Other more recent forays into swarm intelligence have produced highly effective search algorithms, often imitating the behavior of bees and ants, among other results. Since swarm intelligence is highly parallel by nature, the field has seen a boom with the relatively recent advances in multi-core and many-core computing. The most recent advances in the field are actually in robotics due to the advances of compact, low-power computing devices. Researchers at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology have developed a swarm of quadrocopters that built a tower out of foam blocks autonomously. More recently researchers at the University of Pennsylvania have been able to fly similar quadrocopters in formations. Finally, there is a concerted effort in the UK to develop modular robots that can rearrange themselves to better perform the task at hand.

I foresee some of the most advanced technology coming out of the public’s fascination with robots, and the research community’s trending toward parallel-computing solutions. I will personally be keeping my eye on advances in this field, if only to prevent swarms of evil, self-replicating modular robots from taking over the galaxy.

The collection of analysis tools can be installed on any workstation and do not require the full suite of Visual Studio development tools.  To begin using the Power Toys, the .NET Compact Framework must be installed.  Once the utilities and their dependencies are installed, an application’s memory usage can be analyzed through an ActiveSync connection.

The .NET CF Remote Performance Monitor is one analysis tool included in the Power Toys collection.  This utility is useful for monitoring applications statistics and counters on-the-fly.  The counters available will provide valuable information on the behavior of the garbage collector in relation to an application.  One of the really useful features of this utility is the ability to export the data to Window’s performance monitor.  This integration allows application statistics to be graphed over time very easily.  This makes identification of memory leaks a trivial task.

Another useful tool in the Power Toys collection is the .NET CF CLR Profiler.  This utility is helpful in isolating the portions of code responsible for memory leaks and performance bottlenecks.  The tool allows one to graphically explore an application’s runtime memory allocations as they relate to various method calls.  It is also possible to explore the application’s heap at any point during execution.  This tool makes it much easier to determine which methods can be optimized to decrease memory allocations and thereby improve application stability and performance.

The tools contained in the .NET Compact Framework Power Toys collection can be very useful to analyze application code when executing on resource limited embedded systems.  There are some other useful tools included in the .NET Compact Framework Power Toys, but for the sake of brevity, this article will not cover them.  It is important to note that application performance will be significantly reduced for most applications being analyzed by the tools mentioned in this article.

For more information, check out the sites below:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/netframework/aa497273
http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=65
http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?displaylang=en&id=13442

COM Express designs offer a similar choice in computer systems: the technical advantages of a custom design without the high cost and long development cycle. Pretty big claim, so how does this work?

The concept of using a Computer on Module (COM) was developed as an alternative design architecture that combines important benefits of custom and off-the-shelf systems. COM Express systems use an off-the-shelf COM module that supplies the core, high-speed functionality found in most PCs (processor, chipset, video, memory, Ethernet, USB) married to a custom designed “carrier board” with all connectors, power, and application specific I/O. Although there is still some design effort required for the carrier board, time to market is greatly shortened compared to a true custom computer system while delivering the same exact match to the electrical and mechanical application requirements.

The benefits of COM Express systems are numerous and include:

• Fast Time to Market
• Scalability for Easy Upgrade
• Application Specific I/O
• Flexible Mechanical Configuration
• Vibration Resistant
• Long Term Availability and Support
• Superior Lifecycle Management

You can find additional information on COM Express and Sealevel’s custom design capabilities by visiting our website.

I was at Virginia Tech working on an engineering degree. Susan and I had our son, Ben, and I needed to work part-time. In a town the size of Blacksburg, Virginia, good jobs were hard to find with the school there. I lucked out somehow. My first job was at Scotty’s Lafayette Store. We old guys remember Lafayette stores as THE place for electronics, way before Radio Shack. I sold stereos, CB radios and lots of electronic parts. I could also buy things at a discount. One day we were looking for something in the back, and I came across some Dynaco kits – a tube preamp and tuner. I was in heaven, and thus started a long love affair with tube amps. You know? Those funny looking glass things that preceded transistors?

