Altia Extends Support of Renesas R-Car to Gen3e SoCs, Leveraging CR7 to Reduce HMI Boot Time, Simplify Development and Decrease Development Cost

Altia announces today that our HMI solutions have been integrated with Renesas R-Car Gen3e CR7 Reference Software. Already a longtime supporter of the Renesas R-Car Family, Altia continues our commitment to provide top notch support for Renesas R-Car Gen3e. Our latest code generation solutions enable fast boot time, dedicated support for functional safety operations, further simplified system architecture and overall reduced development costs for OEMs and Tier 1 suppliers designing and deploying integrated cockpits.

“Altia and Renesas have a long-standing history of collaboration in delivering powerful production-proven embedded graphics for automotive applications leveraging the Renesas R-Car Family. Based on our feature upgrade in R-Car Gen3e, Altia continues to demonstrate their leadership in the HMI software space by providing a unique code generation solution that gives our customers the power to deploy first rate graphics while supporting multiple GPUs and operating systems,” stated Naoki Yoshida, Senior Director, High Performance Marketing Digital Division at Renesas.

The emerging trend for integrated cockpits is to leverage a single domain controller to consolidate instrument cluster, in-vehicle infotainment (IVI), HUD and driver monitoring functions. That domain controller integrates multiple CPU cores, GPUs and OSes (with or without a hypervisor) to manage different applications in a multi-display environment. The complexity of such a system challenges OEMs to deliver fast boot time and functional safety while offering compelling animations and rich 3D content. Such a system lends itself to a significant integration cost.

With the new R-Car Gen3e, Renesas has made improvements to enable higher integration and simplified software architecture—all aimed at reducing system cost. One such improvement is CR7 Reference Software, which was architected by Renesas to enable peripheral sharing between the Arm Cortex-R7 (“CR7”) real-time CPU and Arm Cortex-A5x domains of the Renesas Gen3e series processor. This sharing enables streamlined development and deployment of graphics with multiple GPUs and OSes.

“With the CR7 Reference Software solution, Altia extends support for the Renesas R-Car Gen3e series to offload real-time parts of automotive applications like 2D gauges to the real-time CR7 core, enabling fast boot time and safe telltale rendering and monitoring in the instrument cluster and HUD,” stated Michael Hill, Altia Vice President of Engineering. “At the same time, Altia’s HMI software can draw and drive high-end 3D content using the Arm Cortex-A5x core. With the CR7 Reference Software solution, Altia will continue to provide high impact, high performance graphics to serve the varying needs of the multiple displays in an integrated cockpit application.”

Altia’s HMI software is available as part of the Renesas CR7 Reference Software. For more information, visit the Renesas R-Car M3e product page. Developers can request an Altia HMI image for their R-Car M3e board by requesting the R-Car Gen3e Safe Rendering Software package.

To learn more about designing, developing and deploying embedded HMIs for automotive applications with Altia, visit www.altia.com/get-started.

About Altia

Altia is a software company that provides graphical user interface design and development tools that can be used from concept to final production code. Our GUI editor, Altia Design, offers development teams the capability to implement a model-based development process enabling clear team communication and accelerated user interface development. Our code generator, Altia DeepScreen, supports a vast range of low- to high-powered processors from a variety of industry-leading silicon providers. Altia generates pure C source code that is optimized to take full advantage of hardware resources. Graphics code generated by Altia is driving millions of displays worldwide – from automotive instrument clusters, HUDs and radios to thermostats, washing machines and medical devices.  

Our mission is to get the best automotive, medical and consumer interfaces into production in the shortest time on the lowest cost hardware.   

Altia was founded in 1991. Its customers include automotive OEMs and Tier 1s like Continental Automotive, Denso, Stellantis, Ford Motor Company, General Motors, Honda, Renault, Magneti Marelli, Nippon Seiki, Valeo, Visteon and more – plus leading consumer device manufacturers like Electrolux, Whirlpool, NordicTrack and many others.  

For more information about Altia, visit www.altia.com or email [email protected].  

Follow Altia on LinkedIn, Twitter and YouTube.  

Top UI / UX Trends for Medical Device Design

Medical device manufacturers are feeling a massive paradigm shift. Their products are being measured against smartphones, VR headsets and similar consumer technologies. As a result, medical devices must deliver a pleasant, intuitive and engaging user experience (UX). It’s not enough for medical device user interface (UI) to look sleek and advanced — every aspect of the interface must be fine-tuned to optimize usability and safety.

Current Medical Device Design Trends

With market expectations at an all-time high, medical device manufacturers are eager to meet those expectations by adding new features and improving their products. The following nine trends cover some ways medical device manufacturers can design experiences to meet and exceed rising standards.

1 – Interactive Virtual Reality

Virtual Reality (VR) allows people to experience real things in a virtual environment. Immersive, interactive, simulated environments provide excellent opportunities for training and learning. For example, a doctor can prepare for an advanced surgery using VR training exercises.

