Last week I came across a white paper from MIT about SprayList (a scalable priority queue with relaxed ordering semantics). It talked more about concurrent data structures and parallel algorithms for multicore processors. Soon I realised how multicore processors have revolutionised the hardware performance with smaller form factor and cheaper BOM costs. Vis-à-vis there has been continuous research on improving the system performance in such processors to get the best out of them.

Instantly the new Keystone II architecture based TI K2E (Edison) grabbed my attention. It is a multicore chip having multiple 5.6GHz of ARM Cortex-15 cores and 1.25GHz of TI TMS320C66x DSP cores. It has a typical power consumption of 10Watts and provides security features, packet processing and Ethernet switching. Through this blog, I would like to explain how K2E could be the best fit for some critical application areas in Aerospace and Medical Devices.

1. Cockpit communication and Navigation:

Cockpit and mission system navigation applications need to run complex algorithms of flight path/trajectory calculations and are compute sensitive, simultaneously these systems need to run various APIs and applications for Traffic Collision Avoidance, Identify friend/foe, intuitive display, and XM Radio. K2E provides a high speed processing and easy integration with multiple application software’s and hence proves to be an ideal choice for these applications.

2. Inflight Entertainment:

Everyone talks about watching videos and playing interactive games when it comes to inflight entertainment systems. K2E with powerful multicore architecture supports streaming multiple video outputs to on-seat display screens and provides choice of content delivery to passengers on board. It also supports interactive gaming applications.

3. Integrated Flight Control System:

Integrated flight control systems need to capture and analyse data from various critical sensors like engine vibration sensors, heating sensors and pneumatic sensors and form an important part of flight safety. K2E with powerful processing capabilities can easily run complex algorithmic calculations for data analysis and simultaneously run multiple APIs for sensor integration.

4. Robotic Surgery

Robotics is next big innovation happening in Medical industry. It is playing an important role in modern day surgical procedures and is becoming more relevant with technology advancements. The powerful multicore architecture of K2E finds a way ahead application in these surgical procedures where it could be used for Robotic motion controls and simultaneously in image/video capture with real time feeding to doctor for monitoring and quick decision making.

This multicore processor is set to change the industry trends in many applications and as I discussed some of these we will surely see a significant growth Multi-core processor industry as well. eInfochips in collaboration with Texas Instruments has developed an evaluation module (EVM) for product developers and enthusiasts to have a working experience of this platform. Few months back we had presented a webinar on K2E architecture and their use cases. As a Product Engineering Services company, we are waiting to enable your use-cases on critical systems.