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Multiprocessors Need Distributed Objects After decades of anticipation, multiprocessors are becoming a fact of life for most software engineers, especially in embedded systems. Symmetric multiprocessors which use a number of identical processors, one operating system and a shared memory are relatively easy to program, because we can use additional processors to execute additional threads. (But watch out for multi-threaded software that assumes it's running on a uniprocessor, so when a high priority thread is running, a low priority thread isn't.)
Asymmetric multiprocessors, which lack shared memory, have dissimilar processors or run different operating systems on different processors are more difficult to program, but increasingly common. Threads of execution on different processors are isolated from each other and cannot directly access the same data. The software must ensure that threads have the data they need when they need it. Results may be affected by the order in which events occur on different processors. This article originally appeared on www.embedded.com in January 2006 in the Embedded Soapbox Section
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Save 10-50% of Development redFOX reduces software development cost for distributed embedded system both directly and indirectly. It saves cost directly by automatically generating middleware that would otherwise have to be hand coded to achieve the same performance. Such hand coded middleware routinely accounts for a large proportion of a software development project, running to thousands of lines of middleware per class. One company developing embedded systems estimates that adopting redFOX will eliminate 25% of its source code. In addition to reducing implementation effort, redFOX reduces cost and time indirectly in two ways. First, it makes design easier and quicker by allowing developers to work at a higher level of abstraction and by making design changes easy to implement. Second, by supporting a distributed object methodology, redFOX allows software to be more independent of the hardware architecture and therefore more portable and reusable. For a discussion of distributed object technology in embedded systems, see Distributed Processing in a Box [PDF 130 Kb] |
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Evaluate redFOX redFOX can be downloaded (for non-commercial use) for Linux and Windows (Cygwin) -- see the downloads area. redFOX requires the GCC toolchain. It adds a stage to compilation which generates some additional code in your application. redFOX can be ported easily to other platforms. If you hav other requirements or require commercial support please use this form. to request further information. |
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