The 10 Most Innovative Embedded System Solution Providers 2018

www.insightssuccess.com 

November 2018 

THE 

Innovative 

Embedded 

System SOLUTION 

PROVIDERS 2018 

Most 

Tech-Trend 

Embedded Systems are Gaining 

Popularity across all Domains 

Power Management 

Power Management Mechanisms 

in Embedded Systems 

Andreas Kyrtatos 

CEO 

Embotech 

Redening Autonomous Motion 

for a Better and Safer World

Editor’s Note 

Embedded Systems: 

Innovating and 

Transforming the 

Digital World 

mbedded systems perform different tasks ranging from control oriented like- innovative user 

Einterface, quality of service management to data intensive work like- 3D image processing, 

communication stream and more. Although, homogeneous or heterogeneous multiprocessor 

architectures- System on Chip (SoC) or System in Package offer increase computing power, but growing 

complexity of applications together are drastically increasing the embedded system’s power consumption. 

It is thus vital to focus on reducing the power consumption in circuits. 

Historically power management was purely a hardware issue, but those days have long gone. Now-a-days 

software role plays a pivotal role in managing the power. As far as software is concerned, broadly, there 

are two contexts where power consumption can be considered when it is in use and when it is idle; this 

active power management and deployment of low power CPU modes can be beneficial. 

Dynamic Voltage and Frequency Scaling is the other aspect which can assist in controlling power 

consumption. For a software engineer, how much CPU voltage and clock frequency affect power 

consumption is a very important thing? Since the lower frequency of operation will be lower the power 

consumption. Real Time Operating Systems is the other area where one can look into to address this 

concern- It is vital for the operating system to include a power management structure, as the precise 

operation of drivers, in specific, may be drastically affected by power saving measures and the OS can 

freely manage this. This is how power management in a modern power-aware RTOS is implemented. 

Peripheral Power-down, Low Power Modes can also assist in controlling power consumption.

There are many such modifications are going within the Embedded Systems for their efficient 

operations. These transformations are carried out by many innovative companies within this field. To 

highlight such efforts from Embedded Systems Solution Providers, we have decided to go for the issue, 

“The 10 Most Innovative Embedded System Solution Providers”. On the cover of this issue, we 

have, Embotech: Orchestrating Autonomous Motion for a Better and Safer World. 

Embotech is a leading developer of embedded automatic decision-making systems. This Zurich, 

Switzerland-based tech startup has started its operation in 2013 and within half-a-decade it has grown to 

a prominent technology company in Switzerland. The company has built a niche in the market by 

developing cutting-edge decision-making software for autonomous motion: real-time Motion Planning 

solutions for autonomous vehicles for launching and landing re-usable rockets and for other applications 

in the Energy domain such as wind turbines. With these cutting-edge solutions, Embotech is changing 

the landscape of autonomous motion for a better and safer world. 

The founders of Embotech, Juan Jerez (VP Engineering) and Alexander Domahidi (CTO), wanted to 

further enhance the numerical optimization technology developed during their PhDs to be an integral 

part of tomorrow’s decision-making systems. Thus, Embotech was born. It was the sheer dedication, 

farsighted vision of the founders along with the adeptness of its high-caliber technical staff, that allowed 

Embotech to successfully serve more than 30 clients across the globe in such a limited time. In these five 

years, the company has served many giants like the European Space Agency (ESA), VW, and Renault 

and has made Europe its stronghold business territory. 

After doing in-depth research, we have enlisted companies who responsibly transforming the world with 

their innovative Solutions; Airborne: The Pioneer of Advanced Composites Manufacturing, Aisilica: 

Boosting Surveillance with Hawk-eye Vision and Pedantic Precision, Conbee: Engineered many 

Ground-breaking Smart TAGs to Streamline Logistic Processes, NeoCortec: Connecting World with 

Leading-edge Networking Technology, VividQ: Crafted a Landmark Software Framework to Boost 

Holographic Display, and Zolertia: Pioneering Embedded Revolution and Serving Clients with 

Ebullience. 

While going through our magazine, you must not miss out the articles such as; Embedded Systems are 

Gaining Popularity across all Domains, and Embedded Systems are Gaining Popularity across all 

Domains from the Editor’s Pick. Minimizing the Adverse Effects of Risks, and Want to Build a Strong 

Team? It Starts with Trust and Respect from the View of some of the Successful Leaders. 

Suhel Mashayak

COVER STORY 

08 

Embotech 

Orchestrating Autonomous 

Motion for a Better and Safer World 

CXO STANDPOINT ARTICLES 

26 

Tech-Trend 

Embedded Systems are 

Gaining Popularity 

across all Domains 

36 



Mechanisms in 

Embedded Systems 

18 

Maestro's Viewpoint 

Minimizing the Adverse 

Effects of Risks 

32 

Expert's Guide 

Want to Build a Strong Team? 

It Starts with Trust and Respect

CONT 

16 

ENTS 

Airborne 

The Pioneer of Advanced 

Composites Manufacturing 

24 

Conbee 

Engineered many 

Ground-breaking Smart TAGs 

to Streamline Logistic Processes 

20 

Aisilica 

Boosting Surveillance with 

Hawk-eye Vision 

and Pedantic Precision 

CONT 

ENTS 

30 

NeoCortec 

Connecting World with 

Leading-edge 

Networking Technology 

40 

VividQ 

Crafted a Landmark 

Software Framework to 

Boost Holographic Display 

42 

Zolertia 

Pioneering Embedded 

Revolution and Serving 

Clients with Ebullience

Editor-in-Chief Pooja M. Bansal 

Senior Editor Anish Miller 

Managing Editor Suhel Mashayak 

Executive Editor Stella Andrew 

Contributing Editors Upama, Nilam, Ryan 

Visualiser David King 

Art & Design Head Amol Kamble 

Art & Design Assistant Poonam Mahajan 

Co-designer Paul Belin 

Art & Picture Editor Mayur Koli 

Business Development Manager Peter Collins 

Marketing Manager Marry D’Souza 

Business Development Executive Abhijeet Pisal 

Sales Executives Sherin, Jennifer, Josh, Alice, Karen 

Technical Head Jacob Smile 

Assistant Technical Head Swapnil Patil 

Technical Consultants Vivek, David, Robert 

Digital Marketing Manager Alina Sege 

Assistant Digital Marketing Manager Prashant Chevale 

SME-SMO Executives Rahul, Gemson, Swati 

Research Analyst Eric Smith 

Circulation Manager Tanaji 

sales@insightssuccess.com 

November, 2018 

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RNI NUMBER: MAHENG/2018/75953

Cover Story 

‘ We are 

a pioneer in 

developing 

Cutting-edge 

Autonomous 

Motion 

Solutions. 

Embotech 

redefining 

autonomous 

motion for 

a Better and 

Safer World 

Asustainable embedded solution company is 

one that carries vital experience along with 

agility in its core business processes. Such a 

company should know its market well by working 

actively with end-customers, chip manufacturers and 

suppliers of complimentary software and should have 

innovation at its core in order to stay ahead of the 

game. One such company that is catching attention 

with many prominent clients across the European 

region is Embotech. 

This Zurich, Switzerland-based tech startup has started 

its operation in 2013 and within half-a-decade it has 

grown to a prominent technology company in 

Switzerland. The company has built a niche in the 

market by developing cutting-edge decision-making 

software for autonomous motion: real-time Motion 

Planning solutions for autonomous vehicles 

(autonomous parking, highway driving, urban 

driving), for launching and landing re-useable rockets 

(Aerospace domain) and for other applications in the 

Energy domain such as wind turbines. With these 

cutting-edge solutions, Embotech is changing the

Andreas Kyrtatos

landscape of autonomous motion for a 

better and safer world. 

Inspiration behind its Inception 

Embotech, short for embedded 

optimization technologies, was 

founded in 2013 as a spin-off from the 

ETH Zurich. The founders, Juan 

Jerez (VP Engineering) and 

Alexander Domahidi (CTO), wanted 

to further enhance the numerical 

optimization technology developed 

during their PhDs to be an integral part 

of tomorrow’s decision-making 

systems. Thus, embotech was born. 

It was the sheer dedication, farsighted 

vision of the founders along with the 

adeptness of its high-calibre technical 

staff, that allowed embotech to 

successfully serve more than 30 clients 

across the globe in such a limited time. 

In these five years, the company has 

served many giants like the European 

Space Agency (ESA), VW, and 

Renault and has made Europe its 

stronghold business territory. 

