From portable telephones to automobile brake regulating systems, portable medical equipment and M-to-M (machine to machine) architectures, embedded electronic systems and the attendant integrated software have become a vital part of our daily life. In this booming field, embedded systems are evolving very quickly.
They must be capable of handling increasingly large quantities of data, at faster and faster processing speeds, while they are also becoming interconnected, communicating entities. For designers and those who plan the embedded systems of tomorrow, it is therefore of utmost importance to fully master and anticipate the technological advances that pervade the entire sector.
The rts EMBEDDED SYSTEMS trade show is the perfect occasion for achieving this aim, with technical conferences and presentations by various market players that help visitors either discover or learn more about current technological developments.

In terms of hardware, the explosion of high-speed serial connections will surely be spotlighted this year, with products that are becoming increasingly mature: Compact PCI architecture integrating PCI Express, passive backplane systems with PCI Express links and processor modules in the COM Express format that make use of a PCI Express connection to extend their field of application. For these processor cards, as well as for motherboards for embedded systems or for CompactPCI or VME format cards, of course, visitors to the show may also notice a boom in double or even quadruple core processors that are invading the world of embedded systems.
It is the moment to start thinking about programming strategies for these architectures, something that will be a hot topic in coming years.
Another attraction at rts EMBEDDED SYSTEMS 2007 will be the market debut of microTCA systems, for which the definitive specifications have just been approved by the PICMG. On all these architectures, it will also be interesting to analyse the progression of field-programmable components (FPGAs) and their intensive data-processing capacity, which make them direct competitors to DSPs, or their ability to manage communication links specifically adapted to an application’s needs.

On the software side, the Open Source phenomenon has marked the world of integrated systems for several years already. As the emblematic figure of the field, the Linux operating system now boasts comprehensive solutions designed by practically all the real time operating system suppliers. Moreover, the Open Source development platform Eclipse is experiencing a notable degree of success among the developer community.
And within this project, several initiatives have already had and will continue to have a major impact on the market. For example, let’s take a look at the DSDP (Device Software Development Platform) or CDT (C/C++ Development Tools) projects, which are of primary interest for embedded applications. How to profit from the possibilities offered by the Open Source solutions available through the Internet, and how to integrate them in their own proprietay developments is one of the major challenges facing integrated systems design teams in the years to come. The rts EMBEDDED SYSTEMS 2007 show takes part in the research, thanks especially to its conference series focusing on these advances.

The 2007 show will also make it possible to analyse the various vitualisation techniques on the market, which let you combine a Linux system with one or more other real time operating systems with a particular focus on data security. The event will also bring visitors up to date on the evolutionof model-based programming languages, using graphical languages such as UML or SySML. Because one of the coming years' trends is to increase the abstraction level of integrated systems' programming in order to better cope with complexity levels attained.

Less spectacular perhaps, but still a core issue for all developers, are the techniques and tips for optimizing the debugging of applications; these will of course, like every year, be available at the rts EMBEDDED SYSTEMS show.