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WirelessIDEA

Aplix' M2M Middleware Solution

WirelessIDEA from Aplix enables single–chip wireless devices and low–cost M2M application development and simulation with the easy–to–use Java programming language and powerful development tools. It is also an efficient way to manage and control M2M terminals.

Most traditional wireless terminals are designed using a “wireless module+MCU” architecture (e.g. 8051), not because of cost efficiencies; rather, it is simply easier to avoid certain problems existing in the industry for some time. These problems can be summarized as follows:

• Most wireless terminal manufacturers do not license mobile baseband chip platforms, and they can't acquire the source code and development tools for the platform. As a result, they can't develop applications on the baseband chip.
• Most wireless terminal manufacturers don't want the wireless module maker or other third parties to develop applications for them because these applications usually involve confidential and proprietary information.
• With a plethora of wireless terminal types, module makers usually have thousands of customers, most having a limited number of shipments. This makes it difficult for module makers to tailor applications for each of their customers. Apart from their larger customers, module makers tend to create standardized products as much as possible.

Wireless terminal manufacturers develop applications on the MCU using C or Assembly language. The wireless module and the MCU communicate with each other via AT commands. This architecture allows module makers to make standardized mdules while wireless terminal manufacturers are able to develop their own applications. However, the most important part of a wireless module is the mobile baseband chip. The computing power and system resources of the baseband chip are considered far higher than the MCU. Running industry applications directly on the baseband chip on the wireless module is a cost–saving solution. But, in order to achieve this, more sophisticated software on the wireless module is required.

This is where WirelessIDEA comes in: module makers simply port the WirelessIDA applications onto the baseband chip of the terminal device, and create class libraries and APIs for specific wireless terminals. With a convenient SDK and tools, wireless terminal manufacturers can develop their own applications for devices, solving the platform license issue, and without having to worry about leaking confidential matters. Using the baseband chip's original SDK becomes unnecessary.

WirelessIDEA not only brings efficiencies of hardware and application development to terminal manufacturers. It also improves the management of terminals for mobile network operators. These advantages reduces the cost of terminal procurement. The management of various types of wireless terminals used to be a headache to mobile network operators. Together with some control protocols defined by MNOs, M2M middleware enables a unified platform for application development and management.

Benefits

• The MCU and flash memory are no longer necessary; a single chip architecture enables higher performance
• WirelessIDEA uses Java, and its object–oriented nature not only makes application development easier, its ubiquitousness means significant cost savings when it comes to training programmers.
• WirelessIDEA properly encapuslates the baseband chip. Application developers can develop without touching the native platform.

Features

• Powerful development tools offering: WirelessIDEA uses the freely available Java 2 Development Kit and Eclipse as a development tool chain. These tools integrate and encapsulate the underling baseband application platform, and developers can use WirelessIDEA tools to manage projects, edit, compile, debug, and download applications.
• Flexible appliation models designed for M2M: WirelessIDEA provides both single–entry (main function) and event–driven models, helping developers to implement different lifecycles for various types of applications. The SDK also provides debugging mechanisms for these models.
• Application Security: WirelessIDEA uses X509 PKI to authenticate the source of the applications and protect system resources. The application binary is encrypted and difficult to de–assemble. In addition, the application data can be sored in secure files to prevent access to confidential business logic.
• Application download: WirelessIDEA supports over–the–air provisioning of applications, and can be customized to accommodate an MNO's provisioning protocols (OMA, etc.). The application download is very lightweight. It only updates the file system, and rewriting the ROM in unnecessary. Application sizes are very small, making the apps themselves fast and providing a high tolerance for error.
• Networking support: WirelessIDEA supports common network protocols such as TCP/IP, Datagram, HTTP/HTTPS, etc., making development quicker and easier. Class libraries can be easily extended to meet an MNO's requirements.
• Low system requirements: WirelessIDEA can run on 16 or 32 bit ARM or MIPS processors, covering most mobile baseband chips. Additionally, it requires only 180Kbytes of ROM and 100-200 Kbytes of RAM.
• Convenient invocation: WirelessIDEA supports the calling of native APIs, making it easy to reuse legacy code or existing platform services.
• GUI support: WirelessIDEA provides a GUI system, for devices with a display. Common GUI widgets, such as windows, text fields, or buttons are easily implemented, and since GUIs designed in WirelessIDEA are designed to run on embedded systems, response times are short even on very low–end devices. Touch panels are, of course, supported.
• High quality: M2M devices demand the highest quality and stability, and WirelessIDEA delivers, using MISRA–C and Converity, commonly used quality standards in automotive software.
• Floating point support: WirelessIDEA supports floating point and provides a general math library, enabling applications that require floating point applications such as GPS/LBS.