IDEs enhance automotive-design productivity

To handle the complex development, testing, and integration of microprocessor-driven vehicle functions, design engineers are opting to use tools that offer IDEs (integrated development environments). According to a CG-Smith Software spokesman, IDEs for developing software for microcontrollers must support CAN (controller-area-network), LIN (local-interconnect network), MOST (mobile-open-systems-technology), and other automotive protocols. They must also incorporate the code-optimization techniques for memory-constrained designs. CG-Smith uses commercial compilers and debuggers from Lauterbach (www.lauterbach.com), IAR (www.iar.com), Noral (www.noral.com), and Green Hills (www.ghs.cm).

Sridhar Perepa, technical director at MindTree Consulting, deploys Wind River Systems' (www.windriver.com) VX Works, Texas Instruments' (www.ti.com) Code Composer, and other processor-specific development tools from Atmel (www.atmel.com) and Infineon (www.infineon.com) for automotive-electronics designs. According to S Renukaprasad, general manager of automotive electronics at Wipro Technologies, the IDEs in the company's development centers include Freescale (www.freescale.com) and MetroWerks (www.metrowerks.com) compilers, QNX's (www.openqnx.com) Momentics, Microchip Technology's (www.microchip.com) MPLab, and NEC's (www.nec.com) PM Plus to support designs for entertainment applications, keyless-entry systems, and electronics modules.

Meanwhile, KPIT Cummins is developing the Corona IDE for automotive and industrial applications. The company developed the Eclipse-framework-compliant, Windows-based IDE using C, C+ +, and assembly language.

CG-Smith, www.cg-smith.com.

Mindtree Consulting, www.mindtree.com.

Wipro Technologies, www.wipro.com.

KPIT Cummins, www.kpitcummins.com.