An Introduction to Asymmetric Multiprocessing: When this Architecture can be a Game Changer

An Introduction to Asymmetric Multiprocessing: When this Architecture can be a Game Changer and How to Survive It - Nicola La Gloria & Laura Nao, Kynetics

Asymmetric multi-processing (AMP) systems fulfill the need for high performance and real-time by combining the responsiveness of a MCU with the processing power of an application processor which runs a full OS.

This talk will present a technical overview on asymmetric multiprocessing platforms focussing on motivations, use cases and how to handle interprocess communication between MCU and MPU in practice.

Tools and strategies on how to develop software on such platforms will be presented, as well as debugging techniques which take into account the diversity and complexity of such systems. A case of study based on AMP architecture is analyzed. Low-latency tasks such as high-rate reading/sampling can be handled more easily and efficiently by the MCU core running a RTOS while data visualization can displayed by the Master core running a full Linux operating system.

About Nicola La Gloria
Nicola La Gloria, is a serial entrepreneur. Co­founder and CEO of Kynetics, an IoT full stack development company. He works primarily on IoT architectures, embracing both embedded and backend development. Nicola led the development of the OS and app store for one of the first Android smart watches and he is co-founder of the Warpx.io community (http://www.warpx.io) which develops a reference design of a small footprint single board computer for IoT and wearable applications. Nicola has a Ph.D in Astronautics and Satellite Sciences with specialization in autonomous navigation and attitude determination of microsatellites using Kalman estimators. He is passionate about machine learning and stochastic systems.

About Laura Nao
Laura Nao is an Embedded Engineer focussed on Asymmetric SOCs, primarily i.MX7. She combines her knowledge of MCU and RTOS development with application processor OSes like Linux and Android. At Kynetics, she is following hybrid architectures which interface high frequencies and precise IMU devices handled by real-time OSes and their data visualization on Android. She also follows the development of microcontroller code for BLE applications.