What’s New

The Embedded Tech Trends (ETT) media event was held in New Orleans last week and it should come as no surprise that the event was very well attended!  The quality of the presentations and media interaction was superb.  Three of the PICMG officers were in attendance.  With the new PICMG leadership, there were very important messages we wanted to convey to our colleagues in attendance.

1. Activity & presence

We intend for PICMG to be much more active and be more vocal about our efforts.  There are a lot of hidden gems and hot spots of activity for the various PICMG specifications.  We want all of you to hear about the successes, the trends, and the upcoming efforts in the community.

2. Work more closely with the publications & our members

The PICMG leadership wants to work closely with all of the various publications across the electronics spectrum.  Do you know of a new program using a PICMG technology?  Let us know and when appropriate we will help spread the word!

3. Closer communication with VITA and other groups

Jess Isquith and I spoke with VITA’s Jerry Gipper about closer collaboration between the groups.  With significant overlap of members and many of the same goals, it makes sense for the two organizations to explore areas of collaboration for mutual benefit.

4. PICMG – Commercial | Industrial | Rugged

You may notice PICMG using these words — Commercial, Industrial, Rugged.   While VITA is almost completely Mil/Aero, we want to remind the industry that PICMG is well diversified in Industrial, Transportation, Mil/Aero, Medical, Physics/Research, Energy, Communications, and many other industries.

5. We are Rugged too

With the incredible success of the xTCA specifications in Communications, many in the industry forget that PICMG has very rugged implementations of CompactPCI/Serial, AdvancedTCA, MicroTCA, PICMG 1.3, and COM Express.  CompactPCI Serial for Space and Rugged COM Express are on the way.  Let’s not forget that its CompactPCI on the Mars Rover over 225 million kilometers away.

We at PICMG look forward to many exciting advances to come in 2017 and beyond.

Justin Moll, VP of Marketing

2017 marks significant changes for PICMG. As your new president, I am excited to work with incoming VP of Marketing, Justin Moll, returning officers Doug Sandy and Michael Munroe, and our 150+ members. Our key organizational initiatives for this year include modernizing and updating our specifications distribution, creating user groups for standards and families, encouraging collaboration with complementary standards organizations, and starting a university outreach program.

Active standards work will lead to substantial enhancements of COM Express, MicroTCA, CompactPCI Serial Space and AdvancedTCA. PICMG-based product shipments are positioned for a strong year due to the continued growth of COM Express, the adoption of CompactPCI Serial, and the steady deployments of other standards. Over one third of PICMG members will exhibit at Embedded World in March, and we officers will there to support and meet with you.

If you are interested in any of the initiatives and activities mentioned, please contact me at [email protected] or all of the officers at [email protected]. Participation and member driven innovation are the keys to our future success and we thank you for your support.

This week, the Mars rover Opportunity celebrated its 12th anniversary on the red planet, having  landed there on Jan. 24, 2004. The rover is still functioning, and has an exploratory mission over the winter in “Marathon Valley” in the Endeavour crater.

Opportunity is controlled by two CompactPCI computers, designed and built by BAE Systems.

When Opportunity first landed, the NASA team thought the harsh Martian environment would render it useless in a matter of months. But the golf cart-sized rover, powered by solar energy, is still collecting data today.

CompactPCI remains a vital and important technology for a wide range of applications, and is widely used in satellites and other space applications. It’s rugged and it works.

Congratulations to the NASA engineers and support teams, and BAE.

Joe Pavlat

PICMG