ITRON Newsletter No.23 (HTML Edition)
ITRON Technical Committee, TRON Association
Katsuta Building 5F, 3-39, Mita 1-chome, Minato-ku, Tokyo 108, JAPAN
TEL: (03) 3454-3191 FAX: (03) 3454-3224
Survey on ITRON Use Trends
Each year the TRON Association conducts surveys to gauge the extent to
which TRON Project technology is known and used in the industry. For
fiscal 1996 it was decided to focus the survey on ITRON, and to target
mainly engineers involved with embedded systems. The survey was
carried out by mail and other means during November and December 1996.
The results should prove useful in promoting the ITRON specifications
and in planning the future directions of the project.
This year for the first time the Internet was also used as a means of
conducting the survey among a broader audience. A survey form was made
available on the ITRON Home Page, which
could be filled in and sent directly via the Internet. The survey
results are being made available by the same means.
Formation of the ITRON Hard Real-Time Support Study Group
In ITRON Newsletter No.22 we noted
that the ITRON Technical Committee is turning its attention to
middleware standardization. One of the themes for consideration is
that of kernel functions geared to middleware provision, and
especially functions that support middleware with hard real-time
performance. The ITRON Hard Real-Time Support Study Group (HRT Study
Group) was formed to study these functions, beginning its work in
October 1996.
The first task of the new study group will be to survey the studies
that have been made to date in the field of hard real-time performance
and then to determine the support requirements, which they hope to
complete by the end of March 1997. Anyone wishing to take part in
this research is invited to contact the ITRON Technical Committee.
Results of the committee's work will be introduced at ITRON Open
Seminars and other venues.
ITRON-specification Product Registration Update
The product listed below was newly registered as an
ITRON-specification product since the last issue of this Newsletter.
Previously registered products are listed here.
Newly Registered Products
(Apr. 1, 1996 - Oct. 1, 1996)
| Specification |
Product Name |
Processor |
Company |
| µITRON2.0 |
RX78K/IV |
78K.IV Series |
NEC |
ITRON-related Publications
Listed below are the publications prepared and issued by the ITRON
Technical Committee as of October 1, 1996. The ITRON-µITRON
Standard Handbook is a one-volume compilation of µITRON (Ver 2.0)
and ITRON2 specifications. Each of the publications below can be
obtained directly from the sources indicated.
The latest version of µITRON3.0 is Ver 3.02.00. Changes made
since the µITRON3.0 Standard Handbook was released (Ver 3.00.00)
are noted in Newsletter No.5 and No.11, as well as in ITRON Standard
Guidebook 2.
The ITRON Standard Guidebook 2 deals primarily with µITRON3.0.
The earlier ITRON Standard Guidebook '92-'93 remains as a valuable
reference for use with the µITRON (Ver 2.0) and ITRON2
specifications, even though the dates in its title are now past.
ITRON-related Publications
| Name |
Type |
Price |
Publisher |
Issued |
ISBN No. |
| ITRON-µITRON Standard Handbook |
Specification (Jap.) |
4,800Yen |
Personal Media Co. |
1990 |
ISBN4-89362-079-7 |
| µITRON3.0 Standard Handbook |
Specification (Jap.) |
4,000Yen |
Personal Media Co. |
1993 |
ISBN4-89362-106-8 |
| ITRON/FILE Standard Handbook |
Specification (Jap.) |
3,000Yen |
Personal Media Co. |
1992 |
ISBN4-89362-092-4 |
| ITRON Standard Guidebook '92-'93 |
Textbook (Jap.) |
3,500Yen |
Personal Media Co. |
1992 |
ISBN4-89362-197-6 |
| ITRON Standard Guidebook 2 |
Textbook (Jap.) |
3,500Yen |
Personal Media Co. |
1994 |
ISBN4-89362-133-5 |
|
µITRON Specification Ver 2.01.00.00 |
Specification (Eng.) |
12,000Yen |
TRON Association |
1989 |
- |
|
ITRON2 Specification Ver 2.02.00.10 |
Specification (Eng.) |
15,000Yen |
TRON Association |
1990 |
- |
|
µITRON3.0 Specification Ver 3.02.00 |
Specification (Eng.) |
- |
TRON Association |
1994 |
- |
NOTES:
- Prices do not include consumption tax.
