The collection of analysis tools can be installed on any workstation and do not require the full suite of Visual Studio development tools.  To begin using the Power Toys, the .NET Compact Framework must be installed.  Once the utilities and their dependencies are installed, an application’s memory usage can be analyzed through an ActiveSync connection.

The .NET CF Remote Performance Monitor is one analysis tool included in the Power Toys collection.  This utility is useful for monitoring applications statistics and counters on-the-fly.  The counters available will provide valuable information on the behavior of the garbage collector in relation to an application.  One of the really useful features of this utility is the ability to export the data to Window’s performance monitor.  This integration allows application statistics to be graphed over time very easily.  This makes identification of memory leaks a trivial task.

Another useful tool in the Power Toys collection is the .NET CF CLR Profiler.  This utility is helpful in isolating the portions of code responsible for memory leaks and performance bottlenecks.  The tool allows one to graphically explore an application’s runtime memory allocations as they relate to various method calls.  It is also possible to explore the application’s heap at any point during execution.  This tool makes it much easier to determine which methods can be optimized to decrease memory allocations and thereby improve application stability and performance.

The tools contained in the .NET Compact Framework Power Toys collection can be very useful to analyze application code when executing on resource limited embedded systems.  There are some other useful tools included in the .NET Compact Framework Power Toys, but for the sake of brevity, this article will not cover them.  It is important to note that application performance will be significantly reduced for most applications being analyzed by the tools mentioned in this article.

For more information, check out the sites below:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/netframework/aa497273
http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=65
http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?displaylang=en&id=13442

COM Express designs offer a similar choice in computer systems: the technical advantages of a custom design without the high cost and long development cycle. Pretty big claim, so how does this work?

The concept of using a Computer on Module (COM) was developed as an alternative design architecture that combines important benefits of custom and off-the-shelf systems. COM Express systems use an off-the-shelf COM module that supplies the core, high-speed functionality found in most PCs (processor, chipset, video, memory, Ethernet, USB) married to a custom designed “carrier board” with all connectors, power, and application specific I/O. Although there is still some design effort required for the carrier board, time to market is greatly shortened compared to a true custom computer system while delivering the same exact match to the electrical and mechanical application requirements.

The benefits of COM Express systems are numerous and include:

• Fast Time to Market
• Scalability for Easy Upgrade
• Application Specific I/O
• Flexible Mechanical Configuration
• Vibration Resistant
• Long Term Availability and Support
• Superior Lifecycle Management

You can find additional information on COM Express and Sealevel’s custom design capabilities by visiting our website.

I was at Virginia Tech working on an engineering degree. Susan and I had our son, Ben, and I needed to work part-time. In a town the size of Blacksburg, Virginia, good jobs were hard to find with the school there. I lucked out somehow. My first job was at Scotty’s Lafayette Store. We old guys remember Lafayette stores as THE place for electronics, way before Radio Shack. I sold stereos, CB radios and lots of electronic parts. I could also buy things at a discount. One day we were looking for something in the back, and I came across some Dynaco kits – a tube preamp and tuner. I was in heaven, and thus started a long love affair with tube amps. You know? Those funny looking glass things that preceded transistors?

Back to the picture. Lafayette closed later that year, so I had to find other employment. I remember my mother saying that I should take any job, such as washing dishes. I held out and looked harder. I had read Jon Titus‘ Bugbooks, particularly the The 8080 Bugbook. These were hands-on, experiment based books that combined with “trainer kit” electronics to teach fundamentals of microprocessors and interfacing – new stuff in 1976!

Jon and his brother Chris ran a little electronics and software company called Tychon, Inc. Sound out that name – its derived from “Titus”, “Chris” and “Jon”. Chris’ wife, Sarah, was the glue that held it together. This was an early example of small business, high-tech entrepreneurship at it’s best.

Well, somehow I talked my way into a job there. It didn’t hurt that I’d spent the summer of ’76 immersed in the 8080 Bugbook. That book opened my eyes (and brain) to how a microprocessor worked. This new job was like working for the Allman Brothers Band after spending time admiring their work and wanting to play like them!

I swept floors, soldered (a lot) and maintained equipment. I eventually learned to lay out circuit boards with black tape on mylar. Wow! I couldn’t help learning to program 8080 assembler. Back then, octal notation was popular. Hexadecimal replaced it soon thereafter, thank goodness. For example, the decimal number 255 is 377 octal and FF hex. Old DEC (Digital Equipment Corporation) equipment used octal, and the Ph.D chemists-turned-8080 programmers that I worked for liked it.

One of the products that Tychon made was a keyboard/LED readout board that allowed you to plug chips into a breadboard and then perform experiments with software op codes that you entered on the little keypad. That was cutting edge back then! And what a way to learn! The picture included in this blog is me sitting in front of a CRT, a luxury in those days, and Jon leaning over explaining something.

