CoWare joins ARM Solution Center for Android

SAN JOSE, USA: CoWare Inc., the leading supplier of Electronic System Virtualization software and services and a member of the ARM Connected Community, announced it is participating in the ARM Solution Center for Android, a collaborative resource for designers and developers of ARM technology-based products running on Android, the open source platform from the Open Handset Alliance.

CoWare provides virtual platform solutions for Android-based product prototyping and software development. Comprehensive debug, analysis and test solutions are available for the full Android software stack running at real-time speed on the virtual board.

As the market for smartphones, other connected mobile and home devices grows, so too do consumers’ expectations for these devices. The ARM Solution Center for Android provides designers and developers of Android-based devices, the assurance that the components used to develop these next-generation consumer electronic devices are up to the task.

“Android-based systems can be very versatile. Limiting the time spent on OS porting and enabling early software development and testing of these multi-core devices are key to reduce time-to-market and to maximize product value at market entry,” said Tom De Schutter, Senior Marketing Manager, IP Models, CoWare.

“CoWare has been working closely with ARM to provide virtual prototyping solutions to enable cost-effective software development capabilities for debugging and analysis of ARM technology-based designs running Android.”

“Bringing up Android to perform efficiently on a new device can be a fair challenge. Features need to be well integrated across many layers in the Android SW stack such as Java, Java Native Layer, Hardware Adaptation Layer and finally the OS and its drivers. We have been tailoring our Virtual Platform-based, system-level software debugging solution towards awareness of those layers. This significantly eases the understanding and debugging of all those highly-distributed functions,” said Achim Nohl, principal solution specialist at CoWare.

“Android was written for the ARM architecture, the leading processor architecture for internet everywhere applications from mobile to the connected home,” said Kevin Smith, vice president of segment marketing, ARM. “ARM is fortunate to be able to cultivate a partner ecosystem that ensures device manufacturers have the best development solutions at their disposal.”

CoWare has created a virtual ARM development board that is based on the ARM RealView® Baseboard and runs the full Android 2.0 Software Stack. Debugging and analysis can be performed across all layers of Android while running real and deterministic usage scenarios, such as taking a phone call while using internet-based GPS navigation.

The virtualized IO modules connect interfaces such as UARTs, GPIOs or Ethernet to applications or interfaces on the host for full system simulation and test. The hardware modeling solution is based on the SystemC industry standard and allows the easy tailoring or extension of the platform by bring-in of custom or third-party IP.

The Solution Center for Android is accessible immediately.