VOL. 12, NO. 11
October 1999

Table of Contents

FEATURES

Cover Story

Safety-Critical Embedded Systems
by Bruce Powel Douglass
As software's role grows in safety-relevant systems, it becomes more important to understand the rules of software-controlled systems and how to address them. This article characterizes the process that will ensure that the requirements reflect the safety considerations and that the design implements safety requirements properly.

Auto-Configuration of Embedded Systems
by Changrong Li
By breaking your hardware design into distinct functional blocks and defining the interfaces to each in a PCI-like manner, it's possible to achieve a more adaptable software design that requires little, if any, porting when the inevitable changes occur.

Special Report

Internet Appliance Design

Connecting...
Our Wired World
by Michael Barr
The proliferation of wires in our daily lives should have engineers familiarizing themselves with wireless communications standards. Here's an introduction to the IrDA-Data and Bluetooth protocols.

Enhancing TV with ATVEF
by Jason Steinhorn and Mark Kohler
New standards are making the delivery of Web-based and enhanced content alongside television a reality. This article describes the ATVEF enhanced television standard and the requirements for designing ATVEF-compatible receivers.

Windows CE Internet Support
by Paul Yao
Windows CE has built-in support for Internet protocols, but because it was designed for diskless systems, many things have been left out. Here's what comes standard and what you can do with it.

Embedded Internet Tools
New Internet appliance design products.

Columns