VDC Research: Embedded Microprocessor, Board & Systems Market Blog

The Advent of Accelerometers in Home Medical Devices

While attending ESC Boston 2011, a number of the exhibit booths featured demonstrations utilizing embedded accelerometers.  Although automotive companies have used accelerometers for years to measure vehicle performance, and industrial companies have used them to monitor vibration in manufacturing equipment, the emphasis at this week’s event seemed to be on their increasing use in medical devices. 

A range of wearable and implantable devices are already on the market or in various testing phases ahead of broad introduction.  Medtronic’s RestoreSensor Neurostimulator represents one such device incorporating embedded accelerometers.  The device is used to treat chronic pain by sending electrical signals to the epidural spinal region, and modulates the reception of pain signals from the back or limbs.  It should be noted that these signals do not eliminate the pain, but rather provide a tingling sensation that dulls the feeling of pain (similar to itching a mosquito bite). 

Traditionally, the patient had to adjust these devices manually.  Often, patients with chronic pain will experience varying degrees of pain depending on their posture (reclining versus standing) and thus would have to frequently adjust the device.  However, because of the incorporation of embedded accelerometer technology, the device can automatically sense the posture of the patient and adjust the pain modulating signals accordingly.  The neurostimulator is typically implanted under the skin, typically in the abdomen.  Thus, the patient does not have to attach or “wear” the device in the usual sense.

VDC believes that the medical market for embedded devices is already sizable, and growing. Medtronic’s neuromodulation segment generated $1.59 billion in revenue in fiscal year 2011.  This suggests the strong potential for these devices, particularly as costs for such medical technologies decrease over time.  VDC feels that the trends of integration, scalability, and reduced power consumption will further drive the innovation in the embedded medical device market. 

Regional Embedded Technology Investments: An Emerging Perspective on India

According to a recent Reuters news report, Intel Capital, the investment arm of Intel Corp. believes valuations of early-stage technology companies in India have reached a "near-bubble" stage, as too much capital chases too few high quality opportunities.  If an accurate depiction, this represents a scenario reminiscent of the late 1990s when valuations of many technology start-up organizations led to a precipitous decline. 

Certainly, the worldwide investment landscape has changed significantly over the past decade. Today, for instance, in India, there are hundreds of active investment funds, where there may have been only several dozen a decade ago.  According to some reports, venture capital funds, for the most part, have remained stage agnostic (except for early-stage investors), whereas the choice of sectors in which these funds invest has grown far beyond technology as the domestic economy in India has grown and developed other viable sectors for investment.

Turning to Intel, the chip giant typically invests in stakes of less than 20% in early stage companies, with an average deal size of $5 million. Its $250 million India fund has made about $40 million in investments so far in 2011, according to Reuters. 

From the embedded technology perspective, with the growth in the sheer size of India's VC community running loosely in parallel with Intel's view of an emerging bubble in the technology sector, this reality could indicate an important shift in the appetite for investment risk going forward in India.  VDC senses that, to some degree, this shift could have an impact on second-stage technology firms that need a second or third round of funding to meet long-term strategic objectives. 

Embedded Systems Conference 2011: A VDC Recap

A number of VDC analysts attended the Embedded Systems Conference (ESC) held September 26-29 in Boston and participated in several embedded technology supplier briefings and executive meetings. 

Many of these briefings included broader, but consistent themes across the embedded supplier landscape.  These embedded themes were:    

• Connectivity
• Security
• Continuity

Virtually every embedded hardware and services organizational leader with whom we met mentioned at least one of the themes above as part of a product announcement or strategic initiative.  For instance, Microchip Technology, a provider of microcontroller, analog and Flash-IP solutions, announced the availability of an 8-bit PIC microcontroller that features configurable logic along with a high level of peripheral integration in 6- to 20-pin packages. 

Microchip's PIC10F(LF)32X and PIC1XF(LF)150X MCUs each feature new peripherals, including Configurable Logic Cells (CLCs), Complementary Waveform Generators (CWGs) and Numerically Controlled Oscillators (NCOs), enabling functionality that was not possible before with low pincount MCUs. 

These general-purpose MCUs were developed to enable designers to enhance the functionality, reduce design size, and decrease the cost and power consumption of products in the appliance (e.g. small kitchen appliances); automotive (e.g. interior lighting); consumer (e.g. power tools); and industrial markets (e.g. utility meters), among others. 

The CLC peripherals on the PIC10F(LF)32X and PIC1XF(LF)150X MCUs also enable software control of combinational and sequential logic, which increases the on-chip interconnection of peripherals and I/Os, thereby reducing the number of external components, saving code space and adding functionality.  The CWG peripheral works with multiple peripherals to generate complementary waveforms with dead-band control and auto shutdown, which provides improved switching efficiencies. Additionally, the NCO peripheral enables linear frequency control and high resolution, which is required for applications such as lighting ballast, tone generation and other resonant control circuits. 

The MCUs also feature low power consumption, with currents of less than 30 µA/MHz in active mode, and less than 20 nA in sleep; as well as an on-chip 16 MHz internal oscillator, Analog-to-Digital Converter (ADC), and up to 4 Pulse-Width Modulation peripherals.  An integrated temperature-indicator module enables low-cost temperature measurements.

