Embedded Technology Journal Update

a techfocus media publication :: April 22, 2008 :: volume XI, no. 04

FROM THE EDITOR

This week, Bryon Moyer takes a look at MCAPI – a new protocol coming in May that can help with IPC for embedded multicore. MCAPI is a low-overhead protocol that seems well suited to the challenges of multicore embedded applications. Bryon’s latest feature brings us the simple facts.

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Kevin Morris – Editor-in-Chief
Techfocus Media, Inc.

EVENTS and ANNOUNCEMENTS

Avnet brings a taste of the Embedded Systems Conference to its Web site, offering four brief video versions of what was exhibited on the show floor. This brings the Avnet experience to life for those who couldn’t make ESC with videos on portable instrumentation, embedded systems, video processing & motor control. View the videos here

Powering FPGA-Based Systems … Simply
DC/DC µModuleTM regulators are complete system-in-package power supplies, ready to power your FPGA-based systems. These powerful DC/DC circuits include the inductor and MOSFETs and are simplified to resemble an IC. From low to high power, these DC/DC µModule systems are backed by Linear Technology’s rigorous testing.
Click here for more

High Efficiency Power Supply Design for FPGA-Based Systems. Performance of FPGA-based systems depends on the electrical and thermal performance of DC/DC regulators. A properly packaged power management device improves regulation accuracy and stability while removing heat quickly. DC/DC µModuleTM regulators from Linear Technology are complete system-in-package power supplies in an IC form-factor with optimum layout and very low thermal impedance.
Click here for more

Xilinx Virtex(r) -5 FPGA Development kit for PCIe(r)
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NEW!! IC Journal - Do you love Embedded Tech Journal? We're happy to announce our new IC Design and Verification Journal. It'll be just like Embedded Tech Journal except, you know, about ASICs and stuff.
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CURRENT FEATURE ARTICLES

Getting Back to a Simpler Life
A New Multicore Communications API is Ratified
(Bryon Moyer)
Multicore Momentum
The Multicore Expo Bulks Up (Bryon Moyer)
Java Earning Its Wings
Aonix Makes Real Time Almost Safety Critical
(Bryon Moyer)
MIPS Moves on Multi-Core
MIPS32 1004K (Kevin Morris)
As Easy As Pie
(Bryon Moyer)
Embedded World
(Dick Selwood)
Bringing Reality to PCB Design
by Rob Irwin, Altium Limited

JOURNAL WEBCASTS

CHALK TALK Low Cost FPGA with Serdes Lattice ECP2M Amelia Dalton talks with Bertrand Leigh of Lattice Semiconductor about low-cost FPGAs with multi-gigabit SerDes interface capability. (Lattice Semiconductor)

CHALK TALK Crossing the Gap between Algorithm and Hardware Implementation. Join Amelia Dalton as she learns how C++ and Catapult C Synthesis can accelerate the design, implementation, and verification of complex system-level algorithms. (Mentor Graphics)

Approaching Yield in the Nanometer Age-DFM Methodology. As we dive deeper into the nanometer era, we must rethink the way we design. Tools, techniques, and methods that once worked without fail cannot hold up at the 65 and 45nm depths, making it more challenging than ever to achieve yield. This tutorial explores these challenges within both the business and historical context of the IC design and manufacturing process. (Mentor Graphics)

CHALK TALK CES 2008. Did you miss CES? Amelia Dalton didn't! Watch Journal Webcasts coverage of the event now.

CHALK TALK Meeting The Challenges of FPGA Design With Synplify Premier. Join Amelia Dalton as she investigates several new design technologies that address the top challenges faced by FPGA designers today. (Synplicity)

CHALK TALK Accelerate SoC and ASIC Verification Using FPGA Prototypes. Join Amelia Dalton as she explores methods of ASIC verification available today and why FPGA-based prototypes offer the most affordable and most powerful solution. (Synplicity)

CHALK TALK Advancing SoC Verification Methods.
Join Amelia Dalton as she talks with experts from Mentor Graphics on processor-driven test and other techniques for solving your system-on-chip verification problems. (Mentor Graphics)

Getting Back to a Simpler Life
A New Multicore Communications API is Ratified (Bryon Moyer)

Thanks to a late arrival, I walked briskly through the jetway and out into the terminal. Glancing out through the window, I confirmed, to my relief, what the map in the airline magazine had shown: my connection, while technically in another terminal, was in fact quite close. I could see it from here, although I was separated from it by about 40 yards and two layers of glass. But as I hurried in that direction, I realized that you could only get from one terminal to another on some tram-like affair; you couldn’t walk it without going back out through security. With a sigh of annoyance, I quickened my pace past six gates to where the tram station was. Which was when realized it was one of those trams that circles in one direction along its route. If I was in luck, mine would be the first stop. I wasn’t in luck; the tram went the opposite way, so my stop was the last stop. Aligning all my chi to will the tram faster, I got to my stop, dashed out the door, skipped steps down the escalator, and vaulted towards the gate. Just in time. In 20 minutes I had managed to travel a net 40 yards. [more]