RTC Magazine's October 2011 Issue

http://upload.rtcgroup.com/rtcmagazine/digital/pdf/rtc1110.pdf

RTC Magazine's September 2011 Issue

http://upload.rtcgroup.com/rtcmagazine/digital/pdf/rtc1109.pdf

Important stories:

• Conductive Metal Oxide (CMOx) Memory technology to compete with NAND Flash.
• HP is weaker now, since its tablet lauch is failed
• MID → Mobile Internet Device: Between smart-phone and tablet
• Rugged device → Device equipped with for rough handling. Like military dress, devices

RTC Magazine's August 2011 Issue

http://upload.rtcgroup.com/rtcmagazine/digital/pdf/rtc1108.pdf

Some books regarding the Operating Systems internals:

Japanese:
①30日でできる! OS自作入門
②12ステップで作る組込みOS自作入門
③実用 組込みOS構築技法―情報通信を支える基礎技術RTOS入門
④SuperHで学ぶμITRON仕様OS―リアルタイムOSの動作原理と実装法がわかる!
⑤自分で作るLinux OS
⑥自分で作るLinux OS 最新版

English:
①Building a Real Time Operating System: RTOS from the Ground Up by Colin Walls
②Simple Real-Time Operating System: A Kernel Inside View for a Beginner By Chowdary Venkateswara

Initiative book for electronics:
①図解 つくる電子回路

Microcontrollers of this year

Kinetis K10, K20, K30, K40, K50, K60

AVR



Kits:
ATMEL AVRスタータキット
http://akizukidenshi.com/catalog/c/cavrw/

How system calls implemented in RTOS

Apart from the scheduler, how system calls are implemented in Real-Time Operating Systems?

JAVA in Embedded

Conventional Embedded systems involved only C and assembly languages. Now a days, the requirements for embedded systems widened beyond C and Embedded Database, Java and C++ in embedded systems become hot topics. So, let's update about the latest trends.

About Java in Embedded Systems:
http://www.netrino.com/Embedded-Systems/How-To/Embedded-Java

For more information about Java in Embedded:
http://www.netrino.com/taxonomy_menu/3/11

Read 555 timer first

555 timer is used in many electronics project. So, first read about it and learn how to set the resistors to generate the waveform.

Read this:
http://www.sentex.ca/~mec1995/gadgets/555/555.html

Challenges in porting Android in non-handset applications

http://embedded-computing.com/challenges-porting-android-non-handset-applications

Embedded system Power Consumption

http://www.mentor.com/resources/techpubs/upload/mentorpaper_68962.pdf

RTOS metrics

・Memory footprint → memory usage, RAM & ROM requirements
・Latency
    ・Interrupt latency
    ・Scheduling latency
・Services performance→Minimum time taken by a system call

Embedded Microprocessor Benchmark Consortium (EEMBC)

http://www.mentor.com/resources/techpubs/upload/mentorpaper_69305.pdf

Interesting Story: Android

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Android_(operating_system)

From RTC magazine,

"Certainly, Android is not ideal for all types of device designs. It presents a dazzling array of features and capabilities for mobile/wireless devices and an attractive OS option for other intelligent devices. In particular, Android is a viable alternative for designs that benefit from a graphical user interface, field-upgrade capability, a complement of ready-to-use applications, and both Java-style and native C/C++ runtimes.

It is a less attractive choice for

• Headless devices
• Devices with extremely limited RAM and persistent storage
• Closed-box designs
• Legacy support for RTOS APIs and other specialized interfaces
• Systems with pervasive hard real-time / low-latency response needs
• Designs built on “minority” CPU families or special-purpose silicon"

THE DALVIK VIRTUAL MACHINE ARCHITECTURE

Know about Dalvik garbage collection

http://davidehringer.com/software/android/The_Dalvik_Virtual_Machine.pdf

What does GDB(GNU Debugger) with PowerPC?

http://devpit.org/wiki/GDB

Scheduling algorithms for Real-Time embedded processing

Good Introduction to Rate Monotonic scheduling algorithm.
http://www.netrino.com/Embedded-Systems/How-To/RMA-Rate-Monotonic-Algorithm

Know about other scheduling algorithms.

