Hidden Gems from the Embedded Online Conference Archives - Part 1
Discussion of a "hidden gem" from the Embedded Online Conference archives!
Optimizing Hardware Design: Reducing Iterations with DSM
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.
3 Tips for Developing Embedded Systems with AI
Explore how to leverage AI in developing embedded systems with three practical tips, learn why documenting your workflows, supercharging testing and debugging, and adopting AI-assisted code generation can save time, reduce errors, and boost performance in your projects, and discover actionable insights to streamline development in resource-constrained environments, this blog explains how to prepare for AI integration while keeping the expertise of experienced engineers intact, offering real-world examples that show how even incremental AI adoption can revolutionize your development process, whether you’re new to AI or seeking to enhance existing practices, these strategies provide a clear roadmap to build smarter, more efficient embedded systems using AI.
Static or static
The keyword static in C and C++ has multiple uses, which are not always well understood.
The Most Annoying Sound
Independent consultants often face requests and requirements that go beyond the technicalities of software and hardware. Designing user interfaces is a common example, and even though most of us are not UI experts, we still have to get it right, otherwise the users may get annoyed, and the product will fail. However, what happens when we're asked explicitly to annoy users? Here's a true story about such a case.
Sheep Bridge: In Praise of Generalists and System Engineers
Today I want to talk about generalists and system engineers: why they’re important and why they’re different from each other.
Specialists and GeneralistsA specialist is someone who has a very deep understanding of a particular subject, and spends much of the time working on aspects of that subject. Few others are capable of doing the specialist’s work. I recently wrote an article on gate drive design (Lost Secrets of the H-Bridge,...
OS influence on power consumption
Power consumption of an embedded system may be influenced in software in general, but selection of an operating system can be key.
The Teardown Conference Call for Proposals is Open for Another Week!
The Teardown conference "Call for Proposals" goes until Wednesday, January 15th! Get yours in soon!
Scorchers, Part 4: Burned by the Happy Path (Simon Says)
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
Using a board with NuttX RTOS as an RS-485 / Modbus Slave Device
Until now we saw how to connect local sensors, actuators and also some kinds of analog devices in our board, but for Industrial application it is very common to use remote devices over some bus, and RS-485 and Modbus (a protocol over physical layer of RS-485) is very common and low cost bus for this kind of application.
And a good thing about RS-485 on NuttX is because you just need an ordinary UART peripheral and a GPIO pin connected to some RS485 transceiver to use it. It means even if...
You Don't Need an RTOS (Part 1)
In this first article, we'll compare our two contenders, the superloop and the RTOS. We'll define a few terms that help us describe exactly what functions a scheduler does and why an RTOS can help make certain systems work that wouldn't with a superloop. By the end of this article, you'll be able to: - Measure or calculate the deadlines, periods, and worst-case execution times for each task in your system, - Determine, using either a response-time analysis or a utilization test, if that set of tasks is schedulable using either a superloop or an RTOS, and - Assign RTOS task priorities optimally.
Creating a Hardware Abstraction Layer (HAL) in C
In my last post, C to C++: Using Abstract Interfaces to Create Hardware Abstraction Layers (HAL), I discussed how vital hardware abstraction layers are and how to use a C++ abstract interface to create them. You may be thinking, that’s great for C++, but I work in C! How do I create a HAL that can easily swap in and out different drivers? In today’s post, I will walk through exactly how to do that while using the I2C bus as an example.
Introduction to Microcontrollers - Beginnings
Welcome to this Introduction to Microcontroller Programming tutorial series. If you are looking to learn the basics of embedded programming for microcontrollers (and a bit of embedded hardware design as well), I hope these tutorials will help you along that journey. These are my first postings here, and I am writing this tutorial series because over the years I have seen countless newbies asking the same questions and tripping over the same stumbling blocks, and I thought I might be able to...
3 Tips for Developing Embedded Systems with AI
Explore how to leverage AI in developing embedded systems with three practical tips, learn why documenting your workflows, supercharging testing and debugging, and adopting AI-assisted code generation can save time, reduce errors, and boost performance in your projects, and discover actionable insights to streamline development in resource-constrained environments, this blog explains how to prepare for AI integration while keeping the expertise of experienced engineers intact, offering real-world examples that show how even incremental AI adoption can revolutionize your development process, whether you’re new to AI or seeking to enhance existing practices, these strategies provide a clear roadmap to build smarter, more efficient embedded systems using AI.
Simulating Your Embedded Project on Your Computer (Part 1)
Having a simulation of your embedded project is like having a superpower that improves the quality and pace of your development ten times over! To be useful, though, it can't take longer to develop the simulation than it takes to develop the application code and for many simulation techniques "the juice isn't worth the squeeze"! In this two-part blog series, I'll share with you the arguments in favor of simulation (so, hopefully, you too believe in its value) and I'll show you what works (and what doesn't work) to help you to simply, easily, and quickly simulate your embedded project on your computer.
