several good reasons for using embedded systems in a design." He cites lowering product cost, decreasing power consumption, increasing product safety, enhanced reliability, and the ability to add more features as the top five reasons.

One area in which Vereen expects to see more embedded systems is appliances. Adding smarts to a refrigerator's motor, for example, could improve engine efficiency and reduce power consumption. The cost of adding a microprocessor to a motor is minor for most applications, and the benefits can be significant.

Another technology trend engineers should pay attention to is wireless communications, which goes far beyond the realm of cellular telephones, says Vereen. "Embedded systems used to be primarily stand-alone applications," he says, "but thanks to the ubiquity of the Internet, these applications can be connected and interconnected." In most instances, the most practical way to make these connections is wirelessly.

Already, embedded systems are enabling wireless reading of home electric meters and remote monitoring of vending machines. Technologies such as Bluetooth will make practical wireless connections between a teenager's MP3 player and a headset. "At MIT's Media Lab, they're working on a technology to let people exchange business card information with just a handshake," notes Vereen.

The Embedded Systems Conference will offer tutorials and classes on designing wireless devices as well as other hot topics such as embedded Java, Internet appliance design, system-on-chip (SOC), and developing distributed systems. The focus, as always, is on learning practical skills and techniques that engineers can apply the day they get back to the office.

The conference kicks off Monday with a program of 15 full-day tutorials with levels ranging from introductory to advanced. Beginning tutorials are a good way for mechanical engineers to begin learning about embedded design, and these courses include: Demystifying DSP, Embedded C Overview, The Wireless Web, Managing Embedded Projects, Embedded Linux Essentials, and Graphics for Embedded Systems.

Tuesday through Friday the educational program continues with a total of 171 hour-and-a-half-long classes, including 91 new ones. In addition to extensive coverage of the newest technologies, ESC provides a solid program on the fundamentals for the beginning embedded designer. Introductory-level classes cover a range of topics and include: Embedded Internetworking with 8- and 16-bit Microcontrollers, What Every Embedded System Designer Should Know, Internet Security: The Basics, Communications Protocols for Consumer Internet Appliances, Bluetooth IP Selection Criteria, and Multitasking Design and Implementation Issues in Embedded Systems.

Tuesday through Thursday, the show floor is open, and more than 300 companies will be exhibiting components, software tools, and operating systems for designing fast, efficient, and reliable embedded systems. Showgoers will be able to talk face-to-face with product engineers from both industry giants and up-and-coming firms. The world's largest exhibition of embedded products will include: real-time operating systems, embedded Internet tools, development and testing tools, DSPs, flash memory chips, Java for embedded systems, and networking tools. All these products are increasingly becoming standard tools not just for electrical engineers but for engineers of all stripes.

For news and introductions from this week's conference, visit www.embedded. com/esc.

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What do you need to know about embedded systems?

This article is the first of a monthly series on "Embedded Systems and the OEM Engineer," alternately sponsored by Microchip Technology and Texas Instruments. Today's products are designed by teams—the electronics segment is part of the total design and not relegated to specialists. The lead engineer—who may or may not be an electrical engineer—is often the one who chooses a microcontroller, digital signal processor, or embedded operating system. And the trend of adding intelligence to everything from household appliances and automobiles to medical equipment and machine tools is just getting started. What do you need to know to specify the best components for your particular application? What seemingly "dumb" products are you reincarnating with embedded brains? What are your greatest challenges and frustrations? We really want to know. Please send any questions, answers, or comments to National Editor Paul E. Teague, pteague@cahners.com.

Texas Instruments' busy booth features DSPs, development kits

Texas Instruments will be a major presence at the Embedded Systems Conference. Its booth will showcase TI products as well as products from TI Third Party Network Members, and about a dozen TI engineers will be leading technical classes and tutorials.

Mechanical engineers working on motion-control applications will want to stop by the booth to see the Digital Motor Control (DMC) Technology Development Kit for developing digital control applications from third-party-member Spectrum Digital Inc. The kit is based on Texas Instruments' TMS320LF2407 ez digital signal processor—a 16-bit fixed-point DSP with flash memory—and includes the processor, power-conversion board, and DMC software spinning a motor.

Motion-control applications have traditionally been dominated by microcontrollers, but increasing performance demands are driving some designers to use DSPs. These now offer sizes and costs comparable to those of microcontrollers but with much higher performance. By combining on-chip peripherals, performance up to 400 MIPS (million instructions per second), software, and support, TMS320C2000 DSPs can enable motion-control designers to tap into new or previously unknown markets with a simple design.

Also in the realm of motion control, TI third-party Technosoft will be showing its Code Composer Studio plug-in modules and motion-control software libraries.

Ingenient Technologies will be at the TI booth demonstrating its MP4110 MPEG-4 Simple Visual Profile Codec on TI's Imaging Developer's Kit. The MP4110 video codec is a high-performance, software-programmable device that works with TMS320C6000 platform DSPs. Demonstrations will include real-time video encode/decode loopback, high-quality PVR record and playback, and simulated multi-party conferencing. Applications for this chip combination include video servers, multimedia gateways, and surveillance systems.

In another corner of the booth, visitors can see how to use TI's DSPIP Network Developer's Kit with an Ethernet daughter card for developing a DSP application that requires network connectivity, such as networked embedded systems, Internet appliances, and Internet-connected industrial automation. In this demonstration, the kit acts as a server for passing packetized data across an Ethernet network using the TCP/IP stack. The network control functions are integrated onto the DSP, which eases design and reduces cost.

Finally, booth visitors can learn about Texas Instruments' TMS320C55x DSP Generation—the world's most power-efficient DSPs, according to the company. The platform has a roadmap as low as 0.05 milliwatt per MIPS, and can slash power consumption to one-sixth of the current low-power industry leader. Power-hungry applications that could benefit from this processor include consumer media players, personal medical devices, wireless modems, and next-generation GPS receivers.

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