Saturday, December 25, 2010

Micromouse 2010: 5 seconds to leave the labyrinth

A few times ago, we presented the MicroMouse competition to you, at the time of edition 2010 of this competition. With a resolution in 5 seconds of the labyrinth, it is the EggTortle microphone-robot which triumphed.

Passed a phase of exploration, the microphone-robot must solve the labyrinth as soon as possible.

Here a video of robolaboN, where one sees “EggTorte”, which obtained the first place by solving the labyrinth in less than 5 seconds.



The video which follows shows us the passage of the turns using the camera high-resolution (210 fps) of the micro Tetra robot. Indeed hundredth of second shows it gained by negotiating a turn is paramount to make a success of this test.

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

A robot which balances a double reversed pendulum

Tenkor, student engineer in cybernetics of the university of Stuttgart, carried out a thesis on the reversed balance of the pendulums. It for that produced a robot able to balance a double reversed pendulum.
The robot has only one type of movement, that of a translation along a rail. It is initially obliged to balance the pendulum from left to right to make it turn around an axis.

After some rotations, it is necessary for him then to stop the pendulum in high position and to stabilize it from left to right  using small movements.

With a double pendulum, that becomes more perilous, but the robot arrives there after a phase a little longer of stability.

One can even see Him, operate the pendulum in balance, and the robot carries out negative feedbacks for always keeping a balance, with a return in median position of the rail.

That appair simple like that, but it is done only mathematics with some formulas…. here it video:


Monday, December 20, 2010

Robotics and Embedded Systems Group at TUM






Professor Alois Knoll gives an introduction to the Robotics and Embedded Systems Group at Technische Universität München (TUM) and presents three of the robots developed at the lab.

Friday, December 17, 2010

Google is the big brand in chip software, says EDA exec

 



 Dramatically shortened design cycles and the rise of software defined applications have changed the design flow of system-on-chip devices, says EDA tool supplier.
“Today we are seeing one to ten million gate SoCs being designed in three to six month,” said Steve Brown, product management director at Cadence Design Systems,
“This is an incredibly short period of time to achieve this and requires significant changes in the design flow,” said Brown.  
“Ten million gate chips with software that is fully verified in three to six months, this is the big issue the design community is facing,” said Brown.
A major change, says Brown, is the way in which high level software, such as operating system and applications software, is defining the performance and operation of these large ICs.
“The big brand in the market is Google and its Android operation system,” said Brown.

“The challenge for designers now is to optimise the SoC for what Google is doing in the market,” said Brown.   
“Software is defining chip design,” said Brown.
This means a fundamental change in the business strategies of design tool firms like Cadence. “We can no longer be just interested in chip design anymore,” said Brown.  
One important area in is the verification of the SoC’s functionality.
Traditional tools to carry out verification will need to change to meet the requirements of very short design cycles and the way software now defines the IC’s function and performance.
“When the design cycle is just 3-6 months the question is becoming ‘what level of verification is enough?’,” said Brown.
But the big challenge is verifying the functionality of the software as well as the hardware.
“We know this works in the chip design, but what will be needed is verification for the software design,” said Brown.
For Cadence, the way forward is to form closer working relationships with semiconductor IP suppliers and software firms.
It is already working closely with processor company ARM. One aspect of this is the speed up the verification of embedded processor IP.
The other is to get involved in system-level design and verification of higher level software functions such as operating system and applications software.     
This change could present some fundamental design issues for tool suppliers, in particular the growth of open source software formations, such as Eclipse.
“Eclipse is not widely proliferated in EDA tools, so how is this going to work out?” asked Brown.
“What will become the language of design – C, UML, CML,” said Brown.



Thursday, December 16, 2010

iPhone 4 Drives Microelectromechanical Microphone Shipments

Highlighted by their adoption in Apple Inc.’s iPhone 4, microelectromechanical system (MEMS) microphones are set to achieve a more than 50 percent increase in shipments in 2010 and a fourfold rise by 2014, according to the market research firm iSuppli, now part of IHS Inc. (NYSE: IHS). Global MEMS microphone shipments are set to expand to 695.6 million units this year, up 57.7 percent from 441 million in 2009, as presented in the attached figure. By 2014, shipments will rise to 1.7 billion units, four times the total for 2009.




