Software design and embedded system tools.
Good information for software design
Software Engineers on Tap
Are you having problems with your internal software developers? It may be time to use an outside consulting service to get your important projects done. You don’t want to admit it, but you question the abilities of the internal software department. Your business needs a new critical software system completed and you don’t have the luxury of another failed software project.
In the past, you have communicated requirements and the software that was delivered missed the mark. Now you are faced with another project and you don’t want to turn it over to them again. It is time to look at outsourced software development.
Software engineering is a tough business and there are differences in skill levels. You need to make sure that the software engineers you choose for your project are experienced with newer platforms, languages, and technologies. Get software engineers that understand the changing online landscape and are committed to staying on the cutting edge of software engineering standards.
Carefully consider your choices for software development. They hired you to make the tough decisions. Your job is on the line. Failed software projects can ruin careers. Secure your position by outsourcing software projects to a top it consulting firm.
1010 Talk VoIP Plans
In times like this when the country’s economy is not getting any better but the people’s needs, like a homecare agency and other things including communication hasn’t changed, it is significant that they look for the most cost-effective way to make ends meet.
1010 Talk has just provided a solution for those who are always on call or staying on the line to reach out and communicate with people from different parts of the world. It includes plans which allow you to make unlimited calls both locally and abroad. It allows subscribers to easily manage their account online. It also includes free voicemail services like voicemail to email. Aside from this, they also support call transfers, three-way calling and call forwarding. Automatically, when there is an incoming call, the caller’s name will be displayed on the screen.
The plans can be Pay as you Go in which the users pay a very minimal amount every time they make a call. Below are the details for each plan:
- For $10 (India Premium): This is specifically for those who make calls to India where they get really low rates when calling either a land line or mobile phone.
- For $30 (Gold): This is useful to make as low as $.10 a minute per call to Israel.
- For $50 (Platinum): This offers the lowest rate available and this is the best option when someone always makes international calls.
These are great for people who usually make local and international calls and are complaining of how much they have to pay for telephone bills. Although not stated above, 1010 Talk plans actually start at five dollars a month if you choose the right SIP trunking provider. With this, the user will have to pay for every outgoing call he or she makes but can enjoy unlimited incoming calls. And not only that, they also offer different ways to give the subscribers’ money back. Watch out for the following on the site where you can also register for your preferred plan:
- 1010 Talk Discounts Coupons
- Coupon Codes
- Free Shipping Code
- Promo Offers / Promotional Codes
- Money Off Coupon Codes
- Deals, Gift Coupons
It is amazing how the company is very willing to give back the money of people who want to subscribe to 1010 Talk.
Single board computers
PROS AND CONS OF SINGLE BOARD COMPUTERS
Single board computers are those little circuit boards with the necessary components to be used as a digital computer and ideal for an outsourced IT specialist. They are not commonly seen as they are and that is the reason why most of us can’t recognize them even if we have one in front of us. However, a lot of people have used single board computers because they are often embedded in gadgets like mobile phones, facsimile machines, GPS and other computer technological products.
Single board computer is what a printed circuit board with memory, a processor, input – output and a digital clock is called. Single board computers (otherwise known as SBCs) look a lot like the motherboard inside an ordinary personal computer but with a small design.
Because they are really small, they are also known as embedded computers. SBCs may come in different sizes, too. In fact, they are used from aero planes to sky rockets. In a more general sense, they can be present in toys or highly technological shoes. It is easy to assume that everyone has used single board computers without realizing that they exist.
Nowadays, smaller versions of computers are becoming very common. While they can accommodate full versions of operating system like Windows XP, SBCs have their own internal operating systems which don’t occupy much space. It is a fact that simpler operating systems mean not costing a lot. Without affecting processor performance, input/output, capability to store some files and its wireless connection, single board computers can do the basic functions of a personal computer.
The Good and Bad about Single Board Computers
Like any other products, SBCs have two sides, too. The decision to whether or not to employ the technology of single board computers is influence by how important the application is and how much it costs.