- The documents are available to TRON Association members at a special
discount rate.
- English-language specifications are distributed free of charge from
here.
Report on the Embedded Systems Conference
As reported in ITRON Newsletter No.21, the ITRON Technical Committee
took part in the Embedded
Systems Conference West, held at the San Jose Convention Center
(San Jose, California) from September 16 through 19. The Committee
sponsored a paper on ITRON specifications and introduced the project
in the accompanying trade show. In addition, Hiroaki Takada of the
University of Tokyo presented a seminar lecture on "Realization
Techniques of Compact and Low-Overhead Real-Time Kernels for
Single-Chip MCUs," which included an introduction to the µITRON
specifications. Originally a presentation on the µITRON
specifications was planned for a free technical session, but there
were no such sessions at the 1996 conference.
The TRON Association booth in the trade show included panels
introducing the ITRON specifications. The specifications themselves
and other documents were also on display. An HTML version of the
µITRON3.0 specification (English-language edition) was shown on a
personal computer screen at the booth. Visitors could also view the
ITRON home page, ITRON Newsletter and other Web pages. Again this
year there were "We Support ITRON Specifications" placards on display
at individual company booths. A total of 15 booths displayed the 20
cm x 20 cm self-standing placard, featuring the ITRON logo and
designed to boost the visibility of the ITRON specifications.
The ITRON Technical Committee plans to participate at the next
Embedded Systems Conference West, scheduled for September 29 through
October 3, again at the San Jose Convention Center. In April the
Embedded Systems Conference East will be held on the East Coast.
Further details are given in an article by Hiroaki Takada in the TRON
Project Journal No.46.
New Products
Here we introduce the latest ITRON-specification product registered
since our last issue.
Product overview
The RX78K/IV is a real-time OS implementing Ver 2.01 of the
µITRON specification, for NEC's 78K/IV Series 16-bit single-chip
microcontroller.
Features
The main features of the RX78K/IV OS are listed below.
- It takes full advantage of the 78K/IV architecture for fast
processing.
- The RX78K/IV nucleus is provided in library format, enabling the
user to configure a compact module by linking only the required
functions at system generation. The nucleus size ranges from a minimum
of approximately 1 KB to 7 KB in full configuration.
- RAM use, a major obstacle to real-time OS implementation, is kept
to a minimum.
- A C language library is provided, enabling application programs to
be developed in C.
- A tool for generating configuration information is provided.
- The OS comes with a task debugger for highly efficient debugging.
Functions
The following functions are supported in the RX78K/IV OS.
- Task management functions manage the running of tasks,
which are units of processing controlled by a real-time OS. The OS
supports four task states, RUN, READY, WAIT and DORMANT, as well as up
to 14 task priority levels. The number of priority levels can be
changed as needed by the user system.
- Synchronization and communication. OS manages one-bit event
flags, semaphores, and mailboxes.
- Memory management. Fixed-size memory blocks are managed
dynamically.
- Interrupt management driven by interrupt handlers are
managed.
- Time management functions timing of cyclic handlers and the
like is managed.
Recent Works on ITRON
The September 1996 issue of the Journal of the Information Processing
Society of Japan carries an analysis by Atsushi Kawai and Yoshitaka
Nishiyama of Oki Electric Industry Co., Ltd., entitled, "Programming
Environments for Embedded Systems." The authors introduce trends in
systems supporting development of software for embedded RISC processor
systems. In the section on real-time embedded system OSs, they
introduce the ITRON specifications.
The September 1996 issue of VLSI Report has an article on "Real-time
OSs and Related Tools" introducing recent trends in this field. A
considerable portion of the article is devoted to ITRON.
Both of the above articles are in Japanese.
This newsletter is a
special edition for WWW of the one appeared in TRONWARE vol.42 and
TRON PROJECT JOURNAL No.46.
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