From clean socks to secure transactions, QNX brings it all to Embedded World

Every year, QNX Software Systems exhibits at the Embedded World conference in Nuremburg. And every year, we like to mix things up and do something different. For instance, in years past, we have showcased a robotic vacuum, a heart defibrillator, a pipeline inspection system, an Oscar-winning flying camera, a programmable logic controller, and a control panel for bulldozers — all running on the QNX Neutrino OS.

What have we got lined up this year? Plenty, as it turns out. Once again, our booth will feature several QNX-based products, including:

• An innovative double-drum washing machine that cleans two loads of laundry simultaneously — finally, you can wash lights and darks at the same time!
• A Modular Train Control System (MTCS) from MEN Mikro Elektronik that complies with the EN 50155 functional safety standard and is based on the QNX OS for Safety
• A hardware security module from Worldline that protects secret keys and performs high-speed cryptographic operations for secure data transactions
• A traffic-light controller from SWARCO that helps improve traffic flow and optimizes the use of existing road infrastructure — learn more about this system in this morning’s press release

It’s hard to imagine four systems that could be more different. And yet, the developers of these systems all chose the same OS — a testament to the “bend it, shape it, any way you want it” quality of QNX technology. Not to mention its performance and reliability.

The Bluetooth connection
Of course, we can’t show up at Europe’s biggest embedded systems conference without bringing something new for embedded developers. And so, this year, we are demonstrating the QNX SDK for Bluetooth Connectivity, a new middleware solution for medical devices, industrial automation systems, consumer appliances, and other embedded system applications.

Designed for flexibility, the SDK offers a dual-mode Bluetooth Smart Ready stack that supports classic Bluetooth connectivity as well as connectivity to Bluetooth Low Energy devices. It also supports a comprehensive set of pre-integrated Bluetooth profiles, including the classic PAN, SPP, HDP, HID, FTP, and OPP profiles, as well as the BAS, FMP, HRP, HOGP, and PXP Low Energy profiles. Here’s the SDK at a glance:

For developers of infusion pumps, vital-sign monitors, and other medical devices, the SDK includes an IEEE 11073 Personal Health Data stack certified by the Continua Health Alliance. This stack enables easy interoperability with pulse oximeters, weight scales, and other Bluetooth-enabled peripherals, and addresses the growing demand for health devices that can wirelessly collect patient data, either at home or in a clinical setting.

Of course, the proof of the Bluetooth pudding is in the pairing. So we've also built a demo that shows how the SDK can help developers build vital-sign monitors and other connected embedded systems. The demo system can discover and pair with Bluetooth classic and Bluetooth Low Energy devices, render their data onto a touchscreen display based on Qt 5, and provide a history of heart rate, blood oxygen levels, and other vitals:

A screen capture of the Bluetooth-powered QNX medical demo

Read the press release and product-overview page to learn more about the new QNX SDK for Bluetooth Connectivity.

And if you are Nuremberg this week, drop by and see us! We’re in Hall 4, Booth 534.

The high cost of low-performing medical devices

Guest post by my colleague Patryk Fournier, medical marketing communications manager for QNX Software Systems

Manufacturers of consumer products have long used money-back guarantees to promote laundry detergent, newspapers, pizza, and yes, even beer, as a way to reassure consumers about the purchase they are making. You can now add medical devices to the list.

Last week, Reuters reported that medical device manufacturers have begun to offer device performance and reliability guarantees to hospitals:

“Medical device makers, facing sluggish sales and increasing pressure to prove the value of their products, are beefing up guarantees to compensate U.S. hospitals if a device does not perform as expected.”

Medical device manufacturers already operate in a challenging environment filled with stringent regulatory requirements and industry pressures. They must develop increasingly complex devices in timelines that are more typical of consumer-grade electronics, but difficult to meet in a regulated industry. The added burden of providing compensation to hospitals simply adds a cost line directly attributed to device performance or reliability issues.

These product guarantees underscore the importance of building a medical device on a solid, robust, and reliable realtime operating system. Not having a reliable OS will cost medical device manufacturers — literally and figuratively.