Back to the picture. Lafayette closed later that year, so I had to find other employment. I remember my mother saying that I should take any job, such as washing dishes. I held out and looked harder. I had read Jon Titus‘ Bugbooks, particularly the The 8080 Bugbook. These were hands-on, experiment based books that combined with “trainer kit” electronics to teach fundamentals of microprocessors and interfacing – new stuff in 1976!

Jon and his brother Chris ran a little electronics and software company called Tychon, Inc. Sound out that name – its derived from “Titus”, “Chris” and “Jon”. Chris’ wife, Sarah, was the glue that held it together. This was an early example of small business, high-tech entrepreneurship at it’s best.

Well, somehow I talked my way into a job there. It didn’t hurt that I’d spent the summer of ’76 immersed in the 8080 Bugbook. That book opened my eyes (and brain) to how a microprocessor worked. This new job was like working for the Allman Brothers Band after spending time admiring their work and wanting to play like them!

I swept floors, soldered (a lot) and maintained equipment. I eventually learned to lay out circuit boards with black tape on mylar. Wow! I couldn’t help learning to program 8080 assembler. Back then, octal notation was popular. Hexadecimal replaced it soon thereafter, thank goodness. For example, the decimal number 255 is 377 octal and FF hex. Old DEC (Digital Equipment Corporation) equipment used octal, and the Ph.D chemists-turned-8080 programmers that I worked for liked it.

One of the products that Tychon made was a keyboard/LED readout board that allowed you to plug chips into a breadboard and then perform experiments with software op codes that you entered on the little keypad. That was cutting edge back then! And what a way to learn! The picture included in this blog is me sitting in front of a CRT, a luxury in those days, and Jon leaning over explaining something.

I eventually graduated from Virginia Tech. My son Ben, now president of Sealevel, was there at two years old. I’m extremely proud that my kids have taken such an interest in the company. Of course, they grew up with Sealevel discussions at the breakfast table every day!

Those years were inspirational for everything I did after that. I went to work for NCR upon graduating. I stayed in touch with Jon, and eventually started Sealevel with the confidence I needed. Chris Titus had an unfortunate accident that left him unable to continue the work he and Jon had started. Chris was absolutely brilliant, and Jon loved to argue with him (sometimes even when he agreed with him) because Chris would get so into it. I owe volumes to both of them. Jon later helped me write The Digital I/O Handbook.

Thank you for reading this, and thanks especially to all those brilliant people that have influenced my career!

Win an autographed copy of The Digital I/O Handbook

To enter leave a comment below telling us who or what inspired you to become an engineer. The top ten responses will be selected by January 31, 2012. Winners will receive a receive a free, autographed copy of The Digital I/O Handbook.

Questions? Email community@sealevel.com

Also at West 2012, we will also be showcasing our ACC-188 Synchronous Interface Adapter, which enables tactical radios to interface to PCs and quickly transmit IP-based data such as email, IM-type communications, files, GPS maps, images, coordinates, etc. We will have a range of other products on display, including synchronous products (PCI, low profile PCI, PCMCIA, and USB) and industrial computers.

Whether you’re looking for off-the-shelf or custom products, your feedback is important to us. Stop by to discuss how our products can be customized to best serve your needs.

We look forward to meeting you at West 2012. If you have any questions, please email me at marcf@sealevel.com or call at (864) 843-4343.

7 Years at Sealevel

What do you do at Sealevel?
Primarily coordinate and provide application engineering support for our products. This involves providing technical sales assistance for new and existing customers. I perform product testing and application modeling. I prepare and conduct technical training, and I have broad involvement in Sealevel’s quality management system.

What’s a typical day like in Tech Support?
Fielding emails, phones calls and assisting inside Sales and Marketing efforts. Conduct new product testing and verification. Maintain databases and contribute with technical writing.

