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.

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.
 

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.
 

Video: A closer look at the QNX medical reference design

Last week, I treated you to a video of the QNX medical reference design. Well, at the risk of repeating myself, here's a brand new video of the reference design, filmed at the embedded world conference in Nuremburg.

In this video, you get a closer (and clearer) look at the system's human machine interface, or HMI. And because the system is based on QNX technology, you also get to see some spiffy BlackBerry PlayBook integration.

Grab some popcorn, dim the lights, and check it out:



As mentioned in previous posts (here and here), the medical reference design runs on the QNX Neutrino RTOS. The CPU is a Freescale imx51 processor based on an ARM Cortex-A8 core, and the user interface is built with the Qt framework.

Many thanks to our friends at ARM for shooting the video.
 

First pix of the QNX medical reference design

UPDATE: For a video of the medical reference design, including proof-of-concept integration with a BlackBerry PlayBook, click here.

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Last week, I introduced you to the new medical reference design that QNX unveiled at the Medical Design & Manufacturing Conference. Well, here are the first photos to come back from that event.

Device connectivity is a key feature of the reference design. So, in this photo, we see two of the devices — a pulse oximeter and a blood pressure cuff — that the design can talk to:



Keeping with the same theme, here's a photo showing proof-of-concept connectivity to a BlackBerry PlayBook tablet:



If you wondering what's under the hood of the reference design, the operating system is the QNX Neutrino RTOS, the user interface is based on the Qt framework, and the processor is a Freescale imx51 chip based on an ARM Cortex-A8.

I hope to post more photos (and possibly a video) in the days and weeks ahead...
 

Qt framework for QNX: Not just a pretty interface

Before we go any further, let's get the pronunciation thing out of the way. Strictly speaking, Qt is pronounced "cute." But guess what: The minute you start saying things like "That device has 'cute' user interface" is the same minute people start looking at you funny. Hence, the pronunciation of choice has become, not surprisingly, "kyoo tee".

If you're new to Qt, the Qt community portal has a good, albeit prolix definition:

"Qt is a comprehensive C++ application development framework that includes a class library and tools for cross-platform development and internationalization. The intuitive Qt API and tools are consistent across all supported platforms, enabling platform-independent application development and deployment."
The definition on the Qt Development Frameworks website gets to the point a little quicker:

"Qt is a cross-platform application and UI framework. Using Qt, you can write web-enabled applications once and deploy them across desktop, mobile, and embedded operating systems without rewriting the source code."
This "write once, deploy across" feature is a key reason why many QNX customers, particularly those in the medical and industrial automation industries, show interest in Qt. Mind you, it's not the only reason. Qt's rich cross-platform C++ class library, running on the QNX Neutrino RTOS, also allows device makers to:

• build advanced user interfaces from a rich set of standard and customizable GUI components
• visualize data in 3D with a tight integration with OpenGL
• increase designer & developer collaboration with Qt Quick, a complete UI creation kit
• choose a license to fit project requirements
• take advantage of the Qt ecosystem
• leverage the reliability and real-time performance of the QNX Neutrino RTOS

From port to completed port
Qt Software, a Nokia subsidiary, first ported Qt to the QNX Neutrino RTOS in July 2009. QNX Software Systems plans to complete this port and quickly move up to latest release of Qt, v4.7. From what I understand, the new port will initially support ARM and Atom processors on Beagle boards and Kontron boards, respectively. Support for additional platforms will depend on customer interest.

Look ma, no C++
Qt 4.7 introduces a new feature, Qt Quick, that enhances Qt's capabilities and allows anyone familiar with scripting languages to create UIs and apps. With Qt Quick, you don't need to know C++. Instead, you can use QML, a JavaScript-based declarative language, to design your "UI centric" applications.

According to the Qt website, if you have experience with JavaScript, HTML, or CSS, you have the skills to learn QML. Practically speaking, this ease of access means that user-interface designers can work hand-in-hand with software developers to create animated, touch-enabled UIs.

A matter of choice
The QNX Neutrino RTOS already supports a choice of UI technologies, including Adobe Flash, OpenGL ES, and the QNX Photon microGUI. Support for Qt will add to this choice. In future posts, I will track the progress of Qt for the QNX Neutrino RTOS and provide some insight as to how it integrates with existing QNX graphics technologies and frameworks.

Until then, here's a video published to celebrate the initial port to QNX Neutrino back in 2009: