Mentor accelerates embedded design

ReadyStart comes in Nucleus-only and multi-OS (Nucleus, Android, and Linux) versions.

Rick Nelson, Chief Editor -- EDN, September 22, 2010

Mentor Graphics has boosted its presence in the embedded space with the introduction of its Mentor Embedded ReadyStart platform at the Embedded Systems Conference Boston this week. ReadyStart, available in Mentor Nucleus and multi-OS (Nucleus and Android/Linux) versions, combines integrated software IP with tools and services to support processor-based boards and SoCs. ReadyStart builds on earlier efforts of Mentor's embedded-software R&D team (which now includes 250 engineers) as the embedded-software market takes on growing significance within Mentor. As Mentor CEO Walden C Rhines said in an interview in July, "...the embedded-software market...is growing 15 to 20%, substantially faster than EDA, and as a result our embedded software business is growing faster than our traditional EDA business...."

Shay Benchorin, director of marketing and strategic alliances at Mentor's embedded systems division, said the goal of ReadyStart is to get users up and running quickly, with out-of-the-box bring-up time as low as 15 minutes. He said that ReadyStart comes with ready-to-use demonstrations applicable to medical, industrial, automotive, and consumer devices. Benchorin cited printers; RFID systems; lighting controls; LED drivers; motor controllers; HVAC pumps and compressor motors; blood analyzers and portable medical devices; surveillance, access-control, and alarm systems; and white goods as potential targets for ReadyStart-based design efforts.

The ReadyStart Platform tightly integrates the Mentor's Nucleus real-time operating system with Mentor's Inflexion Platform user-interface runtime engine for 2D and 3D graphics and wired and wireless connectivity middleware. ReadyStart for Nucleus currently supports SoCs and boards from Atmel and Texas Instruments, with future support planned for Freescale, Marvell, and other semiconductor vendors. For multi-OS applications on multicore processors, Mentor provides a version of ReadyStart that includes Android, Nucleus, Inflexion, middleware, and MCAPI-compliant inter-OS communication. The ReadyStart Multi-OS Platform currently supports the Freescale P1022 dual-core SoC.

When asked to comment on multi-OS vs. Nucleus-only applications, Benchorin said he has seen a trend toward the Nucleus-only approach for low-cost products. A Nucleus-only approach, he said, can enable a bill-of-materials cost as low as $25 for a low-end set-top box-and the Nucleus-only approach can minimize power consumption.

"The announcement of Mentor's ReadyStart product is an ideal complement to the Atmel ARM-based family of devices since our mutual customers are seeking an integrated hardware-software platform that addresses power management and embedded graphics capabilities in addition to traditional stacks for communication interfaces like USB and Ethernet," said Jacko Wilbrink, Atmel marketing director of ARM-based products, in a press release. "Our customers who are developing smart home metering, industrial automation, medical, white-good control panel, and secure terminal applications will realize product development and cost savings in using the off-the-shelf ReadyStart solution."

"Mentor's ReadyStart Platform contains everything required to quickly develop a device, including Mentor's Inflexion runtime engine for UI development, which is a critical component for our mutual customers," said Jason Kridner, software architecture manager at the ARM MPU business unit of Texas Instruments. "The ReadyStart BSP interface capability provides rapid and optimized device configuration for applications using the Sitara family of ARM-based, high-performance, low-power microprocessors."

The ReadyStart Platform for Nucleus for a single project with two developer seats costs $24,995 and includes the Nucleus RTOS, wired and wireless connectivity middleware, and the Inflexion UI runtime engine. JTAG probe support is also available.