Debugging pioneer joins international architecture foundation.

Ashling Microsystems has joined the RISC-V Foundation, a non-profit corporation controlled by its members to drive the adoption and implementation of the open, free RISC-V instruction set architecture (ISA) forward.

Born in academia and research, RISC-V ISA delivers a new level of free, extensible software and hardware freedom on architecture, paving the way for the next 50 years of computing design and innovation. Ashling will demonstrate its first RISC-V IDE to coincide with the 7th RISC-V Workshop Nov. 28 – 30, 2017 in Milpitas (CA USA).

“As a reputable provider of debug tools, we are delighted to welcome Ashling to the RISC-V Foundation as a silver member,” said Rick O’Connor, executive director of the non-profit RISC-V Foundation. “As the RISC-V community continues to grow, the requirement for a complete ecosystem containing a strong suite of support tools is critical.”

“By joining RISC-V, we are demonstrating our support and commitment to open architectures and corresponding ecosystems. We see RISC-V as a great way of leveraging cooperation between industry and academia to advance innovation and prevent vendor exclusivity,” said John Murphy, Managing Director, Ashling Microsystems. “We believe that Ashling has the experience and focused expertise to address all aspects of the RISC-V ecosystem as RISC-V usage extends to cover the whole gamut of applications, from high computing servers to low power embedded systems and IoT.”

In addition to developing custom RISC-V embedded solutions for semiconductor companies leading the way in RISC-V, Ashling can also manage all aspects of the RISC-V ecosystem by providing specialized service and support. This greatly alleviates the support burden for adopters of the RISC-V open architecture, as it frees up developers to focus on product design and launch.

#AshlingMicrosystems #PAuto  @risc_v

Finding and fixing difficult-to-detect software bugs quickly!

Ashling Microsystems has just announced a new debug probe for NXP’s SmartMX3 secure microcontroller platform. This high performance probe supports the development of applications and operating-systems for security controller ICs which can involve substantial amounts of complex software.

Ashling’s SmartMRK3-EPK is a USB2.0 based real-time debug probe. It provides engineers developing eGovernment, banking, payment and access management applications with a powerful solution to debug code executing on NXP SmartMX3 P71 security controller ICs. The SmartMRK3-EPK behaves like the target security controller containing the actual ROM-code. It is available with an ISO7816 smart card format interface connection.

SmartMRK3-EPK features:

• Used with NXP Smart Card Composer IDE - Debug application code executing in real-time in an NXP SmartMX3 P71 device
• Support for all SmartMX3 P71 family devices - NXP SMD IC device ensures accurate P71 emulation from both a hardware and software perspective
• Contact and contactless card-reader interfacing - Supports Voltage Classes A, B and C
• Standalone battery-backed operation

Commenting on the product launch, Hugh O’Keeffe, Engineering Director at Ashling Microsystems, said “SmartMRK3-EPK coupled with NXP’s Smart Card Composer IDE, provides the ability to debug application code executing in real-time and is critical for finding and fixing difficult-to-detect software bugs quickly.”

NXP’s SmartMX3 products build on the proven and reliable IntegralSecurity architecture, which demonstrates worldwide interoperability and standard compliance. The 3rd generation of NXP’s SmartMX microcontroller family delivers exceptionally high security, flexible memory usage, and outstanding performance across all applications.

SmartMX products have been used in more than 100 countries, for EMV payment cards and eGovernment solutions, and more than 6 billion SmartMX ICs have shipped. The SmartMX microcontroller family is the leading choice for secure applications, including ePassports, eIDs, eHealthcards, eDriver’s licenses, access management, and payment.

#AshlingMicrosystems #PAuto #Security

New debug probe

Ashling Microsystems, a NeST Group company, has launched an Entry-level Debug Probe for embedded development on Texas Instruments (TI) Processor and DSP platforms. Opella-XDS100v2 is designed to work with v4.1 (or later) of TI’s Code Composer Studio (CCS) IDE and seamlessly plugs into the CCS environment allowing convenient debugging of application code actually running on the target system. Debugging support is provided for all TI platforms including OMAP™, DaVinci™, TMS320C6000™, TMS320C5000™, TMS320C2000™ and TMS470™ families

Commenting on the product release, Hugh O’Keeffe, Engineering Director of Ashling Microsystems, Ltd. said “TI's decision to make CCS free to Opella-XDS100v2 users is a massive step forward in reducing the cost of equipping engineering teams who wish to target applications based on TI's Processor or DSP platforms. A full set of development and debug tools is now available for significantly less than $100 per seat. This price point will open up many new markets and applications that were not previously possible due to the prohibitive cost of equipping engineers”

Opella-XDS100v2 and TI’s CCS are available directly from Ashling and its sales representatives worldwide.