At QNX Software Systems, we’ve been taking reliability seriously for almost 35 years. That’s why our OS supports intelligent fault recovery to enable high uptimes, time partitioning to ensure availability of critical processes, security mechanisms to help devices from attack, and realtime determinism to help applications meet hard deadlines. Moreover, this OS technology has been deployed in dialysis machines, infusion pumps, angiography systems, CT scanners, surgical robots, heart defibrillators, and a host of other medical devices.

No, we don’t offer money-back guarantees. But I think we offer something better: tools, services, and certifications to help our medical-device customers save time, money, and effort in the first place.

Hypervisors, virtualization, and creating a safety-critical system that keeps up with the Joneses

A new webinar on how virtualization can help you add new technology to existing designs.

First things first: should you say “hypervisor” or “virtual machine monitor”? Both terms refer to the same thing, but is one preferable to the other?

Hypervisor certainly has the greater sex appeal, suggesting it was coined by a marketing department that saw no hope in promoting a term as coldly technical as virtual machine monitor. But, in fact, hypervisor has a long and established history, dating back almost 50 years. Moreover, it was coined not by a marketing department, but by a software developer.

“Hypervisor” is simply a variant of “supervisor,” a traditional name for the software that controls task scheduling and other fundamental operations in a computer system — software that, in most systems, is now called the OS kernel. Because a hypervisor manages the execution of multiple OSs, it is, in effect, a supervisor of supervisors. Hence hypervisor.

No matter what you call it, a hypervisor creates multiple virtual machines, each hosting a separate guest OS, and allows the OSs to share a system’s hardware resources, including CPU, memory, and I/O. As a result, system designers can consolidate previously discrete systems onto a single system-on-chip (SoC) and thereby reduce the size, weight, and power consumption of their designs — a trinity of benefits known as SWaP.

The QNX Hypervisor is an example of a 

Type 1 “bare metal” hypervisor.

That said, not all hypervisors are created equal. There are, for example, Type 1 “bare metal” hypervisors, which run directly on the host hardware, and Type 2 hypervisors, which run on top of an OS. Both types have their benefits, but Type 1 offers the better choice for any embedded system that requires fast, predictable response times — most safety-critical systems arguably fall within this category.

Moreover, some hypervisors make it easier for the guest OSs to share hardware resources. The QNX Hypervisor, for example, employs several technologies to simplify the sharing of display controllers, network connections, file systems, and I/O devices like the I2C serial bus. Developers can, as a result, avoid writing custom shared-device drivers that increase testing and certification costs and that typically exhibit lower performance than field-hardened, vendor-supplied drivers.

Adding features, without blowing the certification budget
Hypervisors, and the virtualization they provide, offer another benefit: the ability to keep OSs cleanly isolated from each other, even though they share the same hardware. This benefit is attractive to anyone trying to build a safety-critical system and reduce SWaP. Better yet, the virtualization can help device makers add new and differentiating features, such as rich user interfaces, without compromising safety-critical components.

That said, hardware and peripheral device interfaces are evolving continuously. How can you maintain compliance with safety-related standards like ISO 26262 and still take advantage of new hardware features and functionality?

Enter a new webinar hosted by my inimitable colleague Chris Ault. Chris will examine techniques that enable you to add new features to existing devices, while maintaining close control of the safety certification scope and budget. Here are some of the topics he’ll address:

• Overview of virtualization options and their pros and cons
   
• Comparison of how adaptive time partitioning and virtualization help achieve separation of safety-critical systems
   
• Maintaining realtime performance of industrial automation protocols without directly affecting safety certification efforts
   
• Using Android applications for user interfaces and connectivity

Webinar coordinates:
Exploring Virtualization Options for Adding New Technology to Safety-Critical Devices
Time: Thursday, March 5, 12:00 pm EST
Duration: 1 hour
Registration: Visit TechOnLine

A version of this post was published on the QNX Auto Blog.

Bend it, shape it, any way you want it

Last year, at Embedded World 2014, QNX Software Systems demonstrated three systems built by its customers: a touch display that connects washing machines to the Web, an operator panel that controls forklifts and bulldozers, and an inspection system that detects cracks in gas pipelines. These systems perform very different functions, and operate in very different environments, yet they have one thing in common: the QNX Neutrino OS.

