TechInsights says it has “expanded the scope” of the upcoming ESC (Embedded Systems Conference) Boston to include sensors, lighting/LEDs, MEMS (micro-electromechanical systems), and SIP (systems intellectual property). The September 21-24 event will also include a number of presentations devoted to embedded Linux, according to the organizers.

Scheduled this year from Sept. 21 to 24 at Boston's Hynes Convention Center, the Embedded Systems Conference is branching out into some new subject areas, TechInsights says. Among these are sensors, lighting/LEDs, SIP (systems intellectual property), and MEMS. (The latter has been defined by the MEMS and Nanotechnology Clearinghouse as "the integration of mechanical elements, sensors, actuators, and electronics on a common silicon substrate through microfabrication technology.")

Co-located this year with the xTCA Ecosystems Conference, ESC Boston will also cover more familiar ground, including the latest in the conference's series of embedded device tear-downs, plus an ESC Expo that will feature products from more than 80 companies, TechInsights says. The conference will also include the latest in a series of BYOES (build your own embedded system) events, already familiar from past ESC Boston and ESC Silicon Valley shows.

BeagleBoard

At recent ESC Conferences, single-board computers (SBCs) used in the BYOES events have either been given away to attendees or have been heavily subsidized. TechInsights has not yet provided further details about this fall's sessions except to say that the BYOES track will consist of seven classes, held over Monday, Sept. 21, and Tuesday, Sept. 22.

At last year's ESC Boston, TechInsights "gifted" attendees who purchased five-day or "all access" passes with IBase IB885 SBCs for Windows users or Texas Instruments/Digi-Key BeagleBoard SBCs (pictured at right) equipped with Linux.

ESC Conferences typically also include public teardowns of embedded devices, which in past years have even included a Toyota Prius. This year's "real-time teardowns" will include disassembly of a BionX Bicycle Energy Management system and an Optoma Pico Pocket Projector, says TechInsights.

ESC Boston keynote speakers will include T.J. Rodgers, founder, president and CEO of Cypress Semiconductor, plus designer Robert Brunner. Brunner is said to have done the industrial design for Apple products such as the Apple II, Macintosh, Newton, and PowerBook, and is one of the founders of the design company Ammunition.

Linux at ESC Boston 2009

Linux-specific topics at ESC Boston are said to include:

• Understanding SELinux — Michael Anderson, PTR Group (9/22, 2PM)
• Applying FPGA-Embedded Linux to streaming video and DSP — Dan Isaacs and Glenn Steiner (Xilinx), and Impulse CEO David Pellerin (9/22, 3:30PM)
• Understanding Linux kernel modules — William Gatliff, consultant (9/22, 5PM)
• Techniques for debugging embedded Linux kernels — William Gatliff, consultant (9/23, 8AM)
• Compare and evaluate commercial embedded Linux operating systems — Manish Harsh, Halosys Technologies (9/23, 3PM)
• Taming your data pipeline execution with an FPGA Linux processor — Dan Isaacs and Glenn Steiner (Xilinx), and Impulse CEO David Pellerin (9/24, 8AM)
• Debugging techniques for Linux device drivers –Michael Anderson, PTR Group (9/24, 12PM)

Early look at a new Windows embedded OS

The ESC Boston BYOES event will feature an as-yet-unnamed Intel Atom-based system, running the first release of Windows Embedded Standard (WES) 2010, the organizers claim. WES 2010, code-named "Quebec," appears to be an embedded variant of Microsoft's Windows 7. Microsoft hasn't yet announced a release date for Quebec as far as we know, except to say that it will be available "within a number of quarters" after Windows 7's release, so the version employed in the BYOES event will presumably be an initial public beta.

Availability

More information on ESC Boston 2009 may be found on the TechInsights website, here.

 
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