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 Key Points
• T-Engine is an open, standardized real-time operating system development environment for constructing a ubiquitous computing environment.
• T-Engine incorporates the eTRON security architecture which enables the development of application systems with strong network security.
• The T-Engine Project standardizes the hardware, a real-time operating system, and the object format specifications to enable the smooth distrubtion of middleware.
• By using the abundant middleware available for T-Engine, the development time and cost can be greatly reduced.
Summary
The TRON Project has established the T-Engine Project in order to promote an open, real-time standardized development environment with the aim of achieving a ubiquitous computing environment where everything has a computer incorporated in it and is connected to a network. T-Engine offers an efficient development environment for the development of portable information devices, home electronic appliances and other network devices in a short period of time. The TRON Project's network security architecture, eTRON, has also been incorporated in T-Engine. This eTRON subarchitecture is intended to prevent tapping, falsification, and disguise of malicious users so that electronic information can be safely delivered to the other party through insecure network channels such as the Internet.
For efficient development, the hardware (T-Engine board) and real-time operating system (T-Kernel) are standardized and distribution of middleware are encouraged. Moreover, T-Engine is able to smooth cooperation among chip makers, hardware makers, software makers and system manufacturers, encourage mutual business dealings, reduce development time and cost, thus enabling high value added product offerings in a short period of time.
The combination of advanced semiconductors, packaging and software technlogies in T-Engine makes it suitable and unrivaled for the development of advanced application products. Participation has also been declared by various hardware, software, and/or system development makers. The actual T-Engine products are scheduled to put on the market in the second quarter of 2002.
Ubiquitous Computing Environment and T-Engine
As for the TRON Project, beginning with engine controllers in automobiles and mobile phones and followed by outstanding results with real-time operating systems embedded in the surrounding equipment, ITRON has now become the world's No.1 adopted standard in the field of embedded systems. Following the popularity of the Internet-enabled mobile phones, the number of devices connected to the network will increase rapidly. The days of ubiquitous computing environmnet when the surrounding environment is increasingly embedded with computers and connected to a network, is becoming realized.
To make a ubiquitous computing environment a reality, there are two important points to note here. First, it is important to ensure network security at the user side. In a ubiquitous computing environment, various devices other than portable information devices such as mobiles phones and PDAs, will be connected to the network from houses and buildings. Some examples of these uses are: controlling home equipment from outside via the network, sending private information or electronic tickets, etc. It is therefore necessary to ensure network security so that tapping, falsification and/or the disguising of identity by others can be prevented.
Second, it is necessary to develop products efficiently in a short period of time. There is a problem with individually developed real-time operating systems and/or middleware that are compatible with the different kinds of CPU hardware available for embedded systems. In order to respond to product functionality upgrades, development time is prolonged, and development costs increase as debugging time increases. All of these are becoming a big problem among manufacturers. The T-Engine Project aims at building a common development platform that can be used to solve these problems. For security guarantees, the T-Engine hardware, OS, middleware are compatible with the security architecture of a new TRON subproject called eTRON, which has been adopted as the security platform for a networked environment. The eTRON chip will be installed in the T-Engine hardware so that all devices using eTRON will be able to transmit information safely across open networks such as the Internet.
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eTRON
Theoritically, the contents of digital information can be reproduced and/or altered perfectly without deterioration in the quality of the information. Because of this, managing the distribution of value information such as electronic tickets, or access permissions over the Internet is accompanied by big risks. With eTRON, the tamper-proof chip is used as the base, and it has properties similar to those of paper documents, metal keys, etc. The resulting digital information is difficult to manufacture, reproduce, falsify or carry around. This digital information is called an "electronic entity", and hence the term eTRON by using the "e" of entity. In a computing everywhere environment embedded with T-Engine devices, the home systems are vulnerable to hackers who may overcome the control systems, and thus there is the danger of mischief. For that reason, for every device in a computing everywhere environmnet, it is necessary to limit from which device the instructions should be received, to which device the information should be sent to, etc. For a T-Engine embedded device, such access management information is transferred as electronic entities by eTRON, which presents a strong security management system that can easily be set by users.
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T-Engine as Business Platform, Hardware and Software Distribution
To develop products efficiently in a short period of time, T-Engine consists of its T-Engine hardware, real-time operating system (T-Kernel), debugging monitor (T-Monitor), development environment. Moreover, it also includes development environment, distribution platform for device drivers and middleware, and so is an open, super-standard development platform. The T-Engine specification, similar to other past TRON Project specifications, is open to the public and anyone is allowed to use it. For commercialized products based on T-Engine specification, detailed information is also to be released, followed by database management to further promote the distribution of software and hardware and encourage business dealings.
T-Engine Project Framework
The development of the T-Engine Project follows the two key features as expressed in the term "Embedded System Solution for Secure Networking". After agreeing to the objectives of this project, an investigation of the adoption of the T-Engine platform is then closely followed by the T-Engine product development. The T-Engine products are expected to be put on the market in the second quarter of 2002. Moreover, the T-Engine Project opens up business opportunities for the enterprises involved in the semiconductor, hardware, software, system, and development enviroment related industries. The T-Engine Project wishes to promote more corporate participation, benefit industries and stimulate economic activities.
T-Engine Series
1. Standard T-Engine
A platform for portable information devices with comparatively advanced user interface features.
2. μT-Engine (micro T-Engine)
A platform for home electronic appliances or instrumentation equiment with comparatively few user interface features.
3. nT-Engine (nano T-Engine)
A coin-size platform for small home electronic appliances.
4. pT-Engine (pico T-Engine)
A platform intended for the smallest units such as switches, lighting equipment, sensors, locks, and valves in a ubiquitous computing environment.
T-Engine Hardware
The standard T-Engine hardware is comprised of a 75mm x 120mm CPU board, which combines with an LCD board, a power supply board and an expansion board, making it possible to build the target system hardware out of it. The μT-Engine CPU board is a lot smaller, being 60mm x 85mm in size. The mechcanical size and arrangement of the external connectors on the CPU board are also being standardized. The outline of the specification is shown in the following table. The type of CPU applicable is not restricted to any specific one. A unique feature of the T-Engine hardware is that with a miniature board configuration, it is possible to turn it into something closer to the image of the target system.
T-Engine Software
T-Monitor
This monitoring software is used for booting OS and debugging. A specification is defined, and the interface with the development environment is taken.
T-Kernel
The real-time operating system for T-Engine.
Device Drivers
The development of device drivers for general or specific applications is simplified by disclosing the source code of a standard device driver to the public. The system makers can create target device drivers by referring to it.
Middleware
This represents the various middleware that run on T-kernel. Network protocol stacks, filing systems, Japnaese language processing, Kana-to-Kanji conversion, eTRON-specified security software, GUI, audio processing, Java etc., are available. Combining these software makes it possible to develop a stable product within a short period of time. For the purpose of encouraging more middleware distribution, information on the possible uses and combinations of middleware will be managed by T-Engine Project database, and will be accessible to the public. This database system will strongly support the distribution of middleware. It is scheduled to be employed jointly with the eTRON-specified accounting system software in the near future.
Development Environment
In order to smooth the software development and middleware distribution for T-Engine, all object code formats are standardized using GNU.
T-Engine Software Architecture
In this announcement, an operating system with advanced character processing capability, Java environment and various middleware, advanced development environment with advanced debugging support functions, are to be announced.
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