Embedded
Software
| DUAL
TI TMS 320LF2407 DSP based Variable Frequency Converter Board
Bring-up |
 |
Customer
A leading provider of distributed power systems related products
and solutions in Canada.
Business Challenge
The customer designed a board for Variable frequency converter application
and needed a outsourced partner bring-up the board by writing necessary
FPGA code, DSP code and drivers to test the functionality of various
peripherals on the board. Carryout modifications on the board to
correct the mistakes identified.
Solution
The board was based on two TI DSPs TMS 320LF2407 connected to other
peripherals on the board using Altera Cyclone FPGA EP1C6Q240 . The
board has peripherals such as 32 optically isolated Digital I/Os,
16 Analog input channels along with Analog Devices Isolation amplifiers,
16 fibre out PWM channels and 16 fibre input feedback channels.
Caravel developed the necessary boot-up code DSPs using TI Code
composer studio, code for Altera Cyclone FPGA in AHDL using Quartus
II design software, developed driver routines to check and validate
the functionality of each onboard peripheral. The mistakes and corrections
required on the board were noted and modifications were carried
out on the board file of the PCB and modified PCB files were sent
to the customer.
Caravel got involved in board bring-up stage of the development
and offered a significant cost reduction to the customer.
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| Re-engineering
and enhancement of firmware for a Letter Quality Printer based
on Hitachi H8 series micro-controller |
|
Customer
A leading computer peripheral manufacturer in India.
Business Challenge
The customer had an existing printer in production, which was not
printing at the speed for which printer mechanism was designed.
The customer needed a partner to carryout a study and reengineer
the firmware to achieve the performance.
Solution
The printer electronics board was designed using Hitachi H8 16 bit
micro-controller. Caravel carried out the study of the existing
firmware, identified areas where speed improvement is possible and
carried out the necessary changes to the firmware. Significant changes
were made in Interrupt service routines by coding in assembly language
and optimizing the code. Many modifications were also carried out
in various data handling, storing routines, communication routines
etc.
Caravel achieved a performance improvement of nearly 30% to the
satisfaction of the customer.
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| Re-engineering
of a legacy hand held calibration terminal to take care of component
obsolescence and cost reduction |
|
Customer
Manufacturer of a broad portfolio of liquid level, flow, and pressure
sensors in USA.
Business Challenge
The customer had a legacy handheld calibration terminal designed
using the good old intel 8085 microprocessor and related peripherals.
These components are not readily available in the market and the
BOM cost is also very high. The customer was looking for a partner
who can redesign this terminal to take care of obsolescence of components
keeping the functionality, user interface etc as it is.
Solution
Caravel carried out the study of firmware in detail and prepared
the documentation. Caravel redesigned the circuit board using 8051
micro-controller. The firmware was rewritten / ported to 8051 from
8085 code. The redesigned system was thoroughly tested with end
equipment for complete functionality.
The component count (ICs) is reduced to 3 nos from original component
count of 16 nos and the cost BOM was brought down to 30% of original
BOM cost. The reliability of the system also increased due to reduced
number of components.
The customer gained in terms of reduced cost of BOM, less component
inventory, less manufacturing cost and improved reliability.
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| Development
of a cross platform development environment (full-fledged IDE
with cycle accurate instruction simulator ) for an European
intellectual property ASP DSP core company |
|
Customer
A semiconductor intellectual property application specific DSP core
developer startup company in Europe.
Business Challenge
The customer developed an application specific DSP consisting of
RISC core based on 16 bit instruction set architecture with 66 instructions.
They were looking for an outsourcing partner to develop an cross
platform IDE with Project Manager, editor, assembler, linker and
a cycle accurate instruction set simulator
Solution
Caravel developed the full fledged IDE on Windows platform using
VC++ and C. The components developed were project manager, editor,
assembler, Linker, loader. A full fledged instruction set simulator
was also developed which enables the prospective user to run his
application code on this simulator to see the results.
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| Development
of a cross platform development environment (full-fledged IDE
with parallelizing assembler and performance analyzer) for an
European optical DSP module developer. |
|
Customer
A start-up firm engaged in development of an optical DSP platform
in Europe.
Business Challenge
The customer developed a high performance DSP based on optics principles.
The system has a number of subsystems that can run simultaneously
to get optimum performance in each cycle of operation. This needed
a assembler which can generate code to load these parallel modules
with instructions and a performance analyzer to see which modules
are loaded with instructions.
Solution
Caravel developed the full fledged IDE on Windows platform using
VC++ and C. The components developed were project manager, editor,
parallelizing assembler, Linker, loader. A performance analyzer
was also developed which will enable the user to see how various
modules of the DSP are loaded with instructions enabling him to
modify his code for optimum performance.
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| Development
of OEB compliant eBook application on Windows CE based Web tablet |
|
Customer
An OEB compliant eBook device manufacturer and supplier in USA.
Business Challenge
The customer wanted an OEB compliant eBook application to be developed
on Windows CE based web tablet using embedded VC++. They were looking
for an outsourcing partner who has experience in embedded applications
to develop this product.
Solution
Caravel developed the full fledged OEB compliant eBook application
as per the user specification. Various features provided were alterable
page orientation, calculator, calendar, electronic book shelf, book
marking, Annotation, highlighting using different user selectable
color pens, erase, full text search, electronic note pad that allows
students to jot the notes directly on the e-text book pages. The
application was developed using embedded VC++. |