Fast-forward to Embedded World 2015, where, once again, QNX will showcase the remarkable flexibility of its OS technology, in everything from a medical device that saves lives to a robot that cleans carpets. Of course, the new demos aren’t just about flexibility. They also showcase how QNX technology can make embedded systems easier to build, easier to certify, and easier to use. Not to mention more reliable.

So if you’re at Embedded World this week, come on over and visit us at Booth 4-358. In the meantime, here's a quick peek at what we plan to showcase:

Demo #1: The autonomous vacuum
Chances are, the QNX booth will have the cleanest floor in all of Embedded World. And for that, you can blame the Neato Botvac robot vacuum.

This Botvac is one smart appliance: Before it starts to suck up dirt, it scans and maps the entire room so it can work as quickly and methodically as possible. It’s also smart enough, and quick enough, to maneuver around furniture and to avoid staircases.

To quote Mike Perkins, vice president of engineering at Neato Robotics, “our autonomous home robots need fast, predictable response times, and the QNX OS enabled our engineers to achieve very high performance on cost-effective hardware. The QNX OS also helped us create a software architecture that can quickly accommodate new features, giving us the flexibility to scale product lines and deliver compelling new capabilities.”

Check out this video of the Botvac in action:



Demo #2: The defibrillator
If you don’t already know, the QNX Neutrino OS is used in dialysis machines, infusion pumps, angiography systems, surgical robots, and a variety of other hospital-based medical devices. But it’s also used in mHealth devices that provide critical therapy or diagnostics when the nearest hospital is miles away. Case in point: the corpuls1, a defribrillator and patient monitor for fire fighters and other first responders, built by GS Elektromedizinische Geräte G. Stemple:




Demo #3: The medical reference demo
The QNX booth will also feature our latest medical reference demo, which integrates a suite of QNX, BlackBerry, and third-party technologies for building connected, safety-critical medical devices. Here is what the demo system looks like:



And here is a sample of what’s under the covers:

● IEC 62304-compliant QNX OS for Medical
● HL7, the international standard for transfer of clinical data
● User interface based on the Qt application framework
● Java runtime engine
● Remote device management and end-to-end security of the BlackBerry BES12 architecture

Demo #4: The QNX SDK for Apps and Media
We released the first version of this SDK almost exactly one year ago. In a nutshell, it extends the capabilities of the QNX Neutrino OS 6.6, enabling embedded developers to create rich user interfaces and applications with HTML5, JavaScript, CSS, and other Web technologies. It also offers secure application management, comprehensive multimedia support, mobile device connectivity, an optimized HTML5 engine, and other advanced features for building mobile-class user experiences into embedded devices.

You can learn more about the SDK on the QNX Website. In the meantime, here’s the home screen of the SDK, showing several of its built-in applications and demos:



Demo #5: The [CENSORED] robot
What kind of robot, you ask? Sorry, you’ll have to wait until the first day of Embedded World, when we will showcase a video of this (very cool) QNX system in action.

Demo #6: The all-new QNX [CENSORED]
Again, I can’t tell you what this is. I can’t even give you a hint. I can mention, however, that it’s a brand new product that will run on an automotive demo system in our booth. But don’t be fooled by the automotive connection! The new product can, in fact, be used in a wide variety of devices, not just cars. Stay tuned.



Visit www.qnx.com to learn more about QNX at Embedded World, including presentations on IoT and safety-critical design. And while you're at it, download this infographic to see how flexible QNX technology really is.

Breaking up is hard to do

Separation can be painful. But often, the failure to separate can result in even more pain over the long haul.

No, I’m not talking love, marriage, or other affairs of the human heart. I am talking software design. In particular, the design of complex software systems that must perform safety-critical functions. The software, for example, in a medical device, automotive ADAS unit, or train-control system.

In systems like these, separation is critical: software components must be cleanly isolated from one another. Otherwise, you risk the chance that the behavior of one component will inadvertently interfere with the behavior of another. For this reason, component isolation is a key thrust of functional safety standards like IEC 61508 and ISO 26262.

Several forms of interference, all undesirable.

Interference can take many forms. For instance, a component could improperly use file descriptors or flash memory needed by other components. Or it could enter a tight loop under a failure condition and starve a more-critical component of CPU time. Or it could write to the private memory of another component.

