The UbiCube ubiquitous controller

We are doing R & D on the UbiCube embedded controller in anticipation of the ubiquitous society. UbiCube is assembled of components that have common hardware and software interfaces, and thus allows flexible configuration of controllers.

A1: It is a computer that is embedded into industrial equipment and various facilities in factories, buildings (and various other facilities) to monitor and control those systems. Embedded controllers must meet conditions that are more severe than those faced by personal computers (and other ordinary computers), including continuous operation 24 hours a day and 365 days a year and installation in noisy environments. High reliability is therefore a general requirement. In addition to the (natural) cost requirements, the embedded controllers also have to provide(s) features for connecting legacy IO to the newest IO and fullfil the wide range of user needs.

A2: That is the biggest feature of UbiCube. You can build a controller for your purposes by simply combining components. For example, if you combine a CF component and a LAN component that have a wireless LAN card inserted, wireless LAN router can be build immediately. Even when a customer requests a new function, you need only develop the different part as a component. That lets you build a special-purpose controller very quickly. Furthermore, each component is equipped with a processor, so its performance is easily guaranteed.

A3: One difficulty was designing the architecture that defines how the components connect to each other, rather than simply connecting different components. That requires a deep understanding of the hardware. Another difficult problem was a circuit board design for compactness to the size of the palm of a person's hand, one that also guaranteed the level of reliability required for industrial use. For the software as well as the hardware, there are other issues such as the cooperation of the various components and the cooperation of UbiCubes in industrial systems. These problems continue to be topics for future research.