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Pebble Bay To Help Clients Get More from Existing and Legacy Embedded Systems Embedded Systems at the Heart of Green Technology Pebble Bay Launch Embedded Systems Development Workshops Pebble Bay To Make Their Mark on USB 3.0 Hitex Design UK and Pebble Bay Collaborate for Hardware Software Integration Pebble Bay to De- Mystify Device Driver Development At Embedded Masterclass
Pebble Bay To Help Clients Get More from Existing and Legacy Embedded Systems Embedded systems consultancy, Pebble Bay has announced that it will be providing a special service to technology companies that are looking to get more performance and functionality from existing systems, as well as assisting in the maintenance and updating of legacy systems. Working with 8, 16, 32 and 64 bit technology, Pebble Bay has extensive experience and expertise in the development of low level software for electronic devices.
Ian Willats, Managing Director of Pebble Bay “What we are offering, is the opportunity for companies with established products to generate more revenue or open up new opportunities,” declared Ian Willats, Managing Director at Pebble Bay. “This might be through enhanced performance and functionality, or through reduced build costs, or maybe even by helping to accelerate the development of new products.” UK-based Pebble Bay is a business that helps companies build and improve all kinds of products based on microprocessors. Since the company's launch six years ago, Pebble Bay has become a respected leader in the development of board support packages and hardware-software interfacing, working with companies around the world. With extensive knowledge and experience of a broad range of RTOSes, Linux and Windows based OSes and a thorough understanding of microprocessor-based hardware; the Pebble Bay team has become a valuable resource to the worldwide embedded systems industry. “In most instances we work alongside existing engineering teams,” said Ian Willats. “We find that we are able to bring a fresh perspective to existing projects, and some additional understanding and experiences. As we tend to work on the lower level code and hardware, our services can free up engineers to focus on the higher level application code, the code that actually differentiates the product in the marketplace. In this way, we can help accelerate critical new product development, therefore enhancing our customers’ commercial performance. ” Pebble Bay undertake short-term software projects such as identifying and fixing bottlenecks, adding new functionality, tracking down long term bugs and refactoring troublesome code. Pebble Bay also undertake the redesign of hardware using the latest parts to reduce cost and avoid obsolescence, as well as developing complete software/hardware platforms for further product development. “Using the services of consultants such ourselves should not be viewed as big expense,” said Ian Willats. “We understand the commercial reality of the markets that our clients operate in, so we work closely with them to help them succeed and to ensure that our own contribution is fully viable. For anyone who wishes to explore using external support for embedded system development, we are always pleased to hear from them and happy to explain how we can help.” About Pebble Bay? Pebble Bay Contact
Pebble Bay Helps Vickers Electronics Develop Advanced Energy Management System Embedded systems design consultancy, Pebble Bay, has announced that it has been working with Vickers Electronics in the development of a new microprocessor-based control unit for industrial heating systems. Based on an ARM Cortex™-M3 processor the new design is far more powerful than the previous solution, and has the capacity for significant additional capabilities. Vickers Electronics designs and installs energy management systems that seek to reduce energy wastage by controlling all aspects of time and temperature. Vickers engaged Pebble Bay to undertake a complete re-design of the hardware and a software port to provide the new control unit on which their existing application software would run. "Central to the design is an ARM Cortex™-M3 which has an ideal combination of features for Vickers’ application." said Ian Willats, Managing Director at Pebble Bay. "The ARM Cortex™-M3 core gives good performance and is supported by a wide range of development tools, while the on-chip peripherals minimize the cost and complexity of external devices.” Pebble Bay worked with their hardware design partner Hitex Design UK to evaluate several options for the microcontroller. Hitex then designed the hardware, with contributions from Pebble Bay, and produced several prototypes that were used to complete the software development. Pebble Bay managed the project and carried out all the software development that made it possible to run Vickers’ application software on the new design. “As a part of the project we reviewed almost all the existing software for the control unit and clarified the boundaries between hardware-specific code and the application program, helping to improve the software architecture,” said Steve Langstaff, Senior Software Engineer. “This should serve Vickers well in the future, helping to create a robust platform that can be efficiently developed and debugged.”
