Synopsys has released the embARC Open Software Platform to help accelerate the development of DesignWare ARC processor-based embedded systems. The new embARC platform gives ARC software developers online access to a suite of free and open-source software that eases the development of code for the IoT and other embedded applications.
Device drivers, operating systems and middleware ported to and optimized for ARC processors are available for download without cost from the embARC.org website. The website also provides access to software development tools and documentation as well as user forums to facilitate the sharing of information and expertise among the ARC-based design community.
Pre-ported drivers for the GPIO, UART, SPI, I2C and other peripherals, as well as real-time operating systems (RTOS) including FreeRTOS and Contiki OS, give developers a choice of industry-standard software environments for their ARC-based systems. FreeRTOS is a scalable, compact and reliable operating system that is popular among embedded software developers. The Contiki OS is specifically designed for networked, memory-constrained systems such as low-power, wireless IoT applications.
The embARC platform provides a choice of middleware components and a starting point for the development of IoT-related devices. The components available for use with FreeRTOS include the TCP/IP stack lwIP, file system fatfs, and MQTT and libcoap IoT protocols. The Contiki OS includes a middleware package with an integrated IoT protocol stack including MQTT, a publish/subscribe messaging protocol for lightweight machine-to-machine communications, and the CoAP application layer protocol for resource-constrained IoT applications.
embARC.org is a dedicated website that provides developers centralized access to free and open-source software, drivers, operating systems and middleware supporting the embARC Open Software Platform. The website also provides documentation and a forum-based community where developers can share resources, expertise and code to help speed deployment of ARC-processor based embedded systems.
Free software development tools built on the open-source Eclipse IDE and GNU toolchain are available for use with the embARC Open Software Platform. This gives developers a flexible software environment with an IDE, compiler, debugger and utilities that are familiar to embedded developers. The embARC software is also supported by the commercially-available Synopsys ARC MetaWare Development Toolkit, giving developers the option to use an optimized toolchain for maximum code density and performance.
The embARC Open Software Platform has been ported to Synopsys' ARC EM Starter Kit, a low-cost software development board consisting of pre-installed FPGA images of ARC EM Processors with peripherals and a software package. The Starter Kit enables software development, code porting, software debugging and profiling for the EM4, EM6, EM5D and EM7D processor cores.