MEMS microphones are tiny microphones that employ a pressure-sensitive diaphragm etched on a semiconductor using microelectromechanical technology. They are commonly employed in cell phones, headsets, notebook PCs and video cameras, replacing conventional electret condenser microphones (ECM).

“In a major milestone, Apple in 2010 employed MEMS microphones in the iPhone 4, the first time the company used the technology in the iPhone line,” said Jérémie Bouchaud, director and principal analyst, MEMS, for iSuppli. “Although Apple previously used MEMS microphones in the fifth-generation iPod nano released in 2009, the company exclusively had been employing ECM technology in the iPhone line. With this move, Apple in 2010 will become the world’s second-largest buyer of MEMS microphones, behind Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. Apple was the sixth largest buyer in 2009.”
Although they are significantly more expensive than ECM devices, MEMS microphones provide a host of advantages in terms of size, scalability, temperature stability and sound quality.

The iPhone 4 employs two separate MEMS microphones for noise suppression, a technique that reduces background sounds to improve the clarity of voice communications. Although noise suppression has been available since 2006, the arrival of Motorola Inc.’s Droid as well as the iPhone 4 has caused the popularity of the technology — and of MEMS microphones — to soar. The majority of smart phones by 2014 will use two or more MEMS microphones.
The mobile handset market in 2010 is the largest consumer of MEMS microphones, ahead of notebook PCs. Headsets will form the third largest user of MEMS microphones, due to their use by Apple. By 2014, mobile handsets and notebook PCs will still be the largest application for MEMS microphones, followed by slate-type tablets, such as Apple’s iPad.
Since establishing the business in 2003, MEMS microphone pioneer Knowles Electronics has maintained market dominance, with the company set to account for more than 80 percent of shipments this year. The company has benefitted from its strong intellectual property portfolio. However, competition is rising, with three of the world’s five largest MEMS microphone suppliers now being Asian suppliers of conventional ECM — AAC Acoustic Technologies Holdings Inc., BSE Co. Ltd. and Hosiden Corp. — all of which recently added the product to their portfolio. These companies buy MEMS die from Infineon Technologies, package them and sell them, using their existing channels. Analog Devices Inc. is the only other pure MEMS company in the Top 5.
An International Trade Commission ruling in November 2010 should make it easier for newcomers to compete with Knowles. A commission judge ruled that Knowles’s silicon microphone patents were invalid.
For more information on this topic, see iSuppli’s upcoming report, entitled: MEMS Microphones Gain Volume in 2010 and Set to Make More Noise.

MEMS & Sensors
iSuppli’s unique market research reports help deliver vital information on the status of the entire electronics value chain. iSuppli’s MEMS & Sensors market research provides up-to-date, insightful coverage of the consumer, automotive, and high-value markets for MEMS, or microelectromechanical sensors. For more details call +1.310.524.4007.
About iSuppli
iSuppli is the global leader in technology value chain research and advisory services. Services afforded by iSuppli range from electronic component research to device-specific application market forecasts, from teardown analysis to consumer electronics and from display device and systems research to automotive telematics, navigation and safety systems research. More information is available at www.isuppli.com
About IHS (www.ihs.com)
IHS (NYSE: IHS) is a leading source of information and insight in pivotal areas that shape today’s business landscape: energy, economics, geopolitical risk, sustainability and supply chain management. Businesses and governments around the globe rely on the comprehensive content, expert independent analysis and flexible delivery methods of IHS to make high-impact decisions and develop strategies with speed and confidence. IHS has been in business since 1959 and became a publicly traded company on the New York Stock Exchange in 2005. Headquartered in Englewood, Colorado, USA, IHS employs more than 4,400 people in more than 30 countries around the world.
IHS is a registered trademark of IHS Inc.



Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Hardware and Software requirements for beginners

Required Hardware Tools



The development of an embedded system requires some hardware and software products. Although the hardware requirements depend on the type and complexity of the project, the following hardware tools are required in all of the experiments we are going to discuss here.

