Nass

Build Your Own Embedded System             

Track Chair: Richard Nass, Editor-in-Chief/Editorial Director

Embedded Systems Design, Embedded.com, Embedded Systems Conferences             

Lots of conferences claim to offer "hands-on" classes. At this year's ESC Boston, we're going to take that concept one step further - we're going to give every All Access or 5-day conference attendee their own embedded development kit, loaded with a complete operating system and all the I/O you need to complete your design. Attendees will take that kit from class to class, learning such concepts as how to add high-speed USB support; how to deal with a secondary operating system; how to ensure security/encryption; how to add wired/wireless networking; how to add a Web server; how to configure a BIOS; and so on. And the best part is that at the end of the training, attendees get to keep their newly configured embedded systems.

Gatliff

Track Chair: Bill Gatliff 

Consultant/Contributing Editor, Embedded Systems Design Magazine

Careful use of an operating system can help tame the complexity of today's embedded systems.  But which one is right for your project, and how do you make best use of its capabilities?  Classes in this track explore various commercial and open-source embedded operating systems, and include topics like: multithreaded application programming techniques; security, power management and networking implications; case studies; Linux kernel and device driver development; real-time OS APIs and evaluation techniques; applications and runtime libraries; incorporating Eclipse into your development processes.

Maxfield

Debugging, Verification  & Test     

Track Chair: Max Maxfield

President, TechBites Interactive

Debugging and verification are vital steps in the design of an embedded system, yet they are often not given enough consideration. Inadequate strategies, like leaving verification until the very end of the project, have led to numerous product failures. Classes in this track present such alternatives as static-code analysis to find bugs earlier; debugging techniques for multi-core embedded systems; coverage-driven verification for embedded software, and how to debug the toughest software bugs using a logic analyzer.

Ganssle

Track Chair: Jack Ganssle

Chief Engineer, The Ganssle Group              

There's a process that should be followed for any design, one that takes you from Square One to completion. Are you aware of that process? Do you understand how team members should be interacting with each other? Do you know how to choose the best team members? Even if you can positively answer these questions, you still must then deal with budgets, schedules, and upper management, among other things. This track will help you cope with all of these areas, and some others you probably never thought of. This track encompasses just about any application area.

Williston

Track Chair: Kenton Williston

Site Editor, DSP Design Line

Digital signal processing and multimedia functions appear in applications as diverse as video and motor control. This track will get you up to speed on implementing these functions. It covers algorithms, processors, tools, and development techniques. Application areas in this track include consumer, industrial, automotive, communications, and military and aerospace.

Cofer

Hardware Design, including Programmable Logic

Track Chair: RC Cofer

Field Applications Engineer, Avnet

Embedded hardware design continues to evolve beyond the implementation of fixed functionality with discrete components to higher levels of integration, flexibility and obsolescence resistance with improved manufacturability and options for design update and maintenance. Programmable logic has the potential to support effective design implementation with efficient design updates. Design teams with the right mix of knowledge, skills and experience can more efficiently implement and integrate designs supporting streamlined schedules. The classes in this track focus on efficient design processes and checks, essential technologies, and practical engineering knowledge.

Harding

Senior Systems Engineer, SAIC

Embedded hardware design continues to evolve beyond the implementation of fixed functionality with discrete components to higher levels of integration, flexibility and obsolescence resistance with improved manufacturability and options for design update and maintenance. Programmable logic has the potential to support effective design implementation with efficient design updates. Design teams with the right mix of knowledge, skills and experience can more efficiently implement and integrate designs supporting streamlined schedules. The classes in this track focus on efficient design processes and checks, essential technologies, and practical engineering knowledge.

Williston

Track Chair: Kenton Williston

Site Editor, DSP Design Line

Multi-core processors are in the spotlight—but what are they and how do you program them? How do you separate hype from reality? This track will answer these questions, helping you understand and use multicore technology. It shows how to move to multi-core, and how to migrate your code. Application areas covered include consumer, communications, networking, medical, and military and aerospace.

Oshana

Real-time Development

Track Chair: Rob Oshana

Director of Engineering, Freescale Semicondutor  

A real-time systemconstraints, operational deadlines from event to system response, are required in a vast array of embedded applications. But do you really understand what's going on inside the system? For example, how do you select a scheduler? Even if you're not using an OS, real-time issues are always concerns. Is there a need to time-optimize your C/C++ code? Do you want better ways to profile and reduce CPU loading, memory use, and power? Those are the typical subjects that will be covered by the classes in this track. Application areas here include medical, automotive, communications, monitoring and control, and military and aerospace. 

Mittag

Track Chair: Larry Mittag

Lead Consultant, Mittag Enterprises              

Security is rapidly moving toward being a critical item as an increasing number of embedded systems include an online component. It is also an area where it is easy to make mistakes, and those mistakes can be costly to your business. This track provides access to experts who can help to provide the information necessary to make sure that your systems will not be easily compromised, particularly in the traditionally security-conscious application areas such as medical and military, but also in consumer-oriented areas such as high-end gaming and home control where security has often been added as an afterthought, if at all.

Ganssle

Track Chair: Jack Ganssle

Chief Engineer, The Ganssle Group            

Kliedermacher

Virtualization      

Track Chair: David Kliedermacher

Chief Technology Officer, Green Hills Software

Virtualization is one of today’s popular buzzwords. But what exactly is it, and why do I need to know about it? Those are just the most basic of questions that will be answered in this session. Topics will include the use cases, benefits, challenges, and implementations of computer virtualization within embedded systems. 

Legare

Wired & Wireless Networking       

Track Chair: Christian Legare

Vice-President, Micrium

This track looks at both wired and wireless communications. We'll examine short-range wireless topics like ZigBee and Bluetooth. On the wired side, we'll learn how to connect to both the tried and true topologies like Ethernet, CAN and USB as well as some of the coming architectures. Using TCP/IP and HTTP in embedded applications has never been more important as we are gradually moving toward a ubiquitous IP network. Application areas that are covered here include medical, automotive, and consumer.