AMD for Embedded Systems

 We talked with Cameron Swen of AMD about trends in embedded systems. The compute environment now enables the separation of functions and capabilities from the computational CPU/GPU platform. An example is some apps moving computation and storage to the cloud to reduce the workload at the endpoint.

This thin client architecture provides benefits of lower power and increase performance for the embedded systems. AMD has a family of APUs to address the various performance requirements. Discreet graphics capabilities are better suited for board and modular products, but this still leaves many opportunities for high performance CPUs and chipsets in other configurations.

Unlike consumer devices, embedded systems usually require long-term product availability, and AMD has addressed this by offering a minimum of five year availability for products in their embedded system line. The company offers many development tools and software support for the various APU device configurations.

To help developers, they are partnering with Green Hills software to bring the INTEGRITY real-time operating system (RTOS) to the AMD Embedded G-Series Accelerated Processing Unit (APU) platform. The RTOS supports multi-core x86 processors with integrated graphics units. The RTOS design incorporates memory protection, resource availability, secure remote management, and hard real-time deterministic response. INTEGRITY technology is certified to numerous safety
standards including IEC 61508 (SIL 3) and EN 50128 CENELEC (SWSIL 4), in addition to the highest Common Criteria (IEC 15408) security level ever achieved for any commercial operation system – EAL6+, High Robustness.

One example of the capabilities offered in the embedded APUs is a system developed by Rockwell Collins. The Radeon E2400 helps generate realistic graphical models of the external aircraft environment to help improve awareness of terrain, obstacles and runways in low visibility conditions. With this technology, pilots can now have key
information at their fingertips, enabling them to make informed decisions during every phase of flight.