Embedded Systems: January 4, 1996

8051-based computer rests on miniature pc board. With dimensions of 2×2 in., the Micro Byte-51 single-board computer includes a prototyping area that, when separated from the board’s main circuitry, cuts the board’s size in half. The Micro Byte-51 employs an 89C2051 CPU with clock speeds of 12 or 20 MHz and 2 kbytes of on-chip flash memory. In-system programming of the 89C2051 is accomplished with the PB-51/11 programming board. A 26-pin header gives access to all CPU resource lines; a three-pin header brings out the RS-232C buffered lines. The Micro Byte-51 costs $39; the PB-51/11 programmer, $99. Allen Systems, Columbus, OH. (614) 488-7122.

Translation software works with Visual Basic. The VB2D translator converts Visual Basic software applications to Borland’s Delphi development system, achieving translation rates of 90 to 100%. VB2D handles variants, control and form arrays, redimensionable arrays, precedence adjustments, and virtually all intrinsic Visual Basic functions. The professional edition of VB2D creates a listing of Visual Basic programs alongside the resulting Delphi code, including detailed analyses. Standard and professional versions of VB2D cost $150 and $450, respectively. Eagle Research, San Francisco, CA. (415) 495-3136.

Scalable single-board computer offers VMEbus interface option. With optional nonessential functions, the BAB60 single-board computer lets you scale performance according to application needs. The board carries a 68060 processor; 2 to 32 Mbytes of RAM; and three PCMCIA slots, two of which are accessible from the front panel. Also available at the front panel are interfaces for a keyboard, an attachment-unit interface, and two serial ports. A VMEbus interface and a SCSI port are optional. A 96-position DIN 41612 connector accommodates a piggyback expansion board for connecting a variety of mezzanine cards. Standard operating systems include OS-9, VXWorks, and pSOS+. Prices start at $2400. American Eltec Inc, Princeton, NJ. (609) 452-1555.

Tool ties ICE to debugging-software packages. MimeTool, a tool-bar interface for the Mime 700 in-circuit emulator (ICE), works with any debugging software that uses the standard emulator-device interface. MimeTool ensures access to the Mime 700’s features, including complex bus-event triggering, microcontroller-unit setup options, memory allocation, trace-buffer filtering and display, and instrumentation. The Mime 700 for 16-bit Motorola and Hitachi microcontrollers costs $14,159, including the MimeTool interface. Pentica Systems Inc, Bedford, MA. (617) 275-4419.

DSP board for PCI bus sports dual processors. The Raptor-563, a 66-MHz 132-MIPS DSP for the PCI bus, employs two DSP56301 fixed-point processors. In addition to an eightfold increase in on-chip memory over earlier DSP56000 processors, the DSP56301 features a glueless logic interface to the PCI bus. The Raptor-563 directly maps the PCI bus to the DSP 32-bit host port. Onboard resources include two banks of 256k×24-bit SRAM and dual 16-bit codecs for audio and telephone functions. Each codec has two A/D and four D/A converters with adjustable sampling rates from 8k to 48k samples/sec. The dual-processor Raptor-563 costs $3995; a single-processor version sells for $2995. Momentum Data Systems Inc, Costa Mesa, CA. (714) 557-6884.

Software speeds PIC-16/17 microcontroller development. Loaded with the MPLAB Integrated Development Environment (IDE), the Picmaster universal in-circuit emulator for PIC16/17 8-bit microcontrollers lets you edit, compile, and emulate from a single user interface. The software includes a project manager and program-text editor, as well as a user-configurable tool bar containing four predefined sets and a status bar that communicates editing and debugging information. The Picmaster development system costs $3750, including a Pro Mate device programmer and MPLAB IDE. Microchip Technology Inc, Chandler, AZ. (602) 786-7200.