Leading Embotech 

A good leader has a clear vision about 

the future, keeps a sharp eye on 

business objectives and works as a 

source of inspiration and motivation 

for all. Andreas Kyrtatos, the CEO at 

Embotech is one such leader who has 

been chosen by the founders to lead 

embotech into its high-growth phase. 

A mechanical engineer by training, he 

worked in the energy and marine 

businesses for over a decade in R&D, 

project management and general 

management roles. Alongside work, he 

completed an executive Master’s 

degree in Business Law. He joined 

embotech as COO in early 2018 and 

took over as CEO a few months later. 

It is the result of Andreas’s meticulous 

attention to details and sharp business 

acumen that the team has been able to 

make embotech flourish. 

He believes that sharing company’s 

future vision with employees, showing 

empathy and providing them constant 

motivation is the key to unlock the true 

potential of any organization, which 

ultimately lead towards sustainable 

success. 

Flagship Product and Its Uniqueness 

Embotech’s flagship product is its 

numerical core software tool - 

FORCES Pro. It is an auto-coder 

which automatically generates highly 

efficient embeddable C-code which is 

designed to solve complex motion 

problems, given a mathematical 

description by the user. 

Embotech is using FORCES Pro to 

develop cutting-edge motion planning 

technology for autonomous vehicles 

and other machines. In the automotive 

space, the technology can be used for 

motion planning for Advanced Driver- 

Assist Systems (ADAS), and level 3 to 

5 autonomous driving. When coupled 

with the necessary ADAS sensors, 

mapping and localization systems, the 

software is capable of safe path 

planning, including reacting to 

detected objects around the vehicle at 

the limits of handling. 

The technology is agnostic to sensor 

technologies and can interface with 

lidar, radar, cameras, and ultrasonic 

sensors, to gather data and set up 

autonomous driving functions. The 

software supports vital embedded 

self-driving functions such as 

emergency maneuvers, Highway Pilot, 

Valet Parker (low-speed maneuvering 

and autonomous parking), and Urban 

Driver. 

Owing to its numerical optimization 

core, the software does not require 

situational pre-programming or vehicle 

training. The system is vehicleagnostic 

and can be applied to 

non-standard vehicle types, e.g. 

‘ Smart 

THE 10 MOST INNOVATIVE 

EMBEDDED SYSTEM 

SOLUTION PROVIDERS 2018 

Solutions 

for 

1 Billion 

Autonomous 

Systems. 

vehicles with a trailer or rear-axle 

steering. 

Its parking module has been developed 

generically as a low speed maneuverer 

and is able to park in any situation 

independent of the parking spot 

geometry (parallel, perpendicular, 

diagonal, etc.), avoiding moving 

objects effectively along the way. The 

highway driving module delivers 

smooth trajectories for the comfort of 

the passengers and can handle 

situations up to the limits of handling 

of the car, contrary to currently 

available solutions. It can adapt the 

driving behavior of the vehicle in 

real-time taking into account passenger 

preferences or environmental situations 

such as slippery road due to sudden 

rain. “Embotech specializes in highend 

real-time decision-making software 

for motion planning of autonomous 

vehicles,” asserts the CEO.

Other Embotech Solutions 

Apart from the embedded autonomous 

driving solution, embotech has also 

developed an infrastructure-based 

parking solution, based on the same 

numerical core. In this case, sensors 

are integrated in the infrastructure and 

the real-time motion planner is located 

in the cloud. Vehicles can thus be 

remotely driven individually. In 

addition a future feature of the solution 

will allow at the same time to optimize 

traffic flow between several vehicles 

operated remotely in parallel. 

In another automotive application 

designed to reduce fuel consumption 

and extend battery range, embotech is 

developing software for real-time 

energy management of hybrid and 

battery-driven vehicles (battery, 

electric motor, combustion engine, 

gearbox, etc.), each with highly 

different characteristics. In this 

application the Embotech software 

optimises the driving behaviour of the 

vehicle for a given road profile and 

traffic situation ahead. 

Embotech also offers solutions for the 

Energy industry – in mid-2018, the 

company signed its first series contract 

with a leading European wind turbine 

manufacturer. Embotech’s 

optimization software will be 

implemented on the Electronics 

Control Units (ECUs) of wind turbines. 

The objective is to optimize in 

real-time the pitch of the blades, given 

fast wind measurements and 

predictions from the wind farm. This 

allows for better structural stability, 

longer run-times of wind turbines 

under diverse wind conditions, and less 

maintenance over lifetime optimizing 

profitability for wind turbine operators. 

In the aerospace industry, embotech is 

active in motion planning software for 

reusable rockets: i.e. software that 

handles the launching of the rocket and 

the landing of some parts of it which 

can be reused to save cost. This motion 

planning code shares the same core as 

‘ ‘Proficient 

Human 

Capital 

is the Real 

Wealth 

for Any 

Organization.

the motion planning code for 

autonomous vehicles. 

Why are embotech Solutions 

Popular? 

There are several providers of motion 

planning across the globe but what 

makes Embotech unique is the 

combination of several state-of-the-art 

features which characterise its 

solutions, namely: 

Ø 

Ø 

Ø 

Ø 

Ø 

Ø 

One of the fastest and most 

reliable real-time motion planners 

on the market 

Embeddable everywhere (in any 

ECU type) 

Physics based approach not using 

any AI or Deep Learning for 

motion planning, which has 

several benefits: 

· Fast adaption to new 

carlines/vehicles 

· Easy implementation in 

non-conventional vehicles, 

trucks and vehicles with trailers 

· Software certifiable to 

automotive grade 

Smooth driving trajectories, 

leading to better passenger 

comfort. Driving behavior can be 

changed in real-time based on e.g. 

passenger preferences, 

environmental conditions, charge. 

· Large scope for customization 

of driving style and thus brand 

image by customer 

Capable of planning complex 

maneuvers at physical limits of 

vehicle, owing to complex tyre 

and vehicle models solved in 

milliseconds 

Same motion planning core for all 

ADAS/AD functions, i.e. no 

situational programming 

For embotech, Employees are its 

Competitive Advantage 

It’s a time-tested fact that companies 

who treat their employees fairly and 

provide them with equal opportunities 

to flourish in their career ultimately 

have a higher chance to succeed. 

Embotech is a company that gives 

highest priority on treating employees 

as its biggest asset. This company 

believes that employees are the real 

asset of any organization who works 

round the clock towards its success. 

To date, embotech employs 18 

proficient men and women 

representing 7 nationalities. The 

fast-growing company strives to offer a 

highly diverse working environment, 

where the employees are openhandedly 

encouraged to take on more 

responsibility and grow with the 

company. 

Its employees come from various 

technical backgrounds and have 

formed a highly motivated and 

passionate team, where regular 

exchanges of knowledge and 

experiences are encouraged and 

ultimately drive the company’s 

innovation. Employees are regularly 

exposed to a wide variety of state-ofthe-art 

technical and commercial 

challenges in embotech’s Automotive, 

Aerospace and Energy businesses. 

Embotech offers its employees 

opportunities to take on responsibility 

early-on in their career and interact 

directly with important customers all 

over the world. 

Road Ahead 

Embotech will continue to drive 

innovation in its products and is aiming 

to acquire additional contracts in its all 

three business units (Automotive, 

Aerospace, Energy). Furthermore, 

geographical expansion si planned to 

be close to its customers who are 

located around the globe. 

In terms of expanding its engineering 

footprint, embotech is planning to 

found a subsidiary within the EU in 

order to tap into talent pools in 

countries close to Switzerland. “Over 

the past Years Embotech has 

experienced steady growth in turnover 

and employees, a trend that is set to 

continue,” concluded the CEO. 

‘ ‘ 

Agility, 

Experience 

and 

Innovation 

are the 

Key to 

Unlock 

Hidden 

Potential.

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Airborne: 

The Pioneer of Advanced Composites Manufacturing 

The digital twin—and the massive amounts of data it 

processes—often remained elusive to enterprises 

due to limitations in digital technology capabilities 

as well as limited computing, storage, and bandwidth costs. 

Such obstacles, however, have diminished dramatically in 

recent years. Significantly lower costs and improved power 

and capabilities have led to exponential changes that can 

enable leaders to combine information technology and 

operations technology to enable the creation and use of a 

digital twin. Netherlands-based Airborne is a trailblazer in 

the field of embedded industry that has proficiency in 

advanced composites. 