  1. A solderless breadboard for constructing and testing the experimental circuits. The breadboard is chosen because it is reusable. You can change, modify or remove the components on it at any time. While an embedded system is in development phase, you never know in advance whether or not your circuit will function correctly when assembled. So it is always good to test it first on a breadboard. Once it performs well, the circuit can be transferred to a printed circuit board.
  2. Microcontroller chips (PIC16F688 and PIC16F628A in this case)
  3. A PIC programmer to load firmware inside the microcontroller. You need to buy one with in circuit serial programming (ICSP) capability. This allows you to quickly program the PIC while it is in the target circuit. I have got an iCP01 USB PIC programmer from iCircuit Technologies. It is very handy, easy to use, and low-cost ICSP programmer for the most popular flash-based PIC microcontrollers. The best thing about it is that it is compatible with Microchip’s PICKit2 and MPLAB IDE softwares. And, it works great. Read Choosing a PIC Programmer.
  4. A PC is required for two purposes: to develop and compile the firmware for the microcontroller, and to transfer it to the PIC programmer so that it could be loaded into the program memory of the microconroller.
  5. A regulated +5V DC source to power your circuit on the breadboard.
  6. A digital multimeter as test equipment.
  7. Other components like resistors, LEDs, capacitors, wires, etc as required.
 iCP01 USB PIC programmer that uses PICkit2 software for programming


Required Software Tools
In addition to the above hardware, following software products are required during the experiments.
  1. A Compiler to develop and compile the firmware. You need to download and install the free version of mikroC Pro for PIC (a C compiler for PIC from Mikroelektronika) to follow these experiments. Here is the download link: mikroC Pro for PIC. Also download mikroC Pro manual and Create First Project. These user’s manuals describe the compiler features and setup procedure in detail.
  2. A microcontroller device programmer software that’s provided by the vendor along with the programmer hardware. It is required to transfer the firmware from the PC to the microcontroller.


Sunday, December 12, 2010

A Robot's Body of Knowledge

PACO-PLUS project develops embodied cognition for robot learning



15 November 2010—Early risers may think it’s tough to fix breakfast first thing in the morning, but robots have it even harder. Even grabbing a cereal box is a challenge for your run-of-the-mill artificial intelligence(AI). Frosted Flakes come in a rectangular prism with colorful decorations, but so does your childhood copy of Chicken Little. Do you need to teach the AI to read before it can grab breakfast?
Maybe not. A team of European researchers has built a robot called ARMAR-III, which tries to learn not just from previously stored instructions or massive processing power but also from reaching out and touching things. Consider the cereal box: By picking it up, the robot could learn that the cereal box weighs less than a similarly sized book, and if it flips the box over, cereal comes out. Together with guidance and maybe a little scolding from a human coach, the robot—the result of the PACO-PLUS research project—can build general representations of objects and the actions that can be applied to them. "[The robot] builds object representations through manipulation," explains Tamim Asfour of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, in Germany, who worked on the hardware side of the system.



