ALT Software announces Hybrid ML (Media Library) for Avionics and Safety Critical Applications
New software and device driver architecture addresses key industry challenges by bridging gaps between media APIs and graphics hardware on all classes of embedded devices ranging from software and FPGA implementations to low-power programmable GPUs and high-performance SoC processors.
Amsterdam, Nederlands- March 24th, 2010 - ALT Software announces the launch of their new Hybrid Media Library for OpenGL SC. Hybrid ML is software library and device driver architecture designed to offer developers a set of powerful new capabilities to leverage OpenGL SC and additional programmable features on all classes of media accelerated devices. It combines a flexible set of software components that support programmable media controllers of all types, including lightweight software implementations, low power graphics cores found in SoCs such as the Intel US15W, Freescale 5121, TI OMAP and Fujitsu Ruby, as well as more powerful programmable processors. Hybrid ML provides a standardized front-end API with DO-178B certifiable soft implementations of GPU stages, enabling intelligent insertion of hardware acceleration based on programmable pipeline stages (reliable shaders) or direct fixed function rendering on a wide array of devices. The product also offers capabilities for GPU virtualization, supports partitioned RTOS operation, and provides multi-context support and multiple GPU support within a single API interface. Initial RTOS support includes Green Hills INTEGRITY-178B and Wind River VxWorks 653.
ALT Software will be demonstrating Hybrid ML in stand C30 at the Avionics Europe 2010 Conference and Exhibition. Interested parties can contact ALT directly for pricing details and inquires regarding additional supported software and hardware platforms.
“The proliferation of inexpensive technologies that bring accelerated graphics to resource constrained devices has provided great opportunities as well as great challenges to manufacturers of safety critical devices for avionics and industrial control systems,” said Mark Snyder, ALT’s Vice-President of Product Marketing. “As epitomized by the Apple iPhone, these new technologies have brought impressive graphics and media capabilities to small and relatively low-cost embedded systems. What’s been missing until now is a tool that allows avionics manufacturers to deploy these new technologies in safety critical environments without the need for expensive application rewrites or reinvestment in DO-178B compliant device drivers. ALT’s new Hybrid ML for OpenGL SC bridges this gap with a standardized GPU architecture that can rapidly scale across any back-end implementation, eliminating cost and schedule bottlenecks for technology insertion. For the first time, display system manufacturers in safety-critical markets can leverage the latest in low power and low cost GPU technology, using the APIs they trust.”
“ALT Software has been our preferred and trusted OpenGL solutions partner for INTEGRITY-178B for many years,” said Pat Rodenbeck, Vice President, Safety and Security Critical Products of Green Hills Software. "Green Hills is looking forward to introducing ALT’s Hybrid ML to our customers.”
Hybrid ML is an excellent example of the innovation and expertise that has made ALT a leading supplier of safety critical embedded graphics software to the avionics industry. It supports a wide range of applications that can utilize Green Hills Software's INTEGRITY-178B RTOS and addresses the entire spectrum of low to high performance graphics. HybridML has also been architected with reusable graphics modules, which reduces the time and effort required to develop a DO-178B certifiable embedded system.
ALT’s Hybrid ML architecture is comprised of several components that together provide reliable media and graphics acceleration. It includes features such as:
- A small-footprint OpenGL SC and OpenGL ES API
- A set of components that provide trusted implementations of API features such as geometry caching, state tracking, memory management, and context control
- Reliable shader implementations of key OpenGL APIs for programmable systems
- A set of streamlined ‘micro-interfaces’ to software, FPGA, or hardware media accelerators as required
- Targeted extensions that provide shader capabilities within the Hybrid-ML architecture for key requirements such as digital mapping, medical imaging, etc.
- Control of a set of virtual contexts that allow multiple processes to access several logical GPUs on a single back end, or a single process to address multiple GPUs, and even dissimilar GPUs as needed
This set of software modules can be configured to intelligently layer a full implementation of required APIs on virtually any embedded graphics device by using various combinations of software rendering, FPGAs, programmable shader interfaces, or fixed function commands.
About ALT Software
Established in 1994, ALT Software is the world’s leading supplier of advanced 2D/3D graphics, safety-critical and OpenGL solutions for embedded systems. They specialize in the development of advanced graphics software solutions that are compliant with the highest industry practices and standards for OpenGL as defined by the Khronos Group, as well as RTCA DO-178B guidelines for safety-critical environments.
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