Incepted in 1995, Airborne has seen a meteoric rise in the 

last two decades. From a handful of clients in its early 

years, this company has served more than 35 clients from 

ten different countries till date. Giants like Airbus, Rolls 

Royce, Tata Steel, ESA, Asics, SABIC, GKN Fokker 

Thales Alenia Space, and General Dynamics are clients that 

are not only reaping the benefits of its services and equally 

satisfied with its cutting-edge solutions. Team work, 

precision, ownership and entrepreneur mindset is hardcoded 

in the company’s work culture that makes it a dominant and 

unique force in the European region. 

Airborne is a technology pioneer in advanced 

manufacturing of composites: the design, production and 

industrialization. The company has the determination to 

take the lead in the automation and digitization of small to 

mid-size composite parts design and manufacturing. Today, 

Airborne is crafting a suite of low capex flexible 

automation solutions which will be integrated in a digital 

backbone. The prime endeavor of this company is to create 

disruptive digital design and production systems, 

converting raw materials directly into highend products at 

radically low conversion costs. 

Although automation in composite part manufacturing has 

been known for a while, it has only been embraced for very 

Arno van Mourik, Director & Founder 

large parts, such as automated tape laying (ATL) of 

plane wings. Airborne is attempting to re-define 

composite manufacturing of small to medium parts with 

completely automated end-to-end solutions. “By 

automating the production process, our clients can save 

10-20% of costs for parts in the small-to-medium size 

range. Our end-to-end solutions will ultimately result in 

cost savings of up to 70% by removing the number of 

steps in the value chain through automation and 

especially digitalization while radically reducing the 

time to market for our clients,” assert its founder. 

The Leading Light of Airborne 

John C Maxwell once rightly said: “A leader is one who 

knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.” 

16 NOVEMBER 2018




Arno van Mourik, Director & 

Founder of Airborne is one such 

honcho who has established a top 

notch standard in the business world by 

engineering products that clients crave 

for. With its vital experience of 20 

years in composites design, 

manufacturing and industrialization in 

aerospace, maritime, automotive and 

consumer’s products, he is driving 

Airborne towards the zenith of success. 

Recently Arno van Mourik became a 

member of the Dutch Top Team High 

Tech Systems and Materials (HTSM) 

with the focus on SMEs. The 

motivation for Arno van Mourik to join 

the top team HTSM is drawn from his 

own experience with the ‘high hurdles’ 

that mainly scale-ups face when 

growing. Van Mourik said: “Often 

“ 

these types of companies with a hightech 

profile follow a capricious path 

from technical idea to business model 

in which multiple business changes are 

required. Many investors experience 

this as too complex, too insecure and 

therefore too risky. A large part of the 

investors therefore ends their support 

with often fatal consequences for such 

a company. I find that very unfortunate 

because scale-ups often try to put 

promising technologies into the market 

with sometimes very interesting 

disruptive business models.” 

While recounting his entrepreneurial 

sprint, Arno advises the young 

businesspersons: “Do not follow where 

the path may lead. Go instead where 

there is no path and leave a trail. Be a 

visionary, be bold, be humble and 

listen to your people.” 

Flagship Product 

Airborne’s flagship product is a suite 

of automated and end-to-end solutions 

for the manufacturing of advanced 

composites parts for the aeronautics, 

space, new space and maritime sector. 

Airborne developed Automated 

Laminating Cell, Automated Kitting 

and Sorting, Automated Honeycomb 

Potting and Automated Pick & Place. 

The company’s main business plan is 

to provide holistic and advanced 

manufacturing solutions for 

Go where there is no 

path and leave a trail. 

NOVEMBER 2018 

composites in the field and place the 

appropriate equipment setup for its 

customers. For the digital side of its 

operations, Airborne has Siemens as a 

valuable technical partner. Airborne is 

also exploring with Siemens the 

possibility of using more AI and the 

introduction of self-learning machines. 

Next to this Airborne also has a 

commercial partnership with KUKA 

for the robotics. 

The company provides many solutions 

for space industry as well. It has 

crafted many state-of-the-art solararray 

substrates (European market 

leader), affordable panel technology 

for satellite mega-constellations and 

developing affordable structures for 

small launchers. 

Due to the effectiveness of its product, 

Airborne has won several accolades in 

various prominent awards functions 

and events. Most Innovative Supplier 

by Thales Alenia Space, Europe’s 

largest satellite manufacturer is the 

most recent and highly appreciated as 

it comes from the customer. 

Future Endeavour 

Airborne wants composites parts be 

developed, designed and produced in a 

day, based on one-of-a-kind 

specifications. Airborne believes in the 

sustainable and circular production of 

composites. All materials must 

ultimately be reused and recycled. “To 

achieve this, we will have to work in a 

disruptive way. The principles of the 

‘digital enterprise’ are key to this,” 

states the company. 

The company is looking for ways to 

sell them like a custom-made yet 

affordable item through 3D printing 

technology for instance. Would it be 

possible, using a Digital Twin, to 

develop and design a production 

scheme without any flaws and with a 

100% accuracy of the result? How 

about uploading a design and buying it 

at the Airborne web shop? That’s what 

Airborne is looking at today. 

“Our aim is to quadruple our revenues 

and crafting an “app store” of digital 

composite production in the next few 

years,” concluded the optimist 

founder. 

17

Minimizing the 

Adverse 

Effects 

of Risks 

Has the number of security issues you deal with on a 

routine basis ever made you feel a bit like Atlas 

carrying the world on your shoulders? I can’t tell you 

the number of conversations I’ve had with discontented security 

practitioners who lament to me the woes of trying to speak with 

management about the latest Heartbleed or Spectre/Meltdown 

vulnerabilities and ‘management just doesn’t understand’. Even 

worse, when management inevitably turns a blind eye to the issue, 

the security practitioner worries that they’ll be searching for a 

new job if the vulnerability is ever exploited. As the 

Information Security Program Owner at National 

Instruments for over eight years, I frequently find myself 

offering up the following bit of advice to my compatriots 

who are struggling with what to do in this situation. 

When I first started the security program at National 

Instruments, I had these same feelings of anxiety. The 

tools that I was using to scan our networks, systems, 

and applications were coming up with vulnerabilities 

left and right, but there were few things that I had the 

ability to fix. I had to go to another team, explain what 

had been found, and then I had to somehow try and 

convince them that they needed to fix it. In some cases 

they humored me, but in many cases the result was that 

my vulnerabilities were just another bug that they’d get 

Josh Sokol 

Creator & CEO 

SimpleRisk 


Maestro's Viewpoint 

to when they had time. The weight of all of these 

unmitigated issues was crushing me. I knew that if I 

didn’t find a better way to do things, then I wouldn’t last 

long in that role. 

I quickly came to realize that my role as a security 

practitioner never was to fix the vulnerabilities that I 

found. That was the function of the application 

administrators. Nor could I control the resources and 

roadmaps which determine the prioritizations of the 

various mitigations. That role belongs to members of the 

business. My primary function as a security practitioner 

was to assist in identifying the issues, advise on how to 

mitigate them, and ensure that the right stakeholders are 

aware and educated so that they could make the most 

informed decision possible for the business. In short, my 

role was that of a risk manager and my job was to drive 

visibility and accountability of the risks the organization 

is accepting to the stakeholders who are accepting them. 

To formalize the processes around my newly found risk 

management role, I did quite a bit of research around 

what others were doing. Eventually, I stumbled across 

the NIST SP 800-30, a Risk Management Guide for 

Information Technology Systems. I’ll admit that it 

wasn’t the most titillating document I’ve ever read, but 

the content really helped to solidify what our risk 

management process needed to look like. 

To start with, I needed a way to track all of the risks that 

we were collecting through various assessment processes 

in our environment. This system, typically referred to as 

a risk registry, would become the aggregation of risks 

found in our organization through vulnerability 

assessment, auditing, interviews, vendor notifications 

and many other sources. In order to be successful, I 

needed a system that everyone could access quickly and 

come across a risk in their environment and a system that 

allowed them to enter a minimal amount of data about 

the risk so that they could get right back into what they 

were doing when they identified the risk. I would then 

use that information to later populate the details myself 

or to schedule time on their calendar to fill me in. My 

system also needed a way for me to understand the 

prioritization, or risk level, of the risks I was capturing. 


