Embedded Software
Automotive Software, Commercial Software, Consumer Software, Embedded Wireless Software, M2M Software, Medical, Rugged Computers, Smart Energy, Defense, Telehealth, Transportation
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Reduced SWaP and application requirements drive innovations in power supply
Reduced size, weight, and power (SWaP) and increased standardization requirements for applications from unmanned aircraft to ground vehicles to portable communications systems are driving military power supply designs. Meanwhile, innovations such as gallium nitride (GaN) and silicon carbide (SiC) are improving efficiencies.
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PC/104 vendors head to Embedded World in strong position, atop a billion-dollar market
PC/104, well into its fourth decade, remains strong globally in markets such as aerospace, defense, industrial, and medical. Such longevity is a tribute to its inherent ruggedness and the open architecture that enables PC/104 designers to continually integrate state-of-the-art processing technology from companies such as Intel and Arm. In this conversation with the PC/104 Consortium leadership, they discuss how the small form factor still fosters a robust, billion-dollar industry on the eve of the 2019 Embedded World exhibition and conference; key PC/104 suppliers look forward to hitting the exhibit floor in Nuremberg, Germany to build on the momentum in the industrial market.
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Foreshadow: Researchers discover another Intel processor vulnerability
Two international teams of security researchers have independently and concurrently discovered “Foreshadow,” a new variant of the hardware vulnerability known as “Meltdown,” which exploits a bypass of Intel processors’ secure regions to access memory and data.
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PC/104 and the Rogers Adoption Curve
I'm certain that there were some project managers in the early 1990s who were hesitant to design with PC/104. "We'll stick to the older, proven specifications, thank you very much." Thankfully, there were plenty of early adopters - engineers and designers who saw the value of a stackable architecture, the elimination of the backplane, and the potential for a multivendor ecosystem of compatible products.
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PC/104: the smart play
"It just doesn't go out of style." Is the blue blazer timeless? That's what I hear. What about PC/104? Absolutely. In the embedded market space, longevity is key. Embedded systems go through rigorous testing and qualification; the systems need to last. While new form factors and specifications sprout up continually, PC/104 is a solid, time-tested architecture that can be trusted in applications that require reliability, wide industry support, flexibility, and long-term sustainability. Systems built with the PC/104 stacking architecture are versatile. Based on their configuration, they can be tailored for any number of transportation, industrial, defense, mining, gaming, and aerospace needs.
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The future of Ethernet
With Ethernet becoming the ubiquitous connectivity standard for service providers, enterprises, and military applications, we are letting go of proprietary networking technologies and heading directly into industry standard networking based on Ethernet.
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Rugged networking on the move: Best practices for design and test for constrained-space applications
In the unpredictable environment of the battlefield, the fight does not stop just because you are moving. That reality puts warfighters at a distinct disadvantage if they cannot maintain situational awareness at all times, as adversaries equip themselves with the latest wireless technology and smartphones while actively moving in ground vehicles. Mobile Internet Protocol (IP) networking is a necessary response by the Department of Defense (DoD) to counter the many foes who have ready access to this ever-smaller mobile technology. The DoD's moves are enabling U.S. warfighters to be more agile and prepared.
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Mobile computing for military use grapples with size/weight versus performance issues
The constant drive forward in commercial technology is also driving military-computing technology to new heights. As this progress occurs, mobile computing is becoming more relevant to the warfighter, but its benefits bring huge challenges for designers and engineers. Even as engineers deal with shrinking size and weight requirements, performance is still a big issue that mobile computing doesn't quite answer for military use.
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The commonality of COTS solutions for UUVs and UAVs
Some time ago, when designers started thinking about unmanned undersea vehicle (UUV) applications, concerns were raised that the undersea environment might be so different or exotic that standard solutions would need to be significantly modified. To the surprise of many, however, it was found that there is significant commonality between unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and UUV environments. There are, to be sure, unique aspects to each type of platform, but in general, standard rugged military commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) embedded solutions are applicable to both.
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Small-form-factor solutions revolutionize system architectures
Radar, communications, and SIGINT [signals intelligence] systems have traditionally combined sensor processing, data conversion, and signal processing hardware within single enclosures or equipment racks. Analog signals for antennas, transducers and other sensors were connected through cables, often causing loss and interference along the way. However, enabled by new data converter and field-programmable gate array (FPGA) technology and evolving open embedded computing standards, system designers can now deploy small-form-factor (SFF) subsystems at each sensor site for distributed signal acquisition and preprocessing. Digitized signals are then delivered through optical cables, providing higher signal quality over longer connection distances while reducing size, weight, cost, and maintenance.
Mariana Iriarte, Technology Editor
PC/104 Staff, OpenSystems Media
Stephen St. Amant, PC/104 Consortium President
Ronen Isaac, MilSource
Charlie Kawasaki, PacStar
Mariana Iriarte, Technology Editor
Rodger Hosking, Pentek, Inc.