The new Armv8-M architecture from arm® with its Cortex®-M23 and Cortex®-M33 processors is quickly gaining steam in the industry. The Armv8-M architecture includes a new security extension known as TrustZone that will revolutionize and forever change the way that embedded software developers create microcontroller-based systems. Below are my top seven tips to help you get … Continue reading 7 Tips for Getting Started with TrustZone for MCU’s
Nearly every company at this moment is rushing to connect their products to the internet. The IoT has become the modern-day gold rush only the gold is data. Companies are discovering that by connecting their devices, they aren’t only able to change to a subscription-based business model but can innovate their products in ways they … Continue reading 7 Tips for Getting Started with Amazon FreeRTOS
As strange as it sounds, whenever I hear the word process, I cringe. Not because processes are bad, they are absolutely critical, but because so many teams that I encounter either have no process or too much process. They struggle to find the balance. In this post, I’d like to share five tips I have … Continue reading 5 Tips for maintaining effective design processes
Now that Arm TechCon has come to a close, I’ve had the opportunity to think back on the conference on the major themes that I saw through-out the talks and show floor. The conference once again appeared to be growing and the keynote talks were all standing room as can be seen in the image … Continue reading 5 Key Take-A-Ways from Arm TechCon 2018
My adapter boards have arrived! As we discussed in the first two parts, the on-board debugger that comes with most development boards is functional but often offers far less than a professional debugger. We’ve been exploring how we can create an adapter board for the ST Microelectronic development boards that will allow us to use … Continue reading Creating an SWD Adapter for STM32 Development Boards (Part 3)
I recently complete my series on “Creating an SWD Adapter for STM32 Development Boards” which you can find links to below: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 While the prototype turned out great, I could have decreased my prototyping costs if I had spent the time to do a little more research on board houses. … Continue reading PCB Shops for Rapid Prototyping
Innovation can be an exciting endeavor and on occasion management and developer decisions will optimistically estimate the cost implications for the project. The optimism can sometimes come from a short-sightedness or knowledge gap in understanding what is involved in the total cost of ownership for developing embedded software. Let’s look at the five major cost … Continue reading Understanding firmware total ownership development costs
Every development team needs to make the decision as to whether they will design and build their software from scratch or buy software components. In many instances, the decision is not driven so much by a business decision as it is by engineer ego shouting, “I can do it faster and better than they can!”. … Continue reading The Firmware Conundrum: Build or Buy
In the last post, we started to look at how we could design a simple programming adapter for STM32 development boards. We walked through the process necessary to get the schematics completed. In this post, we will examine the the PCB layout along with the BOM and costs necessary to prototype this simple board. With … Continue reading Creating an SWD Adapter for STM32 Development Boards (Part 2)
Nearly every development board comes with a built-in programing tool. Depending on the vendor, it may be PE Micro, SEGGER J-Link OB or even the vendor’s own tool such as an ST-Link. In most cases, the on-board programmer is rather limited in its capabilities and it makes a lot of sense to use an external … Continue reading Creating an SWD Adapter for STM32 Development Boards (Part 1)
