• DDC-I's Multi-Language SCORE® IDE Offers Windows Native Capability
• 3rd Party Update: The CsLEOS™ RTOS - A Technical Overview
• Edison and the Phonograph - Lessons to Learn From

DDC-I's Multi-Language SCORE® IDE Offers Windows Native Capability

Phoenix, AZ -- October 1, 2003 -- DDC-I today announced the addition of Windows Native capability to the versatile SCORE® (Safety Critical, Real-time Embedded) Integrated Development Environment.

“The primary purpose of Windows native capability for SCORE® is to support the same functions as our cross products, and it is especially useful for engineers who need to start software development and testing before their custom hardware is available,” explains David Mosley, DDC-I Engineering Manager and Product Champion for SCORE®.

The first multi-language IDE based on non-proprietary open system standards, SCORE® is a Commercial-Off-The-Shelf product delivering ease-of-use at every project level while guaranteeing maximum software portability and reusability.

Using the same graphic interface as all of DDC-I's Windows-hosted cross-compilation products, SCORE’s Windows Native capability offers proven quality while also saving significant time and money during the transition to new processor technologies. Leaving embedded system developers free to mix application development among different programming languages including C, Embedded C++ and Ada, the toolset includes a highly reliable compiler, a seamlessly integrated multi-language debugger and two small, exceptionally fast run-time systems (tasking & non-tasking).

The key components in SCORE® are DDC-I’s next generation compilers. Based on ANDF (Architecture Neutral Distribution Format) technology, compilers for each programming language generate a common intermediate representation which is converted to the final object code during a later language-independent phase. SCORE® supports multiple languages, host environments and target platforms. Since ANDF is an XOpen standard, the SCORE® system possesses a truly open architecture.

“Developers today increasingly need to migrate software to new targets, and we are constantly expanding the SCORE® IDE to eliminate barriers to efficient multi-language development and address the growing need to combine reusable software components, written in different languages, targeting different processors and often developed on different platforms,” concludes Mosley.

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3rd Party Update
	BAE SYSTEMS Platform Solutions 600 Main Street Room 786 Johnson City, NY 13790 (607) 770-3582 (607) 770-2954 (Fax)

The CsLEOS™ Real-Time Operating System 

A Technical Overview

BAE SYSTEMS is a leading developer of complex systems for customers worldwide. As such, we continually evaluate and select real-time operating systems. Our software and systems engineers have years of experience making the same kinds of decisions facing you, the RTOS buyer. We recognize that the needs of every customer and every program are unique. And above all, we know that you need facts, not hype, to make a sound decision. 

We know what it takes to give you the long-term customer service and support you need.

Choosing an RTOS can be a complex decision. We recognize that every customer’s needs are unique to that customer. We understand that you need facts and information to be able to make sound decisions.

The CsLEOS™ RTOS is a commercial, off-the-shelf operating system developed by BAE SYSTEMS. The operating system employs "brick-wall" time and space partitioning to operate multiple systems independently of each other, such that if one system experiences a failure, the others are unaffected. This concept is shown in Figure 1. The system’s ARINC 653-compliant applications programming interface (API) ensures ease of use, and its RTCA/DO-178B, Level A, certification support package provides the highest industry reliability standards for safety-critical use. The CsLEOS™ RTOS is a scaleable, real-time, deterministic, multi-tasking operating system targeted for applications which operate in a flight/safety critical environment.

Current applications of the CsLEOS™ RTOS include use by Boeing for several programs on the C-17 aircraft. We were especially proud when the Northrop Grumman Pegasus unmanned air vehicle flew with the CsLEOS™ RTOS on the vehicle management computer.

The future of the CsLEOS™ RTOS product includes plans for OpenGL® drivers, as well as compliance with POSIX® 1003.13-1998 Profiles 52 and 54. The CsLEOS™ RTOS product plan also includes support for Internet Protocol (IP) stack functionality (such as Telnet, FTP, HTTP, TCP, UDP, IP, ICMP, IGMP, network interface and related device drivers). These product enhancements, combined with continual performance enhancements and a focus on Multi-Level Security (MLS) promise to make the CsLEOS™ RTOS the most robust avionics operating system in the industry.