You could, of course, run every component on separate hardware. But that becomes an expensive proposition. Moreover, the market trend is toward hardware consolidation, which, for reasons of economy, merges previously discrete systems onto a single platform.

It’s important, then, to embrace software-based separation techniques. These include OS mechanisms to prevent resource deprivation, time starvation, data corruption, and so on. For instance, the adaptive time partitioning provided by the QNX Neutrino OS can ensure that a software component always gets a minimum percentage of CPU time, whenever it needs it. That way, other components can't prevent it from running, either unintentionally or maliciously.

Software separation is as much art as science. In fact, my colleague Yi Zheng goes further than that. She argues that there is as yet no precise methodology for separating system functions. There are no textbooks, no pat answers.

So is separation only a matter of asking the right questions? That would be an oversimplification, of course. Skill also comes into play, as does experience, not to mention a good dose of thoroughness. But really, you should read Yi’s article, “The Art of Separation”, in Electronic Design and judge for yourself.

New release of QNX OS closes UX gap between smartphones and embedded systems

Okay, this one is going to be short. I'd love to have you stay, but I'd like it even more if you jumped to the QNX website. Because if you do, you'll get the full skinny on a significant new OS release that QNX Software Systems announced this morning.

But before you go, the back story. Mobile devices (think smartphones) have transformed what people expect of embedded systems (think gas pumps, vending machines, heart monitors, or just about any other device with a user interface). Every time someone uses a smartphone or tablet, they become more conditioned to the user experience it delivers. And the more conditioned they become, they more they expect a similar experience in other systems they use. It's human nature, plain and simple.

People who create embedded devices get this. They know that, to succeed, they must up their UX game. The problem is, a gap has existed between the user experiences that embedded operating systems can support and the user experiences that people want. The latest generation of the QNX Neutrino OS, version 6.6, addresses that gap. And it does so by introducing a new and potent mix of graphics, security, multimedia, security, and power management capabilities.

And just what are those capabilities? You'll have to jump to the press release to find out. :-)


The QNX SDK for Apps & Media — one of many significant new features
in the latest release of the QNX OS.

QNX announces support for new Intel Atom E3800 processor family

In 2008, the Intel Intelligent Systems Alliance presented QNX Software Systems with an "Award of Excellence, Most Innovative Software" for its fastboot support of the Intel Atom Processor. Fast forward to this morning, when QNX announced that it will extend its Atom support to include the new Intel Atom E3800 product family, which was created to address the high performance-per-watt demands of medical devices, building automation panels, industrial control systems, in-car infotainment systems, and other smart devices.

Said Sam Cravatta, product line manager at Intel, "Stellar graphics support is crucial for application and intelligent system development. The Atom processor E3800 product family is the first to take advantage of Intel’s Gen 7 graphics, complementing QNX Software Systems’ graphics framework, tools, and runtime components for creating sophisticated displays that feature improved 2D and 3D graphics rendering with little CPU overhead.”

Highlights of the Intel Atom E3800 family include high I/O connectivity, an integrated memory controller, virtualization, error correcting code (ECC), and a thermal design power range of 5W to 10W2.

Read the QNX press release and read more about the E3800 product family.

Six QNX videos more people ought to see

Looking for examples of how people use QNX? You've come to the right place. From outer space to the automotive space, these six videos demonstrate the sheer flexibility and dynamic range of QNX technology. Better yet, you get to hear five users describe, in their own words, why QNX is important to what they do.

QNX in space
First up is Iain Christie of Neptec, the company responsible for creating the SVS and LCS camera systems on the NASA space shuttle. Highlight: when Ian explains the importance of QNX to the shuttle program (1:46). For more on the QNX-based LCS system, see my previous post.



QNX in the clinic
Next up is Vladimir Derenchuk of the Indiana University Health Proton Therapy Center, which uses proton beams to blast difficult-to-treat tumors. Highlight: it's all good, but listen to Vladimir explain why they chose QNX, and how it has helped with FDA approvals (1:34).



QNX in the HVAC
Next up is Hans Symanczik of Kieback & Peter, a German firm that has used QNX in building automation systems for more than 20 years. Highlight: when Hans explains the ultimate benefit of the QNX OS (2:07).