A good insight.
http://www.csie.ntu.edu.tw/~ktw/rts/ch-short-course-uni.pdf

Theory about other scheduling algorithms.
http://www.dauniv.ac.in/downloads/EmbsysRevEd_PPTs/Chap_8Lesson22EmsysNewOtherScdmethods.pdf

Perl for the day: while loop construct

use strict;
use warnings;

# to play cricket in my perl program

print "\nPress any of 0 to 9\n\n";

use Term::ReadKey;
my $bat = 1;
my $player;
my $num;
my $team;
my $ran = 0;
my $spot = 0;
my @res;

ReadMode 'cbreak';

while (++$spot < 3) {
    print "Team: ", $spot, "\n";
    $num = 0;
    $team = 0;
    while (++$num < 11) {
        print "    Player ", $num, ": ";
        $player = 0;
        while ($bat != 0) {
            $bat = int(ReadKey(0));
            $ran = int(rand(12345)) + $bat;
            $bat = $ran % 6;
            if ($bat != 0) {
                print $bat, "+";
            }
            $player += $bat;
        }
        print "=", $player, "\n";
        $team += $player;
        $bat = 1;
    }
    print "  Total score = ", $team,"\n";
    $res[$spot] = $team;
}
if ($res[1] > $res[2]) {
    print "Team 1 Won\n";
} elsif ($res[2] > $res[1]) {
    print "Team 2 Won\n";
} else {
    print "Match Tie\n";
}

Perl for the day: for loop construct handling array

use strict;
use warnings;

# fibonacci sequence/series using array in Perl

my $i;
my @ser = (0, 1);

for ($i = 2; $i < $ARGV[0]; $i++) {
    $ser[$i] = $ser[$i - 1] + $ser[$i - 2];
}

for ($i = 0; $i < $ARGV[0]; $i++) {
    print $ser[$i]," ";
}

dcbst - Data Cache Block Store instruction in PowerPC

If the byte specified by the effective address (EA) is cached by the data cache and the cache-line is modified (dirty), the entire contents of the cache-line are written to system memory. After the store completes, the cache-line is marked as unmodified (not dirty). But, the cache-line is not invalidated

dcba, dcbz, dcbt, dcbtst cache control instructions in PowerPC

dcba - Data Cache Block Allocate

dcbz - Data Cache Block set to Zero

dcbt - Data Cache Block Touch

dcbtst - Data Cache Block Touch for Store

are called data-cache hint instructions. These instructions are used to improve the memory performance by avoiding cache miss. With these instructions, the cache lines corresponding to memory locations that are likely to be accessed in the near future can be allocated speculatively to avoid cache-miss. For example, with dcbt and dcbtst instructions, if the byte specified by the effective address (EA) is cacheable and is not currently cached by the data cache, the cacheline containing that byte is loaded into the data cache from main memory.

dcbt and dcbtst instructions are further optimized to dcba and dcbz instructions where the cache lines are allocated for the effective address (EA) without copying data from system memory where the contents of the main memory are no longer needed or the memory block can be initialized to zero.

What is Big Endian and Little Endian?: In Words

Big Endian means Most Significant Byte (MSB) is at the lowest address.

Little Endian means Most Significant Byte (MSB) is at the highest address.

Advantages of FPGA

The main advantage of FPGA is that high speed and parallel processing can be easily implemented.Industrial embedded systems typically require high I/O counts, making parallel IP blocks in FPGA fabric well-suited for managing analog, digital, and communications interrupts that would otherwise bog down an embedded processor. For example, in Telecom, Video processing, Digital Signal processing, High speed Real-Time processing, fixed processing logic can be implemented in Hardware through FPGA.

Then, other advantages such as:
www.men.de/docs-ext/expertise/pdf/fpga_advantages.pdf
www.canterbury-consulting.co.uk/.../fpga.../56-advantages-of-fpga-devices

The PowerPC Architecture: Software Programming summary

Things to be take care when programming or porting to PowerPC CPU architecture.