Click image to enlarge:

The CsLEOS™ RTOS delivery includes both object and source code, the CsLEOS™ RTOS Target Configuration Tool and the CsLEOS™ RTOS User’s Guide. The object and source code delivered is configured to operate on the target hardware. The CsLEOS™ RTOS Target Configuration Tool provides the user with the capability to create a downloadable configuration table image. The CsLEOS™ RTOS Target Configuration Tool supports the PowerPC® family of processors and is used to show the relationships between the system configuration table and the code and link files. The CsLEOS™ RTOS User’s Guide describes the Operating System and its layered operating environment.

Since BAE SYSTEM Platform Solutions is a provider of real time embedded applications, we have long recognized the need to have a flexible software development environment. As an SEI CMM Level 3 certified organization we decided not to design the CsLEOS™ RTOS specifically to proprietary integrated development environments (IDEs). The result is a robust design that is compatible with popularly available Commercial Off The Shelf (COTS) IDEs. For example, the CsLEOS™ RTOS is highly compatible with several integrated development environments, including the ability to perform single step source line debug on the target hardware.

Some companies are developing products specifically targeting the CsLEOS™ RTOS. An example of this is the DDC-I SCORE 653 integrated development environment. This product generates PowerPC® cross applications and is supported on Solaris™ and Windows NT®. It also encompasses multi-language compilers, a graphical user interface, and multi-language debugger support.

To enhance our product offering, the CsLEOS™ RTOS team is continually forming alliances with other companies in the embedded development industry. A recent CsLEOS™ RTOS alliance is with Dy 4 Systems, a world-class producer of ruggedized single board computers. Other alliances are in progress to provide an even greater breadth of development tools and single board computer choices for our customers.

The CsLEOS™ RTOS Event Analysis product provides an event log capability used to log the occurrence of certain CsLEOS™ RTOS events. The event data is automatically stored in a circular buffer of a predefined capacity (location and size of the circular buffer is specified by the configuration table parameters). Once the buffer is filled, the CsLEOS™ RTOS begins overwriting the oldest data. In addition to the set of events, there are API services available to application partitions for data logging and for dumping the event log. The dump utility allows an application to transmit the data to an external data logger.

The CsLEOS™ RTOS Event Logger tool provides the integrator with the ability to view a timeline of events, filter on events, search on events, and to enable/disable events captured by the CsLEOS™ RTOS kernel in real-time. The ability to disable events at the kernel level is also provided to alleviate potential throughput concerns for the target system.

BAE SYSTEMS Platform Solutions has been delivering safety critical software for a long time, and has delivered safety critical systems even longer. We recognize the need for robust maintenance and support of a product such as the CsLEOS™ RTOS. So with every delivery of the CsLEOS™ RTOS, we include provisions for maintenance and support services. These services are provided to help solve problems as they arise and to provide details on CsLEOS™ RTOS products and services. Our maintenance and support services will also help with any installation issues, understanding CsLEOS™ RTOS product features and functionality, as well as identifying software and documentation defects.

Our standard CsLEOS™ RTOS maintenance and support also provides:

(a) Error Correction. The CsLEOS™ RTOS product team will attempt to correct documented errors, including new ones reported by this program. If a reported error has caused any of the software to be inoperable, or the customer states that such error is substantial and material with respect to the customer's use of any of the software, we will as expeditiously as possible use our best efforts to correct the error, or to provide a software patch or bypass around such error.

(b) Updates. The CsLEOS™ RTOS product team will provide the customer, at no additional cost, any updates, error corrections or modifications for the product as they are developed and released.

(c) Version Nomenclature. The CsLEOS™ RTOS product team will deliver to the customer copies of all program revision, updates and user manual updates as they become available.

Initial delivery of the CsLEOS™ RTOS product will be accompanied by a CsLEOS™ RTOS software engineer. This engineer will support the installation of the product and provide initial CsLEOS™ RTOS training. Further training is available, including more detailed information on Partitions, Tasks, Resources, the Health Monitor, the System Support Package (SSP), System Architecture and a Sample System, available Tools and the Debug Environment.

