The File - March 1 , 2009 - (Page 1)

India’s fortnightly focus on electronics design March 1-15, 2009 Multi-core SW solutions enable NGN By Praful Joshi Manager, Field Engineering Wind River Systems India Public and private networks are being transformed into multilayered, packet-based networks. Commonly referred to as NextGeneration Networks (NGN), they provide a wide range of new and evolving services and applications. As data and video traffic surpass voice, and fixed services move to mobile, Internet Protocol–based broadband technologies are being deployed to meet the demands of the everincreasing growth in bandwidth. The engine that powers these new networks is the microprocessor. It is at the heart of all network elements: routers, switches, gateways and servers. In the past, processor technology has been able to keep pace with networks’ bandwidth demands by increasing clock speed, optimising processor algorithms and improving cache performance. However, there is now a discontinuity un- derway. Traditional approaches of improving processor performance cannot keep pace to economically address the growth in network bandwidth. Joshi: The transition to multicore requires changes to OS and application software to exploit the processors’ computing potential. Market trends Traditional carriers, new service providers and cable companies are competing to provide residential, business, government, education, and health-care customers with new and expanding sets of services and bandwidth at the lowest possible price. These new services have a diverse set of requirements, ranging from realtime interactive to non-real time, from low to high bandwidth and from mission-critical to noncritical services. Further, because packet-based technologies are more vulnerable to security-related attacks, thefts and conges- tion, sophisticated security and quality of service (QoS) features are required to mitigate these threats to end-user services. Cost and its related components, such as equipment footprint, power consumption, thermal density and maintainability, continue to be the underlying business driver for affordable systems that meet customer expectations of service performance, reliability and security. In response, equipment suppliers are developing high-performing network elements using multi-core processor technology intended to provide flexible, high-performance processing at the lowest possible cost. Multi-core processor technology—two or more processors per die—provides the necessary continued on page Take advantage of Java in RT systems By Kelvin Nilsen Chief Technology Officer Aonix North America Inside Trends 2 5 RT Java tackles safety-critical apps Hypervisor serves embedded systems Since its release to the public in 1995, the Java programming language has quickly risen to a position of dominance within the software development com- munity. Among the reasons for its rapid acceptance are improvements in productivity and software reuse, greater availability of off-the-shelf reusable software functionality, and superior dynamic behaviour. This combination of technical advances has allowed companies that use the Java language to develop software systems with enhanced functionality and far fewer bugs than previous industry norms, while reducing budget and accelerating product development. Real-time (RT) systems face the same challenges as traditional information processing applica- tions, but there are also challenges that are unique to the domains of real-time and embedded development. These challenges include meeting the requirements to port software to less common microprocessors and real-time operating systems, and squeezing necessary software capabilities into a resource constrained (in terms of memory, battery power, or physical volume) device. Arranging for reliable compliance with timing constraints, and satisfying government regulatory agencies for consumer safety are also among the challenges. continued on page In Focus 8 Upgrade web app delivery with DBMS Events 7 NCICT 2009, Convergence India 2009, Energy World Show 09 Sponsors 3 National Semiconductor www.eetindia.com http://www.embeddeddesignindia.co.in/SEARCH/SUMMARY/technical-articles/algorithm.HTM?TheFile_090301 http://www.eetindia.co.in/SEARCH/SUMMARY/industry-news/%22next~%40~generation+network%22.HTM?TheFile_090301 http://www.eetindia.co.in/SEARCH/SUMMARY/industry-news/%22next~%40~generation+network%22.HTM?TheFile_090301 http://www.eetindia.co.in/SEARCH/SUMMARY/industry-news/%22broadband+technology%22.HTM?TheFile_090301 http://www.eetindia.co.in/SEARCH/SUMMARY/industry-news/%22broadband+technology%22.HTM?TheFile_090301 http://www.embeddeddesignindia.co.in/SEARCH/SUMMARY/technical-articles/multi~%40~core+processor.HTM?TheFile_090301 http://www.embeddeddesignindia.co.in/SEARCH/SUMMARY/technical-articles/multi~%40~core+processor.HTM?TheFile_090301 http://www.eetindia.co.in/SEARCH/SUMMARY/technical-articles/packet~%40~based.HTM?TheFile_090301 http://www.embeddeddesignindia.co.in/SEARCH/SUMMARY/solutions/microprocessor.HTM?TheFile_090301 http://www.embeddeddesignindia.co.in/SEARCH/SUMMARY/technical-articles/real~%40~time.HTM?TheFile_090301 http://www.eetindia.com/STATIC/REDIRECT/Newsletter_090301_GS01.htm http://www.eetindia.com/STATIC/REDIRECT/Newsletter_090301_EETI02.htm

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of The File - March 1 , 2009

The File - March 1 , 2009