Embedded Mobile Systems
The active development of virtualization technologies for embedded systems, including mobile and automotive embedded systems, is attracting a lot of attention.
A research team from SevenCore, a Korean software firm that specializes in embedded systems, together with the School of Computer Science at Kookmin University announced that they recently developed an open source virtualization technology with support from the Korea Institute for Advancement of Technology, after two years of industry-academic cooperation. The technology will be commercialized this year. The research team is planning to make the technology available for anybody to use or modify so that it can evolve in various ways.
Another technology for embedded systems is under way. After developing a virtualization technology for mobile communication in 2010, the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute is striving to develop a technology for embedded software that deals with server virtualization realized on ARM chips (ARM server chips) and dual operating systems.
Lim Sung-soo, Associate Professor of the School of Computer Science at Kookmin University, said, “Usually, 100 electronic control units are needed to produce a car, but the number can be reduced to just one unit with the introduction of virtualization technologies.” Professor Lim added, “Virtualization technologies suited for embedded systems for automobiles, mobile phones, and airplanes are getting a lot of attention from companies worldwide.”
However, it is going to take some time for the embedded virtualization market to be created. The phenomenon is attributable to a lack of products available on the market, even with the development of related technologies.