The ability to optimize an embedded system for how much energy it uses can have profound benefits. For example, a deployed IoT device may not require maintainers to visit the site for an additional 6 months or the development team may be able to decrease the size and weight of the battery which could product … Continue reading Tools – The Otii Arc, a Smart Power Supply for Optimizing Embedded Systems
The webinar recording can be accessed at the link below: Webinar Recording Webinar Description: 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 … Continue reading Designing and Debugging RTOS based IoT Applications
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 … Continue reading Tools – Connecting to the IoT with the Electric Imp
In the article, “Transitioning to a Modern Day Engineering Notebook“, I discussed the basic features and capabilities a modern electronic notebook would need to meet the requirements of the average engineer. In order to get the most out of an engineering notebook, here are ten tips engineers should consider. Tip #1 – Keep a notebook … Continue reading Tools – 10 Engineering Notebook Best Practices
Semi-hosting is a debugging capability supported by ARM processors that allows the embedded target to access i/o capabilities on a host PC through the debugging interface. The i/o capabilities are most often used with printf to transmit text data to a virtual terminal within the debugging environment but it can also be used for file … Continue reading Tools – Getting a grip on Semi-hosting
Finally! I have a J-Trace in hand and I am ready to wreak havoc on those pesky software bugs that always toy with me! A little more than a year ago I decided that I couldn’t stand using low-cost, one-off debuggers any longer and needed to invest in a real debugging tool that I could … Continue reading Tools – A First Encounter with the SEGGER J-Trace
Every embedded software developer should be using a revision control system. I cannot even begin to quantify how much time I’ve saved using such systems through-out my career. When something has broken, and cannot be undone, the ability to roll back to the previous version is a life saver. Even as developers recognize and use … Continue reading 5 Revision Control Best Practices
There are several different revision control systems that developers have available to them in order to control changes to their code base. These include: SVN Git Mercurial I still see many teams using SVN and Git but in the past year I have seen more and more teams starting to use Mercurial. (I’ve also seen … Continue reading Tools – TortoiseHg
Selecting the right RTOS for a project can be tricky business. Engineers often come to the table with predisposed opinions that can cloud their judgment and pull them in a direction that isn’t optimal. Let’s face it, many of us have been involved in an engineering decision where the choice was dictated by the loudest … Continue reading Tools – The RTOS Selection KT Marix
Let’s face it, every embedded software developer knows that management is more likely to approve the purchase for a $50,000 spectrum analyzer than a $1200 debug probe with ETM trace capabilities. Purchasing a compiler, trace software, analyzers or any other tool that would make software development easier, faster or cheaper simply results in management asking … Continue reading Tools – 5 Justifications for Purchasing a New Software Tool
