ESC Theater

ESC Theater is Sponsored by:

Tuesday, September 21

Meet the Software Experts: Debugging Mixed Multi-Core Code
Panelists: Coming Soon!
Times: 12:00pm — 12:50pm
Room: ESC Theater (on the ESC Expo Floor)

Teardown of the MedApps HealthPal MA105 Wireless Transmitter
Speakers: Allan Yogasingam (Technical Marketing Analyst, UBM TechInsights)
Times: 1:00pm — 1:50pm
Room: ESC Theater (on the ESC Expo Floor)
Key Takeaways:
Science fiction has always depicted the future of medicine incorporating technology into every facet of healthcare. With the advances in technology that has seen computers scaled down in size and wireless technology becoming readily available, we’re seeing glimpses of that future now. Hospitals are beginning to take advantage of these advances in computing and wireless technology to provide more efficient, cost-effective forms of medical treatment. Allan Yogasingam of UBM TechInsights will be taking a look at one of these advances: the MedApps HealthPal – a wireless, GSM-based device that connects to various off-the-shelf medical devices and transmits health information so that the data can be stored, tracked and trended by healthcare providers.

Live Teardown: Can FitBit Change My Life Before I Break It?
Speaker: Patrick Mannion (Editorial Director, Design & Products, EE Times Group)
Date: Tuesday, September 21
Time: 2:00pm — 2:50pm
Location: ESC Theater
Track: Special Events
Key Takeaways: The FitBit is a pocket-sized, clip-shaped device that acts as the ultimate fitness tool, accurately tracking the calories you burn, the number of steps you take, the distance you travel and even how good a night’s sleep you had. How? By using MEMS and wireless technology while capturing your motion in 3-D. and converting what it captures into useful information (simply by passing by a wirelesss base station). Patrick Mannion, Editorial Director is undertaking the FitBit challenge to see if it can help him attain a healthier lifestyle but he only has until the week of ESC, where he will take the device apart and fill us in on whether this little clip helped him become a lean, mean fitness machine. The teardown will include a panel of experts to discuss embedded wireless options and issues, as well as MEMS choices and implementation.
Audience Level: Introductory

Sponsored by:
Live Teardown: Smart Wireless Residential Thermostat
Speaker: John Day (Technical Fellow, Field Applications Eng, Microchip Technology)
Date: Tuesday, September 21
Time: 3:00pm — 4:00pm
Location: ESC Theater
Track: Special Events
Key Takeaways: A smart wireless thermostat could remove some of the stress in your life. With such a device, you could be assured of not consuming too much energy unnecessarily. And you'd never have to worry about your pipes freezing while you're away. In addition to talking to your home over a simple Internet connection, you could also have those conversations via an iPhone, Android phone, or iPad. Radio Thermostat Company has developed a platform of wireless communicating residential automatic setback thermostats that will support virtually any type of communication required by the system integrator. This teardown will cover the following subsystems/features:

• Wi-Fi Module and its communication and control by a sever over the web using Microchip’s low power / low cost MRF24WBOM Wi-Fi radio
• USNAP SPI Radio bus protocol overview
• QVGA display using the low power PIC24FJ128GA010 and Microchip’s free QVGA library.
• Power management and design concerns / issues / design considerations needed to switch over from AC power and survive on batteries for over 1 year continuously.
• Special features such as automatic setback, energy savings modes. And don't forget—at the conclusion of the presentation, one of these devices will be given away to a lucky attendee.

Audience Level: Introductory

Advancing Robotics: Challenges, Solutions and Education
Speakers: Kate Pilotte (Kit of Parts Engineer, FIRST), Joe Hershberger (Staff Software Engineer, National Instruments), Jean Anne Booth (Product Line Director, Stellaris, Texas Instruments)
Date: Tuesday, September 21
Time: 4:00pm — 5:00pm
Location: ESC Theater
Track: Special Events
Key Takeaways:
What are the major challenges and design considerations faced by robotics developers? What’s being done to overcome those issues? What’s driving the evolution of robotics in new and existing applications? And how is robotics helping shape the engineers of tomorrow? Get answers to these questions and more in this 60 minute panel discussion with representatives from Texas Instruments, FIRST (FIRST™ (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology), X and X.
Audience Level: Introductory

Planning to Migrate to Multicore - It's Never Too Early to Start
Speakers: TBD
Date: Tuesday, September 21
Time: 5:00pm — 5:50pm
Location: ESC Theater
Track: Special Events
Key Takeaways:
For traditional software development teams with large software applications running sequentially on single core silicon, the plethora of multicore platforms available, announced and planned can be very daunting. Migration to multicore is inevitable in the search for more power and low power consumption but for the development teams, the question is when, and how? Planning for the move to multicore can't start too early. In fact, you should have started already! This panel will outline the planning process and will examine the typical elements which make up the Return on Investment (RoI) analysis which all software teams should undertake when assessing the case for migrating to a larger number of cores. How much parallelism is easily accessible in the existing software application? How much work will it be to unlock that concurrency? What are the risks of inserting new problems into the code during migration? The panel with consist of participants from Alcatel-Lucent, CriticalBlue, Freescale and Mentor Graphics.
Audience Level: Introductory

