Testing for security flaws is difficult because it fundamentally differs from the functional testing performed on most applications. Most functional testing involves “positive testing” to ensure correct responses to expected inputs. In contrast, security testing revolves around “ negative testing ,” which subjects the system to unexpected inputs and conditions to see if it will fail (Figure 1). The inputs needed for this negative testing can’t easily be derived fro...Read More

By Brian Vezza, Director of M2M Solutions, Wind River Within the next few years, Machine-to-Machine (M2M) devices will account for more than half of all connected devices shipped annually. Think about that for a minute. There will be more M2M devices shipped each year than PCs, cell phones, tablets, set-top boxes, and gaming platforms put together. There are already hundreds of millions of M2M devices (if not over 1 billion) at work in sensors, smart meters, industrial control systems, SCADA de...Read More

Interoperability is just a fancy way of saying that systems have to work together. The concept is simple but the mechanisms required to make it work are not. Interoperability is achieved through adherence to international and other standards, combined with translation packages that homologate “nearly identical” communications channels. The first approach is exemplified by Internet standards like TCP/IP while the second is implemented by systems like Common Object Request Broker Arch...Read More

By Jakob Engblom, Technical Marketing Manager, Simics, Wind River   My blog posts about Simics tend to focus on how virtual platforms are used and what you can do with them. However, underlying all Simics use is the issue of getting a virtual platform in place. You need some kind of platform to run your software on in order to get the full benefit of Simics. Thus, creating virtual platforms is an important part of practical Simics use for many of our users.   We have been working wi...Read More

As embedded designers face the challenge of developing systems with fewer components and lower power consumption while combining multiple applications, many have turned to virtualization software to simplify the process. Even with a single core processor, virtualization allows designers to merge a real time operating system with a high level, graphics based user interface such as Windows or Linux. However, the introduction of the 2nd generation Intel® Core™ architecture with multiple...Read More

Open-source operating system (OS) distributions often contain thou­sands of packages, making testing a difficult and time-consuming task. New automated testing tools for Android and MeeGo can signifi­cantly reduce this challenge and speed time to market. To see how these tools work, check out Wind River’s article in the latest Embedded Innovator magazine.   You can access more articles like this by subscribing to the Embedded Innovator . Subscribers receive a quarterly ...Read More

Think about the popular slang term app and you probably first think about application programs for smart phones. But the downloadable app concept will pervade the embedded space as well in scenarios such as auto infotainment systems, home media gateways, and embedded gaming products. Open source operating-system platforms such as MeeGo and Android will allow embedded design teams to develop extensible systems based on Intel® Architecture (IA) processors. In turn, the third-party app develo...Read More