I eventually graduated from Virginia Tech. My son Ben, now president of Sealevel, was there at two years old. I’m extremely proud that my kids have taken such an interest in the company. Of course, they grew up with Sealevel discussions at the breakfast table every day!

Those years were inspirational for everything I did after that. I went to work for NCR upon graduating. I stayed in touch with Jon, and eventually started Sealevel with the confidence I needed. Chris Titus had an unfortunate accident that left him unable to continue the work he and Jon had started. Chris was absolutely brilliant, and Jon loved to argue with him (sometimes even when he agreed with him) because Chris would get so into it. I owe volumes to both of them. Jon later helped me write The Digital I/O Handbook.

Thank you for reading this, and thanks especially to all those brilliant people that have influenced my career!

Win an autographed copy of The Digital I/O Handbook

To enter leave a comment below telling us who or what inspired you to become an engineer. The top ten responses will be selected by January 31, 2012. Winners will receive a receive a free, autographed copy of The Digital I/O Handbook.

Questions? Email community@sealevel.com

Also at West 2012, we will also be showcasing our ACC-188 Synchronous Interface Adapter, which enables tactical radios to interface to PCs and quickly transmit IP-based data such as email, IM-type communications, files, GPS maps, images, coordinates, etc. We will have a range of other products on display, including synchronous products (PCI, low profile PCI, PCMCIA, and USB) and industrial computers.

Whether you’re looking for off-the-shelf or custom products, your feedback is important to us. Stop by to discuss how our products can be customized to best serve your needs.

We look forward to meeting you at West 2012. If you have any questions, please email me at marcf@sealevel.com or call at (864) 843-4343.

Siri isn’t all business. In order to make her seem more human-like, Apple engineers included numerous Easter eggs and a sense of humor. You can ask her Star Trek and Doctor Who questions, and she provides comical responses that make most nerds swoon. Many of those questions have been posted endlessly across the Internet, so I won’t duplicate them here. Suffice to say, I’m sure Apple engineers are constantly finding more ways to make Siri both useful and fun.

Apple describes Siri as an intelligent personal assistant.  Others have referred to Siri as simply voice recognition, but that doesn’t give full credit to her capabilities. Voice recognition software generally requires hours of training and memorizing specific commands. On the other hand, Siri works out of the box with no training or special commands. You simply ask her a question, much like you would talk to a human, and she responds appropriately. Voice recognition apps in the past were mostly mute, save for a few canned responses. With Siri, you feel like you’re having a conversation with a person. When she doesn’t understand a request, which is rare for me, she asks for more information or clarification. The first few days of using Siri, I asked her ridiculous questions and she started responded in a snarky tone, just like a real person!

I feel the major reason behind Siri’s reliability is Apple’s cloud-based approach to her design. When you give Siri a request, it is processed and sent to Apple’s remote servers where I assume all kinds of complex calculation are performed to compare and rank, with the mostly relevant response being sent back to my iPhone within seconds. With this approach, Apple can train Siri to recognize regional language differences like sentence structure, accents and dialects. This is why she can respond to natural language requests and why, like most Apple products, it just works.

If you have a funny Siri question or if you’d like to read more posts about my favorite iOS photography apps, let me know in the comments below.

* Some may argue that Siri is part of iOS and technically not an app. So for the record, my favorite photography app du jour is Instagram, where you can find me @wdkrebs.

Military system designers often struggle with finding COTS technologies that can meet critical application requirements. Custom designs almost always offer the best opportunity to create an optimized design, but time to market and design costs can be prohibitive. A hybrid architecture using a Computer on Module (COM) for the core processing functionality with a custom carrier board for application-specific I/O can offer the best of both worlds. This approach eliminates the time and risk associated with a custom processor design while the less-complex carrier board provides the advantages of a purpose-built design. Read full article

What are your thoughts on COM Express and custom carrier boards? COTS vs. custom product development?

Complete with driver support for the leading embedded operating systems, Sealevel carrier boards and GE Intelligent Platforms COM Express modules combine to meet the processing and I/O requirements for a broad base of applications including oil and gas, telecom, and automation solutions where Sealevel Systems and GE Intelligent Platforms have significant domain expertise. The COM Express architecture allows upgrade of the processor subsystem as new processing technology is released. This modularity promotes flexible scalability and long-term availability for system designs thus enabling cost-effective deployment and technology insertion, together with superior life cycle management of systems and applications.

“This synergistic relationship with GE Intelligent Platforms allows Sealevel to combine our core competencies of fast, reliable custom I/O design with the power and flexibility of the COM Express computing platform,” said Ben O’Hanlan, president of Sealevel. “The customer will be able to focus on their application software and overall system design while reaping the benefits of a custom-designed embedded computer solution.”

“Sealevel can enable our OEM customers to quickly and cost-effectively implement state-of-the-art COM Express-based solutions while reducing risk and avoiding the cost and learning curve associated with an in-house design,” said Tommy Swigart, global program manager at GE Intelligent Platforms. “The combination of GE’s rugged next-generation COM Express modules with a custom carrier board specifically designed to meet unique I/O configurations can provide compelling performance advantages to our customers.”

