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Embedded Tech & IoT

Embedded Tech

Our embedded tech specialists work across many industries.

What we do

We design, develop and integrate software components connecting users to the underlying hardware.

The Digica team often creates prototype hardware and circuit boards, taking them from that initial phase to finished hi-tech consumer, automotive, and industrial hardware.

As embedded developers, we create the underlying software that turns hardware into mobile hardware. Much of our work is with device drivers and middleware—the software that controls the electronics.

We integrate it with the host operating system so that the software written by application developers can talk to the underlying hardware. We also develop the core embedded applications present in such hardware, like multimedia players.

Embedded Tech

Case studies

 
Integrating an end to end IoT system

Integrating an end to end IoT system

 

What the customer wanted to achieve

The IoT vendor needed a proven, demonstrable use case of their IoT devices and gateways integrated with the Oracle IoT Cloud. The solution called for a temperature sensor and actuator, an agent residing on the gateway, and a web-based dashboard.

How Digica helped the customer

Members of our team worked with the vendor to help select technologies for each of the components in the demonstrator, then we built each software component and integrated them.

We deployed the demonstrator to the sales team and followed up with training, seminars, and field support.

What we achieved

We provided the solution to a sales team of approximately 150 staff, who demonstrated it at large trade shows including Embedded World over a period of 12 months. Sales volume for this product line increased significantly, thanks to the key differentiating factor of Oracle IoT Cloud integration.

Technologies used

We implemented the gateway agent in Java. A key challenge was the integration of a JVM on the gateway, which is a resource-limited device. The dashboard was created using standard web-based technologies including HTML5, JavaScript and CSS. Embedded components were built using C on “bare metal.”

Integrated Cockpit Reference Design

Integrated Cockpit Reference Design

 

What the customer wanted to achieve

In-vehicle infotainment systems are typically separate from vehicle instruments, which often don’t make use of many of the graphical features of the underlying silicon. The customer asked us to create a system which combined infotainment and driver features in a single unit, with an innovative UI that makes full use of the GPU.

How Digica helped the customer

Team members worked with the client to build an underlying Linux based platform to satisfy the technical requirements. We reviewed and selected appropriate UI tools, and created an innovative 3D infotainment and driver system application.

Our team members helped with a worldwide demonstration of the system to several automotive OEMs and worked on the publication of a supporting technical paper.

What we achieved

The complete system called for collaboration between platform and application developers, hardware designers and UI tools vendors from three separate organisations on three continents. Our team members managed the entire development process, creating the application layer and integrating the system.

This was one of the first viable fully integrated systems of its kind.

Technologies used

The platform was based on a Renesas R-Car SoC, and the operating system was a custom Linux distribution. The SoC included an Imagination Technologies SGX GPU with an OpenGL ES driver stack. The selected toolchain was DiSTI’s GL Studio, on which we built the application layer.

Why the customer chose to work with the Digica Team

We were chosen because of our extensive experience of working with GPUs on automotive Linux platforms. We conducted the project using agile methodology so that key project milestones were met and feature updates were deployed regularly.

Bringing Hi-fi Quality to Tablet Users

Bringing Hi-fi Quality to Tablet Users

 

What the customer wanted to achieve

The audio vendor was providing technology for a bleeding-edge tablet, which included advanced multimedia features. They wanted their libraries to be ported from a generic C/C++ environment to OpenMAX in a highly customised Android platform.

In addition to the integrated libraries, a “graphic equaliser” style application was also required, to give the user fine-grained control of their audio.

How Digica helped the customer

The Digica team ported the proprietary audio libraries to the Khronos specified OpenMAX IL framework, and subsequently integrated this with a custom Android fork. The application was initially developed against mock APIs before being integrated with the underlying libraries. The entire system was tested on a range of display sizes and device SKUs.

What we achieved

The complete system was created for a flagship consumer tablet which was distributed globally—over 5 million units were sold in the first year after launch. The audio framework developed by the Digica team was also successfully deployed in several subsequent devices.

