The IoT is unleashing an unimaginable number of connected devices, many of which are sensor systems that are designed to sense and interact with the world around them. The world around us is analog and analog sensors are often used to provide the sensing mechanism to the microcontroller. Analog circuits are often big, bulky and … Continue reading 5 Benefits to replacing analog components with DSP software
Category: Design Cycle
5 Technologies Embedded System Engineers Should Master in 2019
Happy New Year! Another year is here and with it are many opportunities for embedded systems developers. As the new year starts, there are many interesting technologies that are going to be shaping the way systems are designed in 2019 and beyond. Let’s quickly examine the top five technologies that developers should be mastering or … Continue reading 5 Technologies Embedded System Engineers Should Master in 2019
7 Tips for using assertions in C
One of the greatest bug squashing tools available to embedded software developers is the assert macro. Despite the power of assert, I rarely see it implemented and in the cases where it is used the implementation is either flawed or incorrect. The following seven tips should help elucidate not only when and where to use … Continue reading 7 Tips for using assertions in C
The Biggest Embedded Software Issue Is …
There are many different problems and challenges that embedded software developers are facing today. One of the biggest, and least spoken about issues that I have encountered is that developers are writing their software for success. Writing for success sounds great, except that what I mean is that developers are writing their software assuming that … Continue reading The Biggest Embedded Software Issue Is …
5 Tips for maintaining effective design processes
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
Creating an SWD Adapter for STM32 Development Boards (Part 3)
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)
Understanding firmware total ownership development costs
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
The Firmware Conundrum: Build or Buy
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
Creating an SWD Adapter for STM32 Development Boards (Part 2)
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)
Creating an SWD Adapter for STM32 Development Boards (Part 1)
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)