Correct, Compact Software Takes Charge In Embedded Apps

A pair of seemingly unrelated software announcements spells good news for embedded developers. The first is the OSEKturbo operating system (OS) from Motorola's Metrowerks. The second is a new version of Encirq's 3e database service development system. Both are designed to deliver smaller, faster, and more reliable applications.

OSEKturbo implements the OSEK/VDX OS standard. It doesn't address other OSEK/VDX components, such as COM (communications) and NM (network management). These services run on an OSEK OS, enabling the use of third-party modules to provide these services. OSEKturbo supports OIL (OSEK Implementation Language).

Motorola implements deterministic scheduling in OSEKturbo. This feature is critical to applications in automotive and process control where OSEK is typically found, although it's equally applicable to most embedded environments. Motorola is delivering a 32-bit version of OSEKturbo, with versions for 8- and 16-bit processors expected. OSEKturbo is integrated with Metrowerks' CodeWarrior development system.

With OSEK, you include what you use. A system requires the OS, but not the COM or NM components. The same is true for Encirq's 3e. This modular system generates C source code to implement a database system specified by the programmer using the Encirq\DB tool. It can create a full-featured database environment like that provided by many SQL database products. Yet it can also generate systems down to a bare-bones system. The amount of code generated is comparable to the power of the resulting database support. This is key for developers who are memory-constrained with average or minimal database requirements.

The generated database support can be treated as a black box, but Encirq developers aren't limited to this approach. The database support is C code that's folded into an application, which eases debugging and making enhancements. It also lets developers choose compiler optimizations based on their requirements.

Encirq's 3e costs $4995 per developer. Run-time licensing starts at $10,000. Contact Metrowerks for OSEKturbo licensing.