VolksEEG: Rust Development On Adafruit nRF52840 Feather Express
Setting up Rust embedded development on an Adafruit Feather nRF52840 Express inside a VS Code devcontainer can save time, but the toolchain has a few gotchas. This post walks through using the VolksEEG prototype echo-server to verify the USB serial path, configuring probe-rs with J-Link and OpenOCD for on-chip debugging, and diagnosing a container build error fixed by adding libudev-dev. Expect step-by-step commands and troubleshooting tips.
Working With ESP-C3-32S-Kit Dev Board
This hands-on guide walks through setting up the ESP-C3-32S-Kit with ESP-IDF, from installing the toolchain to flashing and monitoring a hello-world example. It shows JTAG debugging with OpenOCD and GDB, how to use the NimBLE BLE stack for peripheral and central roles, and how to capture and filter BLE traffic with a Nordic sniffer and Wireshark so you can inspect pairing and connection behavior.
Learning Rust For Embedded Systems
Rust eliminates whole classes of memory and concurrency bugs, making it a compelling choice for embedded projects, and the author recommends it for the VolksEEG project after a rapid evaluation. The post connects Rust fundamentals such as ownership and borrowing, RAII, traits, and unsafe blocks to familiar embedded patterns. It also provides a curated on-ramp of videos, books, and tools like Cargo, RTIC, and probe-rs to get hands-on quickly.
The 2021 IoT Online Conference
The 2021 IoT Online Conference is aimed squarely at embedded engineers who want practical skills, not marketing fluff. Jacob Beningo highlights the event’s focus on IoT embedded systems and edge computing, plus the on-demand talks, workshops, and expert access that make it attractive for teams that cannot justify a costly in-person trip. He also makes a strong case that even one useful idea can pay for the $90 registration many times over.
Six Software Design Tools
Software design need not be mysterious, these six practical tools give a disciplined way to shape readable, testable, and maintainable code. The post walks through naming (DAMP), duplication control (DRY), complexity metrics (MCC), SOLID principles, API layering, and test-driven development, showing how each idea applies across languages and embedded systems. Use them as checklists for code reviews and design thinking.
VolksEEG Project: Initial Hardware Architecture
The VolksEEG prototype pairs an Adafruit Feather nRF52840 Sense MCU with an ADS1299 analog front end, organized into non-isolated and isolated domains to protect patients. The post explains why isolation is required, which chips bridge the domains, and why simple, high-level power and signal diagrams help clarify the KiCad schematics for engineers and reviewers.
Introducing The VolksEEG Project
VolksEEG is an open-source effort to build an FDA-cleared clinical EEG and publish every design so others can manufacture it. The volunteer-driven project centers on the TI ADS1299 8-channel, 24-bit biopotential ADC and combines medical and electrical engineering expertise to confront regulatory, safety, and usability challenges. This blog series will document technical decisions, isolation and safety concerns, and ways engineers can contribute.
Video-Based STEM Embedded Systems Curriculum, Part 2
Part 2 delivers three ready-to-run lesson plans for a video-based STEM embedded course, starting with Arduino hands-on projects using an Elegoo UNO starter kit and Bryan Vines video walkthroughs that explain the code. It then teaches Fritzing for pictorial and schematic circuit drawings, followed by Collin Cunningham videos that cover resistors, capacitors, transistors, schematics, and other core components. The sequence stresses design, draw, build, test to keep students engaged.
Video-Based STEM Embedded Systems Curriculum, Part 1
This curriculum shows how to teach introductory embedded systems using free online videos and low-cost kits, suitable for middle-school, high-school, college, or adult learners. It packages curated educator recommendations, a per-student equipment and book list, essential free software, and core lesson topics like Arduino, MicroPython, Kicad board design, soldering, and RTOS basics. The approach stresses hands-on labs, safety, backups, mentorship, and adapting to local budgets.
Review: Prototype to Product
Alan Cohen's Prototype to Product is a practical systems engineering playbook for anyone taking an embedded idea to market. The review emphasizes uncovering surprises early, disciplined planning, and cross-discipline collaboration across electrical, mechanical, software, and manufacturing domains. It highlights concrete topics such as prototyping, DFM/DFA, staged testing, and regulatory considerations that help avoid costly late-stage rework.
