TASKING PROVIDES DSP56xxx DEVELOPMENT TOOLS FOR HIGH-PROFILE
SPACE MISSIONCompany Sponsors Canada's First Space Telescope
Dedham, Mass. — March 1, 2000 — TASKING, Inc.
today announced that it is providing the University of Toronto
Institute for Aerospace Studies (UTIAS) with DSP56xxx software
development tools for use in the MOST (Microvariability and
Oscillations of STars) space astronomy microsatellite program.
TASKING's tools will be used to facilitate the development of
firmware for custom electronics TASKING joins an impressive and growing list of
MOST sponsors, including Hewlett Packard, Agilent Technologies,
Altera and ISI. "We approached TASKING because they have the
best DSP56xxx compiler and debugger on the market," said
Dr. Robert Zee, Manager of the Space Flight Laboratory at UTIAS.
"That's important for a mission this critical to the Canadian
Space Program."  MOST
is a Canadian project to perform asteroseismology of Sun-like and
magnetic stars from space, as well as to study microvariability in
Wolf-Rayet winds and other targets. The satellite will be Canada's
first space telescope. Its size is modest — with an aperture of
only 15 cm — but it is designed to return unprecedented photometric
precision as low as a micromagnitude and monitor stars for weeks at
a time. This sensitivity and time coverage make it possible to study
and analyze acoustic modes in Sun-like and other stars. It may also
allow it to determine the ages of metal-poor stars and set a
stronger lower limit on the age of the Universe. The satellite is
scheduled to fly in early 2002.
Commenting further on the strength of TASKING's
tools, Daniel Foisy, Spacecraft Computer Engineer at the Space
Flight Lab, added, "The ability of the TASKING DSP563xxx
Family C cross-compiler to easily support various hardware
configurations is highly desirable. Even simple things like the
ability to place a variable in a specific memory space and at a
specific memory location greatly improves the productivity of our
programmers. And the availability of intrinsics allows us to use the
full capability of our DSP system without resorting to clumsy
assembly code workarounds." "We're honored to be associated with such
a high-profile program as MOST. We're also confident that we have
the best DSP56xxx development tools on the market, so it's
particularly gratifying that the University of Toronto team
agrees," said Brian Mulcahey, TASKING's VP of Worldwide
Corporate Marketing.
About TASKING, Inc.
TASKING manufactures and markets integrated software development
tools for the embedded systems industry, supporting a wide range of
8-, 16-, 32-bit and DSP devices. The company's integrated
development environment, compiler, debugger, embedded Internet and
RTOS offerings, coupled with their global support and services, are
the most comprehensive available. TASKING's knowledge of embedded
systems results from the merger of three companies (BSO,
Intermetrics Microsystems and TASKING), each with over 20 years of
experience. BSO began the company's long history of innovation,
pioneering the concept of cross development in 1974. Headquartered
in Dedham, Mass., TASKING has offices worldwide, located in the
Netherlands, Germany, Italy, Japan and the UK. For more information
about TASKING, visit their web site at www.tasking.com. About the University of Toronto's Institute
for Aerospace Studies (UTIAS)
The UTIAS Space Flight Laboratory (UTIAS/SFL) collaborates with
business, government and academic institutions on spacecraft
projects and the development of new space technologies. Its aim is
to promote the testing of new and commercial technologies in space,
and to train graduate students to strengthen the Canadian skill base
in space systems engineering. For more information about UTIAS/SFL,
visit their web site at www.utias-sfl.net.
For more information about the MOST program, visit their web site at
www.astro.ubc.ca/MOST. TASKING and the TASKING logo are
trademarks of TASKING. All other trademarks and logos are trademarks
or registered trademarks of their respective owners.
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