ITRON Newsletter No. 46 (HTML Edition)

ITRON-related events planned for MST2000

The TRON Association will be taking part in MST2000, the 14th Microcomputer System & Tool Fair 2000, to be held from Wednesday, November 15 through Friday, November 17 at the Tokyo International Exhibition Center (Tokyo Big Sight), and organized by Japan System House Association.

In addition to a booth featuring the ITRON specifications, the ITRON Committee is planning a special ITRON seminar as part of the MST200 conference, on the morning of the 17th. Details are presently being worked out.

The keynote speaker at MST2000, moreover, will be TRON Project Leader Ken Sakamura; while the University Pavilion will include an exhibition put on by the research laboratory of Hiroaki Takada, ITRON Committee Secretary. For the schedule and other details, please see the MST2000 Web site at http://www.jasa.or.jp/mst/.

ITRON Committee welcomes new members

The ITRON Committee has been joined by two new observer members, Sennet, Inc. from July and Accelerated Technology Incorporated from August. See the ITRON Web site for a complete, up-to-date list of ITRON Committee members.

Sennet, Inc.

A young company established in January 1999, Sennet is attempting to make the BTRON-specification OS more of a household word all over the world. One of the means to this end is by developing and marketing English-language and Chinese versions of Personal Media's B-right/V OS. The company is also developing its own original, scalable BTRON-specification OS. Its interest in the ITRON kernel stems from the expanding use of non-PC information appliances and from the wishes of customers. Taking advantage of the ITRON real-time response, Sennet is working to fulfill its grand vision of making the ITRON shell a standard platform that will someday become a worldwide de facto standard.

Accelerated Technology Incorporated

Accelerated Technology provides embedded systems developers with a complete and royalty-free Real-Time Operating System (RTOS), along with source code, and a focus on service that is unmatched in the embedded systems market. The company's well-rounded lineup of embedded systems products is built on the solid Nucleus PLUS multitasking real-time kernel with many complementary products developed in-house, including a portable graphics package, networking and Internet suite, innovative development tools, and profiling and system analysis tools.

Products

Real-time, multitasking embedded kernels:

Nucleus PLUS, Nucleus µiPLUS, Nucleus C++, Nucleus OSEK

Embedded networking protocol:

Nucleus NET, Nucleus WebServe, Internet Suite, Nucleus Jvi

Embedded system development tools:

Nucleus EDE, Nucleus UDB, Nucleus Debug+, SurroundView for Nucleus, Development Integration

Support products:

Nucleus FILE, Nucleus GRAFIX, Nucleus CLIB, Nucleus TransKit

Prototype products:

Nucleus MNT, Nucleus VNET, Nucleus PC+

Company profile

Company name: Accelerated Technology Inc.
Headquarters: 720 Oak Circle Drive East, Mobile Alabama 36609 USA
TEL: 334-661-5770 FAX: 334-661-5788
Established: 1990
Japan representative: Grape Systems, Inc.
E-mail: info@atinucleus.com
Web site: http://www.atinucleus.com

ITRON-specification Product Registration Update

Products registered with the ITRON-specification product registration system since our last Newsletter and through July 1, 2000 are listed below. The PrKERNEL v4 becomes the first product implementing the µITRON4.0 specification to be officially registered under this system. See the ITRON Web site for the complete, up-to-date list of registered products.

ITRON-related Publications

Listed below are the publications prepared and issued by the ITRON Committee as of August 1, 2000. Please contact the sources indicated to obtain copies.

The revised edition of the µITRON3.0 Standard Handbook contains the latest version of the µITRON3.0 specification (Ver. 3.02.02). The changes made between the old version of the µITRON3.0 Standard Handbook (Ver. 3.00.00) and Ver. 3.02.00 are detailed in the ITRON Standard Guidebook 2. The changes from Ver. 3.0.2.00 to Ver. 3.02.02 involve only organizational changes and additional explanations, not affecting the technical contents.

The ITRON-µITRON Standard Handbook is a one-volume compilation of the µITRON Ver. 2.0 and ITRON2 specifications. Printed editions are no longer available, but the entire contents are available from the publisher's Web site.

