Accelerated Technology"s Nucleus RTOS Implemented in Aircraft Device that Manages Communication Between Air and Land

MOBILE, Ala.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 24, 2002--Accelerated Technology, the Embedded Systems Division of Mentor Graphics Corporation (Nasdaq:MENT - News), announced that its Nucleus® Real-Time Operating System (RTOS) was selected by PENTAR Avionics (Seattle, WA) to develop the CMS-1000 communications management system for use in airborne transportation.

Available now, the CMS-1000 is a device employed to manage communications between an aircraft operator and ground control.

The CMS-1000 is a complete communications system integrated into a small panel mount within a cockpit of an aircraft. The system provides all necessary aircraft information to the ground operator such as aircraft position, engine data, air data, fuel information and many other aircraft parameters.

Development of the CMS family included Nucleus PLUS, a scalable real-time kernel; Nucleus NET, a full-featured TCP/IP protocol stack; Nucleus FILE, a file management system; Nucleus PQUICC Ethernet driver; and the Nucleus Extended Protocol Package.

Dean Levi, principal engineer for the CMS project at PENTAR Avionics, initially installed Nucleus to build a Visual Studio workspace. He then compiled the Nucleus software packages into libraries, linked them with a test program and downloaded this program to an EST development board. This provided a basic platform from which he could learn the details of Nucleus and develop the CMS application software packages.

Nucleus PLUS was implemented as the main core to be used on each of the three CMS processor boards. Levi added a capability for Nucleus to detect which board it was running on so that it could properly configure the I/O on power-up. Additional drivers were written for special hardware interfaces that had been designed into the boards. Levi developed a Nucleus-based UART driver to make it an object-oriented driver that could use SMC, SCC or an external UART device.

Once the CMS hardware was received in house, Levi ran the test program that he originally created using the Nucleus PLUS core to test the hardware of each board. Minor changes were made to the Nucleus components to get it running on these platforms. In the end, he had a stable Nucleus-based core that ran on all three of their hardware platforms.

"One of the best things about my position is to see great new products being developed with our software. As a bonus, we see how Mr. Levi was able to use the open architecture of Nucleus to tailor it to his application. Nucleus software offers unparalleled flexibility in developing applications and the CMS-1000 further illustrates this point in a very practical way. Congratulations to Mr. Levi and his team on a job well done," said Neil Henderson, general manager of Mentor Graphics Embedded Systems Division.

"I evaluated a number of companies and eliminated most of them due to reasons such as a lack of RTOS features, company inexperience, no prior certification of their RTOS in an avionics product, or the inability to get technical support on the phone," said Dean Levi, principal engineer at PENTAR Avionics. "This narrowed it down to a couple of companies from which it was determined that Nucleus and the supporting packages met all of our requirements and desires."

The Accelerated Technology® Nucleus software has been implemented by companies such as UPS Aviation Technology and Honeywell for critical applications in the aviation industry for several years. It is the robustness of the kernel, the scalability and ease of use, among other features, that lend Nucleus to becoming the foundation for these embedded designs.

About Mentor Graphics

Mentor Graphics Corporation (Nasdaq:MENT - News) is a world leader in electronic hardware and software design solutions, providing products, consulting services and award-winning support for the world's most successful electronics and semiconductor companies. Established in 1981, the company reported revenues over the last 12 months of about $600 million and employs approximately 3,700 people worldwide. Corporate headquarters are located at 8005 S.W. Boeckman Road, Wilsonville, Oregon 97070-7777; Silicon Valley headquarters are located at 1001 Ridder Park Drive, San Jose, California 95131-2314. World Wide Web site: www.mentor.com.

Accelerated Technology (AT), the Embedded Systems Division of Mentor Graphics, is located in Mobile, Alabama with sales offices and distributors worldwide. By providing embedded systems developers with a focus on service, well-documented source code and industry leading non-royalty based Real-Time Operating Systems (RTOS) software, AT's RTOS software shortens time-to-market and provides a complete solution for engineers. For more information, please visit www.acceleratedtechnology.com or email us at info@acceleratedtechnology.com.

Mentor Graphics, Accelerated Technology and Nucleus are registered trademarks of Mentor Graphics Corporation. All other company or product names are the registered trademarks or trademarks of their respective owners.

     Accelerated Technology
     Jennifer Whiddon, 251/661-5770 ext. 5032
     jwhiddon@acceleratedtechnology.com
     or
     Weber Shandwick
     Jeremiah Glodoveza, 415/352-2628
     jglodoveza@webershandwick.com