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Embedded Systems Articles

• ISA optimizations for hardware and software harmony: Custom instructions and RISC-V extensions (Nov. 02, 2020)
  The topic of RISC-V custom instructions is growing in importance. This article explains why this subject is becoming so significant, and outlines some of the previous approaches to processor hardware and software optimization to illustrate the techniques that are now possible with RISC-V.
  
  
• Meeting Increasing Performance Requirements in Embedded Applications with Scalable Multicore Processors (Aug. 24, 2020)
  There is a transformation occurring in high-end embedded applications as processing spreads from the cloud to the edge and the end points of the Internet. Performance requirements are increasing rapidly and changing the architecture of processors and how they are implemented in designs.
  
  
• Where Innovation Is Happening in Geolocation. Part 1: Signal Processing (Jun. 25, 2020)
  At first glance, geolocation technology seems to work well. Our phones and cars get us to where we need to be with little effort and rather reliably. For consumers, it’s a free service, thanks to service providers like Google and Apple.
  
  
• GRSCRUB: FPGA Configuration Supervisor (Jun. 15, 2020)
  The GRSCRUB is an external Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) configuration supervisor developed by Cobham Gaisler as an Intellectual Property (IP) core. The GRSCRUB IP features different capabilities, such as programming and scrubbing, which prevents the accumulation of errors in the configuration memory of SRAM-based FPGAs.
  
  
• Embedded Software Unit Testing with Ceedling (Apr. 14, 2020)
  Unit testing is a technique of breaking the code in small units of the entire code. These units can be verified to check the behaviour of a specific aspect of the software. One of the major challenges involved in unit testing of embedded software is that the code interacts with the hardware peripherals. In mostcases, hardware cannot be accessed during unit tests. Keeping hardware interaction as thin as possible helps in testing most of the code by dividing it into small pieces. These pieces can then be independently tested without hardware interaction.
  
  
• Improving performance and security in IoT wearables (Mar. 12, 2020)
  Many IoT applications – including connected cars, factory automation, smart city, connected health, and wearables – require nonvolatile memory to store data and code. Traditionally, embedded applications have used external Flash memory for this purpose.
  
  
• Better Benchmarks through Compiler Optimizations: Codasip Jump Threading (Sep. 09, 2019)
  The architectural efficiency of embedded processor IP is measured by a small set of industry standard benchmarks, that even though often bear little correlation to real workloads, continue to persist. The most popular benchmarks are Dhrystone and CoreMark.
  
  
• Enhancing privacy and security in the smart meter lifecycle (Jun. 27, 2019)
  How can utility companies ensure their smart metering deployments maintain security and privacy for all stakeholders?
  
  
• Choosing a Processor for Machine Learning at the Edge (Jun. 24, 2019)
  Not all machine learning models need processing on the order of several TOPS. Understanding the performance, latency and accuracy need of your application is a critical first step to choose a processor for machine learning at the edge.
  
  
• Extending RISC-V ISA With a Custom Instruction Set Extension (Jun. 03, 2019)
  RISC-V ISA (Instruction Set Architecture) is designed in a modular way. It means that the ISA has several groups of instructions (ISA extensions) that can be enabled or disabled as needed. This allows implementing precisely the instruction groups that the application needs, without having to pay for area or power that will not be used.
  
  
• New AI Computing in Consumer Electronics (May. 20, 2019)
  The market for AI processors is vast, but it can be organized into segments, and those segments can be targeted.
  
  
• Nucleus SE RTOS initialization and start-up (Mar. 13, 2019)
  For any kind of operating system (OS), there is some type of start-up mechanism. Exactly how this works varies from one system to another, but most "classic" RTOSes use a much simpler (and hence faster) process than found in desktop OSes.
  
  
• Why vehicle security may require a different approach (Oct. 17, 2018)
  With more than 152 million vehicles connnected to the Internet by 2020, it’s no surprise that engine control units (ECUs) are easy targets for attackers and other adversaries. This is supported by published reports on recent attacks on Volkswagen/Audi, BMW, and Tesla vehicles. And as cars become more connected, this trend will continue to grow.
  
  
• PCI Express 3.0 needs reliable timing design (Oct. 15, 2018)
  PCI Express (PCIe) is an important standard for chip-to-chip communications and serves as a standard for connecting motherboards to peripheral cards. It can be challenging, however, to implement the reference clock so that it meets the various requirements of the PCIe standard.
  
  
• Understanding virtualization facilities in the ARMv8 processor architecture (Sep. 21, 2018)
  Virtualization facilities in ARMv8-based systems play a special role in these systems and consist of several components. While ARMv7 had a special CPU mode to run a hypervisor as an extension, in ARMv8, it has become a part of the architecture, and it has been integrated into the privilege-level system under the name EL2.
  