Below are the positive factors to consider:
- The high technological advancement nowadays have improved the capabilities of single board computers as they become smaller and less costly.
- Internet access using the SBCs has been made possible with the use of Wireless technology.
- Because of it is now available in the competitive market, better functions and variety of single board computers are also made available to the users.
- Highly developed computer technology presents dependability for industrial producers and the quality of their products using SBC’s.
On the other hand, employing SBCs may not be cheap or reasonable when incorporated with products of high volume and other applications. Also, there are some of these applications that need made to order sizes. Another possibility is that the input/output of certain devices are not compatible with single board computers.
Despite these possibilities, though. A lot of companies opt to use SBCs in the production of their high end devices rather than make their customized industrial single board computers, which is why a lot of organizations use a managed services provider to maintain them.
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QT
Qt is defined as a cross platform application. It is a framework which is used in to develop application software. This application software is developed with the help graphical user interface. This cross platform application is also used in developing non graphical user interface programs. Some of the programs which use this application program are Google, Adobe Photoshop, Panasonic, Philips etc. This application uses the C++ language. But Qt uses a unique code generator with many macros to enhance the language. Qt can also be used in many programming language with the help of language bindings. It is used on many platforms and is also internationally recognised. This cross platform application was developed by Trolltech but they later sold this application to Nokia. The software libraries which use this application are advanced component framework, KDELibs, LibQxt etc.
QT demo application
Qt has always been available through a commercial license which allows the expansion of proprietary purposes without any restriction on licensing. In addition, Qt has been steadily made open through an increasing number of other free licenses. Currently, Qt is accessible under the General Public License (GNU); this provision makes it available for utilization for both free software and proprietary. Before the 1.45 version, the source code used for Qt was published under free Qt license. This was not really viewed as amenable with the free software description of the Free Software Foundation and neither by the Open Source principle as described by the Open Source Initiative. The reason behind this was that it did not allow the distribution of other modified versions.
In 1998, many controversies broke out when it was acknowledged that KDE’s KDE software compilation would undoubtedly become the leading desktop setting especially for Linux. Owing to the fact that it was founded on a Qt basis, many professionals who took part in the free software movement became apprehensive that an imperative component of one of a leading operating system would become proprietary.
Along with the release of the 2.0 version of the toolbox, the license was transformed to the QPL (Q Public License). QPL was a free software license but it was considered incompatible with GPL by the Free Software Foundation. Trolltech and KDE then sought out many compromises which would imply that Qt will not be regarded by any license more restrictive than QPL, even in the case Trolltech goes bankrupt. This major issue led to the invention of the free Qt foundation by KDE.
Power Line Communication
Power Line Communication is a fairly recent technology which is used to transfer data and establish means of communication at broadband speeds over transmission lines. The technology is widely also known as Power Line Telecommunication (PLT) or even Power Plus Communications (PPC). The technology uses advanced modulation technology which super imposes the data signal of high frequency over the low frequency power signal.
The research into PLC started off in the mid 1980’s in the band range of 5-500 KHz and was developed for only unidirectional communication but with time the system has been advanced to permit bidirectional transmission of data signal.
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Modbus protocol
Modbus
Modbus is a communication protocol which is used with programmable logic controllers. This communication protocol was published by a firm named Modicon in 1979. It has now become the most de facto standard protocol in the industry. Modbus is now very commonly used as a means to connect the industrial electronic devices. This protocol is very easily available as it is very extensively used. There are certain important reasons for the use of Modbus rather than use of other communication protocol. These are as follows:
1.This protocol is published openly and is royalty free.
2.It is an easiest way to setup an industrial network.
3.This protocol moves raw bits without any restrictions.
modbus webserver
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PIR motion sensor
PIR sensor
PIR or the Passive Infrared sensor is an electronic device which is used to measure infrared light radiating from a body in its field of view. The sensors are known as Passive since they do not have an in built IR source like active sensors and detect the natural radiation of the body.
All objects have a certain body temperature and at any specific temperature there is a certain radiation that the body emits, this is called the Black Body Radiation phenomenon. The infrared radiation is undetectable to the human eye but can be detected by a PIR sensor. These sensors are commonly used as motion detector that is whenever a different body of different temperature passes from ahead of it, there is an apparent change in the infrared frequency detected due to different temperature of each body. This application is widely used in security equipments and other photo sensing equipment. The PIR sensors are very often paired with other devices to increase their range to encompass even human body sensors.
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T-Engine and T-Kernel
T-engine hardware
T-Engine is project that standardize the hardware part of development board (not the standardization of main processor).
This project is well-known amongst the processor manufacturer company in Japan. You can buy T-Engine development kit directly from Japanese
microprocessor manufacturers such as Renesas Technology or from electronics company like Personal Media Corp.I list websites where you can
find T-Engine development board to buy as below…
Continue reading
Interesting GPS locator module
GPS Locator is GPS used for indentify the position at the point that receiving the signal. This article is about the review of SUP500F ,
small GPS receiver module with built-in antenna.
SUP500F module receives signal from satellite in order to find the coordinate on the earth. It’s cheap and suitable for study or apply
for practical use. The antenna is located inside its body so you don’t need to connect addition external antenna to this module.
It’s small and can be enclosed in the box , however due to it use internal antenna , the efficiency of signal receiving will decrease if
you use it inside the building (it prefer to use outdoor).
Continue reading
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Wi-Fi Direct Technology
Monday , 25 October 2010 is the day that Wi-Fi direct certification was released to the mobile device manufacturer for the first time.
Wi-Fi direct is technology that developed from original Wi-Fi technology (it’s developed by
WiFi Alliance). This technology enable two mobile device to communicate to each other with ease
and safty.It’s also known as “bluetooth killer” because it can substitute for bluetooth technology
in every function of bluetooth. Otherwise it support more applications and more effective than
bluetooth technology.So bluetooth technology may come to an end in the next few years.
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How to choose Xbee module
How to choose Xbee module.
Two steps you should consider when you want to buy Xbee module.
1. Range of send/receive signal of Xbee module.
Xbee module can be separated obviously into two series in term of “The range of send and receive signal”.
The word “PRO” was used to indicate the difference between each series. Xbee series without word “PRO”
is designed for short-range wireless communication (around 100 metre when use outdoor) with power output between 1 – 2 mW.
Example of Xbee module in this series is XBee 802.15.4 .
Xbee series with word “PRO” is more powerful. It’s designed for long-range communication (up to 1600 metre when use outdoor) and
have power output between 50-60 mW. Example of Xbee module in this series is XBee-PRO 802.15.4 .
Continue reading
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Arduino revolution
Yesterday I visited Arduino website and found a change in their main web page, so I continued to read their blog and found some interesting alteration
that I can summarize to you as below…
Arduino new revolution
1. Arduino has a new logo (as you can see in the picture above). I thing it is “Atom” or “Infinity”. The new logo is easy to remenber than the old logo.
2. Arduino.cc will open their own webstore on 18 October, this year. New webstore will eliminate the difficulty in ordering arduino board that made by
Arduino.cc. In the past , they sold their arduino board via distributors or electronics shop only. There’re many electronics shop in the world that sold
arduino board (some shops sold real board while some shops sold clone board). For this reason the people may confuse about how to find the electronics shop
that sold the real arduino board of Arduino.cc.
3. They released the new arduino board named “Arduino Uno” and “Arduino Mega 2560″.
Both board still use AVR chip as their main processor.
(Arduino Uno use ATmega328 as main processor while Arduino Mega 2560 use ATMega2560 as processor).
Arduino Uno is special board that replace ft232 chip (FTDI USB-to-serial chip) with ATmega8U2 (8-bit microcontroller with Programmable USB
controller).