The robot’s thinking is not separated from its body, because it must use its body to learn how to think. The idea, sometimes called embodied cognition, has a long history in the cognitive sciences, says psychologist Art Glenberg at Arizona State University in Tempe, who is not involved in the project. "All sorts of our thinking are in terms of how we can act in the world, which is determined jointly by characteristics of the world and our bodies."
Embodied cognition also requires sophisticated two-way communication between a robot’s lower-level sensors—such as its hands and camera eyes—and its higher-level planning processor. "The hope is that an embodied-cognition robot would be able to solve other sorts of problems unanticipated by the programmer," Glenberg says. If ARMAR-III doesn’t know how to do something, it will build up a library of new ways to look at things or move things until its higher-level processor can connect the new dots.
The PACO-PLUS system’s masters tested it in a laboratory kitchen. After some rudimentary fumbling, the robot learned to complete tasks such as searching for, identifying, and retrieving a stray box of cereal in an unexpected location in the kitchen or ordering cups by color on a table. "It sounds trivial, but it isn’t," says team member Bernhard Hommel, a psychologist at Leiden University in the Netherlands. "He has to know what you’re talking about, where to look for it in the kitchen, even if it’s been moved, and then grasp it and return to you." When trainers placed a cup in the robot’s way after asking it to set the table, it worked out how to move the cup out of the way before continuing the task. The robot wouldn’t have known to do that if it hadn’t already figured out what a cup is and that it’s movable and would get knocked down if left in place. These are all things the robot learned by moving its body around and exploring the scenery with its eyes.
ARMAR-III’s capabilities can be broken down into three categories: creating representations of objects and actions, understanding verbal instructions, and figuring out how to execute those instructions. However, having the robot go through trial-and-error ways to figure out all three would just take too long. "We weren’t successful in showing the complete cycle," Asfour says of the four-year-long project, which ended last summer. Instead, they’d provide one of the three components and let the robot figure out the rest. The team ran experiments in which they gave the robot hints, sometimes by programming and sometimes by having human trainers demonstrate something. For example, they would tell it, "This is a green cup," instead of expecting the robot to take the time to learn the millions of shades of green. Once it had the perception given to it, the robot could then proceed with figuring out what the user wanted it to do with the cup and planning the actions involved.
The key was the system’s ability to form representations of objects that worked at the sensory level and combine that with planning and verbal communications. "That’s our major achievement from a scientific point of view," Asfour says.
ARMAR-III may represent a new breed of robots that don’t try to anticipate every possible environmental input, instead seeking out stimuli using their bodies to create a joint mental and physical map of the possibilities. Rolf Pfeifer of the University of Zurich, who was not involved in the project, says, "One of the basic insights of embodiment is that we generate environmental stimulation. We don’t just sit there like a computer waiting for stimulation."
This type of thinking mimics other insights from psychology, such as the idea that humans perceive their environment in terms that depend on their physical ability to interact with it. In short, a hill looks steeper when you’re tired. One study in 2008 found that when alone, people perceive hills as being less steep than they do when accompanied by a friend. ARMAR-III’s progeny may even offer insights into how embodied cognition works in humans, Glenberg adds. "Robots offer a marvelous way of trying to test this sort of thinking."

Cambridge celebrates startups






Cambridge Wireless has awarded five new technology companies as part of its Discovering Startups competition.

The five, who each received £2000 at the awards last night, were chosen from 25 entrants and range from medical sensors and imaging systems to mobile phone apps. The group of twenty judges included Tim Regan from Microsoft; Frederic Rombaut of Qualcomm Ventures Europe; Simon Bond of SiliconSouthWest; Carson Bradbury of Cre8 Ventures; Jamie Urquhart of Pond Venture Partners and co-founder of ARM; and Glenn Collinson, co-founder of CSR.

"The quality of entrants was very high and choosing five winners from the 25 pitches proved very difficult," said Leo Poll, business development manager at Philips Research and one of the competition adjudicators. "It is good to see that innovation is still thriving in the East of England and we are confident that the Discovering Start-Up winners and many of the other finalists will go on to be key players in the rapidly growing wireless industry."
The five companies voted as the best startups were:
•    Cambridge Temperature Concepts, set up in 2006 by students from Cambridge, has used its novel analogue design technology to develop a highly accurate sensor to predict fertility as accurately as IVF treatments.
•    Augmentra has developed a mapping, navigation, tracking and information tool for smartphones that provides real time mapped location and information for outdoors activities through its ViewRanger software. The Cambridge company, founded in 2006, won a best application award that year from Nokia for its S60 platform.
•    Magic Solver has over 20 iPhone apps and 2.5m customers in 90 countries in just one year developing its own apps and those for partners. It was set up by three Cambridge students and now has a presence in Silicon Valley.
•    PneumaCare's PneumaScan technology observes chest movements and calculates volume changes over time based on Structured Light Plethysmography (SLP) technology. This works by projecting a grid pattern onto a patient's chest area while two cameras record the changes in the projected pattern on the chest from different perspectives. The result is a moving 3D model of the chest. The company was set up in mid 2009 as a consortium which includes the Cambridge University Engineering Department, local consultancy Plextek and Addenbrooke's Hospital, and is backed by the Cambridge Discovery seed Fund and the Cambridge Capital Group of business angels.
•    The only non-Cambridge company in the list, Oxford Electromagnetic Solutions, has developed a fast, efficient and accurate way to detect buried pipes that seamlessly links to existing work practices and systems. The OXEMS systems uses buried RF Tagging Units, a detector and an Integrated Identification System to do this. Tagging Units identify the utility type, asset diameter, fittings and provide barcode access to remote asset databases. Automated recording adds depth, GPS location, time/date, user and detector ID to create a totally unique identifier. The company spun out of Oxford Universities Isis Innovations in July.

