Aonix PERC Supports Freescale’s i.MX31 Multimedia Applications Processor and MontaVista Mobilinux

PERC Ultra is a virtual machine and toolset expressly created for demanding embedded and real-time systems requiring J2SE™ support. PERC Ultra delivers the ease and efficiency of Java™ Standard Edition support without sacrificing integrity, performance or real-time behavior. It offers AOT and JIT compilation, remote debug support, deterministic garbage collection, standard graphics and extended commercial RTOS support. The PERC product line also features PERC Pico, a virtual machine designed for hard real-time applications requiring fast execution, small footprint, and access to low-level devices.



To support customer needs, Aonix provided a port to the ARM® Embedded Application Binary Interface (EABI) specification, as well as Java interfaces to the OpenGL cross-platform open solution for 2D and 3D graphics and support for OSGi, the open remote services framework for Java. After looking at Java solution candidates PERC Ultra was selected based on a number of factors. Support for Java 5 Standard Edition was an important base factor in being able to provide the required capabilities for OpenGL and for OSGi. Aonix provided a Java OpenGL (JOGL) wrapper to enable access to OpenGL libraries from within a Java context.



The project required support for the new ARM EABI. In response, Aonix produced a port of PERC Ultra for ARM-EABI. The EABI specification is defined by ARM Ltd. and is required by the most recent GCC cross tools and Linux kernels for ARM architecture CPUs, such as those supplied with MontaVista’s Mobilinux 4.1 for the Freescale i.MX31 processor. Support for either software floating point or the new Vector Floating Point (VFP) hardware in the i.MX31 processor is included in this port. Ahead-of-Time and Just-in-Time compilation modes are provided in addition to interpreted execution of Java software. Debugging support is available under all execution modes.



“The availability of PERC Ultra for the Freescale i.MX31 processor running Mobilinux from MontaVista supports the growing market needs for the fast creation and efficient execution of graphics-intensive applications,” said Dan Cauchy, director of marketing for MontaVista Software. “As the market leading Linux solution for mobile devices, Mobilinux enables the powerful capabilities of Java and the Aonix PERC Ultra high predictability VM, as proven by multiple joint design wins over the past several years,”



To provide the best possible deployment vehicle for complex, high-performance systems, customers need applications using the i.MX31 processor in conjunction with a Linux environment such as the Mobilinux product from MontaVista combined with PERC Ultra virtual machine execution. All three elements are ideal for the multimedia rich i.MX31 processor and its target markets: computationally-intensive applications such as automotive entertainment systems, video and audio media players, mobile gaming consoles and GPS systems, as well as smartphones, PDAs, ultra portable handheld computers and other wireless mobile devices.



“Collaborating with partners to provide compelling solutions is essential to expanding our portfolio of i.MX based products. The valuable partnership of MontaVista Mobilinux and Aonix PERC Ultra for i.MX31 processors is a solid proof point of how we are extending the i.MX family of application processors into new market segments,” said Aaron Shagrin, director of business development, Freescale Semiconductor.



“Providing a best-in-class collaborative solution for complex projects requires technical cooperation,” said Dave Wood, Aonix VP marketing. “Combining our own services with the valuable partnership of MontaVista and Freescale Semiconductor allowed us to meet the rigorous and graphically intensive execution needs of our customers.



The system is expected to be deployed in tens of thousands of jets beginning in 2009.



Availability

PERC Ultra 5.0 with support for the Freescale i.MX31 running on MontaVista Mobilinux is available immediately. For more information about PERC and other fine products, please visit www.aonix.com.