Embedded At DAC

It seems to be one of DAC’s best kept secrets – right up there with what happened to Free Monday – that about 30% of the conference content is focused on embedded systems and software (ESS). The call for contributions is still open and I want to remind you that you can submit your research work in ESS to DAC. When Leon Stok of IBM was General Chair for the 48th DAC he started our embedded initiative, challenging us to achieve a 30/70 split between ESS and traditional DAC content. That rule of thumb has applied ever since and we’ll make sure the 52nd DAC reflects the same blend.

In the past few years we’ve had some really amazing embedded content in the research tracks, special sessions and tutorials. We are slowly moving more ESS content into our Designer Track, as well, like last year’s session on “Virtual Platforms: New Developments and Use Cases” chaired by Ramesh Chandra Chauhan from Qualcomm with speakers from Intel, STMicroelectronics, and Oracle. And last year, for the first time, we had a SKY Talk on ESS and Automotive from Dave Kleidermacher, CTO of Green Hills. “Securing the Internet of Cars” was a really cool talk; Dave is keynote material. See him here talking about debugging embedded software.

Our ongoing focus on automotive electronics and the standalone ESS research track ensure a solid collection of embedded content next year. Traditional embedded vendors are showing more interest in exhibiting, as well. It really helps to have the ARM Connected Community booth as it provides ARM partners with a unique avenue to exhibit at DAC. If you attended ARM TechCon last week you saw all the dynamism of the ARM ecosystem, especially when it comes to the big buzz of IoT. At DAC we will focus on how to design for IoT and of course on security issues. Believe me there are plenty of security issues no matter if we are talking mobile devices, home electronics or automotive systems.

To make sure that we have compelling ESS content in our conference we now have a dedicated ESS chair, Rob Oshana, on the executive committee. Rob has 30 years of experience in the software industry, primarily focused on embedded and real-time systems for the defense and semiconductor industries. He has BSEE, MSEE, MSCS, and MBA degrees and is a Senior Member of IEEE. Rob is a member of several industry and university advisory boards and is an international speaker and trainer in embedded systems technology. He writes often on embedded systems technology and has written several books on embedded software technology, including his recent book “Software Engineering for Embedded Systems.” Rob is an adjunct professor at Southern Methodist University where he teaches graduate software engineering courses. He is a Distinguished Member of Technical Staff and Director of Global Software R&D for Digital Networking at Freescale Semiconductor. In his spare time, Rob likes to bike and cook, and usually finds a way to fit in a wine tour when he is traveling internationally. Here’s Rob talking about moving to multicore technology in a Freescale video:

So it should be no surprise DAC is only going to get stronger when it comes to embedded content. As for Free Monday, it didn’t really go away. It’s just been replaced and arguably improved upon by the popular “I Love DAC” program, which gives registrants free three-day passes, thanks to support from various sponsoring companies. See, I’m determined to keep no DAC-related secrets, though of course I am keeping time. Just seven months to go!