Aonix Announces New Graphics Support in
PERC® Ultra Virtual Machine
 

AWT/Swing graphics now supported by industry-leading real-time solution for Java deployment

San Diego, CA, September 29, 2009 —Aonix®, the provider of the PERC product line for embedded and real-time Java developers, announced a new release of its PERC Ultra product with support for AWT/Swing graphics libraries. This release is the first support of AWT/Swing graphics libraries in PERC Ultra for embedded and real-time systems.

 “We have seen steadily increasing demand for graphics support from our embedded and real-time customers,” said Gary Cato, Director of Marketing at Aonix.  “Some of that demand comes from projects that had previously been implemented with Java Enterprise Edition (J2EE) libraries, but are now required to move to embedded targets where Java Standard Edition (J2SE) is more appropriate.  This new graphics support allows them to move and reuse more of their code, saving time and reengineering costs. ”

PERC ULTRA 5.3 implements AWT/Swing libraries for embedded platforms giving 2D/3D graphics developers the immediate availability of hundreds of downloadable community projects.  AWT ( Abstract Window ToolKit ) is a portable GUI library for stand-alone applications and/or applets and provides the connection between a Java application and the native GUI. Swing implements a set of GUI components that build on AWT technology and provide a pluggable look and feel. Swing is implemented entirely in the Java programming language, and is based on Lightweight UI Framework. Support of these graphics libraries enables faster development and provides the foundation for more extensive use of graphics in embedded and real-time Java systems.

This release of PERC also provides new support for Java Agent and java.lang.instrument for Windows and Linux targets, using classes imported from OpenJDK and modified to work with the PERC Ultra Virtual Machine.  Java profiler tools such as Profiler4j (profiler4j.sourceforge.net) use Java Agent support in conjunction with the java.lang.instrument package to add byte code instrumentation to classes as they are loaded and defined, providing invaluable access to information on the status of running code.

Aonix Announces PERC® Java Virtual Machine
for BeagleBoard

PERC Ultra adds low cost development platform to its stable of supported hardware

San Diego, CA, September 29, 2009 —Aonix®, the provider of the PERC product line for embedded and real-time Java developers, announced Java™ virtual machine support for the low-cost BeagleBoard with its flagship product PERC Ultra. More developers and projects will be able to quickly and more cost efficiently launch development that takes advantage of PERC’s new graphics support via the ARM®-based BeagleBoard.

The BeagleBoard is distributed by Digi-Key Corporation and available through its global websites.

 “For projects planning final deployment on ARM processors, PERC Ultra and the BeagleBoard are a great combination,” said Gary Cato, Director of Marketing at Aonix.  “They can get started with all the functionality they need for only $149 per developer.  That’s an amazing cost advantage for early development cycles over other hardware platforms.”

PERC Ultra holds the distinction of being the most deployed embedded and real-time standard edition virtual machine on the market with hundreds of thousands of fielded systems, and demonstrating 5-9s uptime reliability.  Unlike other available virtual machines, PERC provides patented garbage collection technology and smaller footprint for use in real-time embedded applications.  PERC ULTRA 5.3, the currently shipping version, has newly implemented AWT/Swing libraries for embedded platforms giving 2D/3D graphics developers the immediate availability of hundreds of downloadable community projects.  Testing of the PERC virtual machine functionality and performance characteristics and new graphics capability was executed on the BeagleBoard from Digi-Key.  PERC Ultra on the BeagleBoard was tested with both Linux and X Windows distributions from Ångström (http://www.angstrom-distribution.org/) and the free CodeSourcery G++ Lite toolchain for ARM GNU/Linux (http://www.codesourcery.com/).

The latest BeagleBoard version offers increased design flexibility with twice the memory (256 MB RAM), additional high-speed USB port, and an LCD expansion connector. Based on a Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI) OMAP3530 processor, the BeagleBoard bridges desktop and embedded development by delivering laptop-like performance in a pocket-size, 3x3-inch form factor for innovative projects ranging from robots, netbooks, and mobile Internet devices to entire Linux distributions and gaming frameworks.

“We’re very pleased that Aonix has ported and tested PERC against the BeagleBoard,” notes Dave Doherty, vice president, semiconductor product, Digi-Key Corporation. “This is proof-positive that we have achieved the goal of putting low-cost horsepower in the hands of serious developer.”