Once the risk had been recorded, I needed a way to track 

how we were going to handle the risk. Possible options 

ranged from accepting the risk because the likelihood 

and impact were within what we considered to be a 

tolerable range to planning some sort of mitigation for 

the risk. I needed a way to understand the level of effort 

involved so we could balance those costs against the risk 

level. 

If my ultimate goal was to drive visibility and 

accountability up the chain of management, my last step 

was to have a process for who would perform a review 

of the risks. I decided to use a combination of the team a 

risk is assigned to and the risk score. Since risk 

management is designed to be a cyclical process with 

risks re-evaluated on a routine basis, I also used the score 

to determine how often the risk would be reviewed. 

Most of the organizations I speak with these days about 

risk management start out using complicated formulas on 

excel spreadsheets, but there are tools called 

‘Governance Risk and Compliance’ (GRC) that can help 

you with this endeavor. There range options from open 

source tools like ‘SimpleRisk’ to more expensive options 

like ‘Archer’. It depends on how complicated you need 

your workflows to be and how many resources you can 

afford to spend to run the program. 

I started this discussion with the person telling me that 

‘management just doesn’t understand’. The fact of the 

matter is that management doesn’t understand because 

they weren’t speaking the same language. Your business 

understands risk because they use it every day to make 

calculated decisions about the investments it is making. 

Risk is the language of business and shifting the focus of 

your conversations to risk will ensure that everyone is on 

the same page and that you are not only viewed by 

management as an excellent communicator, but also a 

stellar security professional helping to guide the 

organization in proper risk management. Not only that, 

but you will sleep better at night after shedding that 

weight off your shoulders and placing it back on the 

solid risk management foundation on which it belongs. 

19

Aisilica: 

Boosting Surveillance with Hawk-eye Vision and Pedantic Precision 

In an investigative conversation, it is frequently said that 

a picture speaks more than 1000 words, but video 

footage speaks the whole story, that too without any 

bias. If you provide traffic monitoring evidence in the hands 

of a personal injury attorney, you can drastically change the 

outcome of your accident case. Whether you are dealing with 

insurance companies or other drivers, you can utilize video 

evidence to prove you weren’t at fault. However, to do so, 

you need a surveillance system. California based Aisilica 

provides leading-edge surveillance cameras that fetch vital 

data in real time by following US privacy protocols. The 

company was incepted in 2014 and since then it continues to 

empower traffic authorities, drivers, car owners, and even 

common man with the power of a robust surveillance system. 

Impressive Journey so Far 

Aisilica has its primary operation system in Trivandrum, 

India, with employee headcount in double digit. Ever since 

its inception, the company has impressed many market 

players and end consumers with its adeptness in embedding 

artificial intelligence on thin silicon chips and continuously 

marching ahead with full vigor. 

The US being its stronghold territory, it is the superiority of 

its products that within a time frame of just 4 years, Aisilica 

has expanded its business footprint to many important Asian 

countries like Japan and India and proving its mettle in the 

technological sphere. 

Fascinating Features of its Products 

The company has engineered surveillance cameras that 

address the concerns related to national security and private 

surveillance needs with stringent enforcement of US privacy 

protocols. 

They have built a smart surveillance camera with facial 

recognition capabilities for the security market. Their camera 

provides magnified vision and precise facial recognition 

competencies that is sufficient to monitor and recognize any 

Justin Anthony Nguyen 

Co-founder & CEO 

Jyothis Indirabhai 

Co-founder & CTO 

suspicious activity for any indoor or outdoor environment. 

Aisilica’s surveillance camera is a big hit among security 

agencies, school districts, and residential communities due 

to its unique capabilities of providing precise surveillance 

without breaching people’s privacy. Due to its uniqueness 

of ‘protecting everyone’s privacy,’ Aisilica’s products have 

generated strong euphoria among security agencies in North 

America and EU, where privacy law is a great hindrance to 

active surveillance. 

Aisilica has two more smart vision product families - smart 

camera products for Traffic Analytics and Automotive 

Cameras. 


Their surveillance system assists traffic 

authorities to enforce speed and red 

light laws, catch violations, issue 

penalty to the violator with evidence, 

and encourage safe driving. A common 

man also protects his automobile from 

theft, improves safety while driving, 

improves driver and fleet performance, 

gets car infotainment, and increases 

accountability while driving using edge 

computing, ADAS cameras, and multicamera 

aggregators. 

Even a for motorist looking for 

protection in the event of an accident, 

installing a vehicle camera can be a 

simple and affordable way to record 

their road journeys. 

Power efficiency is the other vital 

strength of Aisilica’s product. The 

company gives top priority and designs 

“ 

the chips with meticulous attention to 

make its surveillance systems power 

efficient. 

We provide top-notch 

surveillance 

without compromising 

people’s privacy 

It allows them to build intelligence in 

small form factor. The company 

applies best system architecture and 

software-hardware optimization 

techniques to bring the finest 

performance without burning much 

power. 

Driving Forces of Aisilica 

Justin Anthony Nguyen is the 


Co-founder and CEO of Aisilica. 

Justin has 20+ years of experience in 

building technology and software 

startups, applying an outstanding blend 

of technical, analytic, business and 

leadership skills. 

After graduated from college, he joined 

a Silicon Valley hot startup Xilinx 

(XLNX) as an engineer. Six years later, 

he started his first company in 1997 

developing an AI chip to emulate 

human eye. After that, he was recruited 

by another hot startup NeoPoint deliver 

the first smartphone in 1999, which has 

multiple AI functions and Wall Street 

Journal praised it “The first 

Smartphone done right!” His next 

Startup was Widcomm, the provider of 

Bluetooth SW. At Widcomm, he led the 

strategic licensing efforts that allow 

Widcomm’s BT Protocol SW to be 

embedded in more that 7 billion 

Bluetooth devices in the market today, 

and that number is still growing. Justin 

then moved on and started his second 

company developing a Natural 

Language Processing engines for 

unstructured data applying Agents 

technologies, Data Mining and 

Machine Learning. He is the inventor 

one US patent, and a co-inventor on 7 

pending patents. 

Jyothis Indirabhai is the Co-founder 

and CTO of Aisilica. Jyothis has 




earlier worked in Intel as its GPU 

Design Manager. He has more than 

two decades of experience in 

architecting low power SoCs and 

chipsets as a part of Intel and a few 

successful California startups. 

Jyothis is a microchip designer by 

profession with a strong background in 

building System-on-Chip (SoC) 

architectures for Artificial Intelligence 

(AI), Computer Vision, GPUs, mobile- 

CPUs, and short-range wireless 

baseband chips. He cofounded Aisilica 

Inc., an intelligent edge computing 

company that brings AI and computer 

vision to low power embedded devices. 

Future Vision through ‘Smart Vision’ 

According to Aisilica, an embedded 

technology company should have the 

skills to build systems with optimal 

hardware and software, to cater to the 

requirements of the application. 

In-depth understanding of the domain, 

cost reduction opportunities, power 

efficiency, performance optimization, 

and rapid prototyping are the key to 

win clients’ trust. The company feels 

proud when the clients give them 

thumping feedback for its innovative 

and efficient products. 

The company believes that embedded 

systems are becoming more and more 

intelligent. Also, vision is going to be a 

major attention area considering 

growing demands of automation. With 

the right AI skills and edge computing 

platforms for vision and AI, Aisilica is 

rightly positioned to reap the benefits 

of embedded industry’s growth. 

“We want to be the leader of the Smart 

Embedded Vision market while driving 

the overall cost of smart vision systems 

to a very affordable range. With our 

long-term plan we will be able to 

achieve this,” concluded the CEO. 

21

Conbee: 

Engineered many Ground-breaking Smart TAGs to Streamline Logistic Processes 

In any logistic operation, objects remain the most vital 

part in managing a smoother business process. But to 

manage the inventory and tracking of millions of 

items in gigantic warehouses such as of Amazon is 

cumbersome task. No matter how efficient a human works 

in a warehouse; one cannot achieve the level of efficiency 

which an IoT device can deliver. This is the reason IoT 

enabled tags are in huge demand. Such tags can reduce 

search time optimization; let you search where your 

container, load carriers, containers, vehicles, assets are 

currently located; let you know if the asset is in use or 

available; assist in continuous inventory management 

amongst other benefit. 

