Design Automation


APIs aimed at embedded application developers

8 August 2007 Design Automation

In an effort to help higher-level developers build watchdog, SMBus and GPIO functions into their applications and peripherals, Advantech has released a suite of free APIs (application programming interfaces) designed to enable more streamlined and automated access to the company’s e-platform service.

These API functions support not only SOM-XXXX Series, but also most Advantech single board computers, including PCM-XXXX, PC/104 and others. The API interface allows users to access these features in a hardware independent manner under Windows XP Embedded and Windows CE.

SMBus is the system management bus defined by Intel in 1995. It is used in personal computers and servers for low-speed system management communications. Advantech's API allows developers to interface a Windows XP or CE PC to a down-stream embedded system environment and transfer serial messages using SMBus protocols. Users will be able to control multiple devices simultaneously.

A watchdog timer (WDT) is a device or electronic card that performs a specific operation after a certain period of time if something goes wrong with an electronic system and the system does not recover on its own. The API allows a watchdog timer to be programmed to perform a warm boot (restarting the system) after a certain number of seconds during which a program or computer fails to respond following the most recent mouse click or keyboard action.

General purpose input output (GPIO) is a flexible parallel interface that allows a variety of custom connections. It supports digital I/O devices.

Advantech APIs offer common API structure in an open standard, primarily allowing developers more efficient control of their devices. Focusing on Windows XP Embedded and Windows CE .NET developers, the majority of work is expected to revolve around Microsoft's Visual Studio and Embedded Visual C++ development tools. Advantech also provides a wide variety of Embedded OS-ready platforms. By using these APIs, Advantech believes customers will be able to write their application more efficiently and quickly.



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