QNX on the air
Next up is Mikael Vest of NTP, a Danish company that supplies QNX-based audio routers to the global television and radio broadcasting industry. Highlight: Mikael himself, who gladly did this interview despite suffering from a flu to end all flus. A real trooper.



QNX on the road
Next up is Rick Kreifeldt of Harman International, a company known in the automotive industry for its ability to push the technology envelope. Highlight: the section where Rick's respect for the QNX team shines through (2:14).



QNX in flight
And last but not least is Thomas Allen from Mechtronix, a company that has developed an innovative, software-based approach to building flight simulators. Highlight: when Allen states that Mechtronix simulators effectively use the same software architecture as the QNX OS (0:45). Years, ago, someone explained to me how the QNX OS isn't simply a well-designed, modular OS; it also encourages well-designed, modular systems. In Mechtronix, we have an example.

10 truths about building safe embedded software systems

I wish I could remember his exact words. But it has been a long time — 20 years — and my memory has probably added words that he never wrote and removed words that he did write. That said, this is how I remember it:

"We all strive to write bug-free code. But in the real world, bugs can and do occur. Rather than pretend this isn't so, we should adopt a mission-critical mindset and create software architectures that can contain errors and recover from them intelligently."

The "he" in question is my late (and great) colleague Dan Hildebrand. I'm sure that Dan's original sentences were more nuanced and to the point. But the important thing is that he grokked the importance of "culture" when it comes to designing software for safety-critical systems. A culture in which the right attitudes and the right questions, not just the right techniques, are embraced and encouraged.

Which brings me to a paper written by my colleagues Chris Hobbs and Yi Zheng. It's titled "Ten truths about building safe embedded software systems" and, sure enough, the first truth is about culture. I quote:

"A safety culture is not only a culture in which engineers are permitted to raise questions related to safety, but a culture in which they are encouraged to think of each decision in that light..."

I was particularly delighted to read truth #5, which echoes Dan's advice with notable fidelity:

"Failures will occur: build a system that will recover or move to its design safe state..."

I also remember Dan writing about the importance of software architectures that allow you to diagnose and repair issues in a field-deployed system. Which brings us to truth #10:

"Our responsibility for a safe system does not end when the product is released. It continues until the last device and the last system are retired."

Dan argued for the importance of these truths in 1993. If anything, they are even more important today, when so much more depends on software. If you care about safe software design, you owe it to yourself to read the paper.

Using dynamic code analysis to support FDA approval

Making a safety case for what goes
in the case

It isn’t enough to create a medical device that is safe to use. You must also demonstrate that it meets safety requirements. Otherwise, how do you know that it is indeed safe? And how can you have it approved by the FDA, MDD, MHRA, or any other regulatory agency?

If you’re familiar with such agencies, you’ll know that they approve the device as a whole, not its constituent parts. And yet, the device manufacturer must still present evidence to demonstrate the dependability of the device software. Hence, close attention to software development practices — together with appropriate validation tools and techniques — is key to securing regulatory approval.

Enter dynamic code analysis. Unlike static analysis, which analyzes source or object code without executing it, dynamic analysis examines compiled code while it is running. As a result, it tests not only the source code, but also the compiler, the linker, the development environment, and, potentially, the target hardware. Dynamic analysis generally involves code coverage analysis and unit testing; together, these can provide an effective way to detect software errors and to demonstrate what software has been exercised.

If you’re interested in how dynamic code analysis can support demonstrations of compliance with safety requirements, look no further than the recent paper, Using Dynamic Software Analysis to Support Medical Device Approval, written by Chris Ault of QNX and Mark Pitchford of LRDA. Among other things, it reviews the key capabilities of dynamic analysis tools and provides tables that map development activities with requirements in the IEC 62304 standard for medical device software.

Which OS for IEC 62304 medical systems?

The question, to some degree, is rhetorical. I work for an OS company, that company has developed a 62304-compliant OS for medical device manufacturers... you see where this is going.

But don't go yet. This week, my colleague Chris Ault will present a webinar on this very topic, and the content he'll cover should prove useful to anyone choosing an OS for a medical device — or, for that matter, any device that must operate reliably and safely.