The winners of Discovering Start-Ups 2010.Craig Wareham from Augmentra; Kevin Gooding from OXEMS (Oxford Electromagnetic Solutions); Kevin Coleman, Discovering Start-Ups Project Director; Shamus Husheer from Cambridge Temperature Concepts; Soraya Jones, EO at Cambridge Wireless; Ward Hills from PneumaCare; Deborah Cadman, Chief Executive at EEDA; Emmanuel Carraud from MagicSolver.com.

Saturday, December 11, 2010

Say Merry Christmas with LED display



Would you like to say “Merry Christmas” to everyone that passes by? Then hang a big LED message display. The display message is divided in to 9 distinct letters controlled by PIC16F688 via transistors.

The fun begins when programming starts. Here you can drive message by sending different letter lighting patterns like switching letters sequentially, blinking whole text or simply displaying whole message. Fix it on your house and have your attention.

Friday, December 10, 2010

Elektra Electronics Industry Awards 2010 - The Winners

Attendees of the 2010 Elektra Awards, Lancaster Hotel, London:




Elektra Electronics Industry Awards 2010 were presented at a Gala Dinner at the Royal Lancaster Hotel in London last night.

This established annual highpoint of the electronics industry, was presented this year by TV and radio comedian Hugh Dennis, and watched by a large and enthusiastic audience representing all sectors of the industry.

Congratulations to all the winners:

Lifetime Achievement Award
Professor David May FRS

Company of the Year
ARM
R&D Award
Sponsored by IC GroupBaolab Microsystems - NanoEMS technology for MEMS
Renewable Energy Design Award
Sponsored by MSC Gleichmann

Linear Technology - The LTC3109 energy harvester power supplyEnvironmental Award
Sponsored by Vicor
Farnell for its environmentally-friendly packaging
EMS Company of the Year
Sponsored by ECSN
Wilson Process Systems


Start-up of the Year
Sponsored by International Rectifier
Energy Micro

Distributor of the Year
Sponsored by IC ResourcesMouser Electronics

Fabless Semiconductor Supplier of the Year

Silicon Laboratories
Product Innovation Award - Readers' Choice
Sponsored by Avnet
HTC Desire Android smartphone
Embedded System Product of the Year

Microsemi (formerly Actel) - SmartFusion mixed-signal FPGA
Test Product of the Year
Sponsored by Neesham Public RelationsAgilent Technologies - Infiniium 90000 X-series oscilloscope
Passive & Electromechanical Product of the Year
Sponsored by Redline
AVX - TCJ series 50V-rated SMD tantalum polymer capacitor
Semiconductor Product of the Year - Analogue
Sponsored by Mouser Electronics
National Semiconductor - ADC12D1800 3.6GS/s analogue-to-digital converter
Semiconductor Product of the Year - digital
Sponsored by Rohde & SchwarzARM - Cortex-M4 microprocessor

Solid-state Lighting Application Award
Sponsored by AngliaDialight - DuroSite LED high bay lights
Power Systems Product of the Year
Supported by IET
Fairchild Semiconductor - FSA9280 USB accessory detection switch
Design Tools and Development Software Award
Sponsored by New Scientist
Cadence Design Systems - Virtuoso Accelerated Parallel Simulator
Student Engineer of the Year
Sponsored by RS 
Paul Thomas Wheeler, Loughborough University.


Wednesday, December 8, 2010

daVinci Surgical System Overview



The da Vinci® Surgical System provides Penn State Hershey surgeons with an alternative to both traditional open surgery and conventional laparoscopy, putting a surgeon's hands at the controls of a state-of-the-art robotic platform. Our surgeons can perform even the most complex and delicate procedures through very small incisions with unmatched precision.