VDC believes Microchip's newly introduced MCU families represent an important inflection point in the development of new and expanded applications based on a platform of next-generation microcontroller technology.  As a result, Microchip was awarded the annual best in show Embeddy hardware award at the 2011 Embedded Systems Conference. 

Freescale’s QorIQ Qonverge Processors: Enabling Next-Generation Communications

As of August 30^th, Freescale has reported releasing samples of its QorIQ Qonverge platform System on a Chip (SoC) intended for use in small-cell base stations to select customers.  These small cell base stations are intended for use in home and in small enterprise settings.  With accelerating demand for bandwidth and data traffic increasing exponentially, Freescale believes these SoC products will significantly enhance the service available through the developing LTE and 4G infrastructure.  According to Freescale, only a million units of small cells have shipped, but Freescale expects that nearly 40-50 million small cell units will ship in 2015.  So, Freescale believes the market has extremely robust growth potential.

Freescale’s product portfolio supporting the small-cell marketplace will now include the PSC9132 SoC for picocells and the PCS9130/31 SoCs for femtocells.  These SoCs incorporate microprocessors operating alongside digital signal processors (DSP).  In addition, the chips feature baseband hardware accelerators which accelerate a number of decoding tasks.  The software ecosystem for these products includes tools and operating systems from ENEA, Greenhills, Mentor Embedded, and Wind River in addition to Freescale’s own Codewarrior software package. 

VDC sees a number of advantages that Freescale can leverage in these products.  First, there is the ability to run simultaneous multimode, meaning these SoCs can support both LTE and wide-band CDMA devices at the same time.  Freescale believes they are a unique provider of small cells that currently offers this multimode capability.  This could give them a competitive edge in the many settings where legacy hardware and the next generation communications technologies overlap. 

Also, Layer 2 processing (meaning switching and routing of data packets) is offloaded to the microprocessor.  This frees up the DSP to strictly address Layer 1 processing (analog to digital conversion) and thus enables greater device efficiency.  This contrasts with TI’s use of the DSP for some Layer 2 processing. 

A third advantage is that these devices incorporate glueless RFIC communications and antennae interfaces, which renders additional chips, such as FPGAs, unnecessary.  This represents a significant cost savings since fewer chips are needed and board space is freed for other components.  It also makes this chip platform a strong contender against ASICs with their high non-recurring-engineering (NRE) costs.  VDC believes that these advantages could allow Freescale better penetration into the base station market.

Processor Architectures: Kontron Embraces ARM to Extend Product Range

On September 8,  global embedded solutions provider Kontron announced it is adding ARM architecture-based products to its portfolio which it believes will enable a new breed of embedded scalable products for application-ready platforms, especially those requiring low-power consumption.

The first products planned for release in 2011 are expected to be in the module and board form factors. Under development at Kontron is a new module format, optimized for use with ARM System-On-Chip (SOC) processor types. The modules will enable ARM processors, single, dual and quad core, to be used in many vertical market applications.  Following the initial module release, Kontron then plans to expand its SBC family, as well as tablet and box PCs and HMIs. All Kontron ARM-based products are expected to be available as standard solutions or as customer-specific designs require.

To help ensure improved time-to-market, Kontron is also designing and building its ARM-based products to work with the most relevant operating systems. In addition to Windows CE 6/7, Linux operating systems such as QNX, Green Hills and VxWorks (including Hypervisor) will also be supported to focus on high reliability and real-time computing. In addition, Kontron’s ARM products are expected to be aligned with the introduction of Windows 8. 

Microsoft is expected to showcase Windows 8 for the first time at next week's BUILD Conference (September 13 -September 16 in Anaheim, California).  Windows 8 is also widely considered to be the software firm's most significant play within the tablet market, directly competing against formidable competitors such as Apple’s iPad.

In terms of product general availability, the first Kontron ARM-based module early field testing platforms will be available before the end of 2011, with SBCs, tablet computers, box PCs and HIMs following in 2012.  With this generalized roadmap, VDC sees Kontron's decision to extend into new embedded product families based on the ARM architecture as being highly complementary to its existing RISC-based product portfolio. 

With this strategic business and technology decision, the clear operational advantages now emerging for Kontron are found in its capacity to offer a wider array of solutions to support its customer's unique design needs, especially as power management and performance per watt requirements vary and weigh heavily on designers and developers. While certainly a competitive advantage, the long-term challenge for Kontron will be in servicing and supporting a wider range of products.

ESC Boston is Coming Soon - Schedule Time to Meet with VDC

The Embedded Systems Conference will be held this month (September 26^th-29^th) at the Hynes Convention Center in Boston.

VDC will be attending the conference once again this year and will be presenting our 7th annual Embeddy Awards for Best in Show live at the conference. The winners will be announced live ahead of Wednesday's morning keynote session.

So how can your company win the Embeddy award?

To be considered, you must schedule a meeting with VDC to discuss the announcement that you are making at the show. You can arrange a meeting time with VDC by doing one of the following:

Contact Stephen Balacco, Director, Embedded Software & Tools Practice, VDC Research Group by contacting Stephen at: sbalacco@vdcresearch.com or 508.653.9000 x 124.

Still need to register?

Online registration is still open and you can always register in person at the show as well.

We are looking forward to another great show.  See you all in Boston!