Guest columnist Steve Clark, Arrow’s director of engineering and marketing in Northern Europe, looks at how the distribution channel has an increasingly important role to play in supporting embedded systems design
The role of embedded systems in modern electronics has never been more important. From portable devices to home appliances, medical equipment to industrial control systems and consumer goods to office automation, more and more of the products and tools that we use in our daily lives are based on embedded designs.
The ubiquitous nature of embedded systems has, to some extent, been driven by ongoing improvements in semiconductor processes, which have allowed manufacturers to develop 8-, 16- and 32-bit microcontrollers that offer higher performance levels and more integrated features and on-board peripherals in smaller and smaller footprints.
In addition, the availability of code- and power-efficient ‘soft’ microprocessor IP cores (such as those from ARM) which can be used across multiple microcontroller platforms, has, in many cases, eliminated the need for companies to develop their own core processing units ‘from scratch’.
However, there are still many challenges facing OEMs and ODMs looking to develop embedded systems - not least in the availability of internal engineering resources.
This challenge has become even more acute as a result of the recent worldwide economic conditions, with modern engineering teams increasingly expected to focus their ‘core competencies’ on aspects of the design where they can deliver real competitive advantage. And, as a result, companies are increasingly turning to the distribution channel to support them as they look to incorporate ever-more complex embedded hardware and software into their designs.
Distribution and embedded design
Traditionally many distributors have managed linecards that offer the various semiconductor components on which to base an embedded design. However, today’s customers expect much more than simple availability of product.
Time and resource pressures on OEMs and ODMs mean that distributors are expected to offer advice and guidance on component selection, technical support for the design-in of those components and trained engineering specialists who can work closely with in-house engineering teams to bring together all aspects of the hardware and software in the shortest time possible.
The ability to continually reduce time-to-market by relying increasingly on external support has been helped greatly by the availability and ease of use of tools such as development kits and reference designs. Historically such tools have been based around supplier-specific kits that aid evaluation of a particular company’s technology.
However, as designs become more sophisticated, requiring the integration of sophisticated semiconductors, multiple interfaces, and advanced software, customers have started to demand more. Which is why today’s distributors need to augment access to conventional reference designs and starter kits by offering a multi-layer development and support environment that can be quickly and easily customised to the needs of a given customer and application.
Take, for example, Arrow’s own Embedded Platform Concept or EPC, which is a modular system solution designed to deliver cost and time savings for embedded projects. This concept is based around modular reference boards and matched IP and service modules that allow embedded system developers to ‘mix-and-match’ hardware and software options that are best suited to their requirements.
By choosing from the various modules EPC can provide customers with comprehensively pre-tested and full ‘close-to-production’ turnkey systems that are technically optimised for the target application.
A base board fitted with common standard interfaces – for example Ethernet, USB, UART and SD – is the starting point for an EPC-based design. To this base board customers can add processor modules, DC/DC boards and other relevant hardware – ranging from display adapters and memory to extension boards for specific applications such as LED lighting, industrial field bus connectivity and wireless functionality.
Alongside the hardware, customers have access to a variety of design ideas and IP, as well as receiving free support for identification and selection of complementary components such as high-performance analogue devices and programmable logic technologies. Throughout the design process customers have access to in-depth technical consultation, design and engineering services and additional support in issues such as lifecycle management.
The EPC concept illustrates how distributors are looking to support time- and resource-pressured engineering teams tasked with taking embedded systems projects from concept through design to manufacture.
As embedded systems continue to grow in importance, so too will the ability of the channel to predict future customer requirements and to provide the component, platform, software and tool offerings – along with the value added technical, engineering and commercial services – to match specific customer requirements.
Fundamental to delivering this value-added embedded support will be the distributor’s ability to take full advantage of their access to the advanced supplier technologies on their linecard, while building and maintaining relationships with third party hardware and software specialists and committing to significant ongoing investments in their own in-house technical expertise and support services.
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