For more information about the CsLEOS™ RTOS, see our web site at http://www.csleos.com, contact us at 607-770-3082 or e-mail csleos-support@baesystems.com.

© Copyright 2003, BAE SYSTEMS Platform Solutions, All Rights Reserved.

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Edison and the Phonograph

By Linda Rising
risingl@acm.org
www.lindarising.org

"From his neck down a man is worth a couple of dollars a day. From his neck up he is worth anything that his brain can produce." Thomas Edison

I’m writing this as the great American holiday—the fourth of July—has come and gone. It’s a time to reflect on all the American heroes (and heroines!) who helped make this country what it is today. For those of us in technical fields, certainly one of the heroes that comes to mind is Thomas Alva Edison, inventor of, well, you name it. He was a real pioneer. With 1093 patents bearing his name, Edison is still the world’s most prolific inventor. 

Edison created an invention factory, churning out a minor invention every two weeks, and a great invention about every six months. This collection of about 40 employees applied for 400 patents each year. His work in the areas of electric lighting, batteries, telegraph, and the phonograph were remarkable accomplishments for a man who admitted that he lacked mathematical and theoretical expertise. As he observed, "I do not depend on figures at all. I try an experiment and reason out the result, somehow, by methods which I could not explain." 

In addition to his technical accomplishment, there are also interesting tales of his business acumen. Edison not only wrote his own press releases, but frequently held press conferences. He would announce a dramatic and innovative breakthrough long before the invention was ready for prime time. Sounds a little like some modern software development companies!

According to one account, in the early days, two competing forms of electricity were available, Direct Current (DC) and Alternating Current (AC). The AC version was far more efficient and is used in all households today, but Edison had several key patents on DC electricity and also manufactured most of the DC equipment. So, he invited the press and staged experiments where he electrocuted small animals with AC electricity. Don’t try that to impress your customers!

Another classic Edison marketing story concerns his sale of electric caps, a predecessor for the childproof outlet covers we now use. When electricity was first introduced, many people were afraid that electricity would escape from the outlets and cause fires. Readers of humorist James Thurber will remember his description in My Life and Hard Times: "Her own mother lived the latter years of her life with the horrible suspicion that electricity was dripping invisibly all over the house." Rather than try to convince the public that electricity couldn’t leak out, Edison saw an business opportunity and began to sell covers for the outlets.

In still another business venture, after years of experimenting with different materials, Edison made the first practical lighting system with carbonized bamboo fiber as the filament. He then purchased vast fields of this specific bamboo, essentially locking out the competition. So, the Wizard of Menlo Park wasn’t a total klutz at the business side.

There’s more information about Edison on the Edison National Historic Site: http://www.nps.gov/edis/home.htm

I first read about Edison and the phonograph in a wonderful book by Donald Norman [Norman99]. I recommend this book for anyone involved with development of a technical product. There are some great lessons for all of us.

So, we agree, Edison was a great technologist—one of the best—maybe the best—and we also understand that his marketing and sales skills were not too shabby. However, he was a little weak in customer understanding and customer interaction. Since we’ve been talking about customer interaction and patterns [1], [2], [3], I think we can say that Edison would have been helped had he been familiar with some of this wisdom.

The phonograph was developed as a result of Edison's work on two other inventions, the telegraph and the telephone. In 1877, Edison was working on a machine that would transcribe telegraphic messages that could be sent over the telegraph. This led Edison to speculate that a telephone message could be recorded in a similar fashion. He experimented with a diaphragm that held a needle against rapidly moving paraffin paper. The speech vibrations created indentations in the paper. Edison later replaced the paper with a metal cylinder wrapped in tin foil. The machine had two diaphragm-needle units, one for recording and one for playback. When the user would speak into a mouthpiece, the sound vibrations created indentations in the cylinder via the recording needle in a vertical or hill and dale groove pattern. When Edison gave a sketch of the machine to his mechanic, John Kreusi, to build, Kreusi reportedly did so in about 30 hours. Edison tested the machine by speaking into the mouthpiece, "Mary had a little lamb." To his amazement, the machine played his words back to him.

