An embedded tip that I often advocate is that developers should avoid using assembly language. The reason for avoiding assembly language is that it is specific to the processor architecture being used, it is difficult to read, understand and maintain. Today, we are going to look at the few areas where I believe it is … Continue reading 4 Uses for Assembly Language
Category: Embedded Basics
A Microchip PIC16F84 LED Sequencer – Part 1
With the start of a new decade, a pandemic where we are on lock-down and the arrival spring, it was a perfect time to go through the office and reorganize. While I was sorting and organizing, I came across an old LED Sequencer that I had built back when I was 17 years old which … Continue reading A Microchip PIC16F84 LED Sequencer – Part 1
Using Callbacks with Interrupts
On a weekly basis, I receive a fair number of emails with questions about how to design embedded systems. One question that seems to be asked more frequently than others is how to write a configurable driver that uses callbacks with interrupts. If a developer is writing a driver that will be reused in multiple … Continue reading Using Callbacks with Interrupts
5 Techniques to Delay Code Execution
An interesting problem that often comes up in embedded software implementation is figuring out how to delay code execution. Sometimes a developer might just want there to be a 10-microsecond delay to allow an I/O line to stabilize before reading it or may want a specified time period between reads to debounce it. In this … Continue reading 5 Techniques to Delay Code Execution
5 Tips for Designing a Smart Watchdog
Recovering from a system failure or a software glitch can be no easy task. The longer the fault occurs the harder it can be to identify and recover. The use of an external watchdog is an important and critical tool in the embedded systems engineer toolbox. There are five tips that should be taken into … Continue reading 5 Tips for Designing a Smart Watchdog
7 Steps to Create a Reusable Debounce Algorithm
A quick google search reveals that there are over 212,000 websites that examine how to debounce a button. After examining a number of them it is obvious that these implementations are not meant for reuse. The implementations and strategies often lack scalability, the ability to debounce multiple buttons easily and portability. They are tightly coupled … Continue reading 7 Steps to Create a Reusable Debounce Algorithm
3 Painless Tips for Writing Documentation
Writing documentation is not the most exciting endeavor an engineer can embark on. It’s often boring, time consuming, and there are so many more interesting things that could be done. It sometimes amazes me how poorly development projects are documented if they are even documented at all. Documentation is meant to help preserve important concepts … Continue reading 3 Painless Tips for Writing Documentation
5 Tips for Versioning Embedded Systems
One topic that can be tricky for embedded systems engineers is how to version their embedded system. Every embedded system has two primary systems that need to be versioned, the hardware and the software. While versioning the system sounds simple, it can be confusing on the best way to version the system. In this post, … Continue reading 5 Tips for Versioning Embedded Systems
The 8 Pillars of Embedded Software
Successfully developing and launching an embedded system requires a wide skill range and engineering disciplines. Every embedded systems requires knowledge in eight distinct software development areas. The degree to which developers have mastered the 8 pillars of embedded software will directly affect development costs, code scalability, system robustness among other critical development metrics. Let’s examine … Continue reading The 8 Pillars of Embedded Software
Developing an Embedded Software Build Pipeline
One interesting fact that I’ve noticed about embedded software development is that development processes and techniques tend to lag the general software industry. When I first started to write embedded software back in the late 1990’s, the focus seemed to be on moving away from writing assembly language and adopting C along with the best … Continue reading Developing an Embedded Software Build Pipeline