Coherent Detectors, formerly Molectron Detectors (portable laser power energy meter: 3sigma)

"The Nucleus prototyping tools enabled me to develop at least half of my project on my desktop computer with virtually no changes required after moving to my target. The transition from virtual to real target was fast, about one week of work, and there were no surprises." --John Speth, Software Engineer, Coherent

Coherent Selects Nucleus OS for Portable Laser Power Energy Meter, 3sigma

Coherent is a leading provider of photonics based solutions to the commercial and scientific research markets. Founded in 1966, Coherent sells products in over 80 countries and has production and research facilities worldwide.

3sigma

Coherent's 3sigma is the latest in precision laser power and energy measurement technology used in field service, laser product test, medical laser system performance, optical power and pulsed laser energy stability applications. 3sigma is a multifunction, portable, laser power/energy meter that measures energy per pulse to 1 kHz, and displays average power, frequency (rep rate), as well as min, max, mean, and std dev statistics. The user interface is direct-drive, and the display is high-resolution, VGA dot matrix LCD, with a backlight that can be turned off.

Coherent's Selection of Nucleus for the 3sigma

Developers at Coherent had several requirements in mind when they began shopping for an embedded OS. The OS had to be lean and seamlessly integrated with complementary products. Time to market was also a very critical issue.

Using the Freescale PowerPC 823 processor, developers decided on Nucleus software because of the lean real-time kernel, the simple-to-use prototyping software and the availability of the LCD and graphics package for the MPC 823. Developers were also pleased with the board support package provided with Nucleus OS.

John Speth, software engineer at Coherent, describes Mentor Graphics' family of prototyping products as "a real time saver. In other words, I probably would have failed without them." Mr. Speth was able to port the embedded application from the virtual target to his real hardware virtually effortlessly despite his initial doubt, "I was skeptical that I would be able to painlessly migrate to my target, especially considering I didn't have a reference design (like FADS) to use. But it was mostly effortless."

"I think you have a winning product offering as far as what I've used." Mr. Speth said.