 About the PERC Family

PERC Ultra is a virtual machine and toolset expressly created for demanding embedded and real-time systems requiring J2SE™ support. PERC Ultra delivers the ease and efficiency of Java™ Standard Edition support without sacrificing integrity, performance, or real-time behavior. The currently available version, PERC Ultra 5.3 offers Ahead-of-Time (AOT) and Just-in-Time (JIT) compilation, remote debug support, deterministic garbage collection, standard graphics and extended commercial RTOS support.

Pocket-size, USB-powered BeagleBoard

Originally released in 2008, the BeagleBoard (http://beagleboard.org) is based on a TI OMAP3530 applications processor, which features an ARM Cortex™-A8, 2D/3D graphics engine and high-performance TI TMS320C64x+™ digital signal processor (DSP) core.

A small group of enthusiastic engineers interested in creating powerful, open and embedded devices worked together on the concept and realization of the BeagleBoard. The resulting 3x3 inch board allows developers to use the same peripherals and usage mode for flexible USB and standard PC expansion. With a full computer in their hands, developers are able to design to their specification and collaborate with the open source community on creative new applications.

Aonix Ports Deterministic Virtual Machine to PikeOS

Combined solution improves portability of military and aerospace applications.

Aonix released PERC Ultra 5.1 cross development and target support on Sysgo’s PikeOS 2.2 real-time operating system. PERC Ultra support of the PikeOS POSIX PSE52 profile provides a solution for the increasing need for portability across multiple operating systems as industries such as military and aerospace, transportation, telecommunications, automotive and industrial automation, face the massive challenge of maintaining legacy systems. The deterministic behavior and real-time performance of Aonix’s PERC Ultra meets the stringent requirements of these applications and enables developers to apply Java’s portability to their modernizing efforts. 

Because of the POSIX interface, the PERC Ultra-PikeOS solution is particularly attractive for applications requiring scalability and portability. The POSIX PSE52 profile adds asynchronous IO and socket communications—features that Java programmers need to design effective Standard Edition Java™ embedded and real-time applications. 

Thanks to Eclipse plug-ins in both PERC Ultra and PikeOS, Aonix and Sysgo also provide maximum flexibility to developers. With the large-scale, complex applications common in safety-critical space, applications often involve diverse design, development and test tools. The Eclipse environment provides a common framework and development platform, reducing the learning curve and offering developers the widest variety of tools possible. 

 “PERC Ultra has extended the portability of the POSIX interface wonderfully for a number of joint customer applications,” noted Jacques Brygier, marketing vice president at Sysgo. “The speed and real-time behavior of PERC has enabled our customers to update legacy code and bring together multiple execution environments often based on more than one real-time operating system. And, thanks to our mutual support of Eclipse, customers are able to enjoy a large breadth of tool support and flexibility.”

“The need to reduce cost and ongoing maintenance of software has created a drive to modernize legacy code,” confirmed Gary Cato, Aonix director of marketing. “With PERC Ultra ported to PikeOS, application developers can introduce the Java benefits of portability and ease of maintenance throughout their code. We look forward to continuing our joint efforts as we extend our current offerings into the multi-partitioned space.”

Efforts to integrate a multi-partitioned solution are well underway. Chosen to participate in DIANA, an European Community project chartered to modernize the tools and execution environments used in hard real-time and safety-certifiable avionics systems, Aonix and Sysgo are already working toward extending the portable operating system interface to meet the ARINC-653 standard, a multi-partition execution environment. The DIANA project will develop architecture, methodologies and concepts that reduce aircraft development and operating costs, enable faster upgrade and replacement of avionics applications, and reduce onboard weight through better use of computational resources. The DIANA project has chosen PERC Ultra, PERC Pico and PikeOS as essential components to the modular electronics platform under development.

ObjectAda Full Standard Ada Runtime Executes atop VxWorks 6.6.

Aonix announced the release of ObjectAda® 8.4 for Windows, targeting PowerPC embedded and real-time systems running the Wind River VxWorks 6.6 real-time operating system (RTOS). This is the first ObjectAda release supporting full Ada tasking atop VxWorks 6.6 via Real-Time Processes (RTP). 

