ARNE: At the risk of eliciting more answer than you want, I am forwarding your 4 questions to the [log in to unmask] advocacy/discussion group and the extended circle of SIGAda officers. I think you will receive a lot of informed inputs which will be better than one person's perspective. I also think most of these groups will also be very interested to read the account of your 20-year involvement with Ada and successful space experience (some of which some of us are aware). I will give you an early answer to your question #3 -- YES, I think a presentation about your Ada microprocessor is appropriate for a future SIGAda conference, and that it will favorably received. There will be a hard-core minority of SIGAda members very interested in this hardware relationship, even if the majority are more software-centric and would attend a different session. -Hal Hart, ACM SIGAda Past Chair Arne Carlsson <[log in to unmask]> wrote: >X-Sender: carlsar@pophost >Mime-Version: 1.0 >Date: Wed, 24 Nov 1999 06:34:15 +0100 >To: [log in to unmask] >From: Arne Carlsson <[log in to unmask]> >Subject: Ada in Hardware >Cc: [log in to unmask], [log in to unmask], > [log in to unmask], [log in to unmask] >X-MIME-Autoconverted: from quoted-printable to 8bit by >cardinal.prod.itd.earthlink.net id VAA07850 > > >Dear Mr Hart, > >I have a couple of Ada questions, which are important for decisions about >Ada activities in the company I work for, Saab Ericsson Space in Sweden. > >I know you have been involved in Ada activities for many years, and I think >you can give fair answers on these questions. I should appreciate very much >if you take time for an answer. > >Question 1: >We have developed an Ada microprocessor for real-time embedded space >applications. Today this chip is manufactured in a rad-hard process at >Honeywell in US. Because Ada real-time functions are implemented in silicon >on the chip, these functions are real fast during runtime. This allows Ada >applications, which have not been possible before. What do you think about >implementation of Ada functions in silicon (hardware), is it of interest for >the Ada community, or are only software implementations of interest? What >does the 'Real-Time Environment Working Group' say if no code is needed for >Ada task scheduling and switching, for example? > >Question 2: >Right now this Ada chip is used in a space project named Rosetta. >C-programming was required so we ported GNU C-compiler and debugger to this >Ada chip. Porting GNAT to this Ada chip should result in a very high >performance Ada-compiler/processor combination. Do you think this could be >seen as a positive support for the Ada language by the Ada community? If >"yes", do you think we can get an official "yes" in order to simplify >funding of the work to port GNAT? > >Question 3: >Do you think this Ada microprocessor is of interest for any conferences? >Which ones? > >Question 4: >Can you see any interest of this Ada microprocessor from projects in US? > > >Some background: >Saab Ericsson Space has developed on-board computers for space applications >since 1972, e.g. in the ARIANE-launcher and SPOT-satellite programmes. The >first version of the Ada microprocessor was presented about eight years ago, >for example at the TRI-Ada'91 conference. It was proven in space flight the >first time 1995. We have been involved in Ada for about 20 years, and we >have also developed an Ada compiler (not validated) for the Ada chip. I >myself visited a 'bird-of-a-feather' session at the 'AIAA 2nd COMPUTERS IN >AEROSPACE CONFERENCE', Los Angeles 1979, where the name 'Ada' was used for >the new programming language. It was the first time I heard the name 'Ada' >used for this language. > >Best Regards >Arne Carlsson > >---------------------------------------------------------- >| Arne Carlsson Telephone: +46 31 735 4367 | >| Saab Ericsson Space Telefax: +46 31 735 9520 | >| S-405 15 Göteborg E-mail: [log in to unmask] | >---------------------------------------------------------- >