Cost of making embedded processors slashed

BOFFINS AT Leicester University have invented a process that will drastically cut the costs of embedding processors. They claim the cost benefits of this will be passed on to consumers of all kinds of machinery: everything from cars to computers, wet razors (argh!) to washing machines.

As embedded systems outsell desktop computer 80 times over, it goes without saying that anyone who can streamline their manufacture, and make it more efficient and profitable, will make a fortune. And that is exactly what the clever people at the Embedded Systems Laboratory (ESL) in the University of Leicester have done. But first they have to sell their newly patented product family “RapidiTTy” to the market.

That requires a bit of patience, willingness to communicate and charm.

But, as Dr Dev Ayavoo, at spin off company TTE Systems told me, when TheINQ asked him to explain how it all works, “I’m actually very busy at the moment.”

So maybe they won’t get round to marketing their invention after all. They weren’t interested in doing much of a selling job on us.

For what it’s worth ESL has developed tools and methodologies to solve some of the critical obstacles that potential developers of reliable embedded systems face. They’ve made the process of manufacture more reliable and created a technique that enables developers to spot and correct rogue code.

“It’s easier to identify where things go wrong in production, which saves developers a lot of time,” Ayavoo told TheINQ, although getting that information out of him was a bit like pulling teeth.

According to IDC market data, the embedded software market (approx. 80 per cent of the overall embedded systems market at this time) was worth around $31 billion in 2005. As the cost programming these complex processors escalates, somebody could make a killing by re-engineering their development. Mind you, they do say that engineers never make good salesmen. µ

L'INQs
www.tte-systems.com
www.embed-sys-demo-lab.co.uk