Product category:
Embedded Software and Operating Systems
News Release from: National ICT Australia | Subject: L4/Iguana
Edited by the Electronicstalk Editorial
Team on 24 November 2005
Small-footprint operating system
enhances security
National ICT Australia has developed an advanced open source operating system (OS) that will increase the security, reliability and trustworthiness of embedded systems.
National ICT Australia (NICTA), Australia's national centre for research in information and communications technology (ICT), has developed an advanced open source operating system (OS) that will increase the security, reliability, and trustworthiness of embedded systems "Our L4/Iguana operating system has the potential to revolutionise the use of embedded systems around the world", said Professor Gernot Heiser, Programme Leader of NICTA's Embedded, Real-Time and Operating Systems Programme (ERTOS)
This article was originally published on Electronicstalk on 16 Jan 2006 at 8.00am (UK)
Related stories
Development platform has educational aims
The EmbestUniversity is a teaching platform focused on embedded system development.
IC packaging partnership proves a success
IC packaging leader Advanced Semiconductor Engineering has announced its commitment to Ansoft's HFSS, Q3D Extractor and AnsoftLinks simulation products for IC packaging design and model extraction.
"It is currently being evaluated for deployment by a number of small- to medium-sised enterprises in Australia and multinational corporations".
The first NICTA-developed technology to be commercially deployed, L4/Iguana will solve problems caused by growing software complexity, network connectivity and mobile code.
"L4/Iguana is a small operating system developed specifically for safe and secure embedded systems".
Further reading
Lightweight formal verification platform
IBM is offering RuleBase Single-Thread Edition (SE), a lightweight version of its RuleBase formal verification platform as an entry-level product for those looking for a small scale solution.
Startup provides SoC power analysis
FinePower is a dynamic power and IR drop analysis tool for SoC designs that is claimed to be capable of identifying peak IR drop values without any user-defined estimation factors.
"It minimises the amount of software that must be trusted to protect sensitive data or valuable intellectual property, and provides strong isolation between different software components on an embedded system".
"It also provides protection from misbehaving or malicious untrusted components", said Professor Heiser.
L4/Iguana is part of a general embedded OS framework developed by NICTA's ERTOS research programme located at the Kensington Neville Roach Research Laboratory in Sydney, Australia.
"We are focusing on using microkernel technology to support the application of software engineering techniques and formal methods to embedded software", said Professor Heiser.
The software is based on previous work conducted on the L4 microkernel by NICTA in partnership with the University of Karlsruhe in Germany and the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia.
The unique framework of the ERTOS embedded OS uses hardware protection mechanisms to encapsulate complex software into protected components, shielding the rest of the system from failures.
This minimises the amount of code that can circumvent security measures; protects critical real-time components from non-real-time and legacy components; and protects device manufacturer's IP rights.
L4/Iguana supports a number of processor architectures that are important in the embedded space, including ARM, x86, and MIPS.
On ARM it will be the fastest operating system with memory protection, and the first that provides a virtual-machine environment for running Linux.
• National ICT Australia: contact details and other news
• Email this article to a colleague
• Register for the free Electronicstalk email newsletter
• Electronicstalk Home Page
Search the Pro-Talk network of sites
