Product Overview

Tilcon Interface Development Suite (IDS)

Tilcon IDS is a multi-platform user interface technology (GUI and HMI builder) that delivers robust, highly interactive user interfaces for real-time and embedded applications.

Tilcon Embedded Vector Engine (EVE)

• Scalable graphics kernel that manages all aspects of display and user interaction as a service to distributed API clients.
  
• Works directly with the native RTOS (such as VxWorks) and core graphics library (such as WindML, Win32, Photon and upcoming OpenGL ES).
  
• Takes full advantage of the hardware platforms (such as SH4, PPC, ARM, XScale and X86) to enhance speed.
  
• Eliminates the tedium of writing low level graphical C/C++ code.

Key Benefits

• Development time, project risk and cost all drastically reduced.
• Better product; more sophisticated UI and instrumentation.

Optimized Industry Solutions

• Automotive
• Defense
• Medical Devices
• Industrial devices and automation
• Consumer devices.

Tilcon Interface Builder

• Simple drag and drop from an array of powerful GUI/HMI objects
• Straightforward property sheets to customize appearance, behavior, resources and actions
• Test without writing a single line of code

Tilcon GUI and HMI Objects

• All standard GUI objects
• Exceptional range of powerful HMI objects
• Best meters in the industry

Tilcon API

• Easily connect to underlying data
• Fine tune control of object behavior
• Easy to learn and use
• Comprehensive & versatile
• Facilitates remote control and display across platforms

GIS Viewer Toolkit

• Fully integrated GIS application development module
• Comprehensive API (130 functions) to build sophisticated GIS applications
• Supports broad range of commmonly used projections and datasets (vector and raster)
• Optimized database creation & handling, efficient memory handling
• Advanced map viewers with source code available.
  
  

Tilcon Software Releases Version 5.5.5 of the Tilcon Interface Development Suite (IDS)
Including Photoshop? Integration and Codeless Animation

Ottawa, Canada —Tilcon Software Ltd., the global leader in embedded graphical user interface solutions, is pleased to announce the release of Version 5.5.5 of Interface Development Suite (IDS) for embedded GUI and HMI development. Building on existing features such as Rhapsody? UML integration, Interface Development Suite Version 5.5.5 introduces two exciting new features – Adobe? Photoshop? integration and Codeless Animation. These features are now available to customers who have requirements for creating world class embedded GUI and HMI solutions in such diverse markets as medical, industrial, defense, and automotive, while reducing overall project risks and accelerating time to market.

Responding to customer requests, Tilcon has introduced Adobe? Photoshop? integration with Interface Development Suite Version 5.5.5 as a standard feature. This feature allows design and development teams to communicate and share ideas much more effectively, while saving time by avoiding costly redesign delays. Now, Tilcon's customers can take advantage of a powerful development approach that fully unifies graphic designers with software engineering teams to collaborate in an open, seamless process, using a common environment for next generation embedded GUI and HMI design.

“We've introduced our Photoshop? integration feature as a way for designers to easily create their UI designs in tools they are familiar and comfortable with. This allows them to import, export, and merge new designs into a functional interface builder, which then enables them to fully prototype and implement a production GUI without any coding.” says Prosanto Sarkar, CEO of Tilcon Software. "This is exciting because UI designers are no longer constrained by their choice of tools for creating their unique look and feel. Additionally, this feature streamlines the process of building an appealing, engaging interface which is both highly functional and easy to use.”

In addition, customers can now use Tilcon’s exclusive Codeless Animation feature to add high fidelity animation effects to GUI elements such as buttons, switches, graphs, and many more objects. For the first time, embedded developers can now fully prototype the end-user experience right up to and including the finalized user interface, far in advance having a finished product in hand. This innovative approach to embedded software development helps Tilcon's customers reduce their overall risk associated with the new product introductions, and also saves them the costly man-hours of engineering effort by enabling a “right first time” approach.

“Now, our customers can leverage a truly innovative way of defining their next generation designs well in advance of having a finished product available.” adds Mr. Sarkar. “By allowing a complete prototype of the user interface to be built and simulated in a pre-production environment, Tilcon's Interface Development Suite gives device manufacturers unparalleled flexibility and control over creating a high quality experiences for end-users.”

AVAILABILITY

Interface Development Suite 5.5.5 is available now for Windows and Linux host platforms and offers broad target support for embedded devices. Interface Development Suite Version 5.5.5 is available directly from Tilcon Software (www.tilcon.com) or from Tilcon’s authorized distributors around the world. For further information on pricing, support, and upgrades please contact Tilcon today.

About Tilcon Software Ltd.

Tilcon Software Limited is the leading provider of graphical user interface software tools for embedded devices. Tilcon’s rich feature set, support for multiple platforms and extensive experience with graphics development for real-time and embedded projects has resulted in an effective toolkit used worldwide in demanding applications such as medical devices, driver information systems, consumer electronics, defense system and a wide range of industrial machinery.  Tilcon was founded in 1987 and its customers include Gambro Renal Products, Hyundai Autonet, Siemens, Ericsson NetQual Inc., Physiometrix and other leading manufacturers.

• Extensive API enabling manipulation and display of geographic information
• Creation, manipulation and merging of map databases
• Data compression technology
• Includes suppport for ADRG, CADRG, DTED, ESRI .shp, MapInfo .tab files
• Support for both vector and raster displays simultaneously
• Comprehensive vector layer management
• Ideal for building custom GIS viewer on handheld, vehicle-based or other portable device on embedded operating systems

The Map API enables users to manipulate and display geographic information using more than 80 API functions to manipulate geographic data. The following commonly-used projections are supported for forward and reverse transformations between geographic and projection coordinates: Gauss-Kruger (TM), UTM, AlbersEqualArea, UPS and LambertConformalConic. The MGRS representation of UTM values is also supported.

Datums and their reference ellipsoids are selectable from tables supplied with the API. A table of coefficients for datum shifts to WGS84 using the MRE method is also supplied. Datum shifts to and from WGS84-based datums can be accomplished via the MRE method or by applying dX,dY,dZ shifts to geocentric values.

Map databases comprise an array of tiles registered to the database projection and its coordinate system; these databases can be created from scanned paper maps or ADRG and CADRG datasets. The tiles consist of BMP images. Functionality for merging adjoining databases is provided as well as reduction of colour depth and file compression to reduce overall data size.

A variety of demonstration programs illustrating the Map API are supplied together with source code. These indicate how to use the API for creating map viewer, digitizing information on top of databases, converting coordinate systems, compressing databases and reducing database colour depths.
Upcoming functionality includes support for DTED data and TIN data together with 3D manipulation to create contours, cross-sections, anaglyphs and other terrain-related functionality. Also planned is support for vector datasets for route analysis.

For futher information and breakdown of API function calls, please read the GIS Builder Manual provided here in .PDF format. (This file is approx. 300Kb in size.)