Bugs versus Errors, essential skills, Arm TrustZone and more!

February 2018

Dear *|FNAME|*,

I would like to thank everyone who registered for my last webinar on Arm TrustZone for Cortex-M. The webinar was a huge success. If you missed out on it, you can find the recording along with the Q&A below:

A Guide to Securing your IoT Device using Arm(r) TrustZone(r) for Cortex(r)-M

I pulled together several articles this month that I think will benefit developers. This months articles include:

This month, I will be hosting a webinar on Wednesday February 21st. You can find out more at the link below:

Designing and Debugging RTOS based IoT Applications

There are two sessions available so please make sure you check them out!

I will also be presenting in a Doulos webinar on February 9th. More information can be found below:

Getting Started with Real-Time Operating Systems

There are two sessions available so please make sure you check them out!

Happy Coding,

Jacob Beningo

[email protected]

Jacob’s Blog

Bugs and Erorrs and Defects, Oh My!

The very terminology that we use when developing embedded software can set our perspective and have potentially devastating effects on our ability to deliver successfully. The most commonly used term to describe an issue with software is that “there is a bug” or that the code is “buggy”. The term bug implies that there is …

5 Challenges facing over-the-air updates using MCU’s

The ability to update an embedded system using a bootloader is an important skill to master. Despite all the effort placed into developing an embedded system, either bugs are discovered in the field or end users request additional features. In order to update firmware in the field or remotely over-the-air, the embedded system must have …

7 Essential skills for firmware engineers

Having the right tools for the job is critical to success but in the hands of the improperly skilled, the result can be disastrous. Firmware engineers require seven essential skills to succeed in todays rapid paced development environment. Skill #1 – Defect Management (Formerly “Debugging”) According to the UBM Embedded Marketing Studies, debugging an embedded …

Tools – Connecting to the IoT with the Electric Imp

Developing embedded software for the internet can be a nightmare. Ethernet chips and peripheral are very complex and require an extraordinary amount of effort and time to configure and setup properly. Driver and example code is usually provided by chip manufacturers but how secure and trustworthy is their code? Simple customizations to the stack can …

Upcoming Events

Embedded devices are being connected to the internet at a dizzying rate. Successfully creating an IoT device requires developers to master their RTOS and debugging techniques in addition to learning about internet connectivity. In this webinar, attendees will learn about advanced RTOS application design techniques using ThreadX that include how to properly manage memory, use event chaining and setup an embedded connection to Amazon Web Services (AWS). We will also use Percepio Tracealyzer to learn how to trace our IoT application to not just understand how it’s performing but also to debug the application. Attendees will learn how to create user events and monitor the state of their TCP/IP stack.

This webinar will utilize hands-on demonstrations using ThreadX and Percepio Tracealyzer with source code being readily available for attendees.

Topics covered in this webinar Include:
– RTOS application design to connect to the internet
– Setting up and debugging a TCP/IP stack
– How to use preemption threshold to minimize thread starvation
– Utilizing event chaining to improve application performance
– Reducing debugging time using application tracing with Percepio Tracealyzer
– How to setup custom user events in Percepio Tracealyzer
– Examining TCP/IP stack behavior and generated events
– Best practices for using advanced RTOS techniques in IoT devices

Learn More and Register Here

Real-time Operating System (RTOS) Fundamentals Workshop

Embedded systems are becoming complex and even resource constrained devices are requiring a Real-Time Operating System (RTOS). In this workshop, attendees will be walked through RTOS fundamentals starting with simple bare-metal scheduling techniques through the intricacy required to design a RTOS based application. Attendees will examine practical examples and techniques that will decrease the learning curve and help them avoid the common pitfalls many developers fall into when starting to use an RTOS. The course includes six sessions:

Session 1 – Real-time Embedded Systems Concepts
Session 2 – Real-time Operating Systems
Session 3 – Managing Tasks and Threads ( Part 1)
Session 4 – Managing Tasks and Threads ( Part 2)
Session 5 – Task Synchronization Fundamentals
Session 6 – Managing Memory

Lab materials, slides and recording are provided.

Learn More and Register Here

Embedded Software Design Books

EMBEDDED SYSTEM DESIGN TECHNIQUES: An API Standard
AVAILABLE NOW!

In “An API Standard for MCUs”, engineers will learn the fundamentals of APIs and HALs along with techniques for designing portable and reusable code. The book provides the reader with an example API standard that can be used to create portable and reusable firmware for controlling microcontroller peripherals. This book is the companion book to “Developing Reusable Firmware – A Practical Approach to API’s, Hal’s and Drivers”.

Click here to learn more …

Interested in learning more? Visit our website to find out more about Beningo Embedded, or check out our blog to see our entire article archive – read past articles, search by category, and much more!