VR training is a safe way to practice procedures and get repetitions before seeing a live patient. Beyond the educational and surgical planning applications, VR can stimulate mental and physiological processes for patients. As medical device manufacturers identify additional use cases, VR is becoming more common in university research and hospital settings.

2 – Skeuomorphic Design

Improving medical device user interfaces has been a focus for years, particularly relying on recognizable visual cues to enhance the user experience. For example, a stethoscope icon or EKG readout symbol might replace the words “heart rate” on a medical device screen.

One of the primary benefits of such visual cues is that they empower language-agnostic designs. Text-based designs might require you to translate the phrase “heart rate” into numerous languages for potential users. An icon of a stethoscope or an EKG readout is clear regardless of whether the patient speaks English, Spanish or Chinese.

When conceptualizing visual design elements, medical device product teams can choose between flat and skeuomorphic designs. Flat design results in a simple, two-dimensional representation of an object. Adding skeuomorphic qualities like shadows and color variations can give elements the appearance of being shiny or existing in three dimensions.

Choosing a skeuomorphic design is one of the most prevalent healthcare UX trends today because it makes for visually appealing interfaces. However, skeuomorphic design isn’t always the answer. Flat design is still ideal in some situations:

  • For secondary and non-critical controls
  • When the device only contains one or two buttons
  • When on-screen cues help users differentiate interactive controls from static text

Skeuomorphic design touches like subtle gradients and drop shadows can give controls a more nuanced appearance. However, being too heavy-handed with it can do more harm than good to aesthetics and usability.

3 – Data Visualization

Visualizing patient data helps doctors and medical researchers gain valuable insights. Clear visualizations strip the complexity away from the data and bring the most helpful information to the forefront, allowing healthcare professionals to work more efficiently to provide fast and impactful patient care.

Instead of poring over a spreadsheet or writing database queries, patients and healthcare professionals can identify trends and outliers at a glance. Simple, straightforward data visualization also has a place in patient-facing medical devices. For example, Tandem Diabetes Care leveraged smart technology to transform their medical device UX.

4 – Interactive Chatbots

Interactive chatbots help patients access information and support with minimal friction. Providing instant answers to routine queries makes self-service easier for patients. People prefer that healthcare UI software to be interactive, and chatbots introduce a simulation of the human element. When chatbots handle monotonous and repetitive tasks, employees can focus on the work that requires human intervention.

5 – Voice Interface

Voice interfaces are becoming more useful — in your phone, at home and, now, in medical devices. Like interactive chatbots, voice interfaces provide patients and healthcare professionals with yet another way to access information quickly and conveniently.

Hands-free usability is especially valuable to patients who may not have full use of their hands. Voice interfaces give these patients the option to access application functions without help. Similarly, healthcare professionals can use voice interfaces to control technology without putting down their scalpels, needles or forceps.

6 – Customizable mHealth Apps

Mobile health apps are yet another way to increase the accessibility of information and functionality. Patients can use mHealth apps to take control of their healthcare from just about anywhere with email access. Customizable apps make the user experience more convenient, especially for patients who aren’t by a desktop or laptop all day.

mHealth apps increase patient engagement in a number of ways:

  • Sending reminders and allowing changes to appointments
  • Providing updates related to drug recommendations or other resources
  • Personalization of notifications and other features
  • Mobile tracking of health and fitness metrics
  • Offering video chat capabilities for telemedicine

Flexible customization makes mHealth apps easier to use and understand.

7 – Patient-Centric UI Design

Most of the growing healthcare UX trends share something in common. It’s all about putting patients at the center of the interface. From text size and typeface to the speed of screen scrolling, there are countless opportunities to make medical devices more pleasant and intuitive. When the device is created with the patient’s needs in mind then it’s likely that the patient will be more successful using it—less time and stress trying to figure out how to use the device, for example.

Ease of use is paramount, and not just for patients. For example, when Medtronic developed an FDA-Certified Medical device, they did so with the mindset that physicians and clinicians don’t have time to specialize in all kinds of different devices. Rather than putting the onus on healthcare providers to study the device, they created a simple touchscreen design with multi-language support.

8 – Flexible BOM Built In

Medical device OEMs have learned a lot of hard lessons during the chip shortage. When their device GUIs are limited to a single chip, production ceases when that chip becomes unavailable. This is a hard lesson that many device manufacturers have learned in recent times.

Designing flexibility into a GUI is a smart new strategy for keeping medical device production going for now and for the future. Selecting GUI design tools that support a wide range of hardware is key to that flexibility.

9 – Cloud-Based Design

Even beyond the chip shortage, the post-pandemic world creates challenges for all types of design teams and device manufacturers:

  • Dispersed teams
  • Supply chain issues
  • Shipping and labor costs
  • Disparate hardware-software stacks

All of these challenges can mean costly delays for GUI projects, so GUI teams are looking for ways to speed their development and reduce costs. Hardware-as-a-Service (HaaS) solutions like Altia CloudWare™ enable cloud-based design workflows to shrink or solve those problems.

