Embedded Systems

Renesas Electronics says its 32-bit RX631 and RX63N microcontrollers are now supported by the safety-critical real time operating system, safeRTOS from Wittenstein high integrity systems (WHIS). SafeRTOS is an IEC 61508 SIL 3 safety-certified real time operating system which is used in the industrial, medical and transportation sectors. It is supplied with a Design Assurance Pack, supporting certification for a range of international design standards. Renesas ...

WunderBar is a development kit for wireless sensor node applications using Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. At least, it will be if a funding project on Dragon Innovation goes to plan. Designed to snap apart like a bar of chocolate, the hardware is a single board that breaks into: a main terminal board, three sensors boards (light/colour/proximity, gyroscope/accelerometer, thermometer/humidity), an infra-red board ...

Lauterbach has extended its debug support for the Windows Embedded Compact RTOS family. This adds support for the Windows Embedded Compact 2013 operating system for both x86 and ARM architectures. As a successor to Compact 7, Windows Embedded Compact 2013 has now been available for a couple of months and Lauterbach has extended its “Windows Embedded Awareness” for the TRACE32 ...

Analog Devices is aiming at portable heathcare with a precision meter-on-a-chip that will run on a coin cell. ADuCM350 has a 16bit analogue front-end (AFE) which includes a multi-sensor switch matrix, hardware waveform generator, discrete Fourier transform (DFT) engine, and an ARM Cortex-M3 microcontroller. Applications are expected in point-of-care diagnostics, home self-test health devices, wearable vital signs monitors, and sports ...

The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) runs from Tuesday 7 January – Friday 10 January in Las Vegas, showcasing the latest developments and trends in the world of consumer electronics. Bookmark this page to keep up to date with the latest news of interest to the electronics design industry. 9 January 2014 CES: NFC eases set-up in wireless home lighting control ...

Microchip has announced a chip that merges data from multiple sensors for Windows 8.1 computers and tablets. “Data from multiple sensors, which sense motion via accelerometers, magnetometers and gyroscopes, as well as environmental factors such as light, temperature, humidity and pressure, needs to be incorporated or ‘fused’ in the system,” said Microchip. “We have partnered directly with multiple sensor manufacturers ...

Freescale, Kynetics and Revolution Robotics have created a reference design for wearable healthcare and sports devices. Based around a 1GHz ARM Cortex-A9 application processor running Android 4.3, it is called Wearables Reference Platform (WaRP). “Wearables represent one of the sensors for the Internet-of-things, and hold tremendous promise for equipment makers, service providers and consumers,” said Freescale director Rajeev Kumar. “This solution ...

Magellan has chosen Silicon Labs’ EFM32 Giant Gecko microcontroller for its Echo smart watch, which communicates over Bluetooth Smart to control, be controlled by, and display data from, smartphones. It is particularly intended for use in sports, where it relies on the user’s iPhone (only certain models) to provide GPS reception and data processing. Currently it works with Strava, MapMyRun, ...

CSR’s VibeHub – being launched at CES – promises easier support for audio home networking, accommodating a range of inputs or music sources and allowing users to listen to different content in different rooms. It is based on CSR’s vendor-neutral SyncLock technology, meaning elements of the network don’t necessarily need to be single sourced. “Consumers want networked audio products that ...

Toshiba has combined the high-speed wireless link TransferJet with NFC and wireless charging in a concept that it is calling a ‘digital kiosk’. “Digital Kiosk shows a use case in which rich digital content, including HD video, can be purchased and downloaded swiftly to mobile devices, such as smartphones,” said the firm. “It shows how various emerging wireless technologies can ...