Periodic Reporting for period 1 - EMMTRIX (Emmtrix Technologies : European breakthrough in Software parallelization)
Reporting period: 2017-08-01 to 2018-01-31
"Innovative applications (e.g. automatic parking up to autonomous driving) are realized by embedded systems. Until now, embedded systems have mainly been equipped with single-core processors, which are increasingly reaching their physical limits and can no longer provide the computing power required for new embedded applications. For this reason, newer embedded systems increasingly use multi-core processors. When using multi-core processors, the performance increase is achieved by using several processor cores - but only if the application is distributed among the available cores. IT experts refer to this as ""software parallelization"".
Software parallelization is currently carried out manually. Manual parallelization is associated with very high development efforts and very high complexity. The programming of a multicore processor requires 3 times more software developers and 25% more time compared to single-core programming. In addition, there are about 4.5 times higher costs. Manual parallelization is also highly error-prone. With a growing number of cores, the mentioned problems increase without appropriate tool solutions.
emmtrix Technologies software tools address important society aspects like climate change and other important environmental issues. For instance, thanks to using innovative multicore computation techniques, the potential of multicore technology is used more efficiently through emmtrix software solutions. This leads to less power consumption and therefore energy savings. Furthermore, emmtrix software tools enable innovations in different sectors, e.g. medical or mobility (like autonomous driving). These innovations will enhance the quality of life.
emmtrix Technologies provides a software solution for the efficient, automated embedded multicore programming. Eliminating the need for manual programming, the offered solution reduces the development effort for software parallelization by up to 80% and leads to a higher quality of the final product since errors in software development are avoided. The overall objective is to further develop and distribute this software solution and establish emmtrix Technologies as a global expert and setting the standard for software development for embedded systems."
Software parallelization is currently carried out manually. Manual parallelization is associated with very high development efforts and very high complexity. The programming of a multicore processor requires 3 times more software developers and 25% more time compared to single-core programming. In addition, there are about 4.5 times higher costs. Manual parallelization is also highly error-prone. With a growing number of cores, the mentioned problems increase without appropriate tool solutions.
emmtrix Technologies software tools address important society aspects like climate change and other important environmental issues. For instance, thanks to using innovative multicore computation techniques, the potential of multicore technology is used more efficiently through emmtrix software solutions. This leads to less power consumption and therefore energy savings. Furthermore, emmtrix software tools enable innovations in different sectors, e.g. medical or mobility (like autonomous driving). These innovations will enhance the quality of life.
emmtrix Technologies provides a software solution for the efficient, automated embedded multicore programming. Eliminating the need for manual programming, the offered solution reduces the development effort for software parallelization by up to 80% and leads to a higher quality of the final product since errors in software development are avoided. The overall objective is to further develop and distribute this software solution and establish emmtrix Technologies as a global expert and setting the standard for software development for embedded systems."
- Intensified strategic partnerships with software developer and chip manufacturer
- Webinars to train reseller and demonstrate the technology to prospects
- Trade fairs and presentations on conferences
- Recruitment of new employees
- Development of additional demonstrator systems
- Extension for model-based languages like Simulink® and Xcos
- Improved support for heterogeneous processor architectures: GPU, FPGA
emmtrix has achieved several partnerships with chip manufacturers and software developers. Chip manufacturers are looking for efficient programming solutions for their customers so that they can better market their multicore processors and hardware accelerators (e.g. FPGAs or GPUs). The emmtrix software solution is hardware independent and thus is able to serve the needs of different kinds of chip manufacturers’ customers adequately. emmtrix also intensified the partnerships to software developers. Various possibilities for cooperation are currently being evaluated. The emmtrix solutions have been presented to larger audiences at several trade fairs and conferences. At the Embedded World 2018, emmtrix Parallel Studio was nominated for the Embedded Award. The prize is for outstandingly innovative and trailblazing products. Technologically, emmtrix has further optimized its products and even extended them (e.g. by new possible input languages such as Simulink® and Xcos or the support for new hardware architectures like GPUs and FPGAs). New demonstrator systems have been developed. These show different use cases, which can be addressed with the emmtrix software solutions.
- Webinars to train reseller and demonstrate the technology to prospects
- Trade fairs and presentations on conferences
- Recruitment of new employees
- Development of additional demonstrator systems
- Extension for model-based languages like Simulink® and Xcos
- Improved support for heterogeneous processor architectures: GPU, FPGA
emmtrix has achieved several partnerships with chip manufacturers and software developers. Chip manufacturers are looking for efficient programming solutions for their customers so that they can better market their multicore processors and hardware accelerators (e.g. FPGAs or GPUs). The emmtrix software solution is hardware independent and thus is able to serve the needs of different kinds of chip manufacturers’ customers adequately. emmtrix also intensified the partnerships to software developers. Various possibilities for cooperation are currently being evaluated. The emmtrix solutions have been presented to larger audiences at several trade fairs and conferences. At the Embedded World 2018, emmtrix Parallel Studio was nominated for the Embedded Award. The prize is for outstandingly innovative and trailblazing products. Technologically, emmtrix has further optimized its products and even extended them (e.g. by new possible input languages such as Simulink® and Xcos or the support for new hardware architectures like GPUs and FPGAs). New demonstrator systems have been developed. These show different use cases, which can be addressed with the emmtrix software solutions.
The application of the emmtrix software, enable companies in different industries to develop high-performance and innovative solutions that can have major improvements in the development workflow aiming to advance mobility or quality of life. The main economic benefits for companies resulting from the use of emmtrix software are (1) cost reduction: the effort and costs of software development are significantly reduced through automation. In tested cases, the use of the emmtrix Parallel Studio resulted in cost savings of up to 80%; (2) shorter time-to-market: automation reduces the time required for parallelization and the time for development by 80%. Shorter development times reduce the time-to-market (faster entry into the market, shorter product cycles); (3) quality of software: automated software development increases the reliability and robustness of the software; (4) integration of hardware details: the emmtrix solution allows for the encapsulation of hardware properties of processors. This reduces the knowledge detail required for programming by the software developer to program efficiently; (5) adaptability: with the emmtrix solution the developer can write the algorithm or the model for various hardware platforms by automatic code generation. The development effort is thus minimized across the entire project. As a result, additional cost savings in subsequent projects are achieved; (6) seamless integration: the support of MATLAB®/Simulink® and Scilab/Xcos allows seamless integration of emmtrix tools into existing workflows - no new programming languages to be installed, no long implementation phase.