An important aspect of the project was that the new design needed to be ready for Vickers to put into production by a specific date to ensure continuity of supply of the control units. The hardware and software design were delivered ahead of schedule, with the Vickers’ application program running successfully within less than an hour of unpacking the prototype hardware. UK-based Pebble Bay is a business that helps companies build and improve all kinds of products based on microprocessors. Since the company's launch five years ago, Pebble Bay has become a respected leader in the development of board support packages and hardware-software interfacing, working with companies around the world. With extensive knowledge and experience of a broad range of RTOS's, Linux and Windows based OS's and a thorough understanding of microprocessor-based hardware, the Pebble Bay team has become a valuable resource to the worldwide embedded systems industry. About Pebble Bay About Hitex Design UK Pebble Bay Contact: Hitex Design UK Contact: Pebble Bay Launch Embedded Systems Development Workshops Leading embedded systems development experts, Pebble Bay, have announced that they will be running a series of workshops that will assist engineers in understanding the fundamentals of developing code for embedded systems. Covering topics ranging from cross development to hardware interface development; these workshops offer a valuable opportunity for engineers to learn from Pebble Bay's many years of experience. They will be held at Birmingham and Bristol on the 28th and 30th September respectively. More information is available at http://www.pebblebay.com/content/new-workshop-series-days "These workshops are intended to really 'lift the lid' on embedded systems development," said Ian Willats, Managing Director of Pebble Bay. "The aim of these sessions is to introduce the basic principles of embedded systems development for those who have little or no experience of developing embedded systems. Some aspects of the workshops will also appeal to experienced engineers looking to address certain issues such as device driver development. We presented some similar workshops at this year's UK Embedded Masterclass and they were a great success; we have, therefore, been keen to follow up with some additional workshops."
UK based Pebble Bay is a business that helps companies build and improve all kinds of products based on microprocessors. Since the company's launch nearly five years ago, Pebble Bay has become a respected leader in the development of board support packages and hardware-software interfacing, working with companies around the world. With extensive knowledge and experience of a broad range of commercial and open-source RTOSs and a thorough understanding of microprocessor based hardware, the Pebble Bay team has become a valuable resource to the worldwide embedded systems industry. "Whether you're an experienced engineer with a challenging problem or a student, or hardware or software engineer that is looking to branch into the embedded sector, these workshops should prove to be a good investment of time and money," said Ian Willats. "For us, these workshops are a chance for us to showcase the talent and extensive knowledge that resides within Pebble Bay. For the delegates, it's a valuable chance to accelerate their learning with a hands-on-professional. They will gain a lot of critical information that will help save them time, stress and development budget for a long time into the future." Each day will include two workshops. The first being "An Introduction to Embedded Software Development Using C", the second being "An Introduction to Hardware Interfacing and Device Driver Development". The fee for attending just one session is £65+VAT and both sessions can be attended for £85+VAT. The first workshop introduces the fundamental principles of developing software for embedded systems, using the C programming language. The aim of the session is to help developers who are unfamiliar with embedded systems quickly get to grips with the special techniques used to build and debug embedded software. It includes demonstrations using an embedded target system. The second workshop introduces the fundamental principles of interfacing with hardware in an embedded system, including an overview of device drivers. It discusses plenty of essential practical techniques along with traps for the unwary and how to avoid them. The aim of the session is to de-mystify what can be considered a black art for those who have little or no experience of hardware interfacing. This workshop also includes demonstrations on an embedded target system. For more information on the workshops visit : http://www.pebblebay.com/content/new-workshop-series-days Pebble Bay Contact: Pebble Bay To Make Their Mark on USB 3.0 UK based embedded systems engineering consultants Pebble Bay have announced their availability to undertake USB 3.0 development work for companies looking to exploit this latest high-speed, high performance communication format. Building on the ease of use of USB 2.0, a key feature of USB 3.0 is a SuperSpeed performance of 5 Gbit/s; ideal for high definition video, medical devices, automotive systems and a wide range of other data intensive applications. "USB 3.0 is an exciting development for our industry, it will open up a lot of new possibilities," said John Efstathiades, Technical Director at Pebble Bay. "In addition to the vast speed improvement, the USB 3.0 host interface will deliver more current to devices, meaning that bus-powered devices can do more without needing their own power supply and rechargeable devices can charge their batteries in less time. The new USB 3.0 specification also offers some improved network intelligence that will enable engineers to develop much better performing systems. I am very sure that companies looking for a significant market advantage will be exploring USB 3.0."
