Freescale open framework targets sensor apps

Freescale Semiconductor has announced the Xtrinsic intelligent sensing framework (ISF) that aims to speed and simplify the development of embedded systems that incorporate multiple sensing technologies. According to the firm, the framework provides software infrastructure and programming interfaces that enable Xtrinsic sensors such as the FXLC95000CL platform or Freescale's Kinetis MCUs to serve as sensor hubs, eliminating time-intensive sensor integration tasks and allowing developers to focus on differentiating their specific applications.

The proliferation of the Internet of Things (IoT) is rapidly introducing embedded intelligence and sophisticated sensing technologies to a range of industrial systems, medical equipment, consumer devices and other products. While the incorporation of more sensors into product designs enables compelling functionality and promising applications, it also presents substantial challenges. Embedded developers face increased complexity related to capturing, interpreting and efficiently leveraging disparate information, often collected from multiple sensors, and then appropriately applying this data to different domains and use cases.

Freescale's Xtrinsic ISF is an open framework that provides a run-time environment for executing custom embedded applications. The Xtrinsic ISF exposes a unified interface for obtaining data from multiple sensor types. ISF sensor adapters handle all of the sensor communication details, making it easy to add new sensors to a system without worrying about the details of sensor communications. Together with its power management, bus management, command interpreter and host proxy functions, the Xtrinsic ISF reduces integration effort and shortens design time. The Xtrinsic ISF also enables new sensor adapters to be written and integrated to handle additional sensor types for customized solutions.

Freescale's Xtrinsic ISF is compatible with the Xtrinsic FXLC95000CL platform, which integrates an embedded 3-axis accelerometer and an embedded ColdFire 32bit MCU running the small-footprint MQX 3.7 OS. The Xtrinsic ISF also includes a sensor manager and a complete hardware abstraction of the underlying MCU. The framework can be used for multiple applications requiring one or more sensing technologies, including augmented reality, gaming, medical and eHealth, toys and sports equipment, tamper detection, remote control and more.