In modern embedded operating systems, user applications cannot access hardware directly unless the customer has a driver or can develop a driver running on specific hardware on different operating systems. For example, if a customer wants to use the onboard GPIO to control an LED in Windows XP Embedded, they will need to develop a GPIO driver to access the LED directly. In reality, drivers can be difficult to develop, sometimes they are too unique or too “personal” to the programmer. And, because driver development depends on the programmers own experience, only they know how to use them, other programmers might not fully understand them because they are not clearly defined or unified.

Furthermore, because personalized drivers are often not tested properly, it is possible to damage the hardware if they are not carefully used. In other words, they are not very secure. These situations often happen during system integration, whether integrating I2C devices, SMBus devices or Watchdog timers etc.

In view of the increasing demands on the software library, Advantech developed the SUSI (Secure and Unified Smart Interface) unified interface. Advantech’s SUSI unified development interface provides an ideal solution for developers to efficiently design and build their innovative applications. With SUSI the pain is taken out of complex projects, and developers can concentrate on adding value to their products. Customers can also include SUSI into MS Visual Studio development suite and configure suitable devices in less time to speed up project development.

• Power Saving: Utility provides green power settings for max. energy savings and performance
• Monitor: Utility provides real-time monitoring of temperature, fan, voltage, and alarm settings
• Hotkey: Utility with manual and auto modes for easy shortcuts
• Video Brightness: Utility with manual and auto modes for easy control of panels
• Security: Utility for multi-level protection with hash encryption

SUSI 3.0 with Multi-level Security
Advantech’s new version SUSI Smart Utility is a comprehensive collection of APIs, designed for fast embedded application development and time-to-market response. System Integrators can use SUSI v3.0 straight off-the-shelf with little or no need to write their own software applications. The new user friendly graphical interface makes SUSI v3.0 even easier to use and saves valuable development time & effort. SUSI v3.0 is more vertically focused; it provides multiple-levels of security for embedded applications through 3 levels of unique security ID assignments. Previously, SUSI was a unified API designed specifically for ease of use and for integration with Advantech’s hardware. Now, with SUSI v3.0, the new smart utilities are ready to go; sample code is easily generated via SUSI, and security is much more advanced and integrated into Advantech’s embedded BIOS.

Advantech SUSI v3.0 package offers several off-the-shelf utilities. A Power Management Utility provides green power settings for maximum energy savings and performance settings for optimum speed. An ePlatformFlash Utility provides easy BIOS backup and restore, and the Hotkey Utility is a tool for setting short-cuts for GPIO via keyboard control. A Brightness Utility has manual and auto modes for easy control of panels, and a Security Utility provides multiple levels of protection and hash encryption. Lastly, the Monitoring Utility provides real-time temperature, fan and voltage monitoring and custom alarm settings. All these utilities are integrated into SUSI and provide the simplest way to develop your embedded applications.

Find out about SUSI

SUSI is a unified API library designed to help client develop, customize and program applications for hardware monitoring and control. SUSI application interface permits quick, easy and unified coding for efficient optimized hardware control.

Advantech will continually develop new SUSI functions to fulfill customer’s requirements and simplify application development. To find out more about SUSI and its supported platform list, please visit our website at http://www.advantech.com.ess/