Pebble Bay works with a broad range of companies, assisting in the development of foundation software at the hardware/software interface. Their work includes the development of BSPs, device drivers and lower level code for embedded systems. Over the past 5 years Pebble Bay has provided services to companies around the world and has become respected for its work with a range of operating systems such as VxWorks, Integrity, LynuxWorks, Nucleus and Linux. They have undertaken extensive work with USB, with the development of special code to enable robust, high-speed data acquisition for automotive applications, and to enable companies to adopt USB for networking and communications in a number of new devices. "We certainly have a great deal of experience and knowledge of the USB standard and associated class specifications," said John Efstathiades. "We also have a wide experience of CPU architectures and RTOSes, which enables us to understand how to develop a system that will fully exploit the potential of USB 3.0. With USB 3.0, all parts of the system, hardware and software, need to be optimised in order to get the maximum benefit from this new SuperSpeed signalling rate." USB was developed to provide a simple inter-connect system that enabled plug and play devices such as printers and cameras. USB also enabled port expansion, enabling PC's to accommodate many new external devices. USB 1.1 introduced two speeds: low-speed 1.5 Mbit/s and full-speed 12 Mbit/s. USB 2.0 introduced hi-speed 480 Mbit/s. It is now a standard feature of many embedded systems that act as host or peripheral devices. "USB is no longer just used to connect peripherals to PCs,” said John Efstathiades, "It is now also used as an inter-connect between devices and modules within systems. It now has a much bigger role to play. In addition to this, we now have a new generation of devices with much larger storage and bandwidth needs, such as HD cameras and media players. I feel sure that USB 3.0 is an enabling technology that will deliver many important changes in the performance and functionality of tomorrow's hi-tech devices." About Pebble Bay Note : USB, VxWorks, Integrity, LynuxWorks, Nucleus and Linux are registered trademarks and remain the property of their respective owners. Pebble Bay Contact:
Hitex Design UK and Pebble Bay Collaborate for Hardware Software Integration Hitex Design UK and Pebble Bay have agreed a strategic partnership that will enable the two companies to offer a uniquely capable service for software and hardware integration and embedded development. With Hitex Design UK a leader in hardware design and Pebble Bay a world leader in board support and device driver software, this collaboration is expected to be an attractive service to hi-tech development companies around the world; helping companies to accelerate development and develop better products.