Most memorable tech support call?
There have been many but notably would be the connection I had with the famous military jet aviator Hal Farley. You can read all about it on my blog.

Something most people would not know about you?
After a night out in Pattaya Beach, I ate a chicken sandwich and became violently sick. It was later confirmed that I had a greasy parrot sandwich from a species that was considered a poor choice for food. Obviously, I do not speak Thai.

Siri isn’t all business. In order to make her seem more human-like, Apple engineers included numerous Easter eggs and a sense of humor. You can ask her Star Trek and Doctor Who questions, and she provides comical responses that make most nerds swoon. Many of those questions have been posted endlessly across the Internet, so I won’t duplicate them here. Suffice to say, I’m sure Apple engineers are constantly finding more ways to make Siri both useful and fun.

Apple describes Siri as an intelligent personal assistant.  Others have referred to Siri as simply voice recognition, but that doesn’t give full credit to her capabilities. Voice recognition software generally requires hours of training and memorizing specific commands. On the other hand, Siri works out of the box with no training or special commands. You simply ask her a question, much like you would talk to a human, and she responds appropriately. Voice recognition apps in the past were mostly mute, save for a few canned responses. With Siri, you feel like you’re having a conversation with a person. When she doesn’t understand a request, which is rare for me, she asks for more information or clarification. The first few days of using Siri, I asked her ridiculous questions and she started responded in a snarky tone, just like a real person!

I feel the major reason behind Siri’s reliability is Apple’s cloud-based approach to her design. When you give Siri a request, it is processed and sent to Apple’s remote servers where I assume all kinds of complex calculation are performed to compare and rank, with the mostly relevant response being sent back to my iPhone within seconds. With this approach, Apple can train Siri to recognize regional language differences like sentence structure, accents and dialects. This is why she can respond to natural language requests and why, like most Apple products, it just works.

If you have a funny Siri question or if you’d like to read more posts about my favorite iOS photography apps, let me know in the comments below.

* Some may argue that Siri is part of iOS and technically not an app. So for the record, my favorite photography app du jour is Instagram, where you can find me @wdkrebs.

Military system designers often struggle with finding COTS technologies that can meet critical application requirements. Custom designs almost always offer the best opportunity to create an optimized design, but time to market and design costs can be prohibitive. A hybrid architecture using a Computer on Module (COM) for the core processing functionality with a custom carrier board for application-specific I/O can offer the best of both worlds. This approach eliminates the time and risk associated with a custom processor design while the less-complex carrier board provides the advantages of a purpose-built design. Read full article

What are your thoughts on COM Express and custom carrier boards? COTS vs. custom product development?

Complete with driver support for the leading embedded operating systems, Sealevel carrier boards and GE Intelligent Platforms COM Express modules combine to meet the processing and I/O requirements for a broad base of applications including oil and gas, telecom, and automation solutions where Sealevel Systems and GE Intelligent Platforms have significant domain expertise. The COM Express architecture allows upgrade of the processor subsystem as new processing technology is released. This modularity promotes flexible scalability and long-term availability for system designs thus enabling cost-effective deployment and technology insertion, together with superior life cycle management of systems and applications.

“This synergistic relationship with GE Intelligent Platforms allows Sealevel to combine our core competencies of fast, reliable custom I/O design with the power and flexibility of the COM Express computing platform,” said Ben O’Hanlan, president of Sealevel. “The customer will be able to focus on their application software and overall system design while reaping the benefits of a custom-designed embedded computer solution.”

“Sealevel can enable our OEM customers to quickly and cost-effectively implement state-of-the-art COM Express-based solutions while reducing risk and avoiding the cost and learning curve associated with an in-house design,” said Tommy Swigart, global program manager at GE Intelligent Platforms. “The combination of GE’s rugged next-generation COM Express modules with a custom carrier board specifically designed to meet unique I/O configurations can provide compelling performance advantages to our customers.”

(Watch a clip from the championship game)