By 1878 Edison was marketing his machine. He even made a profit for the first few years. At first the technology was crude; the recordings were made on tinfoil and the machine was delicate. As a novelty, the machine was an instant success, but was difficult to operate except by experts, and the tin foil would last for only a few playings.

Edison described the following possible uses for the phonograph in North American Review in June 1878:

1. Letter writing and all kinds of dictation without the aid of a stenographer.

2. Phonographic books, which will speak to blind people without effort on their part.

3. The teaching of elocution.

4. Reproduction of music.

5. The "Family Record"--a registry of sayings, reminiscences, etc., by members of a family in their own voices, and of the last words of dying persons.

6. Music boxes and toys.

7. Clocks that should announce in articulate speech the time for going home, going to meals, etc.

8. The preservation of languages by exact reproduction of the manner of pronouncing.

9. Educational purposes, such as preserving the explanations made by a teacher, so that the pupil can refer to them at any moment, and spelling or other lessons placed upon the phonograph for convenience in committing to memory.

10. Connection with the telephone, so as to make that instrument an auxiliary in the transmission of permanent and invaluable records, instead of being the recipient of momentary and fleeting communication.

Even with all these possibilities, the novelty of the invention soon wore off for the general public. People just weren’t sure what to do with the new machine. At first, it was used primarily for public demonstrations (with paid admission). Edison thought it could lead to a paperless office in which dictated letters could be recorded and the cylinders mailed to the recipients. He also tried putting a small phonograph into a doll and selling it as a talking toy—an early Teddy Rukspin! Owners of the early machines held parties where guests could record songs and listen to them being played back, a precursor to the karaoke machine!

The practical phonograph did not arrive until the late 1880s, by which time Edison had serious competitors. Edison’s phonograph had several features that were superior to his competitors. But, as we all know, having the best technology does not ensure success. Sony’s Beta technology for videocassette recording is widely considered to have been superior to the VHS format for videocassette recorders and tape, but Beta lost. The Macintosh operating system had advantages over DOS, but it lost, first to DOS, and then to Microsoft Windows, a system that took ten years to catch up to the Macintosh, but that now dominates the market.

When Edison invented the phonograph he studied the cylinder and the disc as potential recording technologies and recognized the superiority of the cylinder as a recording medium. The cylinder’s semi-permanent jeweled stylus was more convenient than the disc’s steel needles, which had to be changed after playing every side.

But discs offered many advantages over cylinders. They were less fragile. Their hard shellac surface enabled a greater playback volume—even though the sound was scratchy and somewhat unpleasant. Cylinders had short playing time, only 2 minutes, while discs could offer up to four. Discs took up far less space and were easier to store, package, and ship. Discs could increase playing time simply by increasing their diameters, and they had a second side that could provide more music without increasing storage space, for less money. Most important, discs were far easier to mass-produce. No mass method of duplicating cylinders existed. Performers had to repeat their performances when recording to create large quantities of cylinders. This was not only time-consuming, but costly.

A year later, the Edison Standard Phonograph was manufactured, and then exhibited in the press in 1898. By this time, prices had significantly diminished from the early days of 1891 ($150) down to $20 for the Standard model and $7.50 for a model known as the Gem, introduced in 1899.

Standard-sized cylinders (4.25" long and 2.1875" in diameter) were 50 cents each and typically played at 120 r.p.m. The Edison Concert Phonograph, which had a louder sound and a larger cylinder (4.25" long and 5" in diameter) was introduced in 1899, retailing for $125 with cylinders for $4. The Concert Phonograph did not sell well, and prices for it and its cylinders were dramatically reduced. Their production ceased in 1912.

A process for mass-producing cylinders was put into effect in 1901. The cylinders were molded, rather than engraved by a stylus, and a harder wax was used. By mid-1904, the savings in mass duplication was reflected in the price for cylinders, which had been lowered to 35 cents each. Beveled ends were made on the cylinders to accommodate titles.

Eventually Edison did realize the importance of compatibility and convenience. The problem was that by the time he switched over to discs in 1913 he was no longer the market leader and even after he began manufacturing discs, Edison continued to use a vertical recording method, whereas his competitors used lateral recording. Early phonographs could only play back one system, either vertical or lateral, so whichever system customers bought, they couldn’t play back the recordings of the other. The lesson is clear: when the infrastructure of one company differs from that of another and you have the dominant infrastructure, you win. If you choose the wrong one, you lose, and you lose big. The Victor Talking Machine Company had the dominant infrastructure, and Edison lost.

