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Volume 42 (May 25, 2005)
T-Engine activities aimed at strongly supporting embedded systems development
Embedded computers in a network society
Most of the electronic devices around us today are equipped with embedded computers such as microcontrollers. Single-chip microcontrollers are embedded with a CPU, memory, interfaces and many other functions that enable them to control electronic devices (Figure 1). In recent years, the diffusion of the Internet and mobile phones has made it possible for us to obtain information quickly at anytime and from anywhere. Society as a whole is now connected through the exchange of information, and also by networks. It is therefore becoming necessary for computers embedded in electronic devices to be capable of controlling these devices, and of processing graphics, voice data and more through networks. This necessity has led to the demand for increased information transmission capacity and speed, as well as for measures to ensure security. Unfortunately, the CPU processing speed and memory capacity of a single microcontroller are not sufficient to handle these increasing demands.
Also, since technological development progresses at a dizzying pace for electronic devices such as mobile phones, embedded computers tend to undergo model changes with great frequency, making it necessary for developers to overhaul system software and hardware each time one of these changes occurs. These frequent design changes mean that high-performance products must be developed within a short time frame, and finding a way to make the development process more efficient has become urgent.
T-Engine: Meeting the needs of today's network society
The standard T-Engine development platform is equipped with ITRON-evolved T-Kernel, the real-time OS currently used in most electronic devices. Aimed at increasing the development efficiency of embedded systems, T-Engine is standardized in terms of both software and hardware. In terms of hardware, the size of T-Engine's boards, positioning of pins, and interfaces are specified, and two different platforms (standard T-Engine and µT-Engine) are used in correspondence with size and function. These platforms are primarily equipped with commodity DRAM and MIPS®, ARM® or other CPU cores, and are capable of high-speed and high-capacity processing that meets network requirements. The T-Engine Forum has standardized the T-Kernal real-time OS, and its source code has been made public. Thus, even if the CPU is altered, there is no need to change either board size or pin positioning. Moreover, since the same program can be used, improved development efficiency can be realized.
NEC Electronics, T-Engine activities
NEC Electronics has been a board member of the T-Engine Forum, the driving force behind the T-Engine Project, since the forum's establishment, and offers processors and microcontrollers used as a base for T-Engine development kits. A T-Engine Development Kit equipped with NEC Electronics' VR™ Series 64-bit MIPS RISC microprocessor, which is used in network, OA and other devices, has been released by Personal Media Corp., which also recently released a µT-Engine/V850E-MA3 Development Kit equipped with our 32-bit V850E-MA3 RISC microcontroller (Photo 1). The V850E/MA3 microcontroller is used in fields ranging from the consumer device field (printers and network devices) to the industry device field (inverter control). This development kit enables the use of CPU and expansion board hardware as well as T-Kernel, T-Monitor and other driver software programs at a low cost.
For customers using T-Engine for the first time, NEC Electronics provides advice and support for software and hardware design, and also assists customers in the implementation of T-Engine. For example, the small cube Teacube®/VR5701 Evaluation Kit (Photo 2), an embedded application product (appliance), was developed using T-Engine as a base. This evaluation kit is equipped with NEC Electronics' VR5701 and comes with analog RGB output, voice input/output, LAN and a two-channel USB 2.0 interface. The kit also contains real-time OS middleware such as T-Kernel and PMC T-Shell. And although its functions rival those of full-size computers, this kit is actually small enough to fit in the palm of your hand. This kit can be embedded in final products such as terminals, and also used as a development platform for embedded devices.
As we move forward toward the realization of an ever-expanding network society, NEC Electronics will work to further bolster its efforts to offer products and services for use with T-Engine.
• VR is a trademark of NEC Electronics Corporation.
• MIPS is a registered trademark or trademark of MIPS Technologies, Inc.
• ARM is a registered trademark of ARM Ltd. in the EU and U.S.
• Teacube is a registered trademark or trademark of Personal Media Corporation.
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