Synopsys, Inc. launched the embARC Open Software Platform to help accelerate the development of DesignWare® ARC® processor-based embedded systems. The new embARC platform gives ARC software developers online access to a comprehensive suite of free and open-source software that eases the development of code for the IoT and other embedded applications. Device drivers, operating systems and middleware ported to and optimized for ARC processors are available for download without cost from the embARC.org website. The website also provides access to software development tools and documentation as well as user forums to facilitate the sharing of information and expertise among the ARC-based design community.
"We are pleased to see that the embARC Open Software Platform supports the use of the popular open-source FreeRTOS," said Andrew Longhurst, business development manager at Wittenstein High Integrity Systems. "We offer OPENRTOS, the only commercially licensed and supported version of FreeRTOS, thus allowing designers using embARC to move to an RTOS with professional support, maintenance and updates, if needed."
Drivers, Operating Systems and Middleware
Pre-ported drivers for the GPIO, UART, SPI, I2C and other peripherals as well as leading real-time operating systems (RTOS), including FreeRTOS and Contiki OS, give developers a choice of industry-standard software environments for their ARC-based systems. FreeRTOS is a scalable, compact and reliable operating system that is popular among embedded software developers. The Contiki OS is specifically designed for networked, memory-constrained systems such as low-power, wireless IoT applications.
The embARC platform provides a choice of middleware components and a robust starting point for the development of IoT-related devices. The components available for use with FreeRTOS include the TCP/IP stack lwIP, file system fatfs, and MQTT and libcoap IoT protocols. The Contiki OS includes a middleware package with an integrated IoT protocol stack including MQTT, a publish/subscribe messaging protocol for lightweight machine-to-machine communications, and the CoAP application layer protocol for resource-constrained IoT applications.
"FreeRTOS is professionally developed, supported and yet completely free for developers to embed in their commercial products without any requirement to expose their proprietary source code," said Richard Barry, director at Real Time Engineers Ltd. "As the leading RTOS for embedded applications, we are really pleased that Synopsys is making FreeRTOS available as part of their new embARC Platform. ARC users now have a simplified path to join the hundreds of thousands of developers worldwide who already benefit from the ease of use and proven reliability of FreeRTOS."
