Embedded design teams are turning to stand-alone, automated devices to increase presence, reduce overhead, and engage customers. These remote terminals are being deployed in a wide variety of industries including retail, industrial, healthcare, advertising, education, hotel, and transportation as designers search for the optimal hardware and software configuration in each application.  Although a key objective is to reduce overhead and eliminate operator personnel, many of these industries...Read More

Embedded products destined for manufacturing, transportation, and industrial automation applications face unique design requirements due to their long life expectancy, ruggedness, high availability, and the wide variation in I/O configurations. In many industrial situations embedded designers are faced with the challenge of combining slower legacy interface circuitry with the latest high-speed control devices and multiple displays. These legacy control systems may be driven by a specialized and...Read More

Military and aerospace designs have long relied on VME , and (more recently) its successor VPX .  But developers now have the option to use AdvancedTCA* ( ATCA ) and MicroTCA ( uTCA ) in their rugged designs.  Which choice is better?   This blog will look at the pros and cons of VME/VPX and ATCA/uTCA.  It will explore the best uses for each standard and highlight example products for each.   Let’s start by reviewing the current state of affairs in commercia...Read More

If you’re an embedded geek like me, this year’s Intel Developer Forum (IDF) was a great place to be.  I saw a ton of cool products and demos that got me excited about the future of embedded.  The launch of the new Intel® Atom™ processor E6xx series was at the top of my list.  I think this new processor—which is the first Intel® architecture chip designed specifically for embedded—will enable for a whole new generation of highly connected, h...Read More

Embedded design teams looking to develop a platform or system with long life yet that can still be upgraded with the latest in Intel® Architecture (IA) technologies should consider COM (computer-on-module) Express. We recently discussed how COM Express could allow teams to offer a base platform with different processor options . Design teams working on communication, medical, military, and specialized-portable applications can also turn to COM Express to extend the life of a base design w...Read More

Advances in medical imaging have allowed for a new age of medical care. Minimally invasive procedures are replacing open surgery as imaging becomes more sophisticated, reducing risk and recovery time for patients. Medical equipment is also becoming more portable, allowing for a streamlined workflow and greater accuracy. However, as with all new technologies, these new imaging capabilities introduce their own challenges.   The expanding usage of medical imaging technology, whether for CT, X...Read More

SSDs (solid-state drives) aren’t actually disk drives, they’re assemblages of semiconductors that emulate rotating, mechanical hard disk drives (HDDs) at the interface level. SSDs plug into existing hard-disk drive (HDD) interfaces found in many embedded systems and can be operated by most embedded operating systems as though they were HDDs. Although SSDs do not directly replace HDDs because they cost more per Gbyte, SSDs deliver substantial performance benefits that come in very ha...Read More