Germany-based Conbee is a trailblazing firm that has 

crafted a niche in the market with its cutting-edge SMART 

tags which many popularly refer to as ‘bees’. Its TAGs 

enable asset tracking, production transparency, optimize 

(intra) logistics processes, inventory management and 

make load carriers intelligent. Moreover, Conbee TAGs 

help to increase asset transparency, positioning and could 

feed that information into ERP/SAP systems to better steer 

production processes. 

Founded in 2016, this company has witnessed a meteoric 

rise since its inception and has served many giants like 

Volkswagen and more. With Conbee solutions, all objects 

involved in the production and logistics can be clearly 

identified and localized - they can “speak” and become 

“Smart Objects.” 

Innovation, customer-centric and flexible business 

approach are USP of Conbee which even makes it unique 

among the contemporaries. 

The Head Honcho of Conbee 

Employees’ potential and their sheer technical and 

Michael Nickolai, Founder & Executive Manager 

management aptitude decide the magnitude of success 

for any company. It is thus very important to select, 

nurture and guide the top talents that can drive an 

organization towards the zenith of success. However, it 

is not that easy like it sounds. To hire people who 

possess exceptional qualities and molding them into 

needful roles requires a leader who can judge the true 

potential of each candidate and enlighten them whenever 

there is a need. One such trailblazing leader is Michael 

Nickolai, Founder and Executive Manager of Conbee. 

He has an extensive corporate experience in sales and 

other prominent roles and has worked with many 

industrial giants like Ericsson among others throughout 

his inspiring corporate journey. Michael has fascination 





for wireless communications and 

loves to do gardening, and skiing in 

his leisure time. 

The founder believes that Conbee’s 

products empower customers to easily 

integrate its TAGs in existing intralogistics 

and production applications, 

and is the prime reason behind 

company’s stupendous success. 

While speaking about Conbee’s 

enthralling journey, the Founder 

revealed: “We had started in 2016 

with just one piece of hardware and 1 

employee and today, we have 6 people 

on our board and will double the team 

in the next 2 years.” 

Crafting Cutting-edge Products for 

the Benefit of Industry 

The company’s flagship product is- 

“ 

L500 Hybrid-TAG which combines 

LoRaWAN, GNSS and Bluetooth Low 

Energy Radios and allows in and 

outdoor positioning. With this TAG, 

assets can be tracked and recognized 

within buildings and within a huge 

outer area only with a very small 

infrastructure. “Embedded LPWAN 

communication technologies and an 

efficient algorithm further boost the 

battery & TAG life to a new level,” 

stated Conbee. “Our Customers love 

the easy way of integration. Less 

search times allow our Customers a 

more efficient usage of material and 

human-resources.” 

BLE is the other trademarked product 

of Conbee that has earned the 

distinction of being the only indoor 

tracking solution that allows 

customers to locate their assets with 

its BLE TAGs. The most interesting 

about these tags is that it can locate 

assets either in areas or zones up to an 

accurate position down to less than 

one meter – depending on the process 

requirements and infrastructure. 

On adding the details about Conbee’s 

product- the management added, “The 

new Conbee TAGs are designed – 

hardware and firmware – according 

the requirements of our Customers. 

These TAGs are very robust to 

withstand critical outdoor 

conditions.” 

We have the desired 

proficiency and credibility 

to make your objects smart. 


These products are crafted by keeping 

International standard in mind and are 

gaining popularity across industries. 

Recently the company has earned 

immense praise and noteworthy 

recognition from some of the most 

credible brands in the industry. Some 

of those recognitions are: 

· German medium-sized 

enterprise Innovation Award 

IT 

· Hybrid-TAG (BLE/LoRa) 

L500 best product 2017 at the 

LogiMat 

· B200 and B400 Smart TAGS 

best IoT hardware 2018 of a 

relevant German magazine 

Funkschau 

Maintaining a Robust Workforce 

with Advanced Offerings 

Conbee has a very dynamic and 

transformative work culture where 

they take care of its each employee 

like their dear ones and nurture them 

for challenging roles. The company 

integrates in-house seminars and 

training programs into its business 

process to keep its workforce in sync 

with the latest technological 

advancements. It also empowers its 

employees with opportunities to visit 

conferences of relevant organizations 

like LoRa Alliance and Bluetooth 

module suppliers. 

On declaring company’s upcoming 

endeavour, Michael concluded, “We 

want to develop a cloud-based 

application that handles all Conbee 

TAGs into single software to ease the 

logistic process further where 

customers’ can easily test our TAGsolutions 

in Proof of Concept without 

involving us as much as they must do 

now.” 

25

EMBEDDED 

SYSTEMS 

ARE 

GAINING 

POPULARITY 

ACROSS ALL DOMAINS 

n today’s emerging world, 

Isystems have bought an ease of 

work due to its inherent 

advancements and features. The 

embedded system is one of the most 

imperative subjects in the digital 

world. Thinking about technology, 

daily lifestyle essential devices like 

mobile phones, tablets and laptops 

come to our mind, but the internal 

features is not known to most of us. 

The presence of these devices is 

almost inevitable in all facades of the 

human endeavor. In order to 

understand more about the operations, 

functions and features of embedded 

systems, it is defined here ahead. 

Embedded Systems -It is an electronic 

system incorporating hardware 

integrated circuit with software 

programming techniques for 

delivering various projects solutions. 

The main advantage of using an 

embedded system is it helps to reduce 

the complexity of the circuits which 

becomes expedient. It also offers a 

cost effective and an appropriate size 

which is suitable for the system. This 

electronic system can perform single 

or multiple tasks based on the 

application. An embedded system 

consist of hardware such as power 

supply kit, central processing unit, 

memory devices, timers, output 

circuits, serial communication ports 

and system application specific circuit 

components and circuits. 

Types of Embedded Systems 

The Embedded systems are classified 

into categories such as 

· Based on its performance and 

functional requirements 

· Performance of the 

Microcontroller 

The category- based on its 

performance and functional 

requirements are classified into four 

types that are Stand alone, Real time, 

Networked, and Mobile embedded 

systems. Further, the categoryperformance 

of the microcontroller is 

classified into three types that are 

small scale, medium scale and 

sophisticated embedded systems. 

An Excellent Application Provider 

The embedded systems are highly 

applicable as it is a special-purpose 

system due to its unique 

characteristics. It is used in a 

diversified area of things as its 

components and functions of 

hardware and software are different 

for each system. It is applicable in 

areas like communication, space, 

transportation, robotic systems, and 

home appliances and many more. 


Tech-Trend 

Real Time Applications of Embedded 

Systems 

As it has a vast variety of application 

domains it differs from high expense 

to low, consumer electronics to 

industrial equipment, academic 

equipment to entertainment devices 

and from weapons to medical 

instruments and aerospace control 

systems. Here goes some of the 

categories embedded systems are 

used: 

Ø Consumer electronics- Mobile 

phones, videogame consoles, 

digital camera 

Ø Household appliances- Washing 

machines, microwave ovens, 

refrigerators 

Ø Medical Equipment- CT Scanners, 


heartbeat monitors, 

electrocardiogram 

Ø Automobiles- Antilock braking 

systems, air-conditioner controls, 

electronic fuel injection systems 

Ø Industrial Applications- Assembly 

lines, multiple parameter 

monitoring systems, data collection 

systems 

Ø Aerospace- Navigation systems, 

guidance systems, GPS 

Ø Communications- Routers, 

network hubs, satellite phones 

Progression of Embedded Systems 

over the Decade 

With changing times, inventions have 

become a routine in the world of 

technology; the embedded systems 

have also undergone some salient 

modifications. In the existing times, 

the embedded technologies are 

responsible for the intellectual 

capabilities of utmost modern devices, 

for both consumers as well as 

industrial. To present this in a simpler 

manner, the embedded systems not 

just control the lifestyle devices like 

microwaves, smartphones, tablets, 

and other consumer electronics but 

also directs the telecommunication 

systems, submarines, ATMs, and 

many more. 

The upper echelons in the field of 

embedded technologies have created 

some innovative technologies over the 

last decade which is highly admired. 

Multi-core processors, virtualization, 

the expansion of devices with 

improved security requirements, 

64-bit processors and new chip 

manufacturing processes are some of 

27

the innovative achievements. 

Embracing such innovative technologies addresses the scale of the market and the number of its players which 

include companies like semiconductor suppliers, system software development, and mechanical components 

suppliers, system software development companies, and mechanical components suppliers. The embedded systems 

market leaders include national and international renowned companies. 

