IDO East Systems Ltd is a young company operating out of the "Am-Shav" Technological Incubator at Sde-Boker in the Negev. It has developed pioneering devices for testing embedded control systems by real-time simulation of the external environment.
The embedded device can be a microprocessor, industrial controller, DSP embedded system etc.
An embedded system receives signals from its surroundings, responds, and controls the main device. Throughout the world, more than 200,000 new embedded system projects are started each year. However, the development, testing and debugging of such systems, both hardware and software, is difficult, expensive and has many practical problems.
The purpose of EAST (Emulation & Simulation Tools) is to offer a family of products to give embedded systems developers cheap, simple and effective tools for the development of their products, thus reducing development time and costs. There are three presently being developed.
The main product, IO Source, is a pioneer real-time simulator of the external environment of a microprocessor. It produces/simulates real electrical signals (analog, discrete, pulses, serial communication, CAN, etc.) between the target system (being tested) and its surroundings and devices. The signals to and from the target system are real electrical signals via wires.
IO Source fills a niche in the huge electronic development market. This includes everything from miniature electrical switches to satellites. Consumer electronics, automotive control devices, automatic control systems, and communications systems, and even military equipment and systems, are all targets for the use of the product.
The second product, Runchart, is a device for automatically running other modules. It has an external In-Circuit Emulator and an external MATLAB/SIMULINK surrounding model.
The third product, is IO Test, automatically tests the peripheral devices of a microprocessor. Testing can be done graphically or in Visual Basic form.
IDO East Systems has a patent (pending) for synchronisation of real time environment simulation that will allow its products to be used in a wide variety of applications.
EAST obviates the need for specially built simulators to test many applications. This is especially so in industrial process control, motion control, home automation, and automobile control applications.
As an example, IO Source has been used to develop and test the climate control system of a large hotel with hundreds of rooms. Each room had different thermal parameters, volume, number of windows etc. The aim was to achieve efficient climate control with the lowest possible electricity consumption. A unified control algorithm had to be implemented for the different rooms and changing conditions (number of people in the rooms etc.). MATLAB/SIMULINK software was used to develop the control algorithm. IO Source was then used to simulate the environment, test and debug the microprocessor, embedded hardware and software. The inclusion of the MATLAB model enabled changes to be fed into the simulation script, such as doors being opened, and people moving into and out of rooms.
The development was completed much more quickly and cheaply than if it had been done in the real environment. IO Source saved a great deal of programming time as well.
David Finkelman, the company founder has more than twenty years experience developing embedded systems and tools applications. His staff of veteran Israelis and new immigrants all have considerable experience in the field.
The first products are due to be marketed this year, and marketing agreements have already been made with CEIBO Inc. and with MICROCHIP. Negotiations are taking place with MATH WORKS Inc. who are considering using IO Source as a third party product for MATLAB, and with the largest European embedded tool vendor, HITEX, as well as other marketing organisations.
The company plans to start selling in 1998, to reach break-even point in the third year, and to achieve annual sales of $22 million in the fifth year.
The company is looking for marketing assistance and further finance.