Technologies used

The platform components were developed in C/C++,  against standard Khronos APIs, built against a Linux distribution and integrated into an Android platform. Application layer components were built using Android Java. The entire system ran on TI OMAP based hardware.

Why the customer chose to work with the Digica Team

The Digica team was selected because of our extensive experience with developing both platform and application layer components for Android and Linux platforms. Our familiarity with Khronos and prior experience of TI hardware gave us ample insight to fulfil all requirements.

Hi-tech Industrial User Interface

Hi-tech Industrial User Interface

 

What the customer wanted to achieve

The customer had a large installed base of high-value industrial equipment in factories worldwide. The equipment was based on an SoC incorporating a high powered GPU. The software stack integrated into the system did not provide support for all the GPU features required by the factory user base. The technology vendor required graphics features and bug fixes backporting from the most recent version of the GPU driver to the legacy system.

How Digica helped the customer

Our team members have a lot of experience with developing GPU drivers. As well as backporting the required features, the team integrated contributions from the SoC and GPU vendors and provided deployment support to the industrial technology vendor.

What we achieved

The features and defect fixes were backported and deployed to the customer platform on time and on budget. The software deliverables were deployed to an iterative schedule, which allowed us to provide the most important features in advance of the full feature set.

Technologies used

The software was implemented on an embedded Microsoft Windows platform, supporting DirectX graphics APIs. The GPU was an Imagination Technologies SGX.

Why the customer choose to work with the Digica Team

Our team had extensive experience of working with SoC and GPU vendor technology in an embedded Windows environment. We were also able to support the industrial technology vendor directly in Europe and the USA.

Enabling Dual SIM for Android

Enabling Dual SIM for Android

 

What the customer wanted to achieve

The Silicon vendor had developed a custom SoC designed for inclusion in Android mobile phones. The target market for the SoC was China, where mobiles are commonly sold SIM-free, and many consumers require dual SIM support. At the time, Android did not include dual SIM support.

How Digica helped the customer

The Digica team selected an open-source dual SIM implementation for Android, which included both platform level telephony support and a reference UI for dual SIM support. We integrated this implementation with the customer’s Android BSP and modems.

What we achieved

We completed the initial integration of the open-source project and customisation to support the target hardware for Dual SIM, Single-Active mode. Data connections, voice call control and text messaging were also supported. The design allowed for the simple addition of full voice calling and Dual SIM, Dual Active enhancements.

Technologies used

The platform layers of the system were implemented using a combination of C/C++ against the Android NDK and Java, while reference application layers were implemented using Android Java.

Why the customer chose to work with Digica

Our team’s history of developing mobile connectivity components, including telephony adaptation layers, application processor to baseband processor IPC and networking drivers gave us a unique perspective on the challenges of this project.

Mass Market eReader

Mass Market eReader

 

What the customer wanted to achieve

The customer was developing the first generation of a planned series of eReaders. The primary reading application had been selected and was in the process of being integrated, but neither the application nor the underlying platform supported DRM, an essential feature for content protection.

How Digica helped the customer

Digica engineers integrated the Adobe DRM solution into their embedded Windows platform, and supported the application developer with the required modifications to their reading software. A prototype integration of the Adobe DRM solution into the customer’s Linux BSP was also made, ready for integration with their Linux based device, when it became available.

What we achieved

Enabling the integration of the libraries on the embedded Windows platform required significant BSP work. Several dependent software component upgrades and integrations were also required. Even though this increased the scope of the project significantly, the finished software was delivered on schedule.

Technologies used

The embedded Windows integration work was primarily implemented using C. Integration of the DRM features used C#. The Linux integration was implemented using C only.

Why the customer chose to work with Digica

eReaders are typically low-cost devices. Familiarity with system integration activities in resource-constrained target environments was crucial to the successful execution of this project. The Digica team’s background with embedded systems and early smartphone technology made them an ideal choice.

How can we help you?

 
To find out more about Digica, or to discuss how we may be of service to you, please get in touch.