The Relio R1420 offers a wealth of standard I/O including dual Gigabit Ethernet, six USB 2.0 ports, four serial ports, 8-bit GPIO, audio output and VGA video. Powered by a 1.6GHz Intel Atom N450 CPU, the Relio R1420 includes 2GB RAM and offers very low power consumption while operating fanless up to 50⁰C ambient.

Users can choose to operate from CompactFlash or a removable 2.5″ SATA solid-state disk. Popular operating system options include 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows 7 Professional. Linux is also supported.

The R1420 is powered from a 9-30VDC source or select from a variety of Sealevel power supply options. The system is housed in a compact, rugged metal enclosure with the same footprint as our SeaI/O modules. Optional brackets allow for versatile mounting to walls, under counters, on tabletops or even to DIN rails.

Local or remote I/O expansion is available using our SeaI/O data acquisition modules. Choose from a variety of I/O configurations including optically isolated inputs, Reed and Form C relay outputs, TTL interfaces, A/D and D/A. The Relio R1420 connects to SeaI/O modules via the system’s RJ45 pass-through port and communicates using RS-485 Modbus RTU.

The Relio R1420 is available immediately from stock with prices starting at $999.00. Extended temperature motherboards, hard drives and other options are available. Email us or call today to discuss a solution for your specific application.

(Click here to read our article featured in the October 2011 issue of Military Embedded Systems)

Stop by booth #1706 at MILCOM 2011 to see our complete line of RISC embedded computing products – the SBC-R9™, SBC-R9-2100, Relio™ R9 and SeaPAC R9-8.4 – which are perfect for applications that require small size, wide operating temperature range, and flexible I/O connectivity.

As always, we will also be showcasing our ACC-188 Synchronous Interface Adapter, which enables tactical radios to interface to PCs and quickly transmit IP-based data such as email, text messages, GPS maps, images, coordinates and other communications.

(Watch a short video featuring the ACC-188 Synchronous Interface Adapter and our military-grade laptop docking station)

We will have a range of other products on display, including synchronous products (PCI, low profile PCI, PCMCIA, and USB) and industrial computers.

Whether you’re looking for custom or off-the-shelf products, Sealevel can help you find the perfect solution for your application. Our goal is to help you get your product to market faster. Stop by Booth #1706 and let’s talk about your application needs.

We look forward to meeting you at MILCOM 2011. If you have any questions, please email me at marcf@sealevel.com or call me at (864) 843-4343.

PRODUCT HIGHLIGHTS

• Each port individually configurable for RS-232, RS-422, or RS-485
• 16C954 buffered UARTs with 128-byte FIFOs
• Each port supports data rates to 921.6K bps
• Oscillator and clock prescalar support wide range of baud rates
• Supports 9-bit protocol framing
• RS-485 line termination, pull-up and pull-down resistors for each port are selectable via dipswitch
• RS-485 ECHO can be enabled/disabled via dipswitch
• PCI Express X1 compliant
• Compatible with all standard size PCI Express slots
• All modem control signals implemented in RS-232 mode
• Automatic RS-485 enable/disable in hardware
• Included 36″ cable terminates to four DB9M connectors (Item# CA143)

Introducing the new COMM+4.PCIe serial interface, which delivers the ultimate flexibility for expanding serial communications in a variety of test and measurement, process control and point-of-sale applications.

The COMM+4.PCIe serial interface provides four multifunction serial ports, each individually field-configurable for RS-232, RS-422, or RS-485. Each serial port utilizes a 16C954 UART with 128-byte Tx/Rx FIFOs that enables data rates to 921.6K bps for reliable high-speed communications in data intensive applications. This high-performance UART includes 9-bit framing support and is register compatible with legacy software applications designed for 16C550 UARTs. In addition, the board derives a 62.5 MHz clock from the PCI Express bus. This ultra high speed clock is divided by a flexible 8-bit clock prescalar with 1/8 steps to provide support for the widest range of standard and non-standard baud rates.

In RS-485 mode, the board provides automatic control of the RS-485 driver in hardware, allowing the 7404e to be used with standard serial communications without the risk of bus contention and data corruption. Additionally, RS-485 network termination, critical to robust multi-drop communication, can be selectively added to the circuit via DIP-switches. In RS-232 mode, all modem control signals are implemented for maximum compatibility with a variety of serial peripherals such as PLC’s, bar code readers, scales, and other data acquisition/control devices.

Our SeaCOM software driver and utilities make installation and operation easy using Microsoft Windows and Linux operating systems. The COMM+4.PCIE (Item# 7404e) ships with a 36-inch cable that terminates to four DB9M connectors.

COMM+4.PCIE prices start at $369.00 and quantity discounts are available. For more information, contact us at sales@sealevel.com or call +1 864.843.4343.