Embedded Technology Journal Update

a techfocus media publication :: May 13, 2008 :: volume XI, no. 07

FROM THE EDITOR

This week, Bryon Moyer dives deeper into multicore messaging by looking at a commercially-available implementation of MCAPI. Polycore offers a service that implements the MCAPI API standard in their Poly Messenger product. Our latest feature has the details.

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

EVENTS and ANNOUNCEMENTS

Instrumentation Unleashed … SBC-ComEx!
A Stand Alone, intelligent carrier card combining an industry-standard COM Express CPU module running Windows or Linux and dual XMC modules to create the ultimate-performance embedded computer.

Click here to download data sheets & pricing!

Introducing the FPGA Mezzanine Card: Emerging VITA 57 standard brings modularity to FPGA designs. The new FMC standard is stepping in to help engineers face challenges in I/O limitations.
Click here to read more.

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.
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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)
Cut design time, power and cost with built-in PCIe block.
Get started now with this PCI-SIG compliant solution from Xilinx.
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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

Multicore Messaging Manifested
Polycore Implements MCAPI (Bryon Moyer)
Coming to a Home Near You?
LONworks Implementations Spreading
(Bryon Moyer)
It’s the Parallelism, Stupid!
(Bryon Moyer)
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)

JOURNAL WEBCASTS

NEW!! CHALK TALK Low Power Design With Xilinx and Linear Technology. Join Amelia Dalton as she chats with Mark Moran of Xilinx and Afshin Odabaee of Linear Technology about low power FPGA based designs. (Xilinx)

CHALK TALK Designing Embedded Systems With Linux and low cost FPGAs. Join Amelia Dalton as she chats with industry experts about simplifying embedded systems design with Linux running on low-cost programmable system-on-chip platforms. (Xilinx)

CHALK TALK Lowest Total System Cost With Xilinx
Spartan-3. Amelia Dalton chats with Mark Moran of Xilinx about reducing your overall system cost with Xilinx Spartan-3 family of FPGAs (Xilinx)

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)

[click here for more webcasts]

Multicore Messaging Manifested
Polycore Implements MCAPI (Bryon Moyer)

A few weeks ago we took a look at the new MCAPI standard that provides low-level, low-overhead message-passing capabilities for multicore and tightly-coupled multi-processor systems. But of course, standards are no good unless someone implements them, so here we take a look at the first commercially-available implementation of the MCAPI standard, built by Polycore. As MCAPI committee chair, Polycore’s Sven Brehmer has been well-positioned and motivated to bring to market a realization of the standards work.

The standard itself is simply an API, and it specifies no implementation details. An MCAPI service would consist of libraries and run-time services that implement the semantics of the API. [more]