Mentor Blogs

In the high-tech market, the IoT is driving connectivity requirements in devices across many segments. Considering the number of embedded medical devices hospital, you can quickly imagine areas where Wi-Fi connectivity can be used to connect devices, patients, administrators and doctors. For example, Wi-Fi can be applicable in the doctor’s office, in the operating room, at the nurse’s station, in the … Read More

Freescale, Medical, Wi-Fi, Nucleus, RTOS

I am very interested in the pros and cons of various programming languages for embedded applications. Although I mostly favor C, I sometimes prefer C++, but I am open to suggestions. I started out writing assembly language and still feel that this is the “real thing”. This is a topic I posted about some time ago. I expanded my thoughts in a more recent article on embedded.com I am always … Read More

AltiVec, Freescale, e6500

RTOS’s have been around for a long time in the embedded industry.   And with the introduction of the TI RTOS, Freescale’s MQX, FreeRTOS and several others, I hear all the time that “RTOS’s have become a commodity.”  And to some extent, I agree.   While every RTOS has its pros and cons with various features and benefits, selecting the right one for “your” application requirements can be a little tricky.  … Read More

OSS, RTOS, Freescale, Android, Mentor Embedded, Nucleus, Linux, Medical

I’ve recently spoken with several people about the security of connected vehicles and I learned, among other things, that providing 100 percent protection for cars 100 percent of the time is most likely not possible. Cars are increasingly connected in a variety of ways, and connected cars will eventually be hacked. The threat is not dire at the moment but it could become so, and now is when auto … Read More

intel, Icon Labs, Lockheed Martin, Cisco, connected cars, Boeing, U.S. Army, Freescale, Green Hills, Wind River, connected vehicles, embedded firewall

Freescale picked Beijing and Bangalore for their recent Technology Forum events – two very different cities, but some common themes at both events. Noticeable at both events was a tremendous appetite for new technology – around 1500 designers attended each event, hungry for new innovations particularly in the areas of smart energy, connected devices, automotive, and home-automation. China’s semiconductor … Read More

Freescale, Infotainment, Automotive, Mentor Embedded

I am on vacation and, all being well, by the time this posting goes live, I will be sunning myself on a Greek island. A couple of weeks ago, I posted a blog about the use of floating point. My colleague Brooks Moses [who did a guest blog post a while back] made a comment on that posting, pointing out that I had over-simplified my example. I am always happy to get such feedback. It transpired that Brooks … Read More

M4, Zynq, Cortex, e600, ARM, FPGA, Freescale, floating point

Dynamic Voltage and Frequency Scaling (DVFS) describes the use of two power saving techniques (dynamic frequency scaling and dynamic voltage scaling) used to save power in embedded systems including cell phones. This type of power saving is different from what most of us generally think about like standby or hibernate power states. All of these are useful of course. You can reduce the power consumed … Read More

Freescale, Nucleus, DVFS

I was involved in a discussion about driver workload management the other week. It is a fascinating topic and I can see it becoming a much more important feature of in-vehicle HMIs in the coming years. The basic concept is pretty straightforward – when a driver is in a high workload situation (e.g. driving at 70mph on a crowded freeway), the HMI adapts so that the functionality available to the driver … Read More

CAN/LIN, Medical, Energy, Freescale, Ethernet, Infotainment, MOST, Automotive, IVI, SoC, flexray

Over the years, I have found it very interesting tracking trends and “fashions” in embedded software. At any given time, certain technologies are “hot”. Sometimes the source of excitement seems to come out of nowhere; other times, it is a natural evolution. And thus it is with HPC – High Performance Computing. Somehow this does not sound like the province of embedded software, … Read More

Freescale, AltiVec, High Performance Computing, HPC

Today, more ‘things’ are connected to the Internet than there are people on the planet. Connectivity was a major theme at last week’s Freescale FTF event in San Antonio, Texas. There were over 1300 attendees, and around 200 technical sessions over the course of 4 days. An impressive range of SoC solutions aimed at connectivity covered such diverse applications, from Medical, Energy Management, Safety … Read More

IVI, Infotainment, Medical, CAN/LIN, Automotive, MOST, flexray, Freescale, SoC, Energy, Ethernet

I have often observed that the world of embedded software is usually dominated by a small number of “fashionable” topics – technology that everybody is talking and/or concerned about. The key one just now, which I have discussed before, is the influence that software has on device power consumption. This is a topic to which I will certainly return. A number of the Mentor Embedded … Read More

Freescale, FTF, RTOS, Low Power, Nucleus

Nowadays, there is a perception that the higher end embedded CPU is dominated by ARM. Obviously, these devices are very popular, as evidenced by the various ARM Tech Con events around the world. However, I remember the world before ARM, when “embedded 32-bit device” meant Motorola 68000 family. Motorola Semiconductor became Freescale, who are still a force to be reckoned with. Freescale’s … Read More

Freescale, FTF, Low Power, Nucleus

STMicroelectronics said this week that it will increase its MEMS (Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems) production capacity to more than three million sensors a day by the end of 2011 based on “exploding” demand from industrial, healthcare, and automotive customers. Automotive applications for MEMS devices include airbags, navigation systems, electronic stability control, and tire pressure monitoring systems. … Read More

Infineon, IHS iSuppli, MEMS (Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems), CEA-Leti, automotive MEMS devices, Sensata, Freescale, STMicroelectronics, high-g accelerometer, DENSO, tire pressure monitoring systems, electronic stability control

Who do you like in the EcoCAR 2, the three-year collegiate automotive engineering competition that began during the SAE World Congress in Detroit earlier this month? The 16 teams that qualified for the competition are Cal State, Colorado State, Embry-Riddle, Mississippi State, NC State, Ohio State, Penn State, Purdue, Rose-Hulman, University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT), Tennessee, … Read More

EcoCAR 2, Clean Cities, Virginia Tech, Vector CANtech, Robert Bosch LLC, CD-Adapco, University of Waterloo, Siemens PLM, Freescale, Ohio State, Penn State, California Air Resources Board, Rose-Hulman, Embry-Riddle, Snap-On Tools, EcoCAR 1, University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT), Colorado State, Saturn Vue, dSPACE, Tennessee, General Motors, Purdue, U.S. Department of Energy, University of Victoria, AVL Powertrain Engineering, Chevrolet Malibu, Washington, MathWorks, Mississippi State, Cal State, Natural Resources Canada, Wayne State, NC State, A123Systems

Mentor Graphics is an EDA [Electronic Design Automation] company, which means that the core of the business is supplying [software] tools to facilitate the development [design, implementation and deployment] of electronic systems. Traditionally, this meant hardware design. But, over the last 20 years, there has been an enormous escalation in the use of microprocessors and microcontrollers and embedded … Read More

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