In case you're wondering, the Linux question will definitely come up. Linux does lots of things very well, but does it belong in a safety-critical device? Knowing Chris, he'll offer a suitably unambiguous answer — and some solid reasoning to back it up.

Okay, enough from me. To learn more about the webinar, which will be held this
Thursday, September 27, at 2 pm eastern, visit the QNX website.

Video: QNX-powered system fires protons to kill cancer

The QNX-powered proton therapy 
system, or PTS

It zaps cancer cells to kingdom come. Better yet, it wipes them out while leaving healthy cells alone. It's called proton therapy, and it's one of the deadliest weapons in the arsenal against cancer.

Conventional radiotherapy may be potent, but it has a drawback. It can sometimes damage healthy tissue, and this damage can lead to secondary cancers later in life — a problem among children, who may live for many years after treatment and who are more likely to suffer from this side-effect.

There is, then, a real need to avoid radiating healthy tissue while maximizing the damage to the diseased tissue. And that's where proton therapy comes in.

Surgical strikes
Protons are relatively heavy, charged particles. They do minimal damage as they pass through tissue, but inflict significant damage where they stop. The challenge is to control the proton beams so that they stop exactly where you want them — the tumor.

Enter the QNX-powered proton therapy system (PTS) at the Indiana University Health Proton Therapy Center. Using the PTS, a radiotherapist can limit damage mostly to where the tumor is located. The radiotherapist can even "mold" the proton beam into the same shape as the tumor. This accuracy makes proton therapy especially useful for treating tumors located near vital organs. It can also reduce long-term effects sometimes associated with conventional forms of radiotherapy. And it serves as an alternative for patients who have already received other forms of treatment and have incurred damage to healthy tissue as a result — proton therapy can minimize the possibility that more healthy tissue is affected.

Delivering the right dose
The PTS uses the QNX OS in its dose delivery system (DDS) — think of it as the business end of the PTS. The DDS controls devices on the system’s nozzle (the beam transport and detection hardware closest to the patient) and measures dose-related values. The DDS also implements an energy-stacking scheme to obtain uniform depth-dose distributions.

The QNX OS allows the DDS to achieve very fast response times. For instance, if beam delivery must stop for any reason, the OS helps ensure that it stops immediately — and in this application, immediately is the only viable option.



I'm feeling appreciative
Before I let you go, a word of thanks to the folks at the proton therapy center. A year ago, I approached them out of nowhere with a proposal to do a video. Their response was overwhelmingly positive. They willingly gave of their time to discuss the proposal, explain what they do, and, of course, work with us on the video itself. While I'm at it, I'd also like to thank my friend and colleague Nancy Young for her fantastic work on this and all the other QNX videos she has produced in the last couple of years. (Speaking of which, have you subscribed to the QNX YouTube channel yet?)

On Q hits milestone: 100,000+ visits

So, I was looking at my Sitemeter account earlier today (you know, the thingie that measures traffic to this blog), and here's what I saw:



My first thought upon seeing this stat? Cool! My second thought? I need to thank everyone who made it possible.

As a QNXer, I'm fortunate to have lots of cool technology to talk about. I'm even more fortunate to have readers who are willing to listen, comment, and, yes, disagree with me. Because the real fun starts when the convo warms up.

All of which to say, thank you — for visiting, for subscribing, for reading, for watching, for commenting, for responding, and, above all, for making this an enjoyable ride. And while I'm at it, a big bear hug for all the colleagues who have supported this blog with their expertise and encouragement. You guys are the best.

And now, a request...
Tell you what, let's make this occasion a little more interactive. Do you have a favorite On Q post? If so, leave a comment — I'd love to hear about it.

Meanwhile, here are 5 of the all-time most popular posts on this blog:

• QNX system runs 15 years nonstop until...
• First pix of the QNX medical reference design
• WIRED: Gadget-filled Corvette connects with QNX
• I passed the buck...
• Two naughty! My favorite QNX marketing campaign

POSTSCRIPT
In case you're wondering, 100,000 isn't my daily visit count — it's the total count. The actual number is higher, as I started to measure traffic about six months after my first post. For those of you who prefer page views as a metric, the total is 173,000+.
 

