2012 Intel Cup Undergraduate Electronic Design Contest - Embedded System

　　Hardware Platform: Intel E6x5C Platform

　　The Intel^® Atom™ processor E6x5C series delivers, in a single package, the benefits of the Intel^® Atom™ processor E6xx combined with a Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) from Altera. This series offers exceptional flexibility in incorporating a wide range of standards and user-defined I/O interfaces, high-speed connectivity, memory interfaces and process acceleration.

　　The Intel^® Atom™ processor E6x5C series is a multi-chip, single-package device that reduces board footprint, lowers component count, and simplifies inventory control and manufacturing. This compact design offers single-vendor support while providing Intel Atom processors with new applications that require a more integrated solution.

　　The FPGA features high-speed transceivers, LVDS (low voltage differential signaling) with SERDES (serializers/ deserializers), support for interfacing to a variety of memory devices, dedicated DSP (digital signal processing) blocks, and more than 60,000 logic elements. It provides enough programmable space for users to integrate their own intellectual property (IP) or use off-the-shelf, third-party IP that completes a powerful embedded system. The FPGA features a hard IP PCI Express* lane that connects directly to the Intel® Atom™ processor E6xx inside the device.

　　Development Design Platform: Guangzhou ZHIYUAN EPCM-505C-ESDC

　　EPCM-505C-ESDC is an Intel E645C processor-based university contest platform developed by Guangzhou ZHIYUAN Electronics Stock Co., Ltd. It has 1 channel of CAN bus controller, 2 channels of 10/100/1000M self-adaptive Ethernet, and 4 channels of RS232 port (1 channel multiplex with 422/485) on the motherboard. It has two display outputs –LVDS and VGA. The platform utilizes the built-in FPGA within E645C to achieve A/D, D/A, video, LED, switch, and button functions. The other pins of the FPGA are populated to the HSMC interface, reserved for the students’ use in subsequent development.

　　ZHIYUAN Technical Support
　　QQ Group name: 2012 ESDC
　　QQ Group number: 127018145

　　Software Platform: Yocto Operating System

　　Yocto, an open-source software project managed by the Linux Foundation, and supported and initiated jointly by Intel Corporation and industry partners, aims to provide solutions to Linux-based embedded systems. Rather than another Linux distribution edition, Yocto Project is an open-source build system that is able to customize the embedded Linux OS (operating system) for users. It not only contains a compiling environment and tools, it also supports X86 and other architectures. Based on Yocto, embedded system developers can easily custom build Linux OS stack, and consequently focus on the development of key upper applications.

　　Main Characteristics

　　• A complete Linux OS with metadata in the whole package;
　　• Releases every 6 months with latest (but stable) kernel, toolchain and package versions; the most cutting-edge metadata keep up closely with mainstream open-source systems;
　　• Universal Linux BSP (binary space partitioning) format and reference mirror, a platform for the industry to publish BSPs;
　　• App Dev Tools which allow development against the stack, including Eclipse plug-ins and emulators
　　Yocto is not an embedded Linux distribution – it is system customized for you. This is shown below:
　　• Build a complete Linux system in about an hour from source codes (about 90 minutes with X);
　　• Start with a validated collection of packages (toolchain, kernel, user space);
　　• Access to a great collection of app developer tools (performance, debug, power analysis, Eclipse); distinguish app developers from system developers and give both the relevant support;
　　• Manage patches by using the included kernel development tools;
　　• Supports all major embedded architectures, just change a line in a config file and rebuild;
　　• Transitions easily to a commercial embedded Linux.

　　As Yocto is a customized embedded Linux system, you can use it in the same way as you use other embedded operating systems. With customizable features, Yocto can better meet your needs.