Advancing with Multifunctional Features 

With the advent of multi-functional engineering, the next age of wireless communication systems is encouraging a 

new level of technology integration. Incorporating effective measures like progressive data rates, great connectivity 

for systems such as the Internet of Things (IoT), less power consumption, and other striving goals can be achieved by 

joining advanced digital, RF, and antenna technologies. 

An embedded system which performs multiple applications is known as a multi-mode embedded system as it 

dynamically recomposes the system functionality. Moreover, an embedded system which additionally assists 

multiple tasks to be executed in a mode is known as a multi-mode multi-task embedded system. The multi-material 

additive manufacturing processes offer the potential for multi-functional parts to be manufactured in a single 

procedure. To utilize the potential benefits of the developing technology, analysis, new designs, and optimization 

methods are needed. Such methods are facilitated in the optimization of a multifunctional part by pairing both the 

structural design aspects and system. An application development platform known as Multifunctional Embedded 

Application Platform (MEAP) is used to create customized applications. 

Trends to Watch 

Developers should constantly keep an eye on the trends and make appropriate use of the latest advances in 

techniques and technologies. Some of the trends include Internet of Things (IoT), processor technology, storage, 

artificial intelligence and, virtual and augmented reality. Also, there are several trends like embedded security, realtime 

visualization; cloud connectivity and Bluetooth mesh networking, low power consumption and optimization 

that will help developers working with microcontroller-based solutions. 

Elevating with Time 

Over the years, embedded systems have come a long way and contributed to every aspect of the industrial sector. All 

the devices or appliances used in our daily lives are designed in such a way that can be used without creating 

difficulties using the embedded systems. Taking this into account, in coming times every object around will consist 

of a either a small processor or sensor embedded within itself. Even though it is invisible to the naked eye it still 

connects with multiple other devices to make the lives more allied and accessible than ever before. Using embedded 

systems, wonders like driverless cars, fully automated factories, adaptive home appliances and many more devices 

have successfully been created. 

In the upcoming times, the embedded systems are looking forward to evolve with technologies that will assist large 

data storage dimensions, faster communication and highly linked connections among the devices. 


NeoCortec: 

Connecting World with Leading-edge Networking Technology 

The global IoT market is expected to grow with a 

CAGR of nearly 27 percent from 2018 to 2024 and 

will become a $6.5 trillion industry by 2024. From 

just a buzzword, IoT will soon become everyday 

commodity touching the lives of almost everyone in this 

planet, directly or indirectly. However, the current 

technologies have some shortcomings that can hinder this 

optimistic projection. New age networking solutions need 

to be more agile, scalable, robust, secure and dynamic. 

Copenhagen-based NeoCortec is a promising network 

technology company that delivers cutting-edge wireless 

networking solutions to the industry. Within a decade since 

its inception in 2008, the company has shown phenomenal 

growth and has expanded its business footprint in more than 

25 countries serving over 200 prominent clients. The 

company has impressed many in the industry with its 

proficiency in building the most versatile wireless network 

for connecting things. 

Engineering Path-breaking Solutions Keeping ‘Future’ 

in Mind 

Robust, secure and dynamic wireless sensor networks are 

crucial for the uninterrupted growth of IoT based 

applications. However, the current technologies have some 

shortcomings. To remedy that, NeoCortec realized early on, 

that MESH was the road to take. Therefore they engineered 

NeoMESH, a new generation of mesh network that brings 

the well-known and well-proven MESH concept further by 

finding entirely new ways to address power consumption, 

scalability and security – while adding simplicity. 

“Everybody in the IoT workspace is talking about massive 

radio networks – we help build them,” asserts the 

management. 

NeoMesh is a unique and new wireless mesh network for 

IoT applications. With NeoMESH the company has 

discovered innovative ways to overcome some of the 

common limitations of wireless mesh networks, making it 

Steen Halkier, CEO 

easier than ever to create a complete, autonomous, and 

self-containing wireless mesh network targeting low power 

sensor type applications. 

NeoMesh is their flagship and patented product which is 

based on wireless networking mesh protocol. NeoMesh has 

engineered on a ground-breaking new concept, replacing 

the central Network Manager with autonomous intelligent 

nodes capable of linking to each other in one single network 

that simply works, no matter how big it gets. So, thus 

provides enormous scalability to expand any network. 

Company’s patented routing mechanism routes data 

seamlessly through the network and eliminates any concern 

in performance created by obstacles in the RF path, nodes 


eing blocked or simply moving 

around within the network. “Weak 

spots in a real-life network can easily 

be fixed by just adding another node. 

Given it has the right network ID, it 

automatically becomes a part of the 

network,” states the company. 

Acclamation by Clients 

The company has won applause from 

many clients across the world due to its 

highly effective and popular 

networking services. Recently, German 

electronics manufacturer Schildknecht 

admired the services of NeoCortec in 

kind words. Schildknecht stated, “The 

NeoMesh technology is useful for us, 

because it has very small radio chips 

and they are available in different 

frequencies. Also, we are especially 

targeting sensor type applications, so it 

makes good sense to integrate 

Build it as you go: NeoMESH is a 

self-forming mesh network where 

nodes can be added over time: All 

nodes are autonomous units, fully 

capable of acting as a source, router, 

and destination for data. No nodes 

hierarchy or network infrastructure is 

required. 

Virtually limitless scalability: An 

almost unlimited number of nodes can 

be added to an existing network, 

making the NeoMESH network 

particularly suitable for monitoring 

large areas. 

Adaptable architecture: Nodes can be 

repositioned when and where is 

needed: no need to predefine the 

topology of the network. 

Real-time dynamic routing: The 




sources for years. 

Cable like reliability: The exchange of 

data between generating node and 

receiving node is governed by an endto-end 

challenge/response mechanism 

to ensure the correct delivery of every 

packet data. On top of the local 

acknowledgment the network also has 

a 32 bits end to end acknowledgment. 

Module Size: NeoMesh offers some of 

the world’s smallest modules for 

wireless ad-hoc mesh networking 

(11 x 18 x 2.5 mm). They come 

pre-certified to meet CE and FCC 

requirements and are easy to integrate 

into the final application. Just add a 

sensor and an antenna, and you are 

ready to go. The modules are available 

in four frequency bands: 433 MHz, 

868 MHz, 915 MHz, and 2.4 Ghz. 

“ 

NeoMesh into our gateway.” 

The Uniqueness of its Product 

The NeoMesh self-governing nodes 

form networks autonomously, allowing 

for extreme scalability, node mobility 

and long-lasting, hassle-free 

operations. 

Making networking 

simple and scalable 

Out of the box ready nodes: A new 

node can connect to an existing 

network immediately and 

automatically through a secure matchmaking 

procedure. 


NeoMESH routing optimization 

process is constantly updated in the 

background. Each node continuously 

calculates the best available next hop 

in real-time, while the payload data is 

moving through the network. Moving 

nodes and occurring obstacles are not 

affecting the real-time optimal path 

creation. 

Fully battery powered network: All 

nodes are equally power efficient: the 

network is able to function optimally 

and independently from external power 

The Pioneer behind NeoCortec 

Steen Halkier, CEO, NeoCortec is the 

driving force behind the stupendous 

success of this esteemed organization. 

He is a technology geek who is very 

passionate about programming, 

soldering, hacking and gaming since 

his teenage years. He is a kind of 

person who always believes in leading 

by setting an example. Steen thinks 

innovation can bring surprising results 

and thus he always encourages 

creativity in his team. He has prior 

worked with- global semiconductor 

leader Broadcom, high tech hearing aid 

manufacturer GN ReSound and mobile 

phone engineering at Nokia. 

On giving details about NeoCortec’s 

future goals, the CEO added, 

“Establishing a stronghold in the US 

that matches the interest we experience 

from companies and developers in 

Europe is our next target.” 

31

Ralf Jacob 

Head of Digital Media Services for Oath 


Expert's Guide 

About the Author 

Ralf Jacob is the Head of Digital 

Media Services for Oath. Ralf brings 

more than 20 years of technical and 

executive management experience 

to the organization. He has a vast 

experience in his entire professional 

journey. Prior to the acquisition with 

Verizon, Ralf was the Co-founder & 

CEO at upLynk from 2010 to 2013, VP 

of Digital Media at Deluxe Digital 

Studios from January 2011 to 

September 2012, VP of Operations at 

Blink Digital Ascent Media from 

January 2010 to January 2011, and 

the queue goes on. Ralf earned B.A. 

degrees in Marketing and Computer 

Science from Fachhochschule 

Wiesbaden, Germany. He was a 

member of the German Olympic 

team in diving. 


