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Embedded Control Systems
Embedded Control Systems
Today microprocessors are found everywhere, and the need for
rapid design and deployment is growing. Businesses wish to transition from
demonstration to deployment
as soon as possible while conserving costs for research or
technology, not for reinventing circuit boards over and over again.
We have embraced the embedded controls design roadmap in a
unique way, specifically because we found a way to adhere to our goal to eliminate custom designs wherever
possible and center our efforts on customization of off-the-shelf products.
The core of any embedded systems is usually a microprocessor, an FPGA, or an ARM
device.
Each of the platform options below has pros and cons in a tradeoff of
development time and effort, product capability, and overall flexibility and
cost per unit. They are ranked in each category as shown below from 1-10
(10=ideal).
 |
Circaflex™
A ready-to-use embedded device platform with a real-time microprocessor
running VxWorks, along with an FPGA for a wide variety of fast and
reliable I/O, and Windows XP embedded for rich HMI and user interface
capability. Using this standardized platform can reduce NRE and
development schedule to a minimum.
Introduction |
|
Customization |
3 |
|
NRE Cost |
10 |
|
Unit Cost |
4 |
| I/O Options |
10 |
| Schedule |
10 |
|
Quality |
10 |
|
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ARM Microcontroller
ARM architecture delivers a "System on Chip" device with multiple
electronic functions residing on a single chip. Devices can be
smaller, more affordable, and easier to develop. You can find ARM
CPUs inside many consumer devices, portable devices, and computer
peripherals you use everyday.
Introduction |
|
Customization |
10 |
|
NRE Cost |
4 |
|
Unit Cost |
10 |
| I/O Options |
5 |
| Schedule |
5 |
|
Quality |
8 |
|
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Flex-Stack
Achieve off-the-shelf benefits as well as the most flexibility with
FlexStack platform from Boston Engineering. This platform includes
the ADI Blackfin processor on a single small board about 2" x 2" module,
with other peripherals and support modules mounted underneath. Yet
the entire system is completely customizable physically and can be
reformatted into a completely custom circuit board to meet your specific
needs.
Introduction |
|
Customization |
10 |
|
NRE Cost |
2 |
|
Unit Cost |
10 |
| I/O Options |
5 |
| Schedule |
5 |
| Quality |
8 |
|
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Complete Custom Design
Compare the above options to a completely custom design in which the
development team will select a microprocessor, FPGA, ARM, will evaluate
and select an operating system, and program the system using C or Java.
You can of course achieve complete customization and get the cost
extremely low, but the NRE cost and schedule will be tremendous and
quality will require a lot of extra work. |
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Customization |
10 |
|
NRE Cost |
1 |
|
Unit Cost |
10 |
| I/O Options |
3 |
| Schedule |
1 |
| Quality |
3 |
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