ObjectAda for VxWorks leverages Wind River Workbench, an Eclipse-based development environment providing developers access to the broad range of tools available through the Eclipse framework. With support for multiple operating systems, architectures and programming languages, ObjectAda for VxWorks provides the flexibility to standardize on a single development framework. Users also have the option to utilize ObjectAda’s standard graphical or command-line interface. The ObjectAda compilation system is comprised of an integrated language-sensitive editor, source-code browser, compiler with industry-leading compilation speed, debugger and full library manager. 

Embedded systems development often begins without target hardware in hand. In the absence of a PowerPC execution platform, VxSim, a target simulation facility supplied in the VxWorks distribution, can perform initial application execution and testing direct from the Intel/Windows host development platform. This is especially cost-efficient when multiple developers vie for access to expensive and scarce target hardware testing cycles.

“Ada development is a strong aerospace and defense requirement,” said Rob Hoffman, vice president and general manager for Aerospace and Defense at Wind River. “Continued support and development of systems can often span decades and we’re pleased to have up-to-date and well-integrated solutions for our customers.”

“Demand for Ada products has remained remarkably strong, even in the face of current economic uncertainty,” commented Gary Cato, Aonix director of marketing. “Our traditional customers are looking for ways to modernize or upgrade their applications in cost-effective ways. The new release of ObjectAda Real-Time for VxWorks 6.6 provides a great vehicle to achieve these objectives. ”

Aonix Announces PERC® Java Virtual Machine for VxWorks MILS Platform

Today’s world has dramatically changed the way we think about secure systems and has escalated the rush to implement applications within a multi-level secure environment.  At the core of these systems is a new realization of secure and safe RTOSs that meet the stringent requirements and policies being set by the U.S. Government for acquisition of IA products in DoD, Homeland Security and other departments.  And, these systems will likely find adoption where security is crucial such as the financial sector for example.

Multiple Independent Levels of Security (MILS) identifies the implementation framework to allow time and space separation or partitioning of execution to allow applications with different levels of security to co-exist safely within the same system. 

The VxWorks MILS family of products is intended to meet this demand while maintaining consistent, deterministic system performance, whether the need is for a few partitions or dozens of partitions to create and implement a system.

But even with the advent of MILS,  one thing that hasn’t changed is the need for efficient, dependable, and predictable software development - the kinds of benefits commonly associated with the  Java development paradigm.

Aonix, a decades-long industry leader in real-time and safety critical tools, and pioneer in Java platform technologies, has brought together these two strengths to meet the needs of today’s mission critical developers. As a participant in the Java

Aonix Real-Time VM Solutions

The Aonix approach starts with cleanroom implementations based on standard Java platforms. Aonix has developed technologies for three complementary market segments: complex, dynamic soft real-time; deeply embedded and high-performance hard real-time; and certifiable safety critical applications.

PERC Ultra, the foundational member of the PERC product family, supports applications that need to use the rich features of Standard Edition Java libraries, coupled with predictable performance. PERC is a mature and proven product, not an experimental program and has been fielded  in more applications than any other embedded and real-time virtual machine.

PERC Ultra for MILS has been specially configured and tested to work with the latest VxWorks MILS release to enable development of secure applications required to comply with the MILS standard.

PERC Ultra Toolchain

PERC Ultra Toolset Highlights

PERC Accelerator - AOT and JIT deliver superior performance by turbo-charging applications up to 20x over interpreted implementations. PERC is the only embedded VM to support symbolic debugging of native compiled code. PERC is also unique in its support for dynamic loading of native-compiled Java components.

ROMizer - Improves execution speed by statically linking VM, libraries, and application object code into a single executable image, suitable for burning to ROM.

Enterprise-Class Profiling - Speeds time to market and optimizes system performance by helping to quickly detect and fix memory leaks and bottlenecks.

Remote Debugging - Saves time, money, and programmer wear and tear. Lets programmers seamlessly debug on the target device.

PERC Shell - Cuts development time by providing direct access to the running VM vi serial or telnet connection. The result: engineers can optimize system performance and functionality by remotely viewing information and directly controlling the VM running classes.

TFTP Classloader - Cuts development time and movement between development and target platforms by automatically uploading code from a development machine to a target platform via a TFTP server. The same TFTP server can be used for RTOS downloads, PERC downloads, and class loading.

Simulations Support - Lessens the need for expensive development boards and lets engineers start development prior to hardware availability. Allows developers to create products in familiar simulation environments such as VxSim.