The PowerPC Architecture: A programmer's view
class.ee.iastate.edu/cpre211/handouts/xc_ibm_pwrpc42.pdf

In Japanese:
http://japan.xilinx.com/xcell/xl42/xcell_42_05.pdf

RTC Magazine`s April Issue

Get April issue of RTC magazine in the following link:

http://upload.rtcgroup.com/rtcmagazine/digital/pdf/rtc1104.pdf

Perl for the day: for loop construct

use strict;
use warnings;

# fibonacci sequence/series in Perl

my $cur = 1;
my $prev = 0;
my $i, my $tmp;

print $prev, " ";

for ($i = 0; $i < $ARGV[0]; $i++) {
    print $cur, " ";
    $tmp = $cur;
    $cur += $prev;
    $prev = $tmp;
}

IPv6 Socket programming

A detailed programming guide to program in Perl, PHP.

http://www.euchinagrid.org/IPv6/IPv6_presentation/Introduction_to_IPv6_programming.pdf

Priority Inheritance Protocols: An Approach to Real-Time Synchronization

http://www.infres.enst.fr/~pautet/sar/fset/sha90pcp.pdf 

Difference between semaphore and mutex

A good deeper insight with the following highlights:

1) Mutex can only be used to lock and unlock a shared resource or critical section. But, semaphore can also be used for signalling too.

2) Mutex can be unlocked only by the task itself. But, semaphore can be signalled from any other task.

3) Mutex has built-in implementation to avoid priority inversion. But, semaphore do not implement. Though binary semaphore is equivalent to mutex, it can not avoid priority inversion.

http://www.netrino.com/Embedded-Systems/How-To/RTOS-Mutex-Semaphore

Type of Kernels

1. Monolithic Kernel
2. Micro Kernel
3. Hybrid Kernel
4. Nano Kernel
5. Exo Kernel

http://www.osnews.com/files/17537/kernel_designs_explained.pdf
http://www.systhread.net/texts/200510kdiff.php
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kernel_(computing)

What is Hypervisor?

http://searchservervirtualization.techtarget.com/definition/hypervisor

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypervisor

Perl for the day: Conditional construct

use strict;
use warnings;
if($#ARGV + 1 < 1) {
    print "Vaadaa\n";
}
else {
    print "Podaaa\n";
}

What is Last Level Cache (LLC)?

You must have heard of L2 cache which is nothing but Level 2 cache. The next level, that is Level 3 cache in Intel processors is called as Last Level Cache. In multi-core Intel processors, the LLC is shared not only between each CPU core, but also between the GPU(Graphics processing unit) core. With ring bus structure, LLC shortens the access latency for CPU and GPU cores.

Real Time Operating Systems - A comparison

http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.111.5799&rep=rep1&type=pdf

Perl for the day: Assigning variables

use strict;
use warnings;

# scalar

my $number = 72;
my $strin = "kutti";
my $cha = 'a';

# array

my @arr = (34,56,78,90);
my @sarr = ("amm ", "app ", "tha ", "akk ", "mam ", "kul ", "jai ", "all ");
my @carr = ('a','b','c','d');

print $number,"\n";
print $strin,"\n";
print $cha, "\n";

print $arr[3],"\n";
print $sarr[4],"\n";
print $carr[3],"\n";

print @sarr[4, 5, 6],"\n";
print @carr[0, 1, 2, 3],"\n";

Self-Employment for Embedded Engineers

Nobody can predict how the future will be. In case an embedded engineer losts job, what he can do? Better be prepared of the following skills.

1) Assemble a computer - Start a shop to assemble and to sell computer, laptops at affordable prices
2) Electronic embedded kit sales - Sell electronic components to build small electronic projects and advanced electronic development kit for projects of college students
2) Online tutor to teach embedded technology

Hyper-Threading technology

Intel Hyper-Threading Technology causes a single core to appear as two logical processors, allowing the OS to schedule two threads simultaneously.