So You Want To Be An Embedded Systems Developer
Contents:
- Introduction
- What's An Embedded System?
- Hobbyist vs. Professional Hardware
- The Primary Resources
- Some Advanced Resources
- Some Hardware
- Glossaries
- Other Links
- Final Thought
Welcoming MANY New Bloggers!
The response to the latest call for bloggers has been amazing and I am very grateful.
In this post I present to you the individuals who, so far (I am still receiving applications at an impressive rate and will update this page as more bloggers are added), have been given access to the blogging interface. I am very pleased with the positive response and I think the near future will see the publication of many great articles, given the quality of the...
Elliptic Curve Cryptography - Basic Math
An introduction to the math of elliptic curves for cryptography. Covers the basic equations of points on an elliptic curve and the concept of point addition as well as multiplication.
Digital PLL's -- Part 1
1. Introduction
Figure 1.1 is a block diagram of a digital PLL (DPLL). The purpose of the DPLL is to lock the phase of a numerically controlled oscillator (NCO) to a reference signal. The loop includes a phase detector to compute phase error and a loop filter to set loop dynamic performance. The output of the loop filter controls the frequency and phase of the NCO, driving the phase error to zero.
One application of the DPLL is to recover the timing in a digital...
Understanding and Preventing Overflow (I Had Too Much to Add Last Night)
Happy Thanksgiving! Maybe the memory of eating too much turkey is fresh in your mind. If so, this would be a good time to talk about overflow.
In the world of floating-point arithmetic, overflow is possible but not particularly common. You can get it when numbers become too large; IEEE double-precision floating-point numbers support a range of just under 21024, and if you go beyond that you have problems:
for k in [10, 100, 1000, 1020, 1023, 1023.9, 1023.9999, 1024]: try: ...Introduction to Microcontrollers - Driving WS2812 RGB LEDs
This tutorial chapter is a bit of a detour, but I think an interesting and useful one. It introduces a bit of assembly language programming, and demonstrates bit-banging a tight serial data protocol. And it deals with RGB LEDs, which are just very fun in their own right, especially these new parts. So I thought I'd post this to give readers time for some holiday lighting experimenting.
Back To The FutureRemember how we started this...
Important Programming Concepts (Even on Embedded Systems) Part I: Idempotence
There are literally hundreds, if not thousands, of subtle concepts that contribute to high quality software design. Many of them are well-known, and can be found in books or the Internet. I’m going to highlight a few of the ones I think are important and often overlooked.
But first let’s start with a short diversion. I’m going to make a bold statement: unless you’re a novice, there’s at least one thing in computer programming about which you’ve picked up...
StrangeCPU #1. A new CPU
Summary: In this multi-part series I will share with you a design, implementation notes and code for a slightly different kind of a CPU featuring a novel token machine that resolves an 8-bit token to pretty much any address in a 32-bit or even 64-bit address space, using not much more than an adder.
Table of Contents:- Part 1: A new CPU - technology review, re-examination of the premises; StrangeCPU concepts; x86 notes.
Introduction to Microcontrollers - Interrupts
It's Too Soon To Talk About Interrupts!That, at least, could be one reaction to this chapter. But over the years I've become convinced that new microcontroller programmers should understand interrupts before being introduced to any complex peripherals such as timers, UARTs, ADCs, and all the other powerful function blocks found on a modern microcontroller. Since these peripherals are commonly used with interrupts, any introduction to them that does not...
MSP430 LaunchPad Tutorial - Part 3 - ADC
In this new episode of our journey into MSP430 I will explain the basics of Analog to Digital Conversion on the MSP430G2231.We will write a program that will read an ADC channel and will toggle some leds based on the result of the conversion.
We start as usual with the inclusion of the header file for the MSP430G2231, the leds stuff and with the definition of a variable that will store the result of the conversion. We also declare a function that will initialize the ADC...
VHDL tutorial
When I was first introduced to "Programmable Logic" several years ago, it was an answer to many of the challenges that I was struggling with. Though the parts were primitive by today's standards (simple PALs verses FPGA), they were an extremely cost effective tool addressing the need for specialized logic blocks.
I have continued to incorporate these powerful blocks into many of my latest designs. My current favorite part line is the Xilinx CoolRunner series (XC2Cxxx). In this...
Boot Sequence for an ARM based embedded system
Hello all,
Allow me to introduce myself. I am Deeksha and I come from plains of North India. My tryst with embedded technologies has been 5 years long and every single day I am amazed with the vastness and learning involved. The thing with embedded technologies is either you are into it, or you aren't. You cannot just hang around half-heartedly (I guess that holds true for every field, for that matter).You have to keep the learning and sharing process going on. And that is the reason I am...
