India ascends in embedded value chain

Pranav Shah

AHMEDABAD, INDIA: Think embedded systems and a plethora of applications come to mind. Add to it flourishing electronics convergence and you will suddenly see the increased appetite of the embedded system for consumer electronics, communication products, high-end industrial products and the defence markets, respectively.

The explosion of embedded devices is made possible mainly due to the rapid growth of semiconductor chips -- each year, semiconductor devices become faster, cheaper and less power hungry. The good news about the cutting edge technology from Indian design services perspective is its ascendance in the value chain.

ISA and Frost & Sullivan have projected that the Indian semiconductor and embedded design industry will grow from $3.25 billion in 2005 to $14.42 billion in 2010 and further to $43.07 billion in 2015. As India moves up the embedded value chain, there will be need to "collaborate and innovate." The Indian design organizations are moving beyond the simple labor cost arbitrage to becoming true contributors to product innovation. Many multinationals have already invested in new design operations in India or expanded their existing facilities. A recent Nasscom-Mckinsey study said that the domestic embedded systems market was geared to generate exports worth Rs 41,000 crore by 2008.

Hot trend -- application of DSPs

One of the hottest trends in the embedded systems is the application of DSPs (digital signal processing). DSPs enable embedded systems to have a human interface in form of audio and video capabilities. Advances in the digital signal processing technologies are enabling widespread use of DSPs in a variety of digital multimedia and communication applications. High processing speeds, programmability and real-time performance make DSPs uniquely suited for these video, voice and data applications.

Indian companies have expertise on embedded software development. As of now, companies are looking to move up the value chain. The path up this value chain will take India through three roles. These roles are those of an optimizer defining tasks, enabler providing reference solution, and co-innovator providing IP-based solution development and system architecture consulting. Embedded systems are customized computing systems in electronic devices such as mobile phones and digital cameras. Designing embedded systems is challenging as the borderline between hardware and software is blurred within the domain.

 In the changing computing paradigm, when computing is moving from client-server through Internet through ubiquitous computing, some distinct trends are impacting embedded industry. These are fixed function to multifunction devices; analog to digital media; proprietary to commercial software; shift from 8- and 16-bit to 32-bit and higher processors; limited fixed line bandwidth to high bandwidth wired/wireless; and standalone to integration between embedded devices and Web.

Challenges to be overcome

Software is the key driver for embedded devices. However, there are certain challenges that need to be overcome as embedded approaches ubiquity. The main challenges are interoperability, heterogeneity, mobility, security and adaptability. Many companies are focusing on creating intellectual property (IP). The companies create IP and focus on getting business from these products — thus creating an end-to-end solutions environment. Companies with expertise in embedded software and having created an IP around it are able to create an environment, where manufacturers can get the complex software and hardware integration done.

Embedded system design is getting complex, requiring intimate knowledge of both the hardware and software worlds. Getting the software to work with limited memory is often a struggle. Designers of embedded systems strive to improve performance, reliability and cost effectiveness. Hardware and software choices are simultaneously considered. This is called co-design. The goal is to produce an efficient implementation that satisfies performance and cost requirements.

According to the ISA-Frost and Sullivan Reports 2006, the increase in embedded software content in end-user products has led to increase in embedded software development. This factor is likely to impact the Indian embedded software industry positively. The total revenue from the embedded software industry has been estimated at $2.5 billion in 2005. It is likely to reach US $36.3 billion in 2015 at a CAGR of 30.5 percentage over the period 2005 to 2015.

The contribution of the embedded software market to the total revenues of the design market is also likely to increase from the current 78 percent in 2005 to 82 percent in 2010 and 84 percent in 2015. The number of engineers in the embedded software space is estimated to be around 60,220 in 2005. The estimated engineering workforce required in achieving the forecast revenue in 2010 and 2015 is 241,000 and 669,885, respectively.

India as hub for embedded software



It is expected that the development of VLSI design industry, hardware/board design industry and embedded software development in India would be imminent in the near future. In the period 2001 to 2005, it involved only support work and sustenance engineering. Currently, embedded software development service offering is limited to activities such as various components of embedded software such as BIOS, API development and DSP programming. With non-computing equipment such as cell phones and other handheld devices expected to grow rapidly, India is likely to emerge as a hub for the embedded software market.

The shifting landscape of embedded systems development has changed everything. The olden days of 4k programs is largely history. Embedded software doubles in size every 10 months, and will reach 90 percent of all software being written by 2010. Firmware consumes 70 percent of the project's development time. It is clear that firmware is the foundation upon which civilization rests.

Embedded product designs targeted towards high-end consumer applications are the stimulants to these scintillating products that have fast become a way of life. The focus by large has been on high resolution audio/video with high-density information possible on a small form factor design. Video streaming, one of the revolutionary applications in embedded systems, is fast becoming essential for the various consumer electronics verticals, ranging from home multimedia systems, automotive infotainment to security systems.

In the immediate future, we will see the increased deployment of embedded technologies into the areas like medical sciences, automotive industry, education and even agriculture. Portable X-ray ultrasound machines, car collision avoidance systems, remote holographic educational tools and satellite sensing based farming techniques are on the horizon.

The author is Head, Communication & Firmware Group, eInfochips, Ahmedabad