The phenomenal growth of Indian IT services industry has been achieved primarily through two differentiating factors: people and cost. We are still strong on these two factors, albeit increasing global competition, so the IT services success story will continue for some more time.

In parallel, it is important for India to establish sectors within the IT industry where it can dominate through other means of differentiation that can be sustained over a long period.

The area of Embedded Systems offers that unique opportunity where India can differentiate through many new methods – a) Intellectual Property, b) Breadth of Competencies, c) Partnership Eco System and d) Time to Market. There are already a few successful examples of such differentiation and they need to become widespread.

The talk will explore this concept.

Power supplies not only face extremely high standards for efficiency and power density, but also for maintaining communication with other systems, taking appropriate action in emergencies. Digital Signal Controllers (DSCs) with specialized on-chip peripherals now enable the implementation of numerous digital power-conversion topologies and control schemes, in order to meet these high levels of performance. This paper will present practical tips that designers can use to achieve these goals, beginning with selection of the appropriate hardware architecture. The effects of Pulse-Width-Modulation (PWM) switching speeds, Analog-to-Digital Converter (ADC) conversion rates, and analog comparator capabilities on system performance will be discussed, as will a software-driven Proportional Integral Derivative (PID) algorithm. Modern Switch-Mode Power Supply (SMPS) topologies will be presented, including a DC/DC dual buck converter and a pure sine-wave inverter, to demonstrate how peripherals and control schemes can be implemented for optimal digital power conversion.

The demands on, and the complexity of, modern embedded systems have grown extremely high. Conventional methods of development, especially since a large part of any system today involves complex embedded environments, are found wanting in meeting the cost, quality, timeframe and other constraints. A number of initiatives are in various stages of research, development and usage, to improve these aspects. This talk attempts to provide a technical overview of some of the main initiatives in this respect, both without and within IBM, particularly Rational. We shall take a look at products from the largest architectural scope level (DODAF as an example), down through modelling, development, verification and other activities (SysML language for modelling and simulation at the systems level, Systems Engineering processes like the RUP variant for SE, the AP233 for standards of representation and data exchange etc.).

Today’s embedded design engineer is faced with the challenge of ever-increasing system complexity. A typical embedded design may incorporate various analog signals, high and low-speed serial digital communication and microprocessor buses, just to name a few. Serial protocols such as I2C and SPI are frequently used for chip-to-chip communication, but cannot replace parallel buses for all applications. Microprocessors, FPGAs, Analog-to-Digital Converters (ADC) and Digital-to-Analog Converters (DAC) are all examples of ICs that present unique measurement challenges in today’s embedded designs. Digital design teams are being asked to develop embedded systems with increased functionality and higher performance in smaller packages at a lower cost, all under very aggressive development schedules.

Fortunately, design tools have allowed developers to manage this increased complexity; however, developers are requiring increased performance and new capabilities from their debug tools to find those elusive problems that can cause delays and thereby disrupt the entire development schedule and threaten their product’s time-to-market.

The increasing diversity of development tools and device application requirements have made life more complicated for developers. Determining which platform to use to meet development requirements should not be an additional source of stress and risk. Cost-effectiveness, excellent quality, and open standards—these are just a few benefits of open-source technologies that have made Linux the right choice for many device software developers. Join Wind River Systems for a session on embedded Linux for device software development. Hear our insights into where the embedded device industry stands, current trends, and when it makes sense for you to migrate your device to Linux. We'll also discuss the various tools available to help you develop, debug, test, and diagnose your devices to help you build and deploy devices faster.

India’s design services are projected to grow at a CAGR of 23.3 percent during 2005-2010. (Figures from In-Stat.) Huge investments are pouring in from global chipmakers and fabless players in their captive design houses. Third-party local design houses are also expanding their range of activities.

What is the state of India’s design services market? What are the design services trends and how will the industry move up the design value chain? What are the opportunities and challenges? How well is India poised to make good use of these opportunities and face the challenges? These are questions which the presentation will try to answer as it takes a closer look at the rapidly expanding frontiers of India’s design services.