The ITRON Standard Guidebook 2 is written with µITRON3.0 in mind. 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

ITRON Open Seminar Report

The ITRON Open Seminar took place on July 4 and 5 (Tuesday and Wednesday) at Tokyo Big Sight (Tokyo International Exhibition Center) and Tokyo Fashion Town Building, both in Ariake, Koto-ku, Tokyo. The ITRON Open Seminar is an annual event introducing the latest news about the ITRON specifications, including their implementations and application, as well as development tools being made available. This year's seminar, held over two days as in the previous year, centered on the µITRON4.0 specification and related specifications.

The overall organization of the seminar was much like last year's, with the first day introducing recent trends in the ITRON project and the second day getting into detailed technology. This year the second day of the seminar also took up the ITRON Debugging Interface Specification and results of the JCG project development. The first day was attended by 160 persons, while the second day drew 110 participants, both excellent turnouts for a seminar of this nature.

Summary of Day 1 Seminar

The first-day seminar started out with updates on activities taking place in the ITRON Project. The morning sessions presented results of the yearly survey on RTOS use trends, outlined the ITRON debugging interface specifications, and gave introductions to the device driver design guidelines, the µITRON4.0 validation specification, and C++ API specification studies.

The afternoon session began with a panel discussion on the use of upstream design tools in real-time and embedded systems, as well as the involvement of the ITRON Project in such tools, which are expected to assume growing importance. It was followed by six brief presentations introducing development tools supporting products and operating systems adopting the ITRON specifications, or illustrating ITRON-specification OS application in actual development cases. The opening day was capped off as in previous years with a special guest speech by TRON Project leader Ken Sakamura.

In parallel with the seminar was a small-scale exhibit introducing related products. A reception at the end of the day gave participants a chance to mingle informally.

Date: Tuesday, July 4, 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. (reception following)

Place: Tokyo Big Sight Conference Hall, rooms 607-609 (Ariake, Koto-ku, Tokyo)

Program: Emergence of the µITRON4.0 specification and related specifications

10:00 to 11:00 a.m. Update on the ITRON Project

Kiichiro Tamaru (ITRON Committee/Toshiba)

11:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon µITRON4.0 related specifications and work of the µITRON4.0 specification study group

Hiroaki Takada (ITRON Committee/Toyohashi University of Technology)

1:00 to 2:45 p.m. Panel Discussion: Are upstream design tools effective for real-time systems?

Chair: Hiroshi Monden (ITRON Committee/NEC Electron Devices)

Panel members: Reiko Arai (Nihon Rational Software Co., Ltd.), Koichi Suzuki (Telelogic Japan Ltd.), Hiroshi (?) Araki (Toshiba Corp.), Kinichi Wada (Toyota Central Research & Development Lab)

Commentator: Hiroaki Takada (ITRON Committee/Toyohashi University of Technology)

3:00 to 5:00 p.m. ITRON-specification products, applications and development cases

• Overview and features of µITRON4.0-specification RTOS Nucleus µiPLUS
  Takahiro Takahashi (Grape Systems, Inc.)
• Technical introduction to ACCEL-µ
  Tsutomu Kindaiichi (Elmic Systems Inc.)
• Bluetooth protocol stack supporting ITRON − XTNDAccess Blue SDK
  Kiyoshi Uemura (A.I Corporation)
• ITRON application to numerical control, and a GUI-building environment for embedded systems
  Hiroshi Ohyama (Okuma Corporation)
• Introducing FD2: a small computer running on a µITRON3.0-specification OS
  Shuji Yura and Naoki Yoshimura (Japan Minicomputer Systems Co., Ltd.)
• ITRON integrated development environment - eBinder -
  Miyoko Yoshimura (ERG Co., Ltd.) and N. Advani (technical consultant)

5:15 to 6:00 p.m. Special Guest Speech

Ken Sakamura (Univ. of Tokyo)

6:00 to 7:30 p.m. Reception

Summary of Day 2 Seminar

The morning session on the second day was devoted to the ITRON debugging interface specification. Participants were given copies of the provisional specification (Ver. 1.A0.00), made available just the previous day on the ITRON Web site. Presentations talked about the design policies and summarized the specification, gave details of the interface, and described the test implementation being used for evaluation.