QNX releases 62304 compliant OS for medical device manufacturers

Building a medical device that meets strict regulatory requirements is a long and sometimes painful process. To help ease the pain (and more importantly, speed up pre-market qualification activities), QNX has released the new QNX Neutrino RTOS for medical devices, which complies with the IEC 62304 standard for medical device software life cycle processes.

If you develop software for medical devices, check out the product overview for the new OS. Then head over to the whitepaper section of the QNX website. You'll find several papers of interest, including:

• Choosing an RTOS for Remote-care Medical Devices
   
• Clear SOUP and COTS Software for Medical Device Development (includes discussion of 62304)
   
• Persistent Publish/Subscribe Messaging in Medical Devices

 

Bone researchers gear up with Lego Mindstorms

I'll admit it: I own a Meccano set. And despite my rapidly advancing years, I have no intention to give it up. Pretty sad, right?

Mind you, I've always thought it would be cool to build something useful with it — which is probably my way of rationalizing why I keep the damn thing.

That said, I've just stumbled on a video that shows how a building toy can, in fact, help create something useful — something that may ultimately aid humanity. The toy in this case isn't Meccano, but its 21st century equivalent: Lego MindStorms. Check it out:



Maybe I'll hold on to my Meccano set just a little bit longer. Or maybe I should get with the program, pick up Lego Mindstorms, and start, well, programming. :-)
 

Qt Commercial 4.8.1 comes to QNX Neutrino RTOS

QNX patient-monitoring demo
equipped with a Qt-based UI.

If you didn't read the Qt Commercial Blog last week, you probably missed out on important news: The latest release of the Qt Commercial framework not only offers 200 functional improvements over its predecessor, but also introduces support for the QNX Neutrino RTOS.

According to blog's author, Tuukka Turunen (cool name, that), "Developers looking to develop their products on QNX with Qt Commercial can rest assured that Digia... supports their project with a full support and services team." This is welcome news for the many developers who'd like to use Qt and the QNX Neutrino RTOS together in a commercial device or application.

If you're new to Qt, it's a popular framework for writing applications and graphical user interfaces. It's also cross-platform: You can write your applications once and deploy them across multiple desktop and embedded operating systems, without having to rewrite your source code. This "write once, deploy across" feature helps explain why a number of QNX customers — particularly those in the medical industry — have asked for Qt Commercial support.

In case you're wondering, Qt Commercial is a, well, commercial version of Qt. :-)  It's available from Digia, a Finnish company that offers licensing, support, and services to companies who wish to Qt in commercial applications, on either desktop or embedded platforms.

If you visit here often, you may have already seen the QNX patient-monitoring demo, which sports a user interface built with Qt. But if you haven't, check out this video filmed at last year's Embedded World Conference in Nuremburg. Among other things, the video showcases some nifty BlackBerry PlayBook integration:



Any chance you'll be in Moscow on April 19? If so, you can meet up with Digia at QNX Russia 2012, the largest event for the Russian QNX community.
 

QNX announces new wireless and medical solutions at Embedded World

A QNX-based patient-monitoring
demo, demonstrated this week
at Embedded World

This just in: QNX issued two announcements today, one focused on helping developers build wireless connectivity into embedded devices, the other focused on helping medical device manufacturers build products that must pass regulatory approval.

Wireless solutions — QNX has struck up preferred partnerships with LS Research and Silex Technology to develop pre-validated solutions based on ARM-based connectivity modules. Initial implementations will include the LS Research COM6L-BLE wireless evaluation module, which uses TI WL1271L silicon, and Silex wireless modules, which use the Qualcomm Atheros AR6003 Wi-Fi chip. QNX will provide first-line technical support to help customers speed up product design and commercialization. Read the press release.

OS for medical devices — QNX has also announced the upcoming QNX Neutrino Realtime Operating System for medical devices, which will comply with the IEC 62304 medical device standard for software life cycle processes. To further help medical-device manufacturers, QNX has introduced on-site audits, proven-in-use data, training courses on designing dependable systems, and assistance to meet compliancy requirements. Read the press release.

Both announcements coincide with the Embedded World congress in Nuremburg, where QNX Software Systems is exhibiting its latest products and delivering talks on in-field debugging, realtime scheduling, and publish/subscribe messaging.
 