Optimizing UX for Medical Devices

These nine trends are related as parts of a user-centric design philosophy. In the same way, every feature in a medical device must work together to create a cohesive user experience. Adding elements can help a product stand out and add more value for patients, but it’s also vital to implement features safely.

To see how Altia responds to medical device UI trends without increasing the risk of product failure, request your live demo.

Infineon Hands-On Workshop – Designing and Deploying Embedded GUIs with Altia

Infineon-altia-logos

A hands-on workshop hosted by: Infineon and Altia

**Attendees will each receive an Infineon PSoCTM 6 Wi-Fi BT Prototyping Kit during the event**

Join us for a half-day, hands-on workshop where you will learn how to create embedded GUIs using Altia Design in alignment with Infineon PSoC™ and ModusToolbox™

  • When: Oct 10, 2023 from 10AM to 2PM CDT
  • Where: Infineon Technologies Americas Corp. 2930 Alvin Devane Austin, TX 78741

Workshop Agenda:

  • Breakfast and networking
  • Introduction to Altia
  • Infineon products and solutions overview
  • GUI trends
  • Hands-on “Hello World” project
  • Lunch
  • Q&A

What you will learn:

  • Learn how to create embedded GUIs using Altia Design software
  • Discover the latest products and solutions from Infineon
  • Network with other embedded engineers and designers

Altia Announces DeepScreen GUI Code Running on Infineon XMC7200 MCU

Altia today announces that Altia DeepScreen-generated graphics code is running on an Infineon XMC7200 32-bit microcontroller (MCU). With a rich history for success deploying embedded GUIs for production embedded devices, Altia and Infineon can now offer the capability to deliver high-impact, optimized graphics for industrial devices like EV charging stations, electric motorbikes and other IoT applications.

The Infineon XMC7200D-E272K is designed to meet the requirements for industrial applications—and is a true programmable embedded system-on-chip, integrating two 350-MHz Arm® Cortex®-M7 as the primary application processor and one 100-MHz Arm® Cortex®-M0+. This MCU includes up to 8 MB flash and 1 MB SRAM. It also includes an embedded multi-media card (eMMC) interface for easily extending flash memory.

“Infineon’s XMC7200 MCUs offer best-in-class compute performance, equipped with dual Arm® Cortex® M7 cores, flash memory up to 8 MB and many other value-added features for high-end industrial applications, supporting next-generation embedded displays and advanced graphics,” said Lisa Kamp, Software Product Marketing Manager, Infineon Technologies. “With Altia’s highly efficient graphics code, this product pairing enables our customers to deliver rich embedded GUIs for powerful and cost-effective applications, all enabled directly within the ModusToolbox™ software ecosystem.”

Altia is keenly suited to delivering embedded graphics solutions to memory efficient MCUs like the Infineon XMC7200 series. The Altia Binary Asset Manager is employed to trim design graphics to make efficient use of memory. Runtime font engines are included to optimize text shaping and text kerning. Altia’s code generator employs efficient software rendering for speedy GUI content even on MCUs without graphics acceleration or a display controller. Because Altia’s code generation solutions do not rely on hardware acceleration for graphics, Altia-generated code can be deployed to any hardware—even applications without operating systems.

“We are pleased to expand our code generation support to include Infineon’s MCUs. Our partnership began years ago in the automotive sector with the earliest generation of their TRAVEO™ products. Today, we continue to partner with Infineon in automotive with support for the second generation of TRAVEO™, the T2G series—and we are extending our reach to industrial applications with the PSoC™ 6 and the XMC7200,” stated Jason Williamson, Altia’s Vice President of Marketing. “The smart architecture of our DeepScreen code generators enables high impact, small footprint GUIs for any hardware.”

For more information about designing, developing and deploying embedded GUIs for the Infineon XMC7200 series, visit www.altia.com/get-started.

About Altia 

Altia is a software company that provides graphical user interface design and development tools that can be used from concept to final production code. Our GUI editor, Altia Design, offers development teams the capability to implement a model-based development process enabling clear team communication and accelerated user interface development. Our code generator, Altia DeepScreen, supports a vast range of low- to high-powered processors from a variety of industry-leading silicon providers. Altia generates pure C source code that is optimized to take full advantage of hardware resources. Graphics code generated by Altia is driving millions of displays worldwide – from automotive instrument clusters, HUDs and radios to thermostats, washing machines and medical devices.

Our mission is to get the best automotive, medical and consumer interfaces into production in the shortest time on the lowest cost hardware.

Altia was founded in 1991. Its customers include automotive OEMs and Tier 1s like Continental Automotive, Denso, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, Ford Motor Company, General Motors, Honda, Renault, Magneti Marelli, Nippon Seiki, Valeo, Visteon and more – plus leading consumer device manufacturers like Electrolux, Whirlpool, NordicTrack and many others.

For more information about Altia, visit www.altia.com or email [email protected].

Follow Altia on LinkedIn, Twitter and YouTube.

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