The afternoon session introduced development results of the JCG project, which was completed in March of this year. The JCG project was aimed at implementing middleware that will enable consumer appliances running on a µITRON-specification real-time kernel to connect to networks. The tangible results of the project are being made available as free software. Seminar participants received a CD-ROM containing this software; they heard explanations of each program and how they are used.

Outside the conference room where the seminar was held, participants were able to view the evaluation system for the ITRON debugging interface specification, along with a demonstration of the software resulting from the JCG project. (This same demonstration was also given at the exhibit for the first day's seminar.)

Date: Wednesday, July 5, 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

Place: Tokyo Fashion Town, 9th floor, room A (Ariake, Koto-ku, Tokyo)

Program:

10:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon ITRON Debugging Interface Specification

• Design policies and overview
  Masaru Yamanaka (Debugging Interface WG)
• The interfaces and their implementation
  Takayuki Wakabayashi (Debugging Interface WG/Toyohashi University of Technology)
• Q&A

1:00 to 5:00 p.m. JCG Project Results

• Overview
  Akira Matsui (JCG project/Personal Media Corp.)
• JTRON platform
  Takeshi Narita (JCG Project/Toshiba Information Systems)
• GUI middleware
  Mineyuki Komoto (JCG Project/Personal Media Corp.)
• Embedded CORBA
  Tokuju Iga (JCG Project/NEC Corp.)
• Q&A
  

The ITRON Open Seminar has been held for a total of 11 times. Because a major committee reorganization will be taking place in the TRON Association for the coming fiscal year, and also because of the increasing opportunities for introducing the ITRON specifications outside these seminars, we are considering making this the final ITRON Open Seminar. There will still be seminars at various times for giving detailed expositions of ITRON specifications, in any case. The ITRON Committee welcomes your suggestions and feedback.

Finally, we would like to take this opportunity to thank the companies who gave their generous support to this year's seminar, as listed below.

ESEC report

The TRON Association promoted the ITRON specifications at the 3rd Embedded Systems Expo & Conference in Tokyo 2000 (ESEC2000, put on by Reed Exhibitions Japan Ltd.), held from July 12 to 14 (Wed.-Fri.) at Tokyo Big Sight (Tokyo International Exhibition Center). The technical seminar held along with the exhibition featured a number of presentations by ITRON Committee and standardization working group members.

Placards indicating support for the ITRON project were displayed at a total of 52 booths (see the list below), including those at the neighboring Software Development Environment Conference (SODEC). We are grateful for the cooperation.

TRON Association Korea Seminar report

The TRON Association Korea Seminar took place on Tuesday, August 22 at the COEX Inter-Continental Hotel in Seoul. Held in cooperation with the Korea Economic Daily and other sponsors, the seminar introduced the ITRON specifications along with other aspects of the TRON Project. A small-scale exhibit area showed products implementing project technologies. Details of the seminar are as follows.

Date: Tuesday, August 22, 9:00 a.m. to 4:45 p.m.

Place: COEX Inter-Continental Seoul (Kangnam-Ku)

Program:

9:20 to 10:10 a.m. Recent Trends in the TRON Project

Ken Sakamura (University of Tokyo/TRON Project Leader)

10:10 to 10:50 a.m. Embedded Systems in Japan and ITRON

Kiichiro Tamaru (Toshiba Corp.)

11:00 to 11:40 a.m. Typical TRON Application: Car Electronics Trends at Toyota

Toshiaki Isobe (Toyota Motor Corp.)

11:40 a.m. to 12:10 p.m. ITRON-specification Kernel and Related Specifications

Hiroaki Takada (Toyohashi University of Technology)

1:10 to 1:40 p.m. JTRON and Its Application

Yoichi Hachiya (Aplix Corp.)

1:40 to 2:10 p.m. BTRON and Ultra Kanji

Akira Matsui (Personal Media Corp.)

2:20 to 2:40 p.m. TRON-GUI Specification

Akira Matsui (Personal Media Corp.)

2:40 to 3:40 p.m. ITRON-related Products

Katsuhiko Ishida (Hitachi, Ltd.), Hiroyuki Muraki (Mitsubishi Electric Semiconductor Systems Corp.), Kenji Kudoh (Fujitsu Devices)

3:50 to 4:10 p.m. The JCG Project

Akira Matsui (Personal Media Corp.)

