IP Addressable Device Programming
December 31, 1969 |Estimated reading time: 5 minutes
Recent changes in computing technology have provided much-needed capability for multi-site/multi-national companies to pursue the strategies of developing a global presence. Included in those changes have been advances in networking operations to facilitate communications, and the ability to manufacture products globally. One important technology change has been the IP addressability of computing peripherals.
By Bruce Rodgers
Many companies involved in manufacturing electronics products have implemented the concept of a “virtual” company to leverage potential economies available in various world geographies. A virtual company consists of different operational groups involved in design, manufacturing and delivering products to market. Often, these are separate companies that partner on one or more projects. In practical terms, this means that electronic design centers can be established wherever the talent pool resides, independent of geographic ties. Manufacturing and support centers have been deployed to take advantage of local low-cost labor pools - the recent surge in production facilities throughout Asia, especially China.
Cost Position Is Paramount
Examples of low-cost consumer electronics manufacturing are plentiful (from PCs to cell phones) where rapid changes in market conditions and competitive pressure stipulate that a nimble, low-cost producer is a profit and market-share leader. The electronics product manufacturing process is marked by different conditions across an ever-shortening design-to-production cycle including:
Design Phase → Prototype Phase → Test Phase →Low-volume Production → High-volume Production
In the design phase, strategies often center on product innovation, while the prototyping and test phases confirm manufacturability. Expected low- and high-volume production phases followed as products enjoyed market acceptance. Achieving the position of low-cost provider has centered on the ease with which a manufacturing company transitions these phases.
Multi-year Product Life Cycles End
Traditional life cycle expectations in some consumer electronics products have shifted from years to months. Cell phones have been the most dramatic case of shortened life cycles. New cell phone products were introduced every year or two; however, now it is common to see life cycles as short as 90 days. In 2003, one of the world’s leading cell phone providers introduced nearly 30 new models during a six-month window, pressuring the manufacturing process to maintain cost positions and decrease time-to-market.
Controlling Firmware Content
Because of product proliferation and the need for design teams to have the flexibility to implement product-feature changes quickly, the ability to control and share product firmware content also is an increasing pressure point. Whether improving performance of existing elements, response to competitive pressure or a planned value-add product strategy of implementing new features, the challenge remains to quickly migrate product content changes from the design team to the manufacturing team without negatively impacting inventory.
Networking Capability Is Key
The notion of requiring worldwide communication between, and within, manufacturing companies is not new. The explosion of the Internet and dependence on its communication capabilities is routine. Linking computing technologies globally is an accepted practice, and a multi-billion dollar industry. Network downtime now equates directly to lost production and profitability.
IP Addressability Comes to Device Programming
The notion of being able to address computer peripherals is not new. Sharing equipment, such as printers, across a range of users makes economic sense. As electronics manufacturing companies design programmable ICs, the ability to implement change at the device-programmer level has been constrained by manufacturers’ programming-system strategies. There are many ways to program these devices, whether individually or in groups, before they are mounted onto a circuit board or via board-level programming methods.
Traditional device-programming systems have used some form of a dedicated controller, such as a PC, to deliver the programming algorithm directly to the native (blank) device. The physical interface to the device programmer has been dedicated to the controller: one PC and one programmer.
Benefits of IP Addressable Device Programming
Product Change. A common strategy of volume manufacturing to maintain a low-cost position is to remove manufacturing steps and human intervention, or at least remove the possibility for human error. Design teams in Europe now can implement a firmware change in a product being produced in Asia by sending firmware changes directly to the device programmer’s IP address (Figure 1). Changes in product content can be completed as the product is being produced.
Figure 1. Networked Programming System
Speed of Manufacturing. Where traditional device programmers were dedicated to a single controller, multiple device programmers (each with unique IP addresses) can be associated with a single controller, or act as nodes on a network. Conceptually, if the programming task required 180 seconds to complete six large memory devices, using four IP addressable device programmers could reduce programming cycles to less than eight seconds per device.
Matching Programming Operation to Volume. During early phases of market acceptance, a manufacturing company may produce a few hundred or thousand products. During later phases, the manufacturing company may produce millions. IP addressability of systems supporting different levels of throughput means the manufacturer has greater flexibility in matching production systems to volume requirements.
An IP Addressable Platform
An example of an IP addressable platform shows how different members of development teams require small quantities of programmed devices; first-article-build teams have larger volume needs; and in-line production teams have large-volume needs that can migrate designs and design changes easily across a common IP addressable platform.
An off-line programming system provides a range of configurations for delivering devices to the programmer, as well as a range of programming sites so users can match system capabilities to their device mix and volume needs. An in-line system mounts directly onto pick-and-place machines. These programming systems use the same core technology and allow users to have a connected strategy to share programming tasks.
Conclusion
Implementing a common user interface across different programming systems provides job creation that includes device selection; programming parameters; programmer setup; job control; and quality-control statistics. Such software then can dispatch the programming “job” to the programming hardware system of choice as fast as the manufacturing company’s computer network allows.
This “connected strategy” means a common job can be shared across a range of device programming systems globally, providing the manufacturing company with a truly connected manufacturing process.
Bruce Rodgers, vice president, sales and marketing, Asia/Americas, Data I/O, may be contacted at (425) 867-6893; e-mail: rodgerb@data-io.com.