LDRA, QNX help medical device developers gear up on IEC 62304 standard

Image courtesy LDRA

Until a few weeks ago, I had never heard of LDRA.

My bad. LDRA has been in business for more than 35 years, developing tools that automate code analysis and software testing for safety-, mission-, security- and business- critical systems. (A lot of hyphens, I know, but did you really want me to say "critical" four times? :-)  In other words, LDRA has been helping systems work reliably for even longer than QNX.

Fortunately, my colleague Bob Monkman isn't as clued out as I am. In fact, he recently got together with LDRA to develop a new webinar, "Optimizing the Development of Certified Medical Devices".

The webinar, which happens this Wednesday at 2:00 p.m. EST, covers several topics, including:

• Using IEC 62304 development templates
• Specifying requirements to ensure requirements traceability through all phases of development
• Leveraging safe design training courses and pre-audit consulting
• Securing code — 70% of security vulnerabilities rise from programming errors
• Scheduling code inspections — early inspections eliminate errors
• Gaining IEC 62304 compliance using qualifiable and certified products from LDRA and QNX
   

Unified tooling
Don't go just yet. I also want to mention that LDRA recently ported their tool suite — which includes tools for lifecycle software testing for all phases of development — to the QNX Momentics Tool Suite and QNX Neutrino RTOS.

This makes for nice integration between LDRA tools and QNX tools. For instance, if the LDRA tool suite identifies a code violation, you can view the error interactively from within the QNX Momentics IDE — no need to switch tooling environment. Good, that.


Using the QNX Momentics IDE to inspect a violation caught by the LDRA tool suite.

To view two full-size screen captures showing LDRA-QNX integration, visit the Hughes Communications website.

And for more details on the LDRA suite for QNX, check out the press release.

Qt developers can now target QNX Neutrino RTOS with commercial licensing and support from Digia

QNX medical demo equipped
with a Qt-based user interface
(see video, below)

This just in: Digia and QNX Software Systems have announced that Digia will provide developers who target the QNX Neutrino RTOS with licensing, support, and services for the Qt Commercial development framework. This is welcome news for anyone who wants to use Qt and the QNX Neutrino RTOS in a commercial device or application.

If you're new to Qt, it's a popular framework for writing applications and graphical user interfaces. More to the point, it's a cross-platform framework: You can write your applications once and deploy them across multiple desktop and embedded operating systems, without having to rewrite your source code.

This "write once, deploy across" feature helps explain why a number of QNX customers — particularly those in the medical industry — have been asking for commercial Qt support. In fact, both Qt and QNX Neutrino have a proven history in FDA-approved devices. It's no surprise, then, that the QNX concept team used Qt to build the user interface for their medical device demo, pictured above.

To get a feel for how the concept team integrated the Qt UI with QNX Neutrino, check out the whitepaper, "Persistent Publish/Subscribe Messaging in Medical Devices". And to see the Qt-equipped medical demo in action, check out this video filmed at the Embedded World Conference in Nuremburg. Among other things, the video showcases some nifty BlackBerry PlayBook integration.


 

Using persistent publish/subscribe (PPS) messaging in medical devices

A QNX-based medical demo
equipped with PPS messaging
and a Qt user interface.

In early 2010, I published two posts (here and here) on persistent publish/subscribe messaging, aka PPS. The posts explored the advantages of PPS over other forms of interprocess communications (IPC) and why it makes automotive instrument clusters, smart energy panels, and other devices easier to develop, maintain, and upgrade.

In a nutshell, PPS lets you create loosely coupled designs based on asynchronous publications and notifications. This “decoupling” offers a great deal of flexibility, allowing you to delay final decisions on module connection points and data flow until runtime. Because such decisions don’t have to be hardcoded, they can be adapted as requirements evolve; they can even change dynamically as the system runs.

It's almost 18 months later, and the two posts remain in the top 10 of my most popular articles. Just one problem: Neither post discusses how PPS could be applied to medical devices — Quelle horreur!

Fortunately, my QNX colleague Justin Moon has filled the gap with the article "Persistent Publish/ Subscribe Alleviates Development Pains in Medical Devices." Read it here in Medical Electronic Device Solutions (MEDS) magazine.