Engineering Seminar Topics and Seminar Topics

Download Full Article Linux in Embedded Systems

            The embedded system is a combination of computer hardware, software and, perhaps, additional mechanical parts, designed to perform a specific function. A good example is an automatic washing machine or a microwave oven. Embedded systems need only the basic functionalities of an operating system in real-time environment-a scaled down version of an RTOS. They demand extremely high reliability plus the ability to customize the OS to match an application’s unique requirements. However, commercial RTOSes, while designed to satisfy the reliability and configuration flexibility requirements of embedded applications, are increasingly less desirable due to their lack of standardization and their inability to keep pace with the rapid evolution of technology. The alternative is: open-source Linux. Linux offers powerful and sophisticated system management facilities, a rich cadre of device support, a superb reputation for reliability and robustness, and extensive documentation. Also, Linux is inherently modular and can be easily scaled into compact configurations.

INTRODUCTION

        Computers have evolved from a few, huge mainframes shared by many people, to today’s PCs -millions in number, miniscule in size compared to the mainframes, and used by only one person at a time. The next generation could be invisible, with billions being around and each of us using more than one at a time. Welcome to the world of embedded systems, of computers that will not look like computers and won’t function like anything we’re familiar with. An embedded computing system uses microprocessors to implement parts of functionality of non-general-purpose computers. Early microprocessor-based design emphasized input and output. Modern high performance embedded processors are capable of a great deal of computation in addition to I/O task. Microprocessors that were once prized centerpieces of desktop computers are now being used in automobiles, televisions and telephones. The huge increase in computational power can be harnessed only by applying structured design methodologies to the design of embedded computing systems.  Historically, Linux was developed specifically as an operating system for the desktop/server environment. More recently, there has been a growing interest in tailoring Linux to a very different hardware and software needs of the embedded applications environment.

            Linux now spans the spectrum of computing applications, including IBM’s tiny Linux wrist watch, hand-held devices (PDAs and cell phones), Internet appliances, thin clients, firewalls, industrial robotics, telephony infrastructure equipment, and even cluster-based supercomputers. Let’s take a look at what Linux has to offer as an embedded system, and why it’s the most attractive option currently available.

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Download Full Article PIXIE DUST

       Pixie dust is the informal name that IBM is using for its antiferromagnetically-coupled (AFC) media technology, which can increase the data capacity of hard drives to up to four times the density possible with current drives. AFC overcomes limits of current hard drives caused by a phenomenon called the superparamagnet effect (basically, alterations in magnetic orientation). The “pixie dust” used is a 3-atom thick magnetic coating composed of the element ruthenium sandwiched between two magnetic layers. The technology is expected to yield 400 GB (gigabyte) hard drives for desktop computers, and 200 GB hard drives for laptops by the middle of 2003.

INTRODUCTION

        In each of the past five years, hard drive capacities have doubled, keeping storage costs low and allowing technophiles and PC users to sock away more data. However, storage buffs believed the rate of growth could continue for only so long, and many asserted that the storage industry was about to hit the physical limit for higher capacities. But according to IBM, a new innovation will push back that limit. The company is first to mass-produce computer hard disk drives using a revolutionary new type of magnetic coating that is eventually expected to quadruple the data density of current hard disk drive products — a level previously thought to be impossible, but crucial to continue feeding the information-hungry Internet economy. For consumers, increased data density will help hasten the transition in home entertainment from passive analog technologies to interactive digital formats.

       The key to IBM’s new data storage breakthrough is a three-atom-thick layer of the element ruthenium, a precious metal similar to platinum, sandwiched between two magnetic layers. That only a few atoms could have such a dramatic impact caused some IBM scientists to refer to the ruthenium layer informally as “pixie dust”. Known technically as “antiferromagnetically-coupled (AFC) media,” the new multilayer coating is expected to permit hard disk drives to store 100 billion bits (gigabits) of data per square inch of disk area by 2003. Current hard drives can store 20 gigabits of data per square inch. IBM began shipping Travelstar hard drives in May 2001 that are capable of storing 25.7 gigabits per square inch. Drives shipped later in the year are expected to be capable of 33% greater density.

        In information technology, the term “pixie dust” is often used to refer to a technology that seemingly does the impossible. In the past decade, the data density for magnetic hard disk drives has increased at a phenomenal pace: doubling every 18 months and, since 1997, doubling every year, which is much faster than the vaunted Moore’s Law for integrated circuits. It was assumed in the storage industry that the upper limit would soon be reached. The super paramagnetic effect has long been predicted to appear when densities reached 20 to 40 gigabits per square inch - close to the data density of current products. 

