Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve already heard about the launch of the 3rd-generation Intel® Core™ processors (formerly codenamed “Ivy Bridge”). But do you know what these new chips can do for you? Before we answer that question, let’s review the basics: The new processors are the first to use Intel’s 22nm fabrication process, which provides up to 20% better performance in the same thermal envelope as the previous generation. The ...Read More

As competition heats up among embedded system manufacturers, designers are adopting off-the-shelf Computer On Module(COM) technology to reduce risk, lower development cost, and shorten the time to market. These pre-engineered plug-in computer modules allow development teams to focus their design efforts on a carrier board to deliver the unique functions of the embedded product. Although these modules offer substantial advantages, there is a significant hardware and software learning curve requi...Read More

High performance military and aerospace projects such as radar and image processing call for commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) components that meet extreme multi-tasking and floating point processing requirements.  Even as embedded designers struggle to deal with these soaring data rates, increased processing requirements, and application complexity they are often forced to make tradeoffs to meet Size, Weight, and Power (SWaP) requirements in many rugged and mobile applications. To keep up w...Read More

In the first two posts of this series, I covered techniques that you can use to “future proof” your embedded design and boost your graphics performance for signage and gaming applications . Now let’s look at an industrial automation application.   Industrial automation systems must interface with a wide range of I/O requirements including proprietary legacy circuits and the latest high-speed interconnects.  Because of the longevity of industrial equipment designer...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

I just got back from ESC 2010, and it was a great show. There was a renewed sense of optimism about the economy, and widespread excitement about new products and technologies. In this three-part series I’ll share my top picks from the show floor.   Let’s start with a roundup of small form factor boards and modules, which were some of the hottest items at the show. Nearly every member of the Intel® Embedded Alliance had boards and modules based on the new Intel® Atom&...Read More

Embedded processors are becoming more sophisticated--but so are software development tools.  When you know your tool options, software development can be surprisingly simple.   This Embedded Innovator article outlines the latest hardware advances, including multi-core processors, hyper-threading, and the Intel Streaming SIMD Extensions (Intel SSE).  It explores the Intel tools that can help you take advantage of these features, including compilers, libraries, threading packages...Read More