C development tools serve IBM AIX environment. CenterLine’s Unix C/C++ development tools are now available for the IBM RS/6000 and PowerPC platforms running under AIX. The IBM AIX versions of TestCenter and CodeCenter provide advanced C/C++ programming, debugging, and testing capabilities. You can use the development tools with IBM’s C Set compiler on multiple Unix operating systems, including AIX, to build applications that are portable across Unix, PC, and mainframe applications. Prices start at $1495 per user for the TestCenter C/C++ test tool and $1995 per user for the CodeCenter programming environment for Unix. CenterLine Software Inc, Cambridge, MA. (617) 498-3000.

Engineering tool dissects C source code. To help you understand the design of C source code, GrafBrowse/C V3.0 analyzes the source and creates several views of the design. A declaration view shows the internals of each source file. The invocation view shows the calling structure of the entire program. An interactive browser lets you traverse the code graphically and remove from view any functions and macros to make the diagram easier to read. GrafBrowse provides PostScript output of any view. The program costs $8000 and runs on SPARCstations, Alpha/OSF, HP 9000/700, RS-6000, and SGI workstations. Software Systems Design, Claremont, CA. (909) 625-6147.

Carriers accommodate VXI IndustryPack modules. Two B- and C-sized carriers provide the mechanical and electrical interface for as many as four IndustryPack (IP) modules, treating each IP as an independent VXI instrument. Each carrier allows VXI register configuration and access to the IP’s ID PROM, I/O space, and memory. The VX403B and VX403C cost $1625 and $1890, respectively. C&H Technologies Inc, Austin, TX. (512) 251-1171.

VMEbus communication controller is easily customized. The NitroCom communications controller combines a 68040 or 68060 CPU with a 68360 quad integrated communication controller (QUICC) on a single VMEbus board. You can independently configure NitroCom’s four serial channels, managed by the QUICC chip, with driver modules for EIA-530, EIA-485, EIA-232, and V.35 interfaces. The board also has VME64, Ethernet, SCSI-2, and Corebus mezzanine interfaces. Custom software supports such protocols as high-level data-link control/synchronous data-link control, UART, integrated-services digital-network, PCM Highway, Bisync, AppleTalk, Signaling System 7, V.14, X.21, Ethernet, T1/CEPT, and other user-defined protocols. NitroCom prices start at $5520; driver modules cost $45 each. Heurikon Corp, Madison, WI. (608) 831-5500.

DIP-sized Basic computer clocks at 20 MHz. Housed in a 24-pin DIP, the Stamp II is a complete Basic-programmable computer with 16 I/O lines, 2 kbytes of EEPROM, and a 20-MHz clock speed. Each Basic instruction requires 3 to 4 bytes of memory, enabling the Stamp II to store about 600 program instructions. Most I/O functions are digital and include serial communications, pulse measurement, button input, and transition counting. Pseudo-analog functions cover resistance measurement and pulse-width modulation. Serial I/O rates of up to 50 kbps are possible. The Stamp II module costs $49. Parallax Inc, Rocklin, CA. (916) 624-8333.

Symbolic Ada debugger joins forces with ICE. The DDC-I Ada Compiler System (DACS) for the Kontron Elektronic KSE5 series of in-circuit emulators (ICEs) lets you control the ICE using a graphical-user-interface-based debugger. Together, the compiler system and ICE target i386 SX/DX, i386 EX, i386 CX, i486 DX/SX, i486DX2, and i486SX2 µPs. The DACS-386/ICE and DACS-486/ICE provide debugging of mixed Ada and assembly programs in a graphical motif environment on a Unix workstation. The Unix workstation communicates via Ethernet with a PC and connects to the emulator via Kontron’s high-speed interface. Prices for DACS-386/ICE and DACS-486/ICE bindings start at $10,000. DDC-I Inc, Phoenix, AZ. (602) 275-7172.

Source book for industrial data-acquisition and control products. The first edition of the 1996 Master Source Book includes much information on a range of product lines covering data acquisition and control; networking; industrial computers; analog, digital, and remote I/O; chassis; and operating-system and application software. A technical reference section and useful tutorials help you find the right hardware for your application. Industrial Computer Source, San Diego, CA. (800) 523-2320.

