Rapid development of reliable embedded systems

The RapidiTTy® x86 Suite provides the functionality of the RapidiTTy® MCU Suite, but for higher-end hardware based on the Intel® x86 architecture (including Intel® Atom).

RapidiTTy® x86 can be used:

• For deployment of high-end applications (taking advantage of the 4Gb+ address space and high CPU performance of embedded PC hardware).
• As a platform for rapid prototyping (designs and code can be moved easily to other members of the RapidiTTy® family);

RapidiTTy® x86 applications can be booted directly from hard disk, CD-ROM and even USB memory stick. You can also use the integrated simulator to develop and test on the same machine.

Debugging is carried out with GDB over a serial connection, using exactly the same interface as the other RapidiTTy® tools.

What happens next?

Support for multi-core processors will be added in the next release of RapidiTTy® x86.

Key benefits

• A tightly-integrated tool suite with the familiar RapidiTTy® IDE: provides support for x86 targets (suitable for the “386” - and above – processors, including Intel® Atom).
• RapidiTTy™ x86 includes full source code for a royalty-free version of the InfiniTTy™ operating system which is suitable for use in a wide range of embedded systems.
• Includes an extensive suite of high-quality library code covering: text-mode video; VESA; watchdog timer; time-stamp counter (TSC); keyboard; serial (RS-232) port; parallel port; PCI bus calls; hard disk support; FAT file system support. Example code is provided for all drivers.
• Includes a complete suite of drivers for the TTE Systems I/O expander module (please see below). This provides direct support for: Two 8-bit digital IOs; Two analogue input channels (12-bit); Two analogue output channels (12-bit); Two “Controller Area Network” (CAN) interfaces; Two test switches; Eight test LEDs.
• Operates completely in 32-bit Protected Mode with access to the full 4Gb+ address space.
• Includes a bootloader which conforms to the multiboot specification (can employ bootloaders such as Syslinux or GRUB). Bootable media includes HDD, Floppy, USB flash drive, Flash memory cards, CDROM and Network boot.
• Automatically generates a hard drive image and configuration for simulation and debugging through the integrated QEMU simulator.
• Provides extensive debug support fully integrated with the IDE (including a GDB stub).
• Minimises the effort involved in precise timing analyses (including worst-case execution time measurements).
• Last (but not least), RapidiTTy® x86 is based on time-triggered (TT) technology. Use of TT technology helps to ensure that your applications have very predictable behaviour, and makes them easier to debug and test.

Example application

RapidiTTy x86 was used to create the RapidiTTy ACC test facility.

Further information about RapidiTTy® x86 v1.2

On our Downloads page, you’ll find:

• A product brochure
• A tutorial “Getting started with RapidiTTy® x86 v1.2” which illustrates the use of this product

Suitable PC hardware

If you wish to deploy your PC-based designs then you may like to consider a range of reliable hardware platforms from our partner company Speedgoat.

For general-purpose prototyping, almost any PC platform can be used, as long as it has a “386” - or above – processor.

At the present time, Intel® Atom motherboards offer the basis of a number of cost-effective designs. A system based on an Intel® Atom processor is used, for example, in our short course on Programming techniques for reliable embedded systems and in the University of Leicester’s MSc programme on Reliable Embedded Systems.

Links to other RapidiTTy® tools and products

RapidiTTy® x86 can be used to produce real-time applications (based on ‘embedded’ x86 hardware) and can also be used for rapid system prototyping of high-end embedded systems (using ‘desktop’ or ‘embedded’ x86 hardware). As you would also expect, moving designs between RapidiTTy® x86 and RapidiTTy® MCU or RapidiTTy® FPGA is very straightforward: this helps customers to maximise design re-use and allows rapid PC-based prototyping.

TTE Systems I/O Expander Module v2.0

One challenge facing those wishing to prototype on a PC platform is the lack of I/O support. To address this problem, we have developed a cost-effective I/O expander module which can be used with RapidiTTy x86 to provide the following I/O capabilities:

• Two 8-bit digital IOs
• Two analogue input channels (12-bit)
• Two analogue output channels (12-bit)
• Two “Controller Area Network” (CAN) interfaces
• Two test switches
• Eight test LEDs

A full suite of drivers is provided to support the above hardware.

Where required, the I/O expander module can also be linked easily to FPGA- or MCU-based designs, allowing the creation of initial system prototypes very easily.

Product packages and pricing

RapidiTTy® x86 is available in both Development and Production packages.

Single (permanent, development) licences for RapidiTTy® x86 v1.2 are available for £1795 + VAT per seat (pricing in other currencies available on request).

Significant discount are available for multi-seat orders.

Other licence options are also available (including Production licences).

Please contact us to place your order or to request further details.

Support and product updates

In the rapidly-changing embedded environment, our products are updated frequently. To help ensure that our customers always have access to our latest toolsets, we run a very simple and transparent system for product updates.

To summarise:

• Except where otherwise stated explicitly (e.g. RapidiTTy® Student Edition) we provide customers with all product updates (that is, both ‘major’ and ‘minor’ updates) for a period of 12 months from the date of first product installation.
• After the initial 12-month period, this maintenance arrangement can be extended for a further 12 months at a fee of 20% of the current product cost. Customers who wish to do so can continue to maintain their products indefinitely under this arrangement.
• Customers are entitled to receive full support (both by e-mail and by ‘phone) while their products are covered by the above agreements.

Please refer to our support page for further details.

Evaluating RapidiTTy® products

We recognise that purchasing tools is not a straightforward process, and that you need to make sure that you make the right decision for your company.

If you are interested in evaluating any of our RapidiTTy® products, we’ll be happy to help: please see our evaluation page for details.

Applications for RapidiTTy® x86

As with all products from TTE Systems, RapidiTTy® x86 is based on time-triggered (TT) technology. Use of TT technology helps to ensure that your applications have very predictable behaviour, and makes them easier to debug and test.

The benefits of TT technology are widely recognised, which is why this approach has been used in the aerospace industry for some 30 years. As a result of more than a decade of research (and several patent applications), the advent of the RapidiTTy® family now means that the benefits of TT technology are available for use in a much wider range of applications.

Typical applications for RapidiTTy® x86 include:

• Rapid product prototyping (e.g. automotive, aerospace)
• Brown goods (e.g. set-top boxes)
• Medical (e.g. clinical monitoring systems)
• Industrial / factory control (e.g. robotics, control systems, condition monitoring / fault diagnosis)

Further information about time-triggered technology

All RapidiTTy® products are based on time-triggered technology. To find out more about this approach to software development, a free book is available.

“Patterns for Time-Triggered Embedded Systems” (PTTES) describes the first comprehensive set of ‘design patterns’ to support the rapid development of time-triggered embedded systems based on resource-constrained embedded processors.

You can download a complete copy of PTTES (PDF file), plus all of the source code, from this WWW site (free of charge).