The goals with robotic-assisted surgery are to give the patients the opportunity for:

  • Less pain, blood loss, and scarring
  • Shorter hospital stays
  • Faster recovery
  • Earlier return to normal daily activities

The Penn State Hershey Robotics Program provides patients with excellence in robotic surgery:

  • Multi-specialty teams in urology, pediatric urology, cardiothoracic, gynecology, reproductive endocrinology and ear/nose/throat
  • Dedicated surgeons trained in the use of the latest robotic-assisted surgery techniques
  • Experienced staff and support for multiple robotic-assisted procedures
  • The most up-to-date robotic technology available.


 

Google works with NXP to put NFC in Android phones



NXP Semiconductors is working with search engine giant Google to create an open source software stack for Near Field Communications (NFC).

The NFC stack will be validated on Gingerbread, the latest version of the Android platform.

Google also integrated NXP’s NFC controller (PN544) into its newly launched Nexus S phone, co-developed by Google and Samsung.

As well supporting the development of NFC-enabled handsets, the aim is to drive the development of new applications that extend the touch interface of mobile applications beyond the devices screen.

"Google’s adoption of the technology will be a catalyst for the industry to drive the further adoption of NFC at both the handset and application levels," said Ruediger Stroh, executive v-p and general manager, identification business at NXP Semiconductors.

"Open source development environments will push the boundaries of innovation and drive revolutionary new services and applications for mobile devices," said Stroh

NFC-enabled devices can pair with accessories, interact on a peer-to-peer level to exchange data, and connect to external readers and tag systems.

source : http://www.electronicsweekly.com

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Embedded Systems Design - December 2010






Embedded Systems Design is a monthly magazine for engineers, programmers, and project leaders who build microcontroller and embedded microprocessor-based systems. The magazine's in-depth, technical articles are written by experts in the field and focus on practical ways for engineers to improve their hardware/software integration skills, software design, and optimization.

Download :

Hotfile :
Letitbit :

Sunday, December 5, 2010

Embedded world Conference 2011 : Future trends and innovations



The program committee of embedded world Conference 2011 has published the Call for Papers for next year’s conference. Experts from all areas of embedded systems development are invited to present their innovative ideas, illustrate their solutions or report on their experience. Speaking at the conference is their opportunity to share their expertise with other embedded system developers at the international, worldwide reputed event in the embedded systems sector.

The embedded world Conference orients on modern, leading-edge ideas and solutions to global challenges for which engineers and especially the developers of embedded systems, bear special responsibility. They are called upon, with their systems, to enable greater productivity, while reducing the use of resources, energy and ecological impact. And the embedded systems sector possesses the necessary innovative ability – if the engineers are discussing these topics intensively.

In the areas of hardware, software and tools the program committee is looking for clever ideas, ingenious solutions, practical methods and means, new approaches. Abstracts can range from 30min talks through longer in-depth presentations of solutions all the way to half- or even full-day seminars and workshops.

Topics

Systems
Model Based Design of Embedded Systems – Unified Modelling Language – Embedded System Architectures – Network Technologies – Internet Technologies and Web Services – M2M-Communication

Hardware
Management of Embedded System Projects – Wireless Technologies – Microprocessor Architectures and Cores – Multicore Processors – System-on-Chip – Reconfigurable Systems – Analog and Power Devices – Memory in Embedded Systems

Software
Real-time Operation Systems – Software Development Methods – Multicore Processing – Embedded Linux – SW Developm. in HL-Languages (C, C++, Java, ...) – Software Quality – Cryptography/Security – Digital Signal Processing – Open Source Projects

Tools
Development Tools–Debugging Methods–Test and Verification–CPLD, FPGA and ASIC Design

Application
Automotive Applications–Consumer Applications–Visualisation, Human Interfaces

Abstracts can be submitted using the online submission form at www.embedded-world.eu. Deadline for submission is September 17, 2010.

Review 2010: New records for visitors and exhibitors
The embedded world Exhibition&Conference 2010 ended on a very successful note with a record number of visitors and exhibitors. This is clearly confirmed by the 730 international exhibiting companies, 4 per cent up on last year, and 18,350 trade visitors from all over the world (+16 per cent). The event decisively shows that the embedded industry and its community platform are successful. The embedded world Conference and electronic displays Conference rounded off the overall picture with 7 per cent more participants.

