Introduction

As connected devices continue to penetrate the mainstream -- fast-paced, technology-savvy consumers constantly demand more from them. They must perform faster, possess higher bandwidth, consume less power and operate with increased autonomy. These increasingly complex embedded devices are driving the immediate need for efficient software solutions that reduce the cost of building and maintaining them.

Virtualization, enabling multiple operating systems to run concurrently on shared hardware, is a disruptive technology that has had a significant impact and positive effect in the enterprise server space due to its ability to reduce costs and improve ROI. However to translate these benefits to the embedded market requires a new virtualization technology. VirtualLogix™ calls this breakthrough technology, Real-Time Virtualization™ for Connected Devices. This differs greatly from previous available enterprise virtualization technology by providing:

• Real-time capability: Many embedded devices require time-critical responses to environmental stimuli.
• High throughput: Applications such as network switching equipment require very high I/O throughput.
• Small memory footprint: Memory is a critical resource particularly in consumer electronics
• Supporting many different operating systems: Unlike servers and desktops the embedded operating system market is highly fragmented with both commercial and internal proprietary operating systems being used for decades. In addition there is strong interest in adding an rich OS such as Linux into the systems

Similarly, it solves many of the problems that are associated with connected device designs by enabling semiconductors companies, manufacturers and carriers to reduce bill of materials (BoM) by enabling hardware consolidation, improve time to market by leverage existing software investments, and create additional sources of revenue.

A New Breed in Virtualization Technology

VirtualLogix’s real-time virtualization software enables multiple operating systems, referred to as “Guest OS”, to run simultaneously on the same single or multi-core processor, while maintaining hard real-time and high throughput requirements. (refer to Diagram 1). Guest OS's run independently of each other, but can cooperate by means of efficient inter-OS communication mechanisms. This enables manufacturers to share hardware resources and combine a real-time operating system (RTOS) with a rich OS such as Linux to add more functionality to embedded devices quickly and with reduced costs.

Diagram 1: Multiple Guest OSes running on a single or multi-core processor

There is a strong desire to utilize Linux in embedded devices in order to gain rich functionality and leverage the developing ecosystem. However, the barriers to adoption include concerns about open source licensing contaminating proprietary IP, the ability of Linux to handle high-throughput requirements, and large existing investments in legacy software. Virtualization overcomes these challenges by enabling proprietary intellectual property to be isolated from open source GPL requirements of Linux. By running Linux simultaneously with other operating systems and application running on shared hardware, Linux is introduced into the embedded system while utilizing existing software stacks and maintaining high-throughput. It will also provide a range of performance, fault tolerance and security trade-offs for specific target market requirements.

A thin abstraction layer can manage key system resources to isolate the Guest OS's from the underlying hardware. More precisely, VirtualLogix’s VLX software relies primarily on the partitioning of resources between Guest OS's and on the virtualization of resources that cannot be partitioned.

To ensure secure, efficient and timely device operation, hardware resources must be managed on a “fine grain” basis, which means it must be possible to allocate memory to any of the environments as needed and provide flexible scheduling of activities— regardless of operating environment—while simultaneously preserving real-time guarantees. Moreover, it must be possible to exclusively allocate an I/O device to one environment, or to share it between several environments.

Typically, physical memory is partitioned between Guest OS's, while the CPU, FPU, MMU or other system components, such as the real-time clock and interrupt controller, are virtualized. This approach enables virtualization technology to be applied to embedded and real-time systems.

Virtualization in Embedded Applications

Virtualization offers distinct benefits for a wide range of embedded markets. The following are sample case studies on how it helps address software challenges in mobile handsets, network infrastructure and digital multimedia applications.

Mobile Handsets
The mobile handset industry is eager to adopt Linux in order to leverage the power of open platforms and the rapidly growing Linux mobile ecosystem to deliver lower cost, feature-rich mobile handsets and deliver innovative new services. Manufacturers are faced with the challenges of quickly adding a rich OS, such as Linux, without adding to the hardware cost, reusing existing software stack where possible and also securing the device from mobile malware. VirtualLogix’s VLX speeds the inclusion open operating systems by enabling the rich OS and the existing mobile phone stack to run simultaneously on a single processor core, without requiring a separate applications processor. VLX also increases security and fault tolerance for feature and smartphones by isolating security and device management functions from potential corruptions that may be present in the rich OS.

Network Infrastructure
There is a growing trend in technology that is moving towards multi-core processors and designers are hesitating to take advantage of it due to the difficulties of adapting their software to multi-core. VirtualLogix VLX helps ease the migration to multi-core processors by allowing commercial or proprietary real-time operating systems (RTOS) and Linux to run unmodified on the same multi-core processor, resulting in reduced bill of materials, optimized performance and lowered power consumption. Hardware is consolidated because multiple heterogeneous operating systems are able to co-exist on a single platform. In addition, porting efforts are eliminated and the need to re-validate existing software is dramatically reduced, enabling customers to immediately take advantage of the latest hardware technology.

Digital Multimedia
New iterations of emerging products, such as IP set-top boxes, videophones, IP netcams and other high-volume multimedia devices, increasingly require the capabilities and features of open operating systems, such as Linux. However, heavy video processing demands require the real-time performance and ecosystem of the TI DSP/BIOS kernel. Previously, developers dedicated an additional applications processor to Linux. VirtualLogix VLX virtualizes the TI DM643x processors, enabling customers to run the TI DSP/BIOS kernel and Linux applications side-by-side on a single DSP. This capability increases software development options, while yielding digital video products at an aggressively low price point.

Summary
VirtualLogix VLX real-time virtualization software solves many of the problems faced by connected device designers and provides the following benefits:

• Enables multiple operating systems to run concurrently on shared hardware.
• Maintains hard real-time performance guarantees
• Provides maximum system throughput
• Open virtualization platform that supports customer’s choice of operating systems
• Example include a mixture of commercial and proprietary real-time operating systems and rich operating systems such as Linux
• Provides a range of performance, fault tolerance and security trade-offs for customer’s specific target market requirements.
• Protects proprietary code by isolating it from open source software license requirements
• Lowers costs and improves time to market by leveraging existing investments in software by eliminating porting testing and revalidation on new operating systems and hardware.
• Lowers bill of materials by providing increased functionality with less hardware.

To download VirtualLogix’s in-depth whitepaper, please visit:
http://www.virtuallogix.com/index.php?id=registration&action=downdemo&target=485&from=22

March 22, 2007

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