        IBM discovered a means of adding AFC to their standard production methods so that the increased capacity costs little or nothing. The company, which plans to implement the process across their entire line of products, chose not to publicize the technology in advance. Many companies have focused research on the use of AFC in hard drives; a number of vendors, such as Seagate Technology and Fujitsu, are expected to follow IBM’s lead.

        AFC will be used across all IBM hard drive product lines. Prices of hard drives are unlikely to increase dramatically because AFC increases the density and storage capacity without the addition of expensive disks, where data is stored, or of heads, which read data off the disks. AFC will also allow smaller drives to store more data and use less power, which could lead to smaller and quieter devices.

        Developed by IBM Research, this new magnetic media uses multilayer interactions and is expected to permit longitudinal recording to achieve a future data density of 100 gigabits/inch2 without suffering from the projected data loss due to thermal instabilities. This new media will thus delay for several years the impact of superparamagnetism in limiting future areal density increases. It also requires few changes to other aspects of the hard-disk-drive design, and will surely push back in time the industry’s consideration of more complex techniques proposed for very high-density magnetic recording, such as, perpendicular recording, patterned media or thermally-assisted writing.

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Download Full Article Magnetic RAM

        Magnetic RAM (MRAM) is a new memory technology with  access and cost characteristics comparable to those of conventional dynamic RAM (DRAM) and the non-volatility of magnetic media such as disk. That is MRAM retains its memory even after removing power from the device. Such a non-volatile memory has important military applications for missiles and satellites. Clearly such a device could also have important commercial applications if the non-volatility were accomplished without impacting other properties of the memory, notably density, read and write speed, and lifetime. IBM in cooperation with Infineon  is promising to launch this new technology ,that will eliminate the boot-up process of a computer and thus enable it to turn on as instantly as a television or radio, using memory cells based on magnetic tunnel junctions.

INTRODUCTION

             You hit the power button on your television and it instantly comes to life. But do the same thing with your computer and you have to wait a few minutes while it goes through its boot up sequence. Why can’t we have a computer that turns on as instantly as a television or radio? IBM, in cooperation with Infineon, is promising to launch a new technology in the next few years that will eliminate the boot-up process. Magnetic random access memory (MRAM) has the potential to store more data, access that data faster and use less power than current memory technologies. The key to MRAM is that, as its name suggests, it uses magnetism rather than electrical power to store data. This is a major leap from dynamic RAM (DRAM), the most common type of memory in use today, which requires a continuous supply of electricity and is terribly inefficient. Twenty-five years ago, DRAM overtook ferrite core memory in the race to rule the PC memory market. Now it looks like ferromagnetic technology could be making a comeback, with IBM Corp. and Infineon Technologies charging a joint team of 80 engineers and scientists with the task of making magnetic RAM (MRAM) a commercial reality within four years…

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Download Full Article INTELLIGENT NETWORK

       An Intelligent Network (IN) is a service-independent telecommunications network. That is, intelligence is taken out of switches and placed in computer nodes that are distributed throughout the network. This provides the network operator with the means to develop and control services more efficiently. In IN the services are provided independently of the bearer networks or equipment vendors. The IN is essentially an architecture which separates the service logic from the telephone exchanges, enabling the establishment of an open platform for uniform service creation, implementation and management. It enables advanced customer orientated services to be rapidly and cost effectively introduced.

Introduction

        Communication methods are essential to enable the continual expansion of the technological society in which we live. They enable people to exchange ideas, opinions and synchronise all interactions between themselves and others. Telephony is still the predominant method of communication although new techniques, such as electronic mail and mobile communications are becoming more and more popular. Network users are requesting increasingly complex services which cannot be effectively supported by existing network architectures. Also, there is a desire to share data, distribute application processing among network elements and an increasing demand for more sophisticated telecommunications services. All of these factors have led to the evolution of new networking architectures.

        A particular architecture which has evolved is the Intelligent Network (IN), in which services are provided independently of the bearer networks or equipment vendors. The IN is essentially an architecture which separates the service logic from the telephone exchanges, enabling the establishment of an open platform for uniform service creation, implementation and management. It enables advanced customer orientated services to be rapidly and cost effectively introduced.

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