Unit Tests for Embedded Code
Unit tests are one of the most effective ways to catch logic bugs early and protect embedded firmware against regressions. Stephen Friederichs explains why unit testing matters for microcontroller code, when to test, and the trade-offs between on-target and hosted approaches, with practical advice on stubbing, using the Check framework, simulators, and coverage tools to make testing realistic for embedded projects.
Working with Strings in Embedded C++
This article discusses the use of strings in embedded systems. It explains how the need for and use of strings in embedded systems has changed with the advent of cheaper, full graphic displays and the growth of the ‘Internet of Things’ (IoT). The article also covers character literals, C-Strings and string literals, and the difference in memory models between them. It also highlights the safety and security issues that arise from using strings in embedded systems. Finally, it explains how C++11 introduced a Raw string literal type that is useful for storing file paths or regular expressions.
Elliptic Curve Cryptography - Extension Fields
An introduction to the pairing of points on elliptic curves. Point pairing normally requires curves over an extension field because the structure of an elliptic curve has two independent sets of points if it is large enough. The rules of pairings are described in a general way to show they can be useful for verification purposes.
Important Programming Concepts (Even on Embedded Systems) Part IV: Singletons
Singletons are convenient but often a modularity killer, especially in embedded firmware. Jason Sachs walks through the many faces of singletons, from static members and globals to hardware registers and user-visible application singletons, and shows practical ways to avoid tight coupling. Read this for concrete embedded examples and pragmatic fixes like passing state explicitly, using interfaces or factories, and isolating unavoidable globals in a HAL.
Your architecture was decided before you opened the schematic
Engineering teams often treat requirements as a simple feature checklist, but they actually hold the blueprint for your software architecture. By analyzing constraints collectively rather than in isolation, you can define critical architectural patterns—such as task scheduling and abstraction levels—long before the first schematic is drawn. This proactive approach eliminates wasted complexity, reduces development time, and allows software needs to inform hardware choices early in the cycle. Discover how to shift your design mindset to build lean, purposeful systems that align perfectly with business objectives from day one.
Free Sessions @ the 2023 Embedded Online Conference
The 2023 Embedded Online Conference has pre-released 37 theatre talks and demos you can watch for free today by creating an account and skipping payment. Stephane Boucher walks through the free sessions and the paid portion of the weeklong program, highlighting live Q&A, hands-on workshops, and keynote talks across April 24–28. Add sessions to your agenda and check the schedule daily for last-minute changes.
Fit Sixteen (or more) Asynchronous Serial Receivers into the Area of a Standard UART Receiver
Michael Morris shows how to pack many asynchronous serial receivers into the area of a single UART by treating FPGA LUTs as writable storage and sharing logic. Using a 4-bit channel counter, microprogrammed state machine, and time-multiplexed baud/sample resources, he fits 16 receive channels (12 used for Caller ID) into a Spartan II XC2S30 and explains input synchronization, filtering, and the multi-channel FIFO approach.
Ten Little Algorithms, Part 6: Green’s Theorem and Swept-Area Detection
Jason shows how Green's Theorem becomes a practical, low-cost method to detect real-time rotation from two orthogonal sensors by accumulating swept area. The post derives a compact discrete integrator S[n] = S[n-1] + (x[n]*(y[n]-y[n-1]) - y[n]*(x[n]-x[n-1]))/2, compares integer and floating implementations, and analyzes noise scaling and sampling rate tradeoffs. Includes Python demos and threshold guidance.
Using GPIO in (Apache) NuttX RTOS
Blinking an LED is the embedded Hello World, and this tutorial walks through using GPIOs on NuttX running on a Raspberry Pi Pico. It shows how to enable the GPIO driver and example in menuconfig, build and flash the nuttx.uf2, and use NSH gpio device files to read and write pins. The post also explains polling versus interrupt-driven inputs and the pull-up/edge setup needed for button interrupts.
Using the C language to program the am335x PRU
Assembly-language PRU development is tedious and error prone, so Fabien Le Mentec shows how to use TI's PRU C toolchain to simplify the workflow. He walks through installing the CGT package, integrating the compiler with a modified prussdrv loader to honor the _c_int00 start symbol, and provides a BeagleBone Black example with build scripts and sources on GitHub. The post also covers inline assembly constraints and code-size tradeoffs.