4. They launched Tinker Tookit, the new sensors development module that can connect and use with arduino board.
5. They plan to release Arduino Ethernet board. This board isn’t the ethernet shield but it is board that include ethernet interface equipment
(such as ethernet chip , ethernet port , etc) into main PWB. So in the future , user can upload program to the board via ethernet
interface (this feature is exist in mostly embedded linux board that you can upload anything to the development board via FTP or TFTP).
To view more information , please visit Arduino.cc website and Arduino.cc blog.
I am the one who like Arduino so much and I hope this change will bring a lot of good things to Arduino developer and Arduino user all over the world.
Thank you,
Jitkasem
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Stubs and Drivers testing
It is all of the time a good thought, to design and check software programs in “bits”. However, it might appear impractical, as it is difficult to envisage how you are able to test only one “piece” when other “pieces”, which it utilizes, have not even developed. To figure out these types of problems developers utilize stubs and drivers testing method.
In the process of white-box testing, you should run the source code with planned input and verify to make certain that the source code gives preset outputs. For white-box testing oftentimes software testers write down stubs and drivers testing.
Driver for Software Testing
In software testing driver is the part of source code, which clear test cases into other part of code. A test driver or test Harness is supporting source data and code utilized to test software that provides an environment. It might also be called as a module of software, that is utilized to raise a module on test and render test inputs, execution, control, monitor and report results of test or most plainly a row of code, which calls a process and authorizes that process a value.
As for instance, if you desired to give motility to a player on game software, then the driver code will be moveplayer(player, LocationX, LocationY). The driver code will probably will be called from main method. A case of white-box test would run this line of code driver and verify ” player.getPosition()” to assure that the player is at present on the anticipated cell.
Stubs for Software Testing:
Stub is artificial process, unit or module, which denotes for an incomplete part of a system.
Four common types of Stubs are:
1. show a trace message
2. show parameter value(s)
3. Return a value from a table
4. Return table value selected by parameter
Stub is a program that is utilized as an alternate for the module’s body of the software which is or would be defined in a different place or an object or dummy component utilized to imitate the conduct of an actual component until that component is developed.
At last, the artificial process would be accomplished with the correct logic of a program. All the same, developing the stub permits the developer for calling a method in source code that is developed, yet the method do not have the desirable performance.
Stubs and drivers testing are frequently regarded as throwaway code. Nevertheless, they are not been cast away: Stubs might be filled to build the real method.
Thanks.
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NetDuino
netDuino is another opensource hardware platform designed by Secret Labs.
Main microcontroller in this board is ARM7 from Atmel (AT91SAM7X512).
The IDE for developing program on netDuino board is MS visual C# 2010 (you can’t use C# 2008 and older version of C#) and it’s free
for download.
Other software need to install before start writing program is .NET Micro Framework and netDuino SDK (see this page for download them).
It include well-known interface bus such as I2C , UART , SPI and I/O port including GPIOs, PWM (pulse-width-modulation) and ADC
(Analog to Digital Converter).
Main development language is C#, so if you’re familiar with C# and have knowledge in microcontroller interfacing then you can make
a lot of fun projects from netDuino (however you also have to study about how to use the library of .Net Micro Framework).
With the price of 34.95 USD make netduino one of interesting development board for everyone who want to learn .NET Micro Framework
in order to make a little embedded project.
There’s an emulator for netDuino board too but I’m not sure that it’s included in the netDuino SDK or not .I suggest you to use an emulator from http://netduinoemulator.codeplex.com/ or you can download it from
this thread of Netduino forum.
It run on top of MS .NET Micro Framework and it help you to test and debug your source code without having the real netDuino hardware.
I also compare netDuino with FEZ domino and I found that the result are as below
1. Price of netDuino is cheaper than FEZ domino.
2. Fez domino has peripherals attached to the board more than netDuino.
3. Fez domino use LPC2388 (144 pinout 16/32-bit ARM7 from NXP) as main processor while netDuino use AT91SAM7X512
(100 pinout 32-bit ARM7 from Atmel) as main processor.