33


in 

Embedded 

Systems 

In today’s digital world, people are using applications 

in daily use which are not available few years back. In 

fact, what was termed as science fiction just a decade 

ago is becoming reality today. Increase in the density of 

electronic circuits, shrinking the size, and decreasing costs 

have all facilitated easy computing through mobile and 

embedded electronic devices that are used daily. However, 

these devices are also becoming power hungry by the day 

and the ability to deliver viable power for long-term in such 

applications remains a major challenge. There is a 

tremendous increase observed in the computing power of 

hardware and the relatively slow growth in the energy 

densities of the battery technologies and that remains a 

concern for system designers. Analyzing the sources of 

power consumption in electronic devices along with the 

development of dynamic energy management and energy 

harvesting techniques are solutions for autonomous 

operations of embedded systems. 

Power Consumption by Embedded Systems 

An embedded system is a computing system that is 

specifically built to complete a certain task. Its applications 

range from consumer, aviation, and space equipment etc. 

These systems are completely or partially isolated from 

human interaction. Moreover, sometimes they may be 

expected to continue operating in such a state for many 

years. A major constraint in the design of mobile embedded 

systems today is the low capacity of the battery for a given 

size and weight. The problem is to integrate variety of 

power reducing methods proposed in the designs. These 

designs need to be based on a notion that power 

consumption is as important as performance. Popular 

peripherals, components and microcontrollers are used in 

variable combinations or may not be used in all systems. 

Performance issues are frequently observed by incorrect 

handling, inefficient configuration and unused components 

resulting in system instability. 

Mechanisms for Power Management 

A set of mechanisms enable designers to directly influence, 

or even control, the power management strategy for a 

system. These mechanisms have been modeled around 

typical embedded system requirements, including small 

footprint, little overhead, and noninterference with real-time 



constraints. The primary mechanisms for power 

management are having an autonomous power manager, 

whose policies can be configured. The decisions outputs of 

these power managers are given due weightage in the 

interactions between applications and system. The 

management API can be enabled for applications to 

override specific policies. Another mechanism could be a 

power management infrastructure for system components, 

with accounting, auto-suspend, and auto-resume tools. At 

the level of user-visible system components like files, 

sockets, and processes that supports semantic energy modes 

arbitrary energy modes. The hardware features are 

supportive to implement power management strategies that 

are aware of the context. Power management mechanisms 

can also benefit from device drivers for the operating 


systems. Applications must run with platform-specific 

operatives by themselves without the need for separate 

commands. 

Secondary Peripheral Mechanisms 

Power management architecture supported by android 

systems framework can be used along with methods like 

using the proximity sensors of the mobile or any other 

device to adjust the illumination of LCD to reduce battery 

consumption. An external power management chip can also 

be used to reduce the voltage level of peripherals based on 

the CPU state. For example, if the CPU is no longer active, 

then reduce the voltage levels of peripherals interfaced to it. 

Another example could be of using a core regulator for the 

37

processor when CPU is in the idle state so that it reduces 

the voltage level required for core and memory process and 

restoring the voltage levels when CPU is active. There are 

innovative tools to monitor applications for their power 

consumptions and a user can see the report and close down 

such applications. Applications like gaming and network 

leaded services which consume a high portion of power are 

controlled by implementing sophisticated algorithms which 

can reduce the battery usage in such as Wi-Fi, GPS on 

devices. 

Diverse Fields of Knowledge 

Two of the upcoming technologies have been in the 

forefront against the power consumption. The techniques 

are fuel cells and Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems 

(MEMS) systems. The researchers believe that these 

technologies will eventually resolve the energy constraints 

by improving energy efficiency. Researchers from such a 

diverse area as physics, mechanical engineering, electrical 

engineering, design automation are coming together to 

solve problems in power and energy management. Their 

efforts are further augmented by scientists from areas like 

logic and high-level synthesis, computer architecture, 

operating systems, compiler design, and application 

development to make it a multidimensional work. 

Solutions at Software Front 

Additional power savings can be applied through 

algorithmic and at architectural level changes but it has its 

own limitation with respect to voltage scaling. System 

loading and processing requirements techniques are useful 

for dynamic voltage scaling. Clock power optimizations 

will remain a challenge as higher frequencies and increased 

pipelining are applied to extract increased performance. 

Parallelism must be efficiently extracted without sacrificing 

the goal of low power. Software generation strategies that 

are based on cost functions will be increasingly common in 

these future systems. 

Integrated System of Hardware and Software 

Designing an embedded system comprises management of 

complex interactions between hardware and software. The 

hardware and software development processes are 

becoming more integrated to achieve the best results in 

power consumption. Power management is directed by 

major commercial technologies and other emerging 

technologies that may affect it. As the field of embedded 

systems is still active, hence researchers are continually 

developing new algorithms. They are exploring how to 

integrate algorithms along with multiple levels of heuristics 

hardware techniques. It is desirable to overcome the limits 

imposed by high power consumption and continue to build 

processors offering greater levels of performance. The wide 

variety of micro-architectural and software techniques are 

available today. Intelligent techniques can be designed to 

manage power consumption of embedded systems such as 

using the microcontrollers with on-chip peripherals. 

Critical Areas of Utility 

Embedded systems have the advantage of being isolated 

from the hacking hence they are used in transportation, fire 

safety, medical applications and life-critical systems. The 

implementation of an application using Power Management 

(PM) may differ with each case of usage where the PM 

software takes care of selecting the operating points and 

resource availability. These systems functions and 

estimation of its power consumption are a key issue in 

designing battery-powered devices. It will continue to 

functioning longer without recharging or changing the 

battery if less power is consumed. Development of 

ultra-low power consuming electronics has created a 

possibility of receiving necessary energy for their operation 

from the environment. These sources of energy are 

convenient for device use from ecological point of view. 

Broader Perspectives on Future 

Global warming and environmental concerns are also major 

contributing factors to attract the attention of consumers, 

industries, and governments into give serious 

considerations to the energy crisis. The world economy is 

changing and the balance in the supply and demand 

equation for energy suppliers will also be fluctuating. There 

will be an uncertainty of non-renewable energy sources oil 

and gas supplies in the world. In upcoming years, the 

impact of insecurity on the energy market will become a 

delicate issue. Therefore, the technology which helps in 

energy efficiency will be in high demand. Consequently, the 

energy efficient technologies will see a high demand in the 

forthcoming years. 


VividQ: 

Crafted a Landmark Software Framework to Boost Holographic Display 

Holographic display has long been considered the 

pinnacle of display technology amongst top 

academics and researchers in the field of digital 

display. This has been further powered by the popularity of 

epic science fiction franchises such as Star Wars and Star 

Trek which have been enormously influential in making 

holography appeal to the imagination of millions of fans 

worldwide. 

The key missing component for diffractive holography to 

take off commercially has been the lack of a software 

framework to generate holograms efficiently enough for 

consumer applications. VividQ provides this framework out 

of the box, allowing for those new, superior display systems 

to work on standard computing power, which has been the 

major obstacle for holography since its inception in the 

1970s. 

Witnessed a Phenomenal Beginning 

This London based organization has seen a fabulous rise 

within a year since its inception. Founded in February 2017, 

VividQ has expanded its business footprint across Europe, 

US and Asia. Today, it offers solutions to many leading 

hardware and embedded architectures manufacturers 

including Intel, Sony, Himax and many more. The company 

always focuses on continuous innovation for the positive 

disruption in the technological sphere to bring sci-fi dream 

into reality. 

This trailblazing firm has made a cutting-edge holography 

solution with its first, complete software framework for 

holographic 3D display and point cloud processing. Its 

flagship product has the ability to craft 3D interactive 

holograms in real-time, using standard computing power 

allowing universal, commercial applications of holography. 

“With immersive 3D content and specialist hardware now 

commercially available, VividQ becomes an ubiquitous 

element of the upcoming wave of holographic devices,” 

Darran Milne, Co-founder and CEO 

stated the company. “VividQ provides the only technical 

solution capable of 3D visualisation without the need for 

a head-mounted system or glasses.” 

The Distinctiveness of VividQ 

Holographic technology has never seen a commercial 

success in the market, although effectiveness of this 

technology has been proved in the laboratory a long time 

ago. Many cite computational complexity and mammoth 

data that flow through the system as the vital reasons 

behind its commercial distress. Since, it would take up to 

several minutes to compute even a single frame for a 

holographic video, rendering the technology largely 

useless for consumer devices and hindering the 


development of display systems based 

on diffractive holography. 