Low-cost industrial controller operates at 40 MHz. A 16-bit industrial control board puts a Siemens SAB C165 microcontroller on a six-layer board with separate power and ground planes for operation in noisy environments. Designated the RMB-165i, the 40-MHz controller implements a 16-bit nonmultiplexed data bus and an 18-bit nonmultiplexed address bus. It reaches an instruction cycle time of 100 nsec and an interrupt-response time of 400 nsec. Other onboard features include 16 Mbytes of address space, eight external interrupts, 2 kbytes of RAM, five counter/timers, a watchdog timer, and 77 I/O lines. The board costs $205. Rigel Corp, Gainesville, FL. (904) 373-4629.

MIL-STD-1553 terminal hybrid packs more memory. For MIL-STD-1553 applications that need the power of the Advanced Communications Engine (ACE) but require additional memory, the BU-61585 ACE provides 12k words of RAM, 8k words more than the standard ACE. The device retains all the functionality of the ACE line and can be software-configured as a bus controller, remote terminal, or bus monitor. The BU-61585 comes in a low-profile 70-pin ceramic multichip module. A 5V version costs $684 (100). ILC Data Device Corp, Bohemia, NY. (516) 567-5600.

Software merges VMEbus hardware into PLC environment. Aimed at enhancing the installed base of programmable logic controllers (PLCs), Visual I/O Works is an IEC-1131 ladder-logic programming environment that works with VMIC’s universal I/O controllers and CPU boards for the VMEbus. Programs constructed with Visual I/O Works run on the VMEbus hardware and remove the computational burden from the PLC. A second program, I/O Works Access for Windows NT, aids in the development of applications that require access to the VMEbus. Prices range from $295 to $995. VME Microsystems International Corp, Huntsville, AL. (205) 880-0444.

RTOS runs on powerful RISC processors. The Nucleus Plus real-time kernel supports Thumb-aware processors from Advanced RISC Machines, as well as the Hitachi SHx and Motorola MPC821 PowerPC µPs. The kernel provides a set of dynamic multitasking facilities, including task communication, task synchronization, application timers, and memory management. The price of the source-code RTOS starts at $9495. Accelerated Technology Inc, Mobile, AL. (334) 661-5770.

Multibus II computer boards employ Pentium processor. Two Multibus II single-board computers come with a Pentium processor running at 90 or 120 MHz. The iSBC P5090CPU is a CPU-only version, and the iSBC P5090ISE offers SCSI and Ethernet interfaces and connects directly to the PCI bus. The 90-MHz Pentium processor has an Intel iCOMP index rating of 735, and the 120-MHz processor provides an iCOMP rating of 1000. In comparison, a 66-MHz Intel486 DX2 is rated at iCOMP 297. Both boards run under the iRMX III operating system. The iSBC P5090CPU costs $5795; the iSBC P5090ISE costs $5955. Intel Corp, Santa Clara, CA. (800) 626-7256.

Compact ICE tracks 486 processors. Smaller than a notebook computer, the PowerPack in-circuit emulator (ICE) for Intel 486 SX, DX, DX2, and DX 4 processors supports both 3.3 and 5V operation. It is also available for National Semiconductor’s NS486SXF embedded processor. The emulator’s 256-kbyte frame trace buffer captures data on bus cycles or system clock edges. The PowerPack SLD interface runs under Windows 3.1 or Windows 95. Prices for both the PowerPack EA-486 and EA-NS486 start at $28,995. Microtek International Inc, Hillsboro, OR. (503) 645-7333.

Software streamlines code for pSOS real-time operating systems. A productivity-improvement tool, pCode Templates software automatically generates C source code for the pSOS+ and pSOS+m real-time operating-system kernels. The software works with the Matrix_X family of visual design and development tools to reduce development time for many embedded applications. It supports multiprocessing for seamless targeting to multiple processors. The pCode Templates software is free to current Matrix_X and pSOSystem users. Integrated Systems Inc, Santa Clara, CA. (408) 980-1500.