  
• The evolution of embedded devices: Addressing complex design challenges (Sep. 18, 2018)
  We expect our devices to be smart, upgradable and accessible over the Internet and security is no longer optional. Existing standards and stack libraries can help developers complete a project in a timely, secure way. This article outlines the key design challenges an embedded developer faces today, and some of the new technologies that will help designers address these challenges.
  
  
• Switch Abstraction Interface (SAI) - Breaking the Network Aggregation (Jul. 30, 2018)
  The networking industry is moving faster than ever before. The reason to expedite the pace lies in the network device disaggregation which leads to the evolution of the white box switch concept. What enables the network disaggregation? What are the problems with traditional networking? Let us look at it in the discourse ahead.
  
  
• The architecture of ARMv8-based firmware systems (Jul. 16, 2018)
  Since its release in 2011, the ARMv8 processor architecture has become quite widespread in the mobile device market. According to the forecasts of the ARM Limited CEO, the processors of this generation will acquire a world market share of up to 25% by 2020. It is natural enough that the software support was established and has been developing further by inheriting the features and general principles of the historically formed infrastructure.
  
  
• Why FIR sensing technology is essential for achieving fully autonomous vehicles (Jun. 13, 2018)
  The automotive industry is experiencing an influx of new technology as it never has before. Automakers are promising to deploy fully autonomous vehicles on public roads within the next few years and are predicting that mass market adoption will not be far behind
  
  
• How to reuse your IIoT technology investments - now (Apr. 11, 2018)
  While we can all relate to wearables for sport and fitness, smart homes, and even “Siri” and her many step sisters, the real surprise is how the Industrial IoT (IIoT) is quietly gaining significant momentum among businesses and industries throughout the world.
  
  
• Aircraft Jet Engine Failure Analytics Using Google Cloud Platform Based Deep Learning (Apr. 09, 2018)
  This white paper presents an aircraft jet engine sensor fault diagnostics and prediction implementation using Google cloud platform. The use cases covered are effectively implemented to demonstrate the GCP capability to implement such a prognostic system.
  
  
• Managing energy consumption in wireless IoT devices (Apr. 04, 2018)
  Battery life is one of the last thing on the minds of developers rushing to complete their designs but there are a number of things they can do...
  
  
• Tackling IoT system interoperability (Mar. 05, 2018)
  IoT application development has already evolved largely into an integration problem. Developers can find all manner of IoT hardware devices that provide a growing number of near drop-in solutions for populating an IoT system's layers of terminal sensor nodes and edge computing devices.
  
  
• Machines can see, hear and analyze thanks to embedded neural networks (Feb. 27, 2018)
  The potential applications around artificial intelligence (AI) continue to grow on a daily basis. As the power of different neural network (NN) architectures are tested, tuned and refined to tackle different problems, diverse methods of optimally analyzing data using AI are found.
  
  
• IoT security: hardware vs software (Jan. 22, 2018)
  We are now in the business of connecting everything to everything. And with this, the Internet of Things (IoT) is born. Once this total connectivity is accomplished, the collective effort this brings lets us start the next string of new and exciting systems. This results in massive amounts of data that must be trusted and processed.
  
  
• Achieving MPU security (Jan. 17, 2018)
  Encryption, authentication, and other security methods work fine to protect data and program updates passing through the Internet. That is, unless one end can easily be hacked to steal secret keys and possibly implant malware for future activation. Then, unbeknownst to the system operators, confidential information is being stolen daily and possible major service disruptions lie ahead.
  
  
• Wind Turbine Fault Detection Using Machine Learning And Neural Networks (Dec. 18, 2017)
  Offshore wind turbines in farm locations are hard to reach and may pose problems in maintenance cycles, the cost of repair, and repair procedures. The smart solution is to utilize remote monitoring and diagnostics based on the sensor data.
  
  
• Authentication Flash: Closing the Security Gap Left by Conventional NOR Flash ICs (Sep. 18, 2017)
  In response to demand from security-conscious OEMs, the manufacturers of modern microcontrollers and systems-on-chip (SoCs) commonly equip their products with a broad range of security capabilities: standard, off-the-shelf 32-bit MCUs for mainstream, non-financial applications will today often feature a hardware cryptographic accelerator, a random number generator (RNG) and secure memory locations.
  
  
• Designing for safety and security in a connected system (Sep. 07, 2017)
  Good embedded software has always been designed for both safety and security. However, connectivity has introduced intolerable levels of security vulnerability in safety-critical applications such as medical, autonomous vehicles, and Internet of Things (IoT) devices.
  
  
• Optimizing flash memory selection for automotive & other uses (Aug. 21, 2017)
  Over the past few years, there has been an increasing demand for NOR Flash memory for use in automotive applications. Initial uses included applications such as infotainment and engine control. However, as advancements in automotive computerization continue to progress, NOR Flash memory is seeing use in a wider range of various automotive applications.