Many players entered into the market 

to fill this void with alternatives like 

3D glasses, head-mounted-displays or 

Pepper’s Ghost concert projections to 

achieve immersive experiences. But 

these are intrinsically limited in the 

content they can display and the level 

of realism they can achieve. 

VividQ’s products, however, crafted a 

niche in the market with its state-of-the 

art offering for digital display of the 

future. The company provides the first, 

complete, end-to-end software 

framework for holographic display, 

comprising of 4 modules. It includes 

the leading pointcloud data 

compression tool - Squeeze, and the 

“ 

world’s fastest 3D hologram generator 

enabling truly holographic mixed 

reality with multiple depth planes - 

Core. Its product effectiveness can be 

gauged from the praiseworthy 

comments it has earned in the last one 

and a half years of corporate journey. 

Some of the excerpts from its 

prominent supporters are: 

We work in partnership with 

pretty much all the major 

embedded systems companies 

including technology giants 

like Intel. 

“VividQ created a commercially viable 

product which defines and catalyses 

Mixed Reality applications” Eric Ries 

(Lean Startup methodology founder) 


“VividQ solutions allow holography to 

break out of academic labs” Prof. Tim 

Wilkinson (Head of Photonic 

Engineering at University of 

Cambridge) 

“VividQ is going to completely 

revolutionise the way we think about 

3D computing and display” Phil Green 

(CFO at Reach Robotics) 

The Torchbearers at VividQ 

Vision and thirst of crafting something 

unique are the main ingredients of a 

successful leadership. No company can 

create waves in the industry without 

having an adept think tank on its board. 

VividQ also has some prominent 

names of the Industry on its governing 

body. Darran Milne (Co-founder and 

CEO) and Aleksandra Pedraszewska 

(Co-founder and Head of 

Commercial) are the two commercial 

pillars of VividQ, leading the company 

towards the highest peak of excellence. 

Darran is a Mathematician and 

Theoretical Physicist by training, with 

a PhD in quantum information theory 

and quantum optics. He began his 

career as a post-doctoral researcher and 

a quantitative analyst for a large 

financial software company, leading 

new development initiatives and 




managing client implementation 

projects. He directed the original 

research and development efforts at 

VividQ while also maintaining 

academic collaborations and investor 

relations. Darran’s passion for VividQ 

stems from his interest in future 

display technologies. The CEO asserts 

an interesting fact on giving details 

about company’s trademarked 

product:“VividQ is the only company 

in the market to offer a complete 

software framework for real time 

holographic 3D display. Our SDK 

handles everything from data import 

and standardization to complex light 

field calculations and holographic 

display protocols.” 

Aleksandra has done MPhil in 

Technology Policy at Cambridge Judge 

Business School. Today, she heads up 

VividQ’s sales, marketing, and 

operations in the London office. She 

focuses on taking VividQ’s software 

platform to the market alongside 

world-leading hardware partners. Prior 

to establishing VividQ, she has worked 

with many prominent organizations 

like Rolls-Royce, HBO, and IdeaLab 

Ventures. Recently, she has been 

named on the Code First: Girls “Ones 

to Watch 2018” list. 

On throwing light on company’s future 

goals, the management stated, “As 

holographic display becomes the 

industry standard in 3D visualisation, 

VividQ will become the underlying 

software driving these next generation 

devices, using embedded architectures. 

Growth will initially be in step with the 

expected exponential scaling of the 

AR/MR market.” 

41

Zolertia: 

Pioneering Embedded Revolution and Serving Clients with Ebullience 

Starting from human- to- machine communication 

to machine-to machine communication, Internet 

of Things is indeed the most phenomenal 

revolution in IT sector. Studies have estimated that there 

are close to 15 billion connected devices which would be 

increasing to 60 billion by the year 2020. These 

connected devices would be generating trillions of data; 

data that business capitalizes on. With the plethora of 

data flowing in, IoT is the only way to fetch these data 

and make use of it effectively in business. This is the 

reason why enterprises are focusing more on offering 

IoT solutions. However, the customized solutions can be 

very expensive, time consuming and even the 

development stages are prolonged. Zolertia, a company 

based out of Catalonia, Spain develops modularized 

product which dramatically reduces the ‘time-to-market’ 

of any new IoT solution. 

Inception Story 

Marc Fàbregas-Bachs, the Founder and CEO of 

Zolertia is an astute entrepreneur. Living by the quote of 

Nolan Bushnell, “The true entrepreneur is a doer not a 

dreamer”, Marc has always been enthusiastic about 

entrepreneurship. Zolertia being his fifth start up, Marc 

has an extensive experience in technology. While Marc 

has always been an enthusiast of technology, his last four 

ventures are focused on the IoT technologies and 

applications. 

The story of Zolertia stepping into developing hardware 

for IoT applications is very edifying. After working in 

Internet of Things from the engineering point of view, 

the company forecasted the scope of development and 

innovation in this sector. The team realized that there 

was a potential need of finished products instead of 

Marc Fàbregas-Bachs, Founder and CEO 

customized solutions. During those days the team had 

time and the opportunity to detect the industry needs 

and requirements. This helped the team analyse what 

kind of solutions would add value to the customers. 

Considering all these factors and having a strong 

conviction that IoT will be a game changer, Zolertia 

placed its bet into this technology. Having more than 

270 customers and serving more than 30 countries 

worldwide, proves the global accolade Zolertia has 

earned. 

Enduring and High-Powered solutions 

The intelligence of any company lies in its efficiency 





in fixing a major problem. Zolertia 

have mastered this intelligence very 

gracefully. Having a keen eye for 

observation, Zolertia’s team of expert 

engineers successfully develops 

modularized products that help in the 

smooth functioning of IoT 

applications. These products, being 

cost-effective also comes with other 

perks like reduced ‘time-to-market’. 

Zoul; the patent product of Zolertia, 

is the other key facet that sets the 

company apart from others. This 

product is an open IoT wireless 

embedded module supporting the 

6LoWPAN/OpenThread 

“ 

Converting our know-how 

into a modularized product 

and dramatically reducing 

the time-to-market of a new 

IoT solution 

communications protocols. The Zoul 

includes all the embedded software 

that one needs to build IoT solutions 

based in LAN connectivity and star 

and mesh network topologies. It’s an 

open platform where one can run 

their application on top of the 

Contiki OS or the RIOT RTOSs. 

The Zoul is the smallest module 

solution that can be used to create 

low-power connectivity for local 

networks, up to 300 times less power 


consuming than regular WiFi boards. 

However, acknowledging its mesh 

topology, Zoul keeps a good trade-off 

between the energy and the range of 

the communications to cover large 

areas. 

While there are multiple options in 

the market to create an Internet 

connected device, Zolertia is the only 

company that has developed modules 

using the 6LoWPAN stack, a 

TCP/UDP and IP based module to 

create true connected devices, where 

every object has an IP address and is 

an entity in Internet. Gratified by the 

service, one of the clients, Hassan 

Razi (Product Manager at RIVA 

Lighting) quoted, “With the Zoul 

module and Zolertia we went from 

the idea to the market in less than 9 

months, including certifications. For 

6LoWPAN technology there is no 

other solution that can plug’n’play”. 

Apart from the patent product, the 

company also develops other 

essential tools like hardware and 

software. These tools simplify the 

prototyping, the proof of concept, the 

pilot stages of a development, and 

converting the creation of a 

prototype. The company also invests 

its know-how in its Customer’s 

Support department. This department 

focuses on documenting all the 

information and the examples and 

provide consultancy to customers 

that want to integrate the Zoul in 

their products. 

Future Roadmap 

As IoT is set to bring a revolution in 

the embedded industry, embedded 

solutions is the only solution to 

connect devices smartly. Zolertia, 

one of the pioneers of this upcoming 

revolution is helping businesses in 

bringing agility. The future road of 

Zolertia is very distinctive. The team 

has been successful at proving the 

importance and use of its technology. 

While there are many successful 

demonstrations of Zolertia’s 

technology, the company, yet needs 

to advertise its technology in the 

market. Though, it has been already 

been proved that Zolertia has a 

cutting-edge technology, the 

company plans to focuses to integrate 

its technology in more complex and 

actual products. 

43

The 10 Most Innovative Embedded System Solution Providers 2018

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