Wind River announced the release of a version of its Wind River Platform for Android that supports Android 2.2 (“Froyo”) and Adobe Flash Player 10.1. The company also announced a design win with train manufacturer Bombardier for a computer system that will run on London Underground trains.

Announced last December, Wind River Platform for Android is a commercial version of the Android software development kit, optimized for the Texas Instruments OMAP3x platform. It has since been extended to "hardened reference platforms" from Qualcomm and Intel, with the latter presumably running on an Intel Atom via Intel's new Android port.

The enhanced SDK offers interface extensions, an automated test framework, plus pre-integrated PacketVideo OpenCore, and Red Bend FOTA software, says Wind River.

UI personalization in Wind River Platform for Android

Last month, the Intel subsidiary announced that it had joined Adobe's Open Screen Project and would become a worldwide scaling partner for Adobe Flash software. At the time, Wind River said it would license, distribute, integrate, and support Adobe Flash Player 10.x, Adobe AIR 2.x, and Flash Lite 4.x across its "Internet-facing software platforms," including Wind River Platform for Android.

The latter is now shipping with full Android 2.2 and Flash Player 10.1 support, says the company. The Froyo version of Platform for Android includes functional blocks such as Flash 10.1 support that "work really well on our hardened reference platforms," says Wind River.

The release also provides full support for a multi-window environment, operator-centric SyncML, DLNA, Red Bend FOTA, and miscellaneous utility apps such as FM Radio and Weather, says the company. 

The new release is touted for its built-in IP review and analysis process and documentation, as well as the optional Wind River Framework for Automated Software Testing (FAST) for Android. Announced in July as a standalone application or as an add-on for Wind River Platform for Android, FAST for Android helps analyze a device's functionality, performance, and stability, and also checks compliance with the Android Compatibility Test Suite (CTS) standard, the company says.

Bombardier taps Wind River for London Underground application

Last week Wind River announced a design win with train manufacturer Bombardier Transportation, which is using a combination of Wind River's VxWorks 61508 Platform and Wind River Linux in its latest HMI410 Train Information System. The HMI410 will be used on the new Bombardier-built S-Stock trains, which will run on subsurface tracks on the London Underground.

The HMI410 design is built around a carrier board with a PowerPC-based Freescale MPC870 processor running VxWorks 61508 Platform. In addition, non-safety-critical applications run on a connected Kontron mezzanine module that runs Wind River Linux on an Intel Atom processor.

Wind River did not list the name of the Kontron module, but it may be the Atom-based Kontron nanoETXexpress-SP computer-on-module (pictured). The module runs Wind River Linux, and is also compatible with Wind River's VxWorks real-time operating system (RTOS).

The cross-platform design enables Bombardier to use cost-effective COTS hardware while "meeting the stringent software development targets set by customers and railway certification agencies," says Wind River. Wind River supports both CENELEC EN 50128 and IEC 61508 safety standards for applications and devices in the industrial markets including safety controllers for oil refineries, nuclear power plants, and railway signaling systems, says the company.

Stated Erik Gyllensward, project manager at Bombardier, "Wind River's VxWorks platform along with their validated, traceable, commercial-grade Linux distribution allowed us to speed up the development of our standards-based solution and meet our market delivery window."

Availability

The blog announcement for the Froyo version of Wind River Platform for Android, including a video demonstration, may be found here. More information on Wind River's solutions for safety and security may be found here.

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