Reverse engineering wireless wall outlets
Fabien Le Mentec reverse engineers a cheap set of wireless wall outlets to add them to his BANO home automation while avoiding uncertified mains hardware. He uses PCB inspection to identify a Holtek MCU and RF83C, captures 433.92 MHz OOK signals with an RTL-SDR and ookdump, then replays commands using an RFM22 in direct mode controlled by an ATmega328P. The post explains frame structure and links to a working GitHub implementation.
Coding Step 2 - Source Control
Version control felt unnecessary to Stephen Friederichs when he was starting out, but this article shows why Git quickly becomes essential even for solo firmware work. He walks through installing Git on Windows, creating a repository for a simple Hello World project, making the first commit, and using reset to recover from a broken build. The post also captures a few early habits that save a lot of pain later, like committing often and keeping important files under source control.
Back from ESC Boston
Stephane nearly skipped ESC Boston, but going turned into a productive mix of networking, informal meetups, and on-the-floor filming. He captures candid encounters with speakers and vendors, learns how small shows differ from larger expos, and outlines practical follow-ups like booth highlight videos and speaker hospitality suggestions. The post is an encouraging read for engineers weighing the value of regional conferences and DIY event coverage.
Linear Feedback Shift Registers for the Uninitiated, Part XII: Spread-Spectrum Fundamentals
Jason Sachs shows why LFSR-generated pseudonoise is a natural fit for direct-sequence spread spectrum, then walks through Fourier basics, spectral plots, and runnable Python examples. The article demonstrates how DSSS multiplies a UART bitstream with a chipping sequence to spread energy, how despreading concentrates the desired signal while scrambling narrowband interference, and how multiple transmitters can share bandwidth when using uncorrelated sequences.
A wireless door monitor based on the BANO framework
Fabien Le Mentec built a battery-powered wireless door monitor and a reusable node framework called BANO to monitor doors across seven floors without wired links. The post highlights BANO's 17-byte key,value protocol, the node runtime that enables wake-on-interrupt low-power operation, and practical RF choices like the NRF905 plus a 330 µF cap to handle coin-cell transmission peaks. It includes source, PCB, and base station notes.
Little to no benefit from C based HLS
Christopher shows why C-based HLS delivers little practical benefit compared with a MyHDL RTL approach, using a Vivado HLS median-filter example. He walks through the sort-network median, compares C and MyHDL implementations, and argues MyHDL is as concise while providing clearer microarchitecture control. The post emphasizes that choosing the right algorithm is the hard part, and HLS won’t replace hardware understanding.
Voltage Drops Are Falling on My Head: Operating Points, Linearization, Temperature Coefficients, and Thermal Runaway
A lot of the neat, tidy diode and transistor rules you learned in school are really just approximations. Jason Sachs shows how operating points, linearization, and temperature coefficients give you a better mental model for real circuits, then uses that framework to explain why thermal runaway happens. Along the way, he connects the theory to practical device behavior, op-amp output stages, and the design tricks that keep parts from letting out the magic smoke.
Important Programming Concepts (Even on Embedded Systems) Part VI : Abstraction
Abstraction is essential, but it is not free. Jason Sachs walks through the many faces of abstraction—pattern recognition, generalization, simplification, and indirection—and shows how each helps and hurts real projects. Using examples from math, API design, UI toolkits, schematics, and embedded C, he gives practical context so firmware engineers can apply abstractions without causing maintenance or debugging headaches.
Embedded World 2018 - More Videos!
Two cinematic videos from Embedded World 2018 turn the show floor into slow-motion, stabilized footage using a Zhiyun Crane gimbal and a Sony a6300. One is a SEGGER booth highlights piece featuring Rolf Segger and Axel Wolf, the other is a roaming montage with appearances from Jacob Beningo, Micheal Barr, and Alan Hawse. Stephane asks viewers to enable audio and share feedback.
Supply Chain Games: What Have We Learned From the Great Semiconductor Shortage of 2021? (Part 4)
The chip shortage didn't end with 2021, it moved into older process nodes where cars and industrial gear live. In this installment Jason Sachs explains why mature-node and trailing-edge capacity remain tightly constrained, how NCNR commitments and price increases are reshaping supplier behavior, and what companies like NXP and Microchip are doing to cope. He warns the imbalance could take multiple semiconductor cycles to fix.