The real use of the phonograph record, discovered after much trial and error, was to provide prerecorded music. Emile Berliner moved quickly to exploit this and his company rapidly picked up the dominant market share. His gramophone became the Victrola, manufactured by the Victor Talking Machine Company, later RCA Victor. Berliner and his successors rapidly established recording studios across the world and engaged the world’s most famous musicians.

Edison decided that big-name, expensive artists were not different from lesser-known professionals. In this, he is probably technically correct. Edison thought he could save money with no sacrifice to quality by recording lesser-known artists. He was right—he saved a lot of money. The problem was, the public wanted to hear the big names, not the unknowns. As a Victor advertisement put it:

If you had your choice of attending two concerts—the greatest artists in all the world appearing at one, some little-known artists at the other—which would you choose? You would quickly decide to hear the renowned artists who are famous for their superb interpretations. And this is exactly the reason why the Victrola is the instrument for your home. The world’s greatest artists make records for the Victor exclusively.

Ah, if Edison had known those influence principles [1], [2], he would have realized that we are impressed by big names and famous people. A costly error!

Edison based his taste and his technology-centered logical analysis on the belief that the differences among musicians were not important. He thought customers only cared about the music. For several years, he didn’t even list the performer’s names on his records. He failed to understand that people wanted to hear the big names. It doesn’t matter if others are just as good. It doesn’t even matter if they are better—it’s the name that matters.

Edison didn’t understand that buyers are influenced by emotion. As those of you who have read the influence principles understand, most of our decisions are based on feeling and then justified by rationalization.

All of this would not have been as important if it had not been for Edison’s choice of vertical recording that was incompatible with the lateral recording machines most people owned. If Edison had used the same method of recording as his competitor, it wouldn’t have mattered that the big names were on Victor records. People would have been able to buy Edison phonographs and play Victor records. But with a specialized, incompatible infrastructure, if customers wanted the famous musicians, they had to buy both the records and the phonographs from Victor. Eventually some companies did make instruments that could play both kinds of records, but by then, it was too late.

The Victor Talking Machine Company established its lead over Edison when it introduced the Victrola in 1907. This machine, with its amplifying horn concealed inside the cabinet, became so popular that "Victrola" became the generic term for any record player for the next 50 years, like the words Kleenex, Jell-o and Coke, which many people use for any facial tissue, gelatin, or soft drink. Again, understanding the desires of the customer, who was growing tired of the intrusive, ever-larger horn, allowed the Victor Talking Machine Company to maintain its dominance in the market.

Note the moral of this story, for it will apply over and over again in the high-tech marketplace. Know your customer. Being first, being best, even being right do not matter; what matters is what the customers think. When a brilliant man like Thomas Edison, who was not totally without sales and marketing skills as we saw in the early parts of this article, fails and fails big-time, we should all learn from his experience.

What I see, across companies, especially in consulting with teams learning agile development methods, is that technical gurus are reluctant to go to the customer or the Product Champion [Rising03] for advice. Deciding on what features are to be included in the next release and what form those features should take—those are business decisions—not technical ones. Business decisions must be made with a clear understanding of the customer. It seems not even Edison understood that.

[Norman99] Norman, D.A., The Invisible Computer, The MIT Press, 1999.

[Rising03] Rising, L., "The Product Champion," STQE, May/June 2003, 44-48.

www.lindarising.org - Click on Articles.

About the Author
http://www.lindarising.org
risingl@acm.org

Linda Rising has a Ph.D. from Arizona State University in the area of object-based design metrics. Her background includes university teaching as well as work in industry in telecommunications, avionics, and strategic weapons systems. She is the author of numerous articles and has published three books: Design Patterns in Communications, The Pattern Almanac 2000, and A Patterns Handbook. She is currently writing a book with Mary Lynn Manns: Introducing Patterns (or any Innovation) into Organizations, to appear in 2003. 

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