In today’s product development environment, developers are looking to open source software to help them solve their design challenges more than ever before. Open source software has the potential to dramatically accelerate development and save costs, but as I often see in industry and with my clients, it can also become a thorn in a … Continue reading 5 Tips for using Open Source Software Successfully
Category: Tips and Tricks
2 Techniques to Version Embedded Hardware
When it comes to embedded systems version control, I often immediately jump to thinking about the software. Software changes often and carefully managing those changes are crucial, but so is versioning the hardware. A small hardware change could obsolesce every version of software up to that hardware change. In todays’ post, we are going to … Continue reading 2 Techniques to Version Embedded Hardware
5 Tips for using Arm TrustZone in Cortex-M Processors
As embedded system developers transition to creating connected, IoT devices, security has become one of the most important issues they face. The ARMv8-M processors do support TrustZone® which provides developers with a new mechanism to help them isolate their secure software from more general user software. Just like with any new tool, there are several … Continue reading 5 Tips for using Arm TrustZone in Cortex-M Processors
5 Lessons to Learn from the Boeing 737 MAX Fiasco
On Sept 17, 1908, Orville Wright and Lt Thomas Selfridge took off in a Wright Flyer from Fort Meyer Virginia. Shortly after take-off, the Wright Flyer suddenly pitched down, driving the aircraft into the ground, injuring Wright and killing Selfridge. The crash occurred when one of the wooden propellers split and pulled on the bracing … Continue reading 5 Lessons to Learn from the Boeing 737 MAX Fiasco
10 Tricks for Documenting Embedded Software
There are few things more challenging in software development than acquiring a code base with little to no documentation and being required to maintain it. Documentation doesn’t just tell an engineer what a particular function or variable does but it also demonstrates and conveys why the software was implemented in a particular fashion. There are … Continue reading 10 Tricks for Documenting Embedded Software
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
5 Tips for Accelerating Embedded System Design
If there is one constant through-out the embedded system industry, it’s that our delivery timelines are yesterday. The demand for advances in embedded systems and for the latest and greatest widget put a constant pressure on designers to deliver as fast as possible. Let’s examine five foundational tips for accelerating embedded system design. Tip #1 … Continue reading 5 Tips for Accelerating Embedded System Design
Where oh Where are My Test Points!
For the umpteenth time in my career, I am debugging a prototype board that has exactly zero test points. I didn’t design this board, but have inherited it from a frantic colleague who is behind schedule and is having trouble communicating with an onboard SPI device. The first step in this troubleshooting endeavor is to … Continue reading Where oh Where are My Test Points!
7 Tips for Developing Great API’s
Embedded software developers have grown used to working at the lowest, nitty gritty hardware level within a microcontroller based system. Twiddling and manipulating bits and bytes is what embedded software developers were born to do. The embedded software industry is changing and that change is requiring developers to start working at higher levels of abstraction … Continue reading 7 Tips for Developing Great API’s
Improve Debug Efficiency with the ITM
Let’s face it. No matter how sophisticated our debug tools get, there will always be a place for an old fashioned printf statement. Unfortunately, printf tends be efficient and can dramatically affect the systems real-time performance. For developers using an Arm Cortex®-M3 or better, printf can be remapped to the Instrumentation Trace Macrocell (ITM) which … Continue reading Improve Debug Efficiency with the ITM