32-bit microcontrollers are making all kinds of products smarter. They're making a place for software inside everything from medical devices to the smart grid. In fact, we can't meet our loftiest national goals, including reductions in energy consumption without embedding ever more processors and software inside our automobiles and homes. This dynamic may even be the leading economic driver pulling us out of recession. Join us as we explore the converging trends that are driving growth in embedded systems.

About the speaker: Michael Barr is an internationally recognized expert on the design of embedded computer systems. In that role, he has provided expert witness testimony in federal court, appeared on PBS’ American Business Review, and been quoted in various newspapers. He is also the author of three books and more than fifty articles on related subjects. For three and a half years Michael served as editor-in-chief of Embedded Systems Programming magazine. In addition, Michael is a member of the advisory board and a track chair for the Embedded Systems Conference. Software he wrote continues to power millions of products. Michael holds B.S. and M.S. degrees in electrical engineering and has lectured in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Maryland, from which he also earned an MBA.

Time: 12:00pm - 1:00pm EST

Embedded applications are increasingly requiring higher performance MCUs to support the emergence of multimedia, high-speed connectivity and faster data-processing in embedded applications. This brings new challenges with multiple tasks required to be executed in parallel. This session will look at some high-performance embedded application examples and examine potential system bottlenecks. Our team will look at methods for estimating real-world performance and examine how MCU core performance, memory organization, and innovative MCU architectures can all dramatically affect application performance.

Presenters:

• Alec Bath, Applications Engineer, STMicroelectronics
• Markus Mayr, Product Marketing Engineer, STMicroelectronics

About the Presenters:
Alec Bath provides hardware, software and 3rd-party middleware integration support for ST's ARM-based microcontroller products in the central US region. He works with customers, bringing up their STM32 designs, training distributor FAE's or giving hands-on product seminars. In a past life, he developed MCU-based hardware and software for analog cellphones and automotive body controllers, including a 1st-generation hybrid concept car design. He received his electrical engineering degree from Bradley University in 1992, and when not espousing the glory of the Cortex-M3 core, he can be found running marathons and ultra's throughout the country.

Markus Mayr is STMicoelectronics’ Product Marketing Engineer and has held various positions in the Semiconductor Industry in Application, Marketing and Business Development in Europe and the Americas. Markus holds a BSEE from Furtwangen University, Germany.

Scheduled Chat: 1:00pm - 1:30pm EST

Join this chat session and talk to the experts who presented the “Challenges in High-Performance Embedded Designs” session. Alec Bath and Markus Mayr will be available to take questions you may have on high-performance embedded design.

Moderators:

• Alec Bath, Applications Engineer, STMicroelectronics
• Markus Mayr, Product Marketing Engineer, STMicroelectronics

Time: 1:30pm - 2:30pm EST

The role of powerful tools in successful development is beyond question. But the design team today must combine their freedom to select best-in-class tools with the reality of no time for learning curves and no money for repeated tool investments. Development tool experts will investigate how to manage this feat by exploiting the concept of the computing ecosystem.

Moderator: Ron Wilson, Content Director, UBM Electronics

Panelists:

• Andre Dostie, Applications Manager, STMicroelectronics
• Reinhard Keil, Director of MCU Tools, ARM
• Kerry Berland, President, Silicon Engines
• Nadim Shehayed, Managing Director of IAR Systems Americas, IAR Systems

Time: 2:30pm - 3:30pm EST

Increasingly, embedded designs are multitasking and connected. Implementing the blocks that provide these services should be the responsibility of the ecosystem, not a trial for the design team. Our guest experts from the software and systems domains will uncover best practices for selecting and integrating these major software functions without having to become an OS guru or protocol-processing expert.

Presenter: Christian Legare, Vice President, Micrium

About the presenter:
Christian Legare joined Micrium as Vice President in 2002. Before joining Micrium, Legare spent 22 years in the telecom industry as an executive in such large-scale organizations as Telegloce Canda and in engineering and R&D startups. He was in charge of an IP (Internet Protocol) certification program at the International Institute of Telecom (IIT) in Montreal, Canada. He is a regular speaker at the Embedded Systems Conferences in Boston and Silicon Valley and has published several articles on embedded systems. Legare holds an BSEE and MSEE from the University of Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada.

Time: 3:30pm - 4:30pm EST

There are many techniques for reducing power in embedded design, from low-power circuits to voltage scaling and partial sleep modes. But optimizing system energy efficiency requires accurate power estimates and clear understanding of operating modes. In this discussion our team will look at hardware and software techniques to demonstrate these principles.

Presenters:

• Stuart McLaren, Product Marketing Manager, STMicroelectronics
• Sean Newton, Applications Engineer, STMicroelectronics

About the presenters:
Stuart McLaren is STMicroelectronics' Americas Region Product Marketing Manager and helps identify suitable opportunities for product design-ins while collecting customer feedback on features and specifications for next-generation products. He has designed control and digital signal processing systems for a range of embedded products. Stuart has a Bachelors degree in Physics from Imperial College, London.

Sean Newton is a field applications engineer for microcontrollers at STMicroelectronics, where he provides customer technical support for 32-bit microcontroller products. Beginning in 2002, Newton has provided 8/16/32-bit applications development and support for secure microcontrollers and smart cards. Since 2008, he has also provided 32-bit applications support for general-purpose microcontrollers with specialization in embedded Linux, 802.15.4 wireless, and low power applications. Newton has 20 years experience in software programming from mainframe systems to embedded systems. He received a BSEE and BSCS from the University of Nevada, Reno.

Time: 4:30pm - 5:30pm EST

Our team drawn from the embedded development community will discuss the formidable challenges involved in pulling together a market-beating application from existing code and newly-designed modules. Today’s design teams must maintain agility and fast time-to-market, while increasing reuse and honing their testing methodology.

Moderator: Jim Turley, Principal Analyst, Silicon Insider

Panelists:

• Lyle Bainbridge, independent design consultant
• Shay Gal-On, Director of Software Engineering, EEMBC
• Albert Kunickis, Product Marketing Manager, STMicroelectronics
• Eric Welch, President, Bramson Welch & Associates, Inc.

Scheduled Chat: 5:30pm - 6:00pm EST

Join this chat session and talk to the experts who presented the ‘Accurate Power Estimation in Low-Power Design’ session. Sean Newton and Stuart McLaren will be available to take questions you may have on embedded low-power design.

Moderators:

• Stuart McLaren, Product Marketing Manager, STMicroelectronics
• Sean Newton, Applications Engineer, STMicroelectronics