PEmicro is proud to announce the PEcloud and the newest feature of our Cyclone Production Programmer: Cloud Tethered Programming Images. 

Visit and bookmark the PEcloud homepage for information about the upcoming launch!

The PEcloud is a cloud-based programming job management service that enables customers to monitor usage and have control over their production programming images, in real-time, anywhere in the world. With this feature, customers can optionally tether their production programming images to corresponding programming jobs in our PEcloud service, allowing for unprecedented visibility and control over their programming operations. Images being used in manufacturing can be paused, deleted, updated, and programming logs inspected. There currently is no cost to using PEcloud. 

At Embedded World in March (Hall 4, Booth 648), PEmicro will be demonstrating this exciting new service, which will be officially launched on April 17th.

"PEmicro is excited to offer this revolutionary new capability to our customers," said Kevin Perreault, PEmicro's President. "Customers who desire it can have clear visibility into, and control over, the usage of their production programming images in remote manufacturing scenarios with very little effort and a high level of confidence."

Cyclone programmers have the ability to operate totally independently from computers, can be controlled from local computers, and now will be able to be tethered to PEmicro's PEcloud to request permissions, fetch additional data, check for updates, and report programming results in real-time. 

In Q4, PEmicro will be releasing an in-factory only version of the PEcloud which will allow images similarly to be tethered to a local server to gain many of the same features in a local network only setting.

Here is a brief walkthrough of what the PEcloud interface looks like from a user's perspective :

Introduction:

PEmicro's Cyclone Production Programmer is a popular tool for programming microcontroller devices in a production environment. It provides high-speed, stand-alone, in-circuit programming of a broad range of microcontroller families. With the addition of the cloud-based programming job system, customers can now easily monitor and control these programming operations from anywhere in the world while enjoying the benefits of automatic and secure delivery of programming images to their Cyclones without any manual intervention.

Features and Benefits:

The cloud-based programming job system allows customers to tether their programming images to corresponding programming jobs in PEmicro's free PEcloud service. This feature provides several benefits, including:

• Real-time control and visibility: Customers can monitor and control PEcloud programming images/jobs that are in use anywhere in the world, giving them unprecedented ability to change, limit, and view the use of their programming data. Programming quantities can be strictly controlled, and all programs are logged.
• Automatic delivery of programming images: Programming images can be automatically delivered to Cyclones without the need for manual handling/loading, saving time, reducing the risk of errors, and increasing security.
• Advanced features: The cloud-based programming job system offers advanced features, such as the ability for Cyclones to request additional data for programming each unique device from servers run by the customer, to log custom programming data, and to update images in use seamlessly.
• Security: Customer-generated cryptographic keys are used to provide security for production programming images and data, ensuring that only customer-provisioned Cyclones can use the customer’s programming images.

Image/Job Security:

Independent of the PEcloud system, customers create their own custom cryptographic keys and load them into Cyclones on an infrequent basis. When a customer creates programming images, they can specify these keys which encrypt the image as it is generated. The PEcloud only supports encrypted images. This process simply and effectively locks those images for use only with Cyclones that have the keys installed, regardless of how the images are delivered to the Cyclones.Virtual Factories Allow Organization & Add Security

When setting up the PEcloud, customers create their own virtual factory and add groups of Cyclones to it. Only Cyclones that are part of a virtual factory can use images/jobs tethered to this virtual factory. When images/jobs are created, they are also locked to a specific virtual factory. In this way, only Cyclones that have both the appropriate cryptographic keys and are also authorized by the PEcloud virtual factory can use an image.

System Operation:

When a customer creates a production programming image for use in their virtual factory, a corresponding programming job is automatically created in the virtual factory at the same time. The job contains all of the metadata for the image, including usage restrictions such as programming dates and counts. The programming image itself can be automatically stored in the virtual factory as part of the job for automatic delivery to authorized Cyclones or it can be manually delivered to Cyclones at a later point via PEmicro's free Cyclone Control SDK (in which case the job has metadata only).Image Creation & Deployment to PEcloud

The job in the PEcloud service enables programming of the job to be started, stopped, and updated with new programming data and keeps track of programming counts, shared serial numbers, and can record unique programming information, such as unique device identifiers of each part programmed, dynamic data added for each device, and programming time/result. The Cyclone uses secure communications to the PEcloud when seeking programming authorization and reporting results and logging information.Job Loaded Into Virtual Factory, Ready for Programming

Tethered Images/job are generated in PEmicro's PC software as part of the image compilation process, and the appropriate pieces (metadata and optionally programming image binary) are stored to the PEcloud virtual factory. The logs and control of jobs are available on PEmicro's cloud website.

Conclusion:

PEmicro's cloud-based programming job system offers customers a powerful and convenient tool for managing programming operations. By tethering their programming images to corresponding programming jobs in the PEcloud service, customers gain real-time access and control over their programming operations, as well as automatic and secure delivery of programming images to their Cyclones. With advanced features and robust security measures, the cloud-based programming job system is an indispensable tool for microcontroller device programming in a production environment.