Mentor Blogs

In February, I had blogged about the emergence of the smart energy arena, made up of an ecosystem stretching from the utility to your home including connected devices such as data concentrators, smart meters, home gateways, smart appliances etc. A common standard that outlines the requirements regarding connectivity and intelligent communication between these devices is the Smart Energy Profile (SEP) … Read More

RTOS, smart energy, Nucleus SEP, Wi-Fi, Zigbee, smart grid, smart meter

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

  State-of-the-art sensing, computing and communications systems are quickly changing consumer expectations in people’s everyday lives, and are also driving innovation in the automotive industry at an incredible pace, according to Ford vice president and chief technical officer Paul Mascarenas. Mascarenas leads the team that has been researching and developing new technologies for Ford … Read More

Ford, Fusion sedan, Automotive Electronics, Wi-Fi, Paul Mascarenas, vehicle-to-vehicle communications

The market for Wi-Fi in original equipment manufacturer (OEM) automotive applications will increase eightfold over the next seven years in North America and Western Europe according to IMS Research (recently acquired by IHS Inc.). The research firm notes that Wi-Fi attach rates in North America and Western Europe are relatively low at the moment but suggests that Wi-Fi will follow a trend similar … Read More

IHS Inc., IMS Research, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, Miracast, MirrorLink

For quite a few years, the need to update the primary protocol used by the Internet – the Internet Protocol or IP – has been apparent and has been becoming increasingly urgent. There are a number of reasons why a protocol designed in the 1970s is inadequate for the 21st Century, but addressing capacity is the really urgent issue. I think it’s amazing that IPv4 [I have no idea what … Read More

IPv6, NAT, Wi-Fi, Networking, Nucleus

When I was a kid, we had an example of the very latest high technology electronics in our kitchen: a transistor radio. This amazing device was light and portable, ran for ages on a set of batteries and would come to life instantly when switched on, offering a choice of sources of entertainment from around the world. I seem to recall that it used an incredible seven transistors to achieve this feat. … Read More

iPad, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, Zigbee

Suppose you were a smartphone app developer with customers who would love to be able to use your product(s) in their cars and could do so without significant driver distraction. You could wear out a lot of metaphorical shoe leather calling on each automaker individually, in each geographic market, and it wouldn’t take you long to wonder if there weren’t a better way. Or suppose your job were to help … Read More

Wi-Fi, automotive apps, Car Connectivity Consortium (CCC), Alpine, smartphone "apps", Terminal Mode, MirrorLink, Nokia

  Suppose you’re the person responsible for managing an automaker’s infotainment strategy. Let’s say you currently offer SiriusXM satellite radio, AM/FM, and HD. When and how do you add Internet radio? Ford is offering Pandora and Stitcher (music and news programming respectively), Toyota recently announced a partnership with Clear Channel’s iheartradio (750+ stations). Is now the time to make a move, … Read More

Slacker Internet Radio, Sirius/XM, Stitcher, Clear Channel, Ford, ABC News Radio, Toyota, Internet radio, Pandora, Wi-Fi, iheartradio, Infotainment

The market research firm iSuppli recently predicted that factory-installed Wi-Fi will grow from about 174,000 this year to 7.2 million in 2017. That got me thinking about in-vehicle Internet access. iSuppli said automakers increasingly view wireless connectivity as a key competitive differentiator, and I am sure they do, but there is little consensus on how to provide that connectivity and little evidence … Read More

Harman Automotive, General Motors, in-vehicle Internet access, Audi a8, USB mobile broadband modem, Autonet Mobile, Wi-Fi, WLAN, Amazon, Chrysler, iSuppli, eBay, Marvell Technology, Ford, Bluetooth, Subaru

I want lots of connectivity in my next car and have every reason to expect it (and, of course, to use it responsibly). We’re talking-cutting edge technology of the kind increasingly available to mid-range buyers; features like Internet access, voice recognition, full-color touch-screen displays, diagnostics, and various forms of infotainment. I was a bit surprised to learn that all of that and more … Read More

OLED Displays, Network Car, LCD, Android, Bluetooth, Linux, Microsoft, Netscape, 3G Cellular, Google, Delphi, DSRC, IBM, Infotainment, Bob Schumacher, COMDEX, Internet Access, DVB-T, DVB-SH, Genivi Consortium, QNX, Voice Recognitiion, Wi-Fi, Touch-Screen Displays, USB, Smartphones, Sun Microsystems

Today, for a change, instead of discussing some embedded software technology, I would like to put forward a concept for a product. It is an embedded system, which I believe could sell in high volumes. Maybe someone reading this blog would like to develop it. I am happy to waive any rights to royalties on the idea so long as we have an understanding that you will use Mentor Graphics products in your … Read More

Nucleus, Wi-Fi, RTOS, Development Tools, Nucleus USB, Nucleus Kernel, USB

For some years, there has been discussion about how embedded devices are increasingly becoming connected. WiFi enabled home appliances are one possibility. Everyone has heard about fridges that order the groceries. I love the concept of the Internet enabled toaster, which checks the weather forecast and burns a symbol onto your morning toast to tell you what to expect. All of this is great, exciting … Read More

Android, Medical, Wireless, Wi-Fi

We have a great many customers who are in the business of making medical equipment and instrumentation. Given the enormous increase in the use of electronics in hospitals and medical facilities, this is not too surprising. Our success in this area has come about naturally - the products just fit the needs of these developers. We have not really promoted ourselves in this space or adapted anything to … Read More

Nucleus Kernel, Medical, Wi-Fi, Wireless