NetAcquire Extension Toolkit

The NetAcquire environment takes the work out of creating an embedded distributed system by providing all the fundamental hardware and software capability. You can concentrate only on the specifics of your application without needing to develop an entire system from scratch.

The NetAcquire Extension Toolkit allows programmers to develop customized extensions to the NetAcquire environment. These extensions leverage the full power of NetAcquire capabilities, and allow the development of a finished application in a fraction of the usual time.

The NetAcquire Extension Toolkit reduces test and measurement development risk by giving developers the ability to extend the industry-proven mission-critical NetAcquire system. Whether a small extension or a large custom subsystem, developers have an open-architecture path to ensuring that their final system meets all requirements.

The NetAcquire operating system is unique in that it provides the combination of Win32 support and hard real-time performance -- NetAcquire extensions take advantage of the industry-standard Win32 API while still running in guaranteed real-time (this is not possible from the Microsoft Windows environment). 

Features

• Real-time operating system with priority-driven multithreading and fully preemptible kernel
• Convenient software development from Microsoft Visual C++
• Complete networking layer with automatic network port dispatching
• Access to a rich set of input/output devices, including A/D, D/A, digital input/output, and serial input/output
• Real-time data piping, buffering, and filtering functions
• Extensive NetAcquire function libraries of pre-tested code
• Transparent multi-threading and memory management
• Facility for remote installation and execution of extensions
• Real-time device status and configuration
• Remote logging and persistent registry functions
• Web server integration for extension configuration
• Integration with NetAcquire Publish/Subscribe
• Integration with NetAcquire CORBA
• Component versioning
• Highly optimized with 25 uS worst-case (2 uS typical) interrupt latency and 35 uS worst-case (10 uS typical) task switch latency
• Deterministic task scheduling with priority inversion protection
• Watchdog timer support

NetAcquire hardware and software components have been thoroughly tested for reliability and performance in mission critical applications. For example, one NetAcquire quality assurance test involves making and breaking millions of NetAcquire network connections to confirm network protocol reliability and long-term memory management. Since developers' NetAcquire extensions are layered on the pre-qualified NetAcquire infrastructure, the overall testing requirements for the completed application are much lower while overall system reliability is higher. 

The NetAcquire Extension Toolkit is ideally suited for OEM applications. Look for the Powered by NetAcquire™ logo on OEM products that use the NetAcquire Extension Toolkit to provide efficient and reliable real-time distributed computing.