"One of the major challenges of hi-tech development is the problem of enabling the software to interface with the hardware," said Ian Willats, Managing Director of Pebble Bay. "How well this is done impacts every aspect of the systems performance and reliability. Our collaboration with Hitex Design UK will enable us to offer manufacturers and developers a formidable resource that will help them develop new and innovative products and help them resolve issues with current designs." Hitex Design UK has been involved in numerous designs over many years, covering hardware, embedded software and full system integration from concept to volume production. Pebble Bay offer independent software development services to a broad range of industries, from motor sport to defence, and from telecoms to medical. With a highly skilled and experienced team of software engineers, Pebble Bay help manufacturers develop new products by providing low level code solutions that enable their clients to quickly and reliably create new market beating products. "This collaboration helps both of our companies expand our offering and expertise," said Michael Beach, Managing Director at Hitex Design UK. "Both companies have many decades of experience and proven success in their field, we are also geographically close and what we do is complementary - so it's a very good fit for us and we are excited to have reached this agreement." Pebble Bay have also announced that they will be presenting a half-day technical workshop at this year's UK Embedded Masterclass event. Entitled "An Introduction to Hardware Interfacing and Device Driver Development" the workshop is intended to help engineers understand how software interfaces with typical embedded system hardware and to understand the purpose, structure and typical components of a device driver. The Embedded Masterclass will take place on 6th and 11th May 2010 in Cambridge and Reading respectively. Over the past 9 years, the Embedded Masterclass has established itself as an important UK event for hi-tech engineers looking to explore the most recent tools and technologies for the development of microprocessor based systems. www.embedded-masterclass.com About Pebble Bay
Pebble Bay to De- Mystify Device Driver Development At Embedded Masterclass UK embedded engineering experts, Pebble Bay, have announced that they will be presenting a half-day technical workshop at this year's Embedded Masterclass event. Entitled "An Introduction to Hardware Interfacing and Device Driver Development" the workshop is intended to help engineers understand how software interfaces with typical embedded system hardware and to understand the purpose, structure and typical components of a device driver.
The Embedded Masterclass will take place 6th and 11th May 2010 in Cambridge and Reading. Over the past 9 years, the Embedded Masterclass has established itself as an important UK event for hi-tech engineers looking to explore the most recent tools and technologies for the development of microprocessor based systems. UK based Pebble Bay is a business that helps companies build and improve all kinds of products based on microprocessors. Since the company launch nearly five years ago, Pebble Bay has become a respected leader in the development of board support packages and hardware software interfacing, working with companies around the world. "One of the biggest challenges for any hi-tech engineer is the task of enabling software to interface with new hardware," stated Ian Willats, Managing Director of Pebble Bay. "The phenomenal speed and complexity of a modern microprocessor and the demands that we now put on such systems means that this task is not only very difficult but very often safety critical. The aim of the session is to de-mystify what can be considered a black art for those who have little or no experience of hardware interfacing. It includes demonstrations on an embedded target system." Over 30 industry vendors have sponsored this year's event. Companies include Lauterbach, LDRA, IAR Systems, Phaedrus Systems, SDC Systems, Wind River, Green Hills Software, LDRA, MontaVista, QNX and Enea. In addition to the workshops, the event offers a schedule of short technical presentations and a vendor exhibition. At this year's event, presenters have been asked to abandon Power Point in favour of a whiteboard, flip chart and hand-outs. The organisers are hoping that this will make the presentations more dynamic and ensure the presenters are well prepared. "This workshop is a great fit for this event," said Richard Blackburn, the event organiser. "Our objective is always to put on an event that engineers will find productive and will be useful in their everyday working environment. In many ways, hardware interfacing and driver development is the 'Holy Grail' of embedded development. The performance and the reliability of the entire system rely on how well the software is integrated to the hardware. Also, it takes a special person to do this work. It has to be an engineer that not only understands hardware issues, but can also craft good software code. We are very pleased to have a world leader such as Pebble Bay prepared to come along and share some of their secrets." Pebble Bay offer independent software services to companies in a broad range of industries, from motor sport to defence, and from telecoms to medical. With a highly skilled and experienced team of software engineers, Pebble Bay help manufacturers develop new products by providing low level code solutions that enable their clients to quickly and reliably create new market beating products. "Providing board support packages and device driver code is our main business," said Ian Willats. "This enables our clients to focus on their core technology and push on with the software that makes their products special. We can work with a number of operating systems and we have a great deal of experience with most hardware formats, enabling us to quickly deliver reliable and effective solutions." In addition to six half-day technical workshops, Embedded Masterclass includes a schedule of eight 40-minute technical presentations on assorted topics, and a vendor exhibition. Attendance at the exhibition, including the series of 40-minute technical presentations, is free to embedded engineers and technology managers. The half-day workshops are £95.00+VAT. Engineers are advised to register early, as space at the event is limited. Registration is on-line at www.embedded-masterclass.com
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