Introduction is follows:
http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/hyperthreading-technology-explained/

More technically as follows:
ftp://download.intel.com/technology/itj/2002/volume06issue01/art01_hyper/vol6iss1_art01.pdf

Perl for the day: Print number

use strict;
use warnings;

print 45;
print "\n";
print 456.455

How to implement Real time functionality in Linux

http://monoist.atmarkit.co.jp/mn/articles/0501/12/news113.html

Perl for the day: Hello World

Download perl for Windows from the following URL and install it.

http://www.activestate.com/activeperl/downloads

-- hello.pl --
use strict;
use warnings;

print("Hello World\n");

Technology of the day: Smart grid

What is smart grid?
http://www.nema.org/gov/energy/smartgrid/whatIsSmartGrid.cfm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smart_grid
http://ec.europa.eu/research/energy/pdf/smartgrids_en.pdf

How embedded involved in smart grid?
http://blog.vdcresearch.com/embedded_hw/2011/01/the-smart-grid-is-creating-new-opportunities-for-embedded-processors.html
http://www.trentontechnology.com/images/stories/tech_info_pdfs/White_Papers/trenton_embedded_computing_enables_smart_grid_technology_whitepaper.pdf

Design a smart grid for your mothernation.

Embedded Systems Expo(ESEC) 2011

Japan hosts Embedded Systems Expo-2011 from 11-May-2011 to 13-May-2011 at Tokyo Big Sight. Embedded Technology is exhibited under the following zones. The first four zones have been introduced newly.

1. Power Electronics
2. Android development
3. Wireless energy transfer
4. Digital signage devices
5. Embedded board computer EXPO
6. Voice recognition and Text-to-speech
7. Test and verification
8. Embedded Image and video processing
9. Motion control
10. Wireless communication
11. Touch panels and displays
12. Design and development services/Consulting
13. Embedded Training

http://www.esec.jp/en/Home/

Boot Linux from USB device without affecting Windows in hard disk

When you need a Linux system for testing or development, no need to go for a separate Linux PC. Just boot your windows PC as Linux box.


http://monoist.atmarkit.co.jp/mn/articles/0807/22/news124.html
(in Japanese)

RTC magazine digital issue for March 2011

Download the digital edition at the following link and update your embedded knowledge.

http://upload.rtcgroup.com/rtcmagazine/digital/pdf/rtc1103.pdf

Features:

• Like "optimizing for speed", new trend of "Optimizing Code for Power" has been introduced in debugging and development tools. Debugger profiles the power consumption in correlation with source code.

3D video cameras occupy the market

3D video cameras from Sony, Panasonic occupy the market.

Thunderbolt: Apple and Intel`s new Interface

Thunderbolt is Apple and Intel`s new interface to compete with USB 3.0. Thunderbold is 10 Gbps speed against with 5 Gbps USB 3.0.

Read in detail:

http://techlogg.com/2011/02/thunderbolt-intel-and-apples-usb3-0-killer/2172

International Consumer Electronics Show(CES) 2011: A look

http://www.kumikomi.net/archives/2011/03/ph01ces.php
http://www.kumikomi.net/archives/2011/03/ph02ce2.php
http://www.kumikomi.net/archives/2011/03/ph03ce3.php

T-Kernel corresponds to Multicore (MP T-Kernel)

http://www.t-engine.org/english/mptk.html

KOZOS Real Time OS by Japanese Engineers

Japanese Engineers develop Real Time OS called KOZOS as a hobby and for learning purpose by themselves.

http://kozos.jp/kozos/

ARM Cortex-9 based Xilinx Platform Zynq-7000 released

http://www.xilinx.com/technology/roadmap/processing-platform.htm

Features:

• Extensible processing platform which means the processing core (ARM`s Dual core Cortex-9 MPcore) is fully integrated and hardwired, using standard design methods, and includes caches, timers, interrupts, switches, memory controllers, and commonly used connectivity and I/O peripherals.
• Extensibility is enabled by the use of high-bandwidth AMBA-AXI (Advanced Extensible
  Interface) interconnects. In other words, custom accelerators and peripherals can be integrated through programmable logic.