Mentor announces multicore solutions for symmetric and asymmetric multiprocessing

WILSONVILLE, USA: Mentor Graphics Corp. announced the Mentor Embedded Nucleus SMP (Symmetric Multiprocessing) technology and support for the Multicore Communications Application Programming Interface (MCAPI) standard for inter-processor communication (IPC), established by the Multicore Association.

These Mentor Graphics technologies provide a comprehensive solution for developers of multicore and multi-OS designs for both symmetric and asymmetric multiprocessing (SMP and AMP) deployments.

The Nucleus SMP technology is an evolution of the Mentor Graphics Nucleus Plus real-time operating system (RTOS) and was developed in close collaboration with ARM. The addition of the Mentor Graphics SMP technology creates a scalable solution enabling seamless migration of application code across the whole range of ARM processors from Cortex-M series processors through to the high end Cortex-A series processors.

Mentor was able to develop this highly-optimized version of Nucleus SMP using the ARM RealView Compilation Tools and validate the Nucleus SMP solution on the multicore ARM Cortex-A9 MPCore™ processor using the ARM Versatile Express Cortex-A9 quad core development board and the ARM Fast Models Cortex-A9 simulator.

“Mentor’s Nucleus SMP capability using the ARM Cortex-A9 platform will allow our mutual customers to develop high-performance, power-efficient multicore designs with confidence and greater productivity,” said John Goodacre, director of program management, Processors Division, ARM. “Our successful hardware and software collaboration with Mentor further demonstrates the importance of tight relationships for innovating technology.”

Nucleus SMP leverages the full range of Nucleus OS middleware including the Mentor Embedded Inflexion User Interface (UI), networking stacks for wired and wireless communication, security, USB, and file systems.

Nucleus RTOS and Linux for MCAPI support with asymmetric multiprocessing
The Mentor Graphics MCAPI solution supports both Nucleus and Linux operating systems enabling a standard interface for communication and synchronization between multiple OSs running in asymmetric multiprocessing (AMP) designs.

Thus, AMP designs can leverage the standard Android- and Linux-rich feature set while the Nucleus RTOS can manage the hard real-time or safety-critical requirements.

“Mentor is addressing the challenges of mixing different operating systems, like Linux and the Nucleus RTOS, for different methods of IPC with its support of the MCAPI standard,” said Markus Levy, president of The Multicore Association. “Mentor’s MCAPI technology will accelerate the adoption of multiple OSs on multicore which is necessary to help meet system timing requirements for higher-quality product development.”

“Our acquisition of Embedded Alley last year has allowed us to integrate Linux and Android open source for technology development, like our Nucleus SMP and MCAPI support,” said Glenn Perry, general manager, Mentor Graphics Embedded Software Division. “Our multicore and multi-OS capabilities further demonstrate our continued strategy of providing the most innovative embedded development products and services to help our customers and partners become more successful.”

Technologies to be demonstrated at ESC 2010
The Mentor Embedded Nucleus SMP and MCAPI technologies will be demonstrated at the Mentor Graphics booth #1902 during the Embedded Systems Silicon Valley Conference, April 26-29.