There is 'Embedded' and then there is 'ARM Embedded'
Your current x86 platform works, but is too clumsy for your next application. You want::
- No fan, no heat sink
- No moving parts
- Operate in hot environment
- Small form factor
- Long-term part availability
But you still need:
- High performance
- Video / audio / serious processing
If you think 'Embedded' means x86 with large heat sinks and Windows XP Embedded, then our technology will surprise you. Bluewater Systems can in many cases convert your large clunking x86 box into a small ARM-based unit with the same functionality and many attractive features.
While it is true that PC are very flexible, and that you can attach all many of USB devices to get the functionality you want, at some point you need to create a real product that customers will buy. A PC-based lash-together is not attractive to customers for many reasons:
- They feel they could buy the bits themselves and put them together, so why buy your product?
- The particular PC board you choose will be obsolete in a few years, and support might be difficult
- The cables, connectors, power requirements and heat output can make installation difficult and unwieldy
How we can help
Without altering the purpose or overall functionality of the platform, we can help to make it better.
- Ready-to-go, high performance designs and components
- Megapixel camera input and HD video output connectivity
- Huge range of sensors such as temperature, pressure, light, touchring, switches
- Embedded LCD displays, lights
- Integrated wireless technologies like GPS, GPRS, 3G, Bluetooth, WiFi, Zigbee
- Accelerated 2D and 3D graphics
- Port software from x86 to ARM
- Linux / Windows CE Operating System
- Graphical User Interface (GUI) porting using Nokia QT, Fancypants and our own embedded GUI
- Profiling software, optimisation
- Your engineers can continue development on x86 if required (dual environment)
Steps
We have a simple four-step process for converting x86-designs to ARM. Not all applications are suitable - please contact for further details.
- Analyse existing platform
- Benchmark software on ARM (if required) and determine requirement performance level
- Select suitable ARM platform, either from Bluewater's IP library or new development
- Create the design using our normal design process
Example
In a very early project, we created a prototype motion security camera consisting of a PC with a hard drive and capture card, Ethernet, a 400Kpixel video camera and a motion detector interfaced to the PC. Despite using a tiny PC the unit was bulky and had many hardware connections.
In the Big-Eye project, we created a small embedded ARM board, with more features (WiFi, 3G modem, SD card, alarm interface, power over Ethernet, audio and infrared illumination) and higher functionality (3 Megapixel camera, continuous capture mode). The resulting device used a fraction of the power, had no fans, was cheaper to manufacture and offered better capture performance.
Contact Us
If you have an x86 design that you would like converted to low power, contact us today and see how we can help.