The next embedded world Exhibition&Conference takes place from 1–3 March 2011.


For details or further information : http://www.embedded-world.eu/

Saturday, December 4, 2010

Windows Embedded Vision English




Worktank parntered with Microsoft to produce this video that communicates Microsoft's vision for the future of embedded technology.
enjoy it !!

Friday, December 3, 2010

Oracle lights Sparcs, breaks database record



SAN JOSE, Calif. – Oracle announced a system using its Sparc processors and Solaris operating system that executed more than 30 million transactions/minute, leapfrogging competitors IBM and Hewlett-Packard by a wide margin. The company also announced an upgraded Sparc processor and progress on a next-generation chip.

Oracle's chief executive Larry Ellison reiterated his commitment to delivering integrated hardware and software systems based on technologies acquired with Sun Microsystems in April 2009. The company's so-called Sunrise program "is all about Sparc and Solaris, those two foundational technologies that will lead the industry into the next generation systems," said Ellison.

All business systems makers are riding the trend to integrated systems. While Oracle focuses on linking chips and systems to its databases and applications, HP and Cisco have taken an approach of integrating a wider range of computer and communications gear.

"Someone wrote a book called The Sun Also Rises," he quipped. "For all our competitors running their Sundown programs, this marks the end of that," he said, referring to IBM and HP efforts to grab Sun's customers after the Oracle acquisition.

As a proof point, Oracle announced a high-end configuration of a new Sun Sparc cluster delivered 30,249,699 transactions/minute on the TPC-C benchmark, beating a four-month-old record on an IBM cluster of 10 million. HP held the previous record with an Intel Itanium based Superdome system at four million.

The Sun team integrated flash memory into servers in a way that Oracle's database software can use it as a new part of the memory hierarchy, optimizing performance, Ellison said.

Oracle also announced the Sparc VII+ processor and new member of its M-series servers using it, both co-developed with longtime Sun partner Fujitsu. The VII+ doubles to 12 Mbytes the amount of level-two cache and raises the data rate to 3 GHz to deliver about 20 percent more performance than the existing four-core, dual-threaded chip.

In addition, Oracle gave an update on the T4, its next-generation Sparc processor. Like the T3, it will sport up to eight cores running up to eight threads each. However each core will have significantly higher single-thread performance, said John Fowler, head of Oracle's systems group.

Several iterations of the T4 chip are performing "extremely well" in tests of working silicon at the company's Santa Clara, Calif., lab, Fowler said.

As for software, Ellison said the next version of the Solaris operating system will be available soon. Oracle's middleware and applications are already being based on Sun's Java language, he added.

In a study of its customers before the Sun acquisition, Oracle found Solaris was their most widely used operating systems, Ellison said. Solaris and Linux represented nearly 80 percent of its installed systems, he said.



Thursday, December 2, 2010

Imagine Cup 2010 - Student Advertiser Video - Subtitled



Get Microsoft Silverlight


Imagine cup, we win, we all win

ESC Chicago Panel: Embedded Android good, but not for everyone



Manhasset, NY – Android for embedded is ready, but not for everyone. That was the conclusion at last week’s ESC Chicago where a panel of experts laid out Google Android's pros and cons before audience clearly intrigued by the platforms capabilities and rising popularity, yet concerned about whether or not its questionable ‘real time’ capabilities make it right for them.
The audience also pressed the panel on potential source code licensing traps, tool chains and how it stacks up against other Linux-based distributions such as MeeGo.

As audience participation rose, the discussion took shape around four key areas:

1: Why go with Android?

2: When should a designers not go with Android?

3: What are the ‘gotchas’ with Android development?

4: How does Android compare to MeeGo, another open-source Linux development platform?

5: Do you have to give up your source code for any Android applications you develop?



source : http://www.eetimes.com

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

OmniZero.9 :Incredible Transformers robot.



OmniZero.9 :Incredible Transformers robot :





OmniZero.9, it is the robot presented by Takeshi Maeda at the time of 16th edition of competition ROBO-ONE of Toyoma in Japan. This robot can inter between things, work, roll and to even carry the heavy ones charges. This robot with these air of Transformers gained a sharp success with this competition.