Development of the MOS Technology 6502: A Historical Perspective
One ubiquitous microprocessor of the late 1970s and 1980s was the MOS Technology MCS 6502. I included a section on the development of the 6502 in Part 2 of Supply Chain Games, and have posted it as an excerpt here, as I believe it is deserving in its own right.
(Note: MOS Technology is pronounced with the individual letters M-O-S “em oh ess”,[1] not “moss”, and should not be confused with another semiconductor company,
Analog-to-Digital Confusion: Pitfalls of Driving an ADC
Imagine the following scenario:You're a successful engineer (sounds nice, doesn't it!) working on a project with three or four circuit boards. More than even you can handle, so you give one of them over to your coworker Wayne to design. Wayne graduated two years ago from college. He's smart, he's a quick learner, and he's really fast at designing schematics and laying out circuit boards. It's just that sometimes he takes some shortcuts... but in this case the circuit board is just something...
Introduction to Microcontrollers - Hello World
Embedded Hello WorldA standard first program on an embedded platform is the blinking LED. Getting an LED to blink demonstrates that you have your toolchain set up correctly, that you are able to download your program code into the μC, and that the μC and associated circuitry (e.g. the power supply) is all working. It can even give you good evidence as to the clock rate that your microcontroller is running (something that trips up a great many people,...
The DSP Online Conference - Right Around the Corner!
It is Sunday night as I write this blog post with a few days to go before the virtual doors of the very first DSP Online Conference open..
It all started with a post in the DSPRelated forum about three months ago. We had just had a blast running the 2020 Embedded Online Conference and we thought it could be fun to organize a smaller event dedicated to the DSP community. So my goal with the post in the forum was to see if...
Already 3000+ Attendees Registered for the Upcoming Embedded Online Conference
Chances are you already know, through the newsletter or banners on the Related sites, about the upcoming Embedded Online Conference.
Chances are you also already know that you have until the end of the month of February to register for free.
And chances are that you are one of the more than 3000 pro-active engineers who have already registered.
But If you are like me and have a tendency to do tomorrow what can be done today, maybe you haven't registered yet. You may...
Free Goodies from Embedded World - Full Inventory and Upcoming Draw Live-Streaming Date
Chances are that you already know that I went to Embedded World a few weeks ago and came back with a bag full of "goodies". Initially, my vision was to do a single draw for one person to win it all, but I didn't expect to come back with so much stuff and so many development kits. Based on your feedback, it seems like you guys agree that It wouldn't make sense for one person to win everything as no-one could make good use of all the boards and there would be lots of...
Free Goodies from Embedded World - What to Do Next?
I told you I would go on a hunt for free stuff at Embedded World in order to build a bundle for someone to win.
Back from Embedded World 2019 - Funny Stories and Live-Streaming Woes
When the idea of live-streaming parts of Embedded World came to me, I got so excited that I knew I had to make it happen. I perceived the opportunity as a win-win-win-win.
- win #1 - Engineers who could not make it to Embedded World would be able to sample the huge event,
- win #2 - The organisation behind EW would benefit from the extra exposure
- win #3 - Lecturers and vendors who would be live-streamed would reach a (much) larger audience
- win #4 - I would get...
Spread the Word and Run a Chance to Win a Bundle of Goodies from Embedded World
Do you have a Twitter and/or Linkedin account?
If you do, please consider paying close attention for the next few days to the EmbeddedRelated Twitter account and to my personal Linkedin account (feel free to connect). This is where I will be posting lots of updates about how the EmbeddedRelated.tv live streaming experience is going at Embedded World.
The most successful this live broadcasting experience will be, the better the chances that I will be able to do it...
Launch of EmbeddedRelated.tv
With the upcoming Embedded Word just around the corner, I am very excited to launch the EmbeddedRelated.tv platform.
This is where you will find the schedule for all the live broadcasts that I will be doing from Embedded World next week. Please note that the schedule will be evolving constantly, even during the show, so I suggest your refresh the page often. For instance, I am still unsure if I will be able to do the 'opening of the doors' broadcast as...
Live Streaming from Embedded World!
For those of you who won't be attending Embedded World this year, I will try to be your eyes and ears by video streaming live from the show floor.
I am not talking improvised streaming from a phone, but real, high quality HD streaming with a high-end camera and a device that will bond three internet connections (one wifi and two cellular) to ensure a steady, and hopefully reliable, stream. All this to hopefully give those of you who cannot be there in person a virtual...
Sensors Expo - Trip Report & My Best Video Yet!
This was my first time at Sensors Expo and my second time in Silicon Valley and I must say I had a great time.
Before I share with you what I find to be, by far, my best 'highlights' video yet for a conference/trade show, let me try to entertain you with a few anecdotes from this trip. If you are not interested by my stories or maybe don't have the extra minutes needed to read them, please feel free to skip to the end of this blog post to watch the...
