Published on 05/30/2017 | Technology
The design requirements for graphical user interfaces (GUIs) used in embedded applications vary dramatically. With the proliferation of smart devices being ushered in by the Internet of Things (IoT), that variation has begun to increase to an unprecedented degree. Established platforms—such as VxWorks®, the world’s most widely deployed real- time operating system (RTOS)—embrace the full range of that complexity. Depending on the use case itself, as well as the design preferences of solution providers, very different approaches may be taken to create a simple yet robust way for users to interact with systems.
Some implementations are best served by simple GUIs that can be supported with minimal system resources, such as a small-footprint system-on-chip, using software rendering to a framebuffer. At the other end of the spectrum, some applications require feature-rich GUIs with advanced 3D graphics, shading, animation, and image transforms; these typically use hardware acceleration on dedicated graphics processors.
This paper examines both of these approaches to rendering GUIs for embedded applications, including in IoT.
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