Benefits of IP Sensors for Connecting the Smart Grid
Speaker: Geoff Mulligan (IPSO Alliance)
Date: Tuesday, September 21
Time: 6:00pm — 6:40pm
Location: ESC Theater
Track: Special Events
Key Takeaways: IP has proven itself as a long-lived, stable, and highly scalable communication technology that supports both a wide range of applications, devices, and overlaying communication technologies. Using the Internet Protocol for Smart Objects is the next revolution in connectivity, enabling new functionality for markets and services.
This presentation will cover the following:

• The advantages of using IP in embedded systems
• Why the old ways of proprietary and ad-hoc protocols are no longer necessary and can hamper interoperability and security
• How IP will be used in the Smart Grid
• The current status of the 6LoWPAN, ROLL, 6LoWPAN and SE 2.0 standards.

Audience Level: Introductory

Embeddy Awards
Speakers: Stephen Balacco (Director, Embedded Software Practice, VDC Research Group), Eric Heikkila (Director, Embedded Hardware and Systems, VDC Research Group)
Date: Tuesday, September 21
Time: 6:45pm — 7:00pm
Location: ESC Theater
Track: Special Events
Key Takeaways:
VDC Research will be presenting their “Embeddy” awards for Best in Show at ESC Boston 2010. Now entering the sixth year of the award program, VDC awards the Embeddies to the software and hardware companies whose products offer the most compelling opportunities for embedded system engineers to meet the challenges of complexity, productivity, quality, and schedule management. VDC will meet with exhibitors at the show and evaluate new software or hardware product announcements based on availability, corporate significance, tech and business significance, and other criteria. Each criterion will be given an overall rating score of 1 to 5 where 5 is the highest and 1 the lowest rating. In the case of a tie, a discussion among the VDC analysts will be conducted and a final winner determined. What must you do to be considered? Make an appointment (slots filling up fast!) by September 18th to meet with: For software and tools announcements - Stephen Balacco, Director, Embedded Software & Tools Practice, VDC Research Group by contacting Stephen at: sbalacco@vdcresearch.com or 508.653.9000 x 124. For hardware announcements - Eric Heikkila, Director, Embedded Hardware and Systems Practice, VDC Research Group by contacting Eric directly at erich@vdcresearch.com or 310.393.9086.
Audience Level: Introductory

Wednesday, September 22

The State of Embedded
Speakers: Jack Ganssle (Chief Engineer, The Ganssle Group), Dan Saks (Saks & Associates), Michael Anderson (Chief Scientist, The PTR Group, Inc.)
Moderator: Ronald Wilson (Director of Content/Media, EE Times Group)
Times: 12:00pm — 12:50pm
Room: ESC Theater (on the ESC Expo Floor)
Key Takeaways:
The topics covered will include multicore; the proper use of various programming languages; how design varies from region to region; and how you can find out more information about embedded systems development.
Audience level: Advanced
Presentation Abstract:
Are you curious to find out the latest trends in embedded systems? Then this informal session with some of the world's leading experts is a must-attend for you. Come meet Jack Ganssle of the Ganssle Group; Dan Saks, President of Saks and Associates; and Michael Anderson, Chief Scientist, The PTR, in a session moderated by Ronald Wilson of Embedded.com and EE Times.

Meet the Hardware Experts: Estimating and Measuring Power in Embedded Systems
Panelists: Coming Soon!
Times: 1:00pm — 1:50pm
Room: ESC Theater (on the ESC Expo Floor)

Using Twitter in the Embedded Marketplace
Speakers: Sabrina Deitch (Senior Marketing Manager, element14), Adrian Valenzuela (TI MSP430 Marketing Manager, Texas Instruments), Eric Mantion (Director of Social Media Strategy, Intel Embedded and Communications Group), Karen Field (VP, EE Life)
Date: Wednesday, September 22
Time: 2:00pm — 2:50pm
Location: ESC Theater
Track: Special Events
Key Takeaways: During the last year, the embedded marketplace has had a groundswell of activity on Twitter. Twitter has been used to promote leading tradeshows (like ESC), Tweet Up's, attract attention to webcasts, white papers, new products and communities. Many vendors use this tool as an economical and effective way to expand their influence, build recognition, communicate with press, and build relationships. We will be discussing who to follow on Twitter, what 3rd party tools to use, how to integrate it into your marketing plans, how to use it at a tradeshow, how to incorporate you’re your communities and much more.
Audience Level: Introductory