12 September 2006
Finding fault
Complex systems, such as those in aerospace and defence, are driving demand for advanced diagnostics tools.
Many people are familiar with Moore’s Law, whereby transistor density doubles every 24months. This has been exploited in the microprocessors used in both enterprise desktop and server environments, which has seen tremendous growth in their respective markets. Away from the desktop, electronic devices – from handheld PDAs to automotive infotainment systems to full blown command and control systems – have seen similarly explosive growth, as emerging applications have sought to exploit these new hardware capabilities.
Device manufacturers engage in a ‘feature war’, seeking to differentiate their products from their competitors’. This increasing complexity requires ever greater levels of investment, even while time to market windows continue to shrink. This has placed further pressure on device manufacturers to reduce development timescales, and to maintain balance between the financial risks of product development versus the financial return from success in the marketplace.
If product development exceeds scheduled time to market, the success of the product may be greatly diminished. In addition, if the product encounters quality or reliability issues after deployment, the manufacturer’s reputation can suffer and product sales will fall rapidly.
In the aerospace and defence industry, the challenges may appear to be very different at first glance. However, there are parallels at the technical level, with programmes striving to achieve technological advantages against a potential foe, and at the commercial level, where programme developments may be undertaken on a fixed price contract basis, and late deployment could even result in financial penalties being imposed.
The recently launched Wind River Management Suite provides advanced technologies to address the problems related to the business issues of development time and product quality, which applies across multiple market segments.
Author
Paul Parkinson
Supporting Information
Downloads
7481\Finding-Fault.pdf
Websites
http://www.windriver.com
Companies
Wind River UK Ltd
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