EmbeddedRelated.com
Imagine Conference

Favorite Tools: C++11 std::array

Matthew Eshleman February 26, 20172 comments

Many embedded software and firmware projects must be developed to high standards of reliability. To meet these reliability requirements, firmware project teams will consider many design tradeoffs. For example, an engineering team may avoid or outright ban the use of dynamic memory allocation, a feature typically accessed via the C library call "malloc" or the C++ allocator "new". When authoring software under such...


Unmanned Ground Vehicles - Design Considerations for Snow and Cold Environments

Ed Nutter December 27, 2016

It's that time of year when the white stuff falls from the sky across the US, and with it comes lower temperatures. These conditions must be taken into consideration when designing a vehicle for outdoor use.

A few definitions from wikipedia:

Flurry: light, brief snowfall

Snow shower: intermittent snowfall

Light snow: over 1km visibility

Moderate snow: 0.5 to 1km visibility

Heavy snow: less than 0.5km visibility

Blizzard: lasts 3 hours or longer, sustained wind to 35mph, visibility...


Choosing a Microcontroller for Your Vehicle

Ed Nutter June 7, 20161 comment

There are many things to take into consideration when choosing a microcontroller or microprocessor for your autonomous vehicle.

Voltage

Some processors run on 5V and others use 3.3V.  Be sure to check the documentation before you buy.  Make sure your supply has a high enough amp rating that your microcontroller doesn't lose pwer.

Power

Can the system run using batteries?  Large, automotive sized vehicles can be run from large batteries or inverters in the vehicle.  Smaller...


Embedded Firmware Refactoring, Optimisation and Migration

Ian Smith March 29, 2016

Legacy products are often based on older hardware platforms which often become under-powered or run out of memory which constrains further product development. Customers are always looking for new features and improved performance but often either don’t want to invest in new hardware or need to retain the current field population of devices.

These are ongoing challenges for any product manufacturer, but are particularly highlighted in embedded systems where product...


Motion Sensor with Raspberry Pi and MPU6050 - Part 1

Shres L November 21, 2015

This blog will help you build your own, low cost 3-axis motion sensor using Raspberry Pi and Invensense MPU6050.


The Dilemma of Unwritten Requirements

Jason Sachs October 25, 20151 comment

You will probably hear the word “requirements” at least 793 times in your engineering career, mostly in the context of how important it is, in any project, to agree upon clear requirements before committing to (and hastily proceeding towards) a deadline. Some of those times you may actually follow that advice. Other times it’s just talk, like how you should “wear sunscreen when spending time outdoors” and “eat a diet low in saturated fats and...


Requirements, Specifications and Tests

Kenny Millar June 20, 2013

As a freelance developer of all things embedded, it's important that right through a project everyone involved knows what is expected, who is responsible for delivering, and how to confirm that what is delivered meets the customers expectations.

I have a tried and trusted method that works for me each time, is flexible enough to deal with feature-creep and solid enough to give the client that warm fuzzy fealing that they crave.

I've dound that this method of working has in the past been...


A Working Real Time Clock (RTC) Implementation

Dr Cagri Tanriover March 25, 20132 comments

In one of my projects, data captured from various sensors had to be time stamped in the YearYear/DayDay/MonthMonth, HoursHours:MinutesMinutes:SecondsSeconds format. My initial thought was because there was already a GPRS modem in the system, I could simply configure it to use the network time delivered by the base station when it fired up. Once the GPRS module started up and retrieved the correct time, I could then invoke a simple AT command to read the time stamp into the microcontroller....


Embedded Software Creation II - European Normative & Legislation

Dr. Maykel Alonso December 20, 20116 comments

In this post I will explain the European Normative. I will answer the main questions and I will be open to answer all the doubts any of you could have. Please leave a comment and I will answer if i could.

Why I need to look and accomplish some standards? 

The main reason is if you want to comercialize the product in the European Union, if exists any European Directive that cover the product, the product must be marked with the CE mark. For USA it work in the same way by the...


Complexity in Consumer Electronics Considered Harmful

Jason Sachs October 1, 20111 comment

I recently returned from a visit to my grandmother, who lives in an assisted living community, and got to observe both her and my frustration first-hand with a new TV. This was a Vizio flatscreen TV that was fairly easy to set up, and the picture quality was good. But here's what the remote control looks like:

You will note:

  • the small lettering (the number buttons are just under 1/4 inch in diameter)
  • a typeface chosen for marketing purposes (matching Vizio's "futuristic" corporate...

