QNX Unveils Reference Design for Smart-Home Energy Management Systems

NUREMBERG, Germany, March 2 /PRNewswire/ -- embedded world 2010 -- QNX Software Systems, a Harman International (NYSE: HAR) company, today unveiled its new smart energy reference, a pre-integrated software stack that makes it easier to design, deploy, and extend smart-home energy management systems.

The smart energy reference provides out-of-the-box support for Zigbee sensors, Insteon home area networks (HANs), streaming IP video cameras for security monitoring, an application for calculating costs of energy consumption, and Internet connectivity for retrieving weather information and performing remote control and diagnostics. Other features include zone temperature controls, individual and zone light controls, and appliance monitoring and control.

The smart energy reference is based on the QNX® Aviage® HMI Suite, which provides a framework for creating highly attractive home energy touchscreens in Adobe Flash, and on the QNX® Neutrino® RTOS, an operating system with 30 years of field-proven reliability in industrial applications.

The reference also leverages persistent publish/subscribe technology from QNX Software Systems, which has been shortlisted for a 2010 embedded AWARD. This technology provides a highly efficient abstraction layer between the HMI (user interface) and the system's control software. As a result, it becomes much easier to add, change, or upgrade sensors, thermostats, alarms, and control mechanisms, without having to change the HMI.

The smart energy reference runs on multiple hardware architectures, including Atmel (AT91SAM9M10, AT91SAM9G45), Freescale (i.MX25, i.MX35, i.MX51), and Texas Instruments (AM3517, OMAP3530) processors.

"Sophisticated touchscreens, network connectivity, and video are all converging in smart metering and other home-energy management solutions," said Sebastien Marineau-Mes, vice president of engineering at QNX Software Systems. "This new smart energy reference from QNX simplifies the integration of these converging technologies, while helping developers create highly extensible, future-ready designs."

Available for download

The smart energy reference is available now. Developers can download a version for Freescale i.MX25 and i.MX35 processors from www.qnx.com/demo/smarte/freescale.html. Support for other platforms will be available soon.

Embedded world demos

This week at embedded world (booth #11-324), QNX Software Systems will demonstrate several of its latest technologies, including:

• An interactive demo based on the smart energy reference.
• A hypervisor demo that demonstrates how industrial control systems can run two operating systems -- for example, the QNX Neutrino RTOS and Microsoft Windows -- on a single multi-core chip.
• A demo of the QNX-based 3G MMI system from the 2011 Audi A8, which features support for Google Earth.

About QNX Software Systems

QNX Software Systems, a Harman International company (NYSE: HAR), is the industry leader in realtime, embedded OS technology. The component-based architectures of the QNX® Neutrino® RTOS, QNX Momentics® Tool Suite, and QNX Aviage® middleware together provide the industry's most reliable and scalable framework for building innovative, high-performance embedded systems. Global leaders such as Cisco, Daimler, General Electric, Lockheed Martin, and Siemens depend on QNX technology for network routers, medical instruments, vehicle telematics units, security and defense systems, industrial robotics, and other mission- or life-critical applications. Founded in 1980, QNX Software Systems is headquartered in Ottawa, Canada, and distributes products in over 100 countries worldwide. Visit www.qnx.com.

    
    
    Reader Information   Editorial Contacts
                         Jennifer Barlow or Bill
    Web:   www.qnx.com   Keeler                    Paul Leroux
    Email: [email protected]  Schwartz Communications   QNX Software Systems
                         +1 781 684-0770           +1 613 591-0931
                         [email protected]       [email protected]

QNX, Aviage, Momentics, and Neutrino are trademarks of QNX Software Systems GmbH & Co. KG, which are registered trademarks and/or used in certain jurisdictions and are used under license by QNX Software Systems Co. All other trademarks belong to their respective owners.

SOURCE QNX Software Systems