4:10 to 4:40 p.m. Q&A

Following an overview of the TRON Project given by Ken Sakamura, various TRON specifications were introduced as well as their application. Presentations covered the development of ITRON kernels and peripheral functions, the JTRON, BTRON and TRON-GUI specifications, and finally introductions to products implementing ITRON specifications and to the JCG project. Some 350 persons attended this event, far exceeding initial forecasts and demonstrating the high expectations for the TRON Project in Korea. The exhibit attracted large numbers of visitors seeking information about the products shown there. We hope this interest will translate into wider use of the ITRON specifications in Korea.

The success of this seminar has led to preparations being made to open a TRON Association liaison office in Korea. The TRON Association would like to hold additional such seminars in other parts of Asia.

New Products

Products recently registered with the ITRON-specification product registration system are introduced here.

PrKERNEL v4

PrKERNEL v4 is a real-time kernel implementing the µITRON4.0 specification.

Supported functions

The following extended functions are supported in addition to the Standard Profile.

• Mutex
• Variable-size memory pool
• Alarm handler

Major features

PrKERNEL v4 implements a "preemptive kernel" function aimed at better real-time operation, in addition to the features already designed into the µITRON4.0 specification. As a preemptive kernel, PrKERNEL v4 is able to avoid the occurrence of priority inversion during system call execution; and measures to ensure data integrity in the kernel improve its response.

Developers will appreciate the system trace functions and other well-considered debugging support functions provided by ERG.

Target processors

Currently PrKERNEL v4 supports the following target chip.

• SH7709

Support for ARM and other targets is currently being readied.

For more information:

Please contact the vendor as indicated below to discuss needs or obtain more information.

ERG Co., Ltd. Software Division
Shimotakaido 1-5-1, Suginami-ku, Tokyo 168-0073
TEL: 03-5376-3220 FAX: 03-5376-3230
e-mail: eparts@erg.co.jp
Web site: http://www.erg.co.jp

µMORE v4.0

Overview

µMORE v4.0 is a real-time multi-tasking OS implementing the µITRON4.0 Standard Profile specification, and designed to meet the memory resource and performance needs of small-scale embedded systems. With its Easy Power Save function and AVE-TCP networking module, it is aimed at the next generation of mobile devices. It can be used either alone or with the information appliance de facto standard NetFront/Compact or NetFront, to develop resource-efficient, energy-efficient, high-performance and function-rich products.

Features

• Fully implements the µITRON4.0 specification Standard Profile, defined as a standard function set for improved application portability.
• Standard support for the energy-efficient Easy Power Save function. Control of the power-saving mode takes place entirely in the OS, eliminating the need for additional functionality in the application.
• Comes with the AVE-TCP TCP/IP protocol stack.
• Major portions are written in C for the sake of portability.
• Supports task management, event flags, semaphores, data queues, mailboxes and other task synchronization and communication functions, as well as fixed-size memory pool management, interrupt management, cyclically starting handler management, etc.
• All system calls are implemented as ordinary subroutines, minimizing system call overhead. Context switching time on the SH7709A is approximately 2 µsec.
• All system calls are configured as linkable objects, enabling unused system calls to be detached from the system. The kernel code size is a compact 7 to 10 KBytes (in the minimum configuration).
• The application program part can also be executed in supervised mode, facilitating customization of interrupt handling and the like.
• A µMORE emulator running on a PC is available for application developers.
• An OS/task analyzer MMSO (Micro More System Observer) is available.
• A system configurator supporting the µITRON4.0 Standard Profile enables GUI-based system configuration.
• An external specification test tool is provided to assist in system porting.
• Comes with source code, and is made available on a royalty-free basis.

For more information:

ACCESS Co., Ltd.
Hirata-Building, 8F
2-8-16, Sarugaku-cho, Chiyoda-ku
Tokyo, 101-0065, Japan
TEL: 03-3233-6977 FAX: 03-3233-0222
Mail: adinfo@access.co.jp
Web site: http://www.access.co.jp/

This newsletter is a special edition for WWW of the one appeared in TRONWARE vol.65.

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