4. Both FEZ domino and netDuino use .NET Micro framework to build applications and source code of the application is written in C# language
(USE Microsoft Visual C# 2010 Express Edition as their IDE)
5. They both are open source hardware platform and also have an emulator run on top of .Net Micro Framework.
Other useful netDuino resource
1 netDuino community
2 .Net Micro Framework advance emulator
3 netDuino project page
Reference
1 electoday.com
2 netDuino.com
Look at two videos of netDuido below , the first video is about “how to build your first netDuino application”
and the second video is about NetDuino Emulator
Thank you,
Jitkasem
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Test driven development (test first)
Test driven development
Test Driven Development is one of test method that specializes in the test repetition.
The reason for doing this is to test codes repeatedly with hopes of making a given software better and more effective.
The Test-Driven Design has several steps that must be followed before the test is successfully completed.
The first step requires writing a test (so it’s also called test first). There has to be a sample diagram or flowchart before any other actions can be taken.
However, when written test finish , it’s not mean to success the TDD process because it is written before the physical test (real test) is performed.
The person writing the test must know precise specification of the features being created as well as everything required for creating test suite.
In most cases the writer obtains the information about the feature required to create the test by using use cases or user stories of the software that will be run the test on.
After gather all useful information then source code is written. Next, every test must be ran to written code to determine that the written code is fail in the test suite
or not.
At this point, it should pass and if all the tests pass then it’s time to proceed to the final step. The final step is all about cleaning up the code.
This is done by re-running the test cases in search for defects and so on . There has to be certainty that there is no damage being found to any other software functionality
as a result of the new software can be released.
Advantages of test first
1. When you continue to do the test first then you will get a lot of test cases. After that when you want to restructure the system, you can do it easily
and don’t have to fear about the bugs that may happen because when you finish restructure the system , your new system may not pass some written
test cases, so at this point you can retrace to modify the written test cases and then try to validate the new system to pass to modified test cases.
(If you don’t have test cases , after complete restructure your system for 2 or 3 months , the unknown bugs may occur because the restructured system
was not tested. At this time you have to fix bugs but it’s so difficult to fix them due to you may forget about wherever in the function or files that you used
to modified source code. In my opinion, if your system is very complex , your certainly have to write intensive test cases )
2.With test first you have to write test documents before write the code , this way will help the programmer or developer to plan before they begin to write
code (they have to write the code to pass the test documents). As a result your entire code will look better and you will get the software that have a good
structure. It also help you to reduce runtime error or unexpected bugs (so cost to fix the bugs is also reduced too).
Test first is differ from unit test as follow
1. Test first is done before writing source code but Unit test is done after finish writing the code.
2. In test first , you don’t need to look at source code to write the tests but in unit test , you must use the written code to do unit test.
3. Unit test help you to ensure that your written function or piece of code is work or not but test first help you to ensure that
entire code in the project work well or not.
Thank you,
Jitkasem
Wireless sensor network (WSN)
Wireless sensor network (WSN)
What is WSN?
The wireless sensor network was primarily developed as a military application to survey a battlefield. However, now a WSN is commonly used in many other industrial and commercial applications to monitor environmental conditions, health care applications and traffic controls. There are many different kinds of wireless sensor networks however; they all normally come equipped with a radio transceiver or a wireless communication device or a power source.
There are many applications to this technology and typically involve monitoring, tracking or controlling. Area monitoring comes as one very commonly used to be able to track any kind of movement whether it is heat, pressure, sound, light or vibrations in an specific area.
This technology is now being utilized by almost every industry and this includes the environmentally related industry as this is a technology which allows the reading of many different kinds of changes in the atmosphere and how they can guide those in the industry to determine simple factors like water levels or more complex aspects of the environment like the possibility of an earthquake in an specific area.
Vehicle tracking and movement can also be tracked through this technology and therefore, it is also being used by the security industry. Medical science also depends on the wireless sensor network to be able to track the changes on some of the health monitors which will immediately notify the medical staff of a change in the monitoring device.
