This paper discusses why some of today's most common aerospace companies struggle when seeking commercial off-the-shelf software (COTS) to use in DO-178B applications. Combining knowledge from various perspectives including certification authorities, consultants, and users, this paper offers insight on how companies can address these costly issues to improve their bottom line and reap the many benefits when working with the DO-178B application.

Embedded developers are more knowledgeable about their compiler tools than any other kind of developer. But those tools are usually little more than thinly adapted desktop technology. New compiler technology from Mentor Graphics decouples the layout of a program in memory from the organization of the sources, freeing embedded developers to place their code optimally in memory while maintaining the logical structure of the source base and enabling them to port compiled code to a new board, even when the source is unavailable.

Answering the unique needs of embedded developers, Accelerated Technology has developed Nucleus Embedded Developers Graphical Environment (EDGE), an ambitious new integrated development environment (IDE) and growing family of development tools based on the Eclipse Platform. EDGE IDE (formerly Nucleus EDGE) adds true embedded tools to the open and extensible Eclipse framework to provide the environment embedded developers have been waiting for.

When a software developer is acquiring a compiler, a primary consideration is the code quality produced by the compiler. But other features that are not required by the ANSI language description (that are tailored to embedded developer needs) can make the developer's task simpler to maintain. This paper investigates some desirable features of compilers used in embedded application development, and some techniques for making use of these features.

This paper examines issues related to shared resources in a multi-tasking system, and how to protect these resources from being corrupted. Semaphores and the different ways they can be used are discussed in detail. The priority inversion and deadlock problems that can arise when using semaphores are explained, and solutions to work around the problems are provided.

USB is ubiquitous on PCs and peripherals, but this was not always the case. Let's take a stroll down memory lane to see where USB has been, what it can do, and where it is going. This paper provides an overview of USB and the direction USB is currently moving for future development.

Spring Quarter Newsletter
The primary focus of this quarter's newsletter is "Bring in the Pros: When to Use a Commercial RTOS". Other articles include: Security, IP Multicasting, Universal Serial Bus (Nucleus USB), and the release of our new evaluation center on ALL_ACCESS.

The IPv4 protocol was not designed for the purpose it serves today. As the scope of the Internet grew, the IPv4 protocol attempted to grow with it, but finally, it has reached its limits. With the eminent exhaustion of the IPv4 address space and a mounting number of embedded devices pushing the limits of the current infrastructure, the need for a new Internet protocol is urgent. The constraints of the IPv4 protocol have restricted innovation in the embedded industry, but the improvements introduced by IPv6 will progress the embedded industry by adding TCP/IP capability to devices never previously imagined. This paper aims to outline the rise and fall of the IPv4 protocol, the advantages of IPv6 in the embedded industry and the mechanisms in place to transition from IPv4 to IPv6.