ITRON Newsletter No.18 (HTML Edition)

ITRON Technical Committee, TRON Association
Katsuta Building 5F, 3-39, Mita 1-chome, Minato-ku, Tokyo 108, JAPAN
TEL: (03) 3454-3191
FAX: (03) 3454-3224

ITRON-related Publications

Listed below are the publications prepared and issued by the ITRON Technical Committee as of December 1, 1995. The ITRON-µITRON Standard Handbook is a one-volume compilation of µITRON (Ver 2.0) and ITRON2 specifications. Each of the publications below can be obtained directly from the sources indicated.

The latest version of µITRON3.0 is Ver 3.02.00. Changes made since the µITRON3.0 Standard Handbook was released (Ver 3.00.00) are noted in Newsletter No.5 and No.11, as well as in ITRON Standard Guidebook~2.

The ITRON Standard Guidebook 2, which is a general introduction to the ITRON specifications, deals primarily with µITRON3.0. Meanwhile, the earlier ITRON Standard Guidebook '92-'93 remains as a valuable reference for use with the µITRON (Ver 2.0) and ITRON2 specifications, even though the dates in its title are now past.

ITRON-related Publications
Name Type Price Publisher Issued ISBN No.
ITRON-µITRON Standard Handbook Specification (Jap.) 4,800Yen Personal Media Co. 1990 ISBN4-89362-079-7
µITRON3.0 Standard Handbook Specification (Jap.) 4,000Yen Personal Media Co. 1993 ISBN4-89362-106-8
ITRON/FILE Standard Handbook Specification (Jap.) 3,000Yen Personal Media Co. 1992 ISBN4-89362-092-4
ITRON Standard Guidebook '92-'93 Textbook (Jap.) 3,500Yen Personal Media Co. 1992 ISBN4-89362-197-6
ITRON Standard Guidebook 2 Textbook (Jap.) 3,500Yen Personal Media Co. 1994 ISBN4-89362-133-5
µITRON Specification Ver 2.01.00.00 Specification (Eng.) 12,000Yen TRON Association 1989 -
ITRON2 Specification Ver 2.02.00.10 Specification (Eng.) 15,000Yen TRON Association 1990 -
µITRON3.0 Specification Ver 3.02.00 Specification (Eng.) - TRON Association 1994 -
NOTES:
- Prices do not include consumption tax.
- The documents issued by the TRON Association are available to Association members at a special discount rate.
- English-language specifications are distributed free of charge from here.

Compatibility checksheets officially released for µITRON3.0

The ITRON Technical Committee in fiscal 1994 began making checksheets for use in determining the compatibility of operating systems that implement the µITRON3.0 specification. In July 1995 we released a beta version for comments by the general public. The beta period lasted through the end of October, and the comments received have been reflected in the official version now being made available. We would like to express our appreciation to all those who offered suggestions.

The official checksheets can be obtained from here (in Japanese).

The µITRON3.0 compatibility checksheets are intended mainly for use in comparing different OSs implemented based on the µITRON3.0 specification, and for estimating the amount of work involved in porting applications from one µITRON3.0-based OS to another. The checksheets make it easy to determine the extent to which each OS implements optional features of the µITRON3.0 specification, or in cases where the specification offers a choice, to determine which choice was taken. Moreover, they are designed so the data can be read into a computer. The data is then readily converted to tables or graphs that tell at a glance the functions supported by each OS, or to a form for ready comparison of two or more OSs.

Future plans call for revising the ITRON product registration system, making provision of filled-in checksheets a requirement when registering µITRON3.0 implementations.

ITRON seminars held in China

The China seminars announced in ITRON Newsletter No.16 were held successfully last October. The ITRON Technical Committee presented the seminars as part of the on-going effort to make the ITRON specifications better known outside of Japan. Identical seminars were held in Beijing on October 16 and Shanghai on the 18th. Then on the 20th in Hong Kong a presentation was made to local subsidiaries of Japanese companies. All three seminars were well attended and drew strong interest.

The seminar program is outlined below. Since this was the first ITRON presentation in China, the aim was to provide a comprehensive overview of themes relating to the ITRON specifications.

  1. TRON Project Overview
    Ken Sakamura (Univ. of Tokyo)
  2. Embedded Systems in Japan, and ITRON
    Kiichiro Tamaru (Toshiba Corp.)
  3. Overview of ITRON Specifications
    Kenji Kudoh (Fujitsu Device)
  4. Using an ITRON-specification OS
    Tatsuya Kamei (Mitsubishi Electric Corp.)
  5. Building an ITRON-specification OS
    Hiroaki Takada (Univ. of Tokyo)
  6. Embedded Systems in China
    Beijing: Meng Qingyu (CS&S)
    Shanghai: Xia Yuren (Shanghai Jiao Tong University)
  7. Q&A
The ITRON Technical Committee intends to continue its promotional work in China and the rest of Asia in 1996 and thereafter.

Microcomputer System & Tool Fair

The TRON Association presented an ITRON-related exhibit at the Microcomputer System & Tool Fair held November 8 through 10, at the Ikebukuro Sunshine City in Tokyo. A presentation on ITRON specifications was also given at a special symposium held in parallel with the trade fair. The Microcomputer System & Tool Fair is put on annually by the Japan System House Association, introducing microcontroller systems and development tools for embedded systems.

The presentation on ITRON specifications was given at the special RTOS (Real-Time Operating System) Symposium on November 9, at the Sunshine City Prince Hotel. The speaker was Toshiba's Kiichiro Tamaru, chairman of the ITRON Technical Committee, who was a featured presenter at the symposium. Speaking on "Embedded system environments and real-time OS trends - centering on the ITRON specifications," Mr. Tamaru first noted problem areas with current small-scale embedded systems. He outlined the design principles of the µITRON specifications and updated their status today. His talk also covered µITRON-specification kernel implementation techniques and looked at the future outlook for the project. The symposium was attended by approximately 550 persons, far exceeding the original plans to accommodate 250 attendees. It offered a good opportunity to publicize the ITRON specifications.

TRON Project Symposium

As announced in ITRON Newsletter No.17, the Twelfth TRON Project Symposium took place November 30 and December 1 at the Holiday Inn Yokohama. The international conference included three technical papers on ITRON, all of which were presented in the late afternoon on the 30th. All three ITRON papers elicited questions and comments from the audience, in what proved to be a fruitful session for the participants. Details are given elsewhere in this issue.

At TRONSHOW '95 on November 29, preceding the conference and held at the Tokyo Design Center in Shinagawa Ward, the University of Tokyo's Hiroaki Takada gave a presentation on behalf of the ITRON Technical Committee, on "The latest news on the ITRON real-time OS for embedded systems." He began with a brief outline of the ITRON specifications, then introduced the Technical Committee's efforts to publicize the specifications overseas, and talked about the µITRON3.0 compatibility checksheets.

! This newsletter is a special edition for WWW of the one appeared in TRONWARE vol.37 and TRON PROJECT BIMONTHLY No.42.

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