3D printing for embedded development

Ido Gendel February 19, 2024

Used mostly for creating little plastic objects, the desktop 3D printer is not an obvious addition to the embedded developer's toolbox. However, if you're looking for more reasons to get one, or already have one that's mostly gathering dust, here are a couple of embedded-related ways to get more value out of it.


Embedded Software Creation II - European Normative & Legislation

Dr. Maykel Alonso December 20, 20116 comments

In this post I will explain the European Normative. I will answer the main questions and I will be open to answer all the doubts any of you could have. Please leave a comment and I will answer if i could.

Why I need to look and accomplish some standards? 

The main reason is if you want to comercialize the product in the European Union, if exists any European Directive that cover the product, the product must be marked with the CE mark. For USA it work in the same way by the...


Patents and the little guy working at home

Mark Browne April 11, 20191 comment
There are pluses and minuses to having patents. As it stands now the patent system is horribly broken and not doing what the founders intended when they set it up.I have some patents through work and it does look nice to see my name on the patent database. It's kinda like wetting yourself in a dark suit - it gives you a warm feeling but nobody notices.Don Lancaster makes a compelling argument that for the little guy it’s best to avoid the whole mess to the degree possible.

Unmanned Ground Vehicles - Design Considerations for Snow and Cold Environments

Ed Nutter December 27, 2016

It's that time of year when the white stuff falls from the sky across the US, and with it comes lower temperatures. These conditions must be taken into consideration when designing a vehicle for outdoor use.

A few definitions from wikipedia:

Flurry: light, brief snowfall

Snow shower: intermittent snowfall

Light snow: over 1km visibility

Moderate snow: 0.5 to 1km visibility

Heavy snow: less than 0.5km visibility

Blizzard: lasts 3 hours or longer, sustained wind to 35mph, visibility...


How 5G impacts future IoT development

John Koon October 11, 2024

The Internet of Things (IoT) applications are ubiquitous today. IoT is used in almost every industrial, commercial, and consumer market segment, including autonomous driving, smart factories, automation and preventive maintenance, smart homes, smart cities, security, asset tracking, supply chain management, agriculture, farming, healthcare, smart medicine and remote surgery, augmented reality applications, activity monitoring, and more. The three most promising uses of IoT are smart manufacturing, autonomous driving, and healthcare, particularly remote surgery.


Graphical medicine

Colin Walls December 5, 2024

Although an appealing user interface is a good option for any device, in medical applications it can be a life saver.


Scorchers, Part 4: Burned by the Happy Path (Simon Says)

Jason Sachs December 31, 2024

As engineers, we have to think carefully about how our designs may be used in ways we did not foresee. You may have heard of the happy path, which describes a sequence of events someone takes to use a product — whether it’s software or hardware. The line between software and hardware has gotten pretty blurry in recent years due to the prevalence of embedded systems. (Good news for embedded engineers!) Things have gotten


Embedded Systems Co-design for Object Recognition: A Synergistic Approach

Charu Pande November 4, 2023

Embedded systems co-design for object recognition is essential for real-time image analysis and environmental sensing across various sectors. This methodology harmonizes hardware and software to optimize efficiency and performance. It relies on hardware accelerators, customized neural network architectures, memory hierarchy optimization, and power management to achieve benefits like enhanced performance, lower latency, energy efficiency, real-time responsiveness, and resource optimization. While challenges exist, co-designed systems find applications in consumer electronics, smart cameras, industrial automation, healthcare, and autonomous vehicles, revolutionizing these industries. As technology advances, co-design will continue to shape the future of intelligent embedded systems, making the world safer and more efficient.


Requirements, Specifications and Tests

Kenny Millar June 20, 2013

As a freelance developer of all things embedded, it's important that right through a project everyone involved knows what is expected, who is responsible for delivering, and how to confirm that what is delivered meets the customers expectations.

I have a tried and trusted method that works for me each time, is flexible enough to deal with feature-creep and solid enough to give the client that warm fuzzy fealing that they crave.

I've dound that this method of working has in the past been...


Optimizing Hardware Design: Reducing Iterations with DSM

Emmanuel Odunlade March 3, 2025

Often, product teams curate feature roadmaps that fail to account for the interdependencies in product components. For this article, I wrote about how system architecture tools like Design(dependency) Structure matrix (DSM) can be used to evaluate feature roadmaps to avoid the purgatory of change propagation and accompanying endless Iteration loops. These iteration loops are sometimes affordable (manageable) in software development (Agile saves lives), but for hardware teams - especially small product teams and startups - the lost time, and money is the stuff of which product graves are made.


Imagine Conference