Zigbee is a technology developed as a global standard to comply with the needs of low cost and low power wireless networks. It has been designed with the facility to be able to provide an easy to use wireless solution which creates a secure and reliable network. Some of the features of Zigbee include the ability to support multiple network functions like the point to point or multipoint to point and also the mesh networks as well. Since it functions on a low duty cycle it is also considered to be very good on battery life. And it has the direct sequence spread spectrum as well. It also has the ability to run for years without any kind of maintenance and with an automatic meter reading.
TinyOS has been designed for wireless sensor networks. It works in component based software that supports high degree of data in a very small space and which has been designed to minimize power consumption, while being able to use all its sophisticated protocols. The wireless sensor network has been created taking into consideration a variety of applications, incorporating various components and being capable of deployment of new environments. However, it also requires greater processing compared to the wired networks. It is a complex mechanism which needs to be properly processed. There are many different kinds of WSN platforms and they vary in size and capacity depending on which components are active.
SOS is an operating system for wireless sensor network which is normally utilized for message passing services, dynamic memory allocations and module loading. The components of the SOS are comparable in functionality to Tiny components. SOS project is now no logner continue to develop. However, the source code is still available to download up until now.
Another specific Operating system for the WSN is the EPOS or Embedded Parallel Operating System which is based on runtime support for the environment. This framework allows programmers to develop their own applications and tools through their system in accordance with the requirements of these particular applications.
The right Operating system for the Wireless sensor network will allow applications to express when certain software components are not being used, allowing the system to work on the levels that it needs to and thus implement less power as well.
Thanks.
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Radio Data Systems
Radio Data Systems (RDS) are a technology that is quickly catching on and becoming a popular feature in radios. Radio Data Systems are becoming an integral part of all radio systems today. Radio Data Systems give radio stations the ability to send information/data to your radio. Have you ever seen the artist and song name on your radio? That is made possible because your radio has a built in RDS.
Most new radios support Radio Data Systems. If you can’t find a radio near you then look no further than your car for an example. Most car manufactures are adding Radio Data System support to the radios of their cars. Pay attention to the information being presented on your radio player and you’ll see how an RDS compatible radio comes in handy.
Radio Data Systems come equipped with many key features as below…
1. Program Service name (PS)
2. Program Identification code (PI)
3. Enhanced Other Networks (EON)
4. Clock Time (CT)
5. Regional (REG)
6. Alternative Frequencies (AF)
7. Programme Type (PTY)
8. Radio Text (RT)
9. Traffic Announcement (TA)
10. Traffic Programme (TP)
11. Traffic Message Channel (TMC)
Source : Wikipedia
This article doesn’t describe all above RDS features.However, I pick only some important features to explain in this article. Some of the them include, RadioText, alternative frequencies, traffic announcement and programme type. RadioText (RT) allows radio stations to send a message that can be unchanging, or a message that changes depending on what the radio station is playing. Alternative frequencies (AF) are one of the best RDS features; especially for car radios. It allows the frequency to be changed on the radio’s receiver for stronger reception. Traffic announcement (TA) is also a very helpful feature. If you have a multifunctional radio player and your listening to a CD but still really want to hear the traffic announcement/update this feature will stop the CD and take you to the station that’s making the traffic update. Another terrific feature is Programme Type (PTY). Programme Type categorizes each radio station into a genre. So if you want to listen to the news you can quickly and easily listen to all the news channels and not have to go through the music channels. It also categorizes stations according to the style of music they play. So if you’re in the mood for rock and roll you can easily find all the rock and roll music stations and not have to go through the other music (and news) stations like opera, rap etc.
So as you can see Radio Data System’s offer a lot of features that are very practical and can help in day to day life. Radio Data Systems make your radio player more efficient and easy to use. It’s easy to see why they are becoming so popular.
For more information about radio data systems please take a look at RDS forum website.
Jitkasem Pintaya,
admin