Europe has started the research project “EMC2”, which is intended to increase the performance and efficiency of embedded systems for the automotive and manufacturing industries, the Internet of Things, healthcare and aerospace.
With a budget of around EUR 90 million, EMC2is one of the most important subsidized European projects and includes 99 partners from 19 countries. The three-year EMC2project is being funded by Artemis Joint Undertaking, now part of the ECSEL Joint Undertaking, and 19 national funding organizations. Infineon Technologies is the project coordinator. The EMC2 project is intended to simplify and strengthen the use of embedded systems. It is set to end in March 2017. EMC2is part of the ”European Embedded Systems” industrial program, which is designed to help Europe maintain its leadership position in embedded systems.
The term “embedded systems” refers to systems that are incorporated into larger systems. Examples include the motion control in a robot arm that is integrated – that is to say ”embedded” – into a production line, or engine control units of a car. In addition to manufacturing equipment and vehicles, embedded systems can be found virtually everywhere; in households (such as washers or dryers), airplanes, trains and large-scale medical equipment. A medium-sized car, for example, currently contains about 80 embedded systems, all of which must work reliably over the vehicle’s entire lifetime; in an airplane more than 100 even higher integrated systems are embedded, and in manufacturing facilities the number of embedded systems may range into the thousands.
