audience statistics Embedded Systems

Since the beginning of the war, more than 2000 civilians have been killed by Russian missiles, according to official data. Help us protect Ukrainians from missiles - provide max military assisstance to Ukraine #Ukraine. #StandWithUkraine

📚 Jacob Beningo - Embedded Software Design: A Practical Approach to Architecture, Processes, and Coding Techniques (2022) Design higher-quality embedded software from concept through production. This book assumes basic C and microcontroller programming knowledge and is organized into three critical areas: Software Architecture and Design; Agile, DevOps, and Processes; and Development and Coding Skills. What You'll Learn: ▫️ Understand what sound embedded system design is and how to employ it ▫️ Explore modern development processes for quality systems ▫️ Know where the bits hit the silicon: how to select a microcontroller ▫️ Master techniques to write configurable, automated code Who This Book Is For: Embedded software and hardware engineers, enthusiasts, or any stakeholders who would like to learn modern techniques for designing and building embedded systems. Download the book (.pdf, 15 MB) #books #design

💻 10 simple tricks to optimize your C code in small embedded systems The following simple tricks in C are dedicated for program memory space optimization . These are particularly useful for embedded systems programmers dealing with low-cost 8-bit microcontrollers with limited flash memory. While assembly language is the best choice in this case, (almost all young) hardware engineers prefer nowadays to use C language even when the program is a relatively short control program. These 10 tips have been tested with the XC8 compiler (v1.42, free edition) to show the amount of program memory bytes involved before and after applying each code snippet on an enhanced mid-range 8-bit XLP PICmicro (a PIC16F1824). These code snippets do nothing special other than offer a proof of the concept. More clever (and sophisticated) tricks can be found here in the references listed at the end of this article. More information... #articles #programming

💻 10 simple tricks to optimize your C code in small embedded systems The following simple tricks in C are dedicated for program memory space optimization . These are particularly useful for embedded systems programmers dealing with low-cost 8-bit microcontrollers with limited flash memory.While assembly language is the best choice in this case, (almost all young) hardware engineers prefer nowadays to use C langage even when the program is a relatively short control program. These 10 tips have been tested with the XC8 compiler (v1.42, free edition) to show the amount of program memory bytes involved before and after applying each code snippet on an enhanced mid-range 8-bit XLP PICmicro (a PIC16F1824). These code snippets do nothing special other than offer a proof of the concept. More clever (and sophisticated) tricks can be found here in the references listed at the end of this article.

🤖 Tiny Desktop Robot With ESP32 and FreeRTOS This is a tiny ESP32 robot with freeRTOS and facial expressions. It is controlled wirelessly through a Wi-Fi app. It has an OLED screen that shows different face animations depending on what the bot is doing. More information... #projects #robots

🤖 Micro-ROS puts ROS 2 onto microcontrollers Micro-ROS adapts ROS2 for limited-performance microcontrollers to bridge the gap between them and the larger processors in ROS robotic applications. Micro-ROS offers seven key features that make it ready for use in your microcontroller-based robotic project: ▫️ Microcontroller-optimized client API supporting all major ROS concepts ▫️ Seamless integration with ROS 2 ▫️ Extremely resource-constrained but flexible middleware ▫️ Multi-RTOS support with generic build system ▫️ Vibrant community and ecosystem ▫️ Long-term maintainability and interoperability More information: Official website GitHub repository #libraries #robots

📰 The top 10 IT/OT convergence trends—as showcased at SPS fair 2022 Smart Production Solutions (or SPS), one of the leading industrial automation fairs, was back in action earlier this month. The event that took place from 8 November –10 November 2022 in Nürnberg, Germany, showcased once again the latest industrial automation developments. The conference remains a key show for industrial automation hardware and (increasingly) software. IoT Analytics had a team of three analysts on the ground. They visited approximately 75 booths and conducted over 50 individual interviews to get a handle on the latest industrial automation trends with a special focus on IT/OT convergence. Then they noticed 10 trends that indicate a serious industry push toward IT/OT convergence. More information... #news #IoT

🎚 $6 Pine64 Ox64 SBC features BL808 64-bit/32-bit RISC-V multi-protocol WiSoC with 64MB RAM Pine64 Ox64 is a single board computer powered by Bouffalo Lab BL808 dual-core 64-bit/32-bit RISC-V processor with up to 64MB embedded RAM, multiple radios for WiFi 4, Bluetooth 5.0, and 802.15.4 (Zigbee), as well as an AI accelerator. The board also features up to 16MB XSPI NOR flash, a MicroSD card socket, a USB 2.0 OTG port with support for a 2-lane MIPI CSI camera module, and two 20-pin GPIO headers for expansion. It measures just 51 x 21mm, or in other words, is about the size of a Raspberry Pi Pico W. The BL808 wireless processor is designed for low-power AIoT video/audio applications, notably two-way voice intercoms. The BL808 is supported by an RTOS SDK, and Linux is being worked on. That’s why there are two SKUs for the Ox64 board, one with 16Mbit flash suitable to run an RTOS and another one with 128 Mbit flash to run Linux. #boards

📃 The Ultimate Transistor Timeline (preprint) The transistor’s amazing evolution from point contacts to quantum tunnels Even as the initial sales receipts for the first transistors to hit the market were being tallied up in 1948, the next generation of transistors had already been invented (see “The First Transistor and How it Worked.”) Since then, engineers have reinvented the transistor over and over again, raiding condensed-matter physics for anything that might offer even the possibility of turning a small signal into a larger one. But physics is one thing; mass production is another. This timeline shows the time elapsed between the invention of several transistor types and the year they became commercially available. More information... #articles

💻 3 Reasons to Use Rust in Embedded Systems ▫️ Rust is a memory-safe language All Rust variables, by default, are immutable unless declared otherwise. There is also a concept of memory ownership. Memory safety helps developers identify critical bugs before they find their way into our production code by making us aware of them as soon as we create them! ▫️ Dependency management Rust has a built-in package manager called Cargo that downloads package dependencies, compiles packages, distributes packages, and, if open-sourced, even upload them to crates.io. Cargo helps developers ensure that they are using the write packages and that even if new versions are available, they won’t be upgraded until they are ready to upgrade. ▫️ Modern and powerful Rust compiles its code with nearly the efficiency of a C compiler. If you compare execution times, the differences are negligible. Rust can interact with low-level hardware efficiently and more safely than C/C++. #articles #rust #programming

📟 ESP32: Send Messages to WhatsApp In this guide, you’ll learn how to send messages to your WhatsApp account with the ESP32. This can be useful to receive notifications from the ESP32 with sensor readings, alert messages when a sensor reading is above or below a certain threshold, when motion is detected, and many other applications. We’ll program the ESP32 using Arduino IDE and to send the messages we’ll use a free API called CallMeBot. More information... #projects #esp32

📟 WiFiBOX - Packet Monitor with Waterfall Plot using ESP32 The traffic values in the channel specified from 1 to 14 are received and displayed with the help of ESP32, and TFT LCD. graphically in the form of incoming traffic at any time will show with Waterfall Plot. Features of the project: ▫️ Scan 2.4Ghz band ▫️ Received Packets will show with Waterfall Plot. ▫️ Ability to choose the desired channel from 14 channels More information: The main article The GitHub repository #projects #esp32

📰 MicroPython officially becomes part of the Arduino ecosystem Arduino has announced that it is folding MicroPython, the microcontroller-focused Python port designed for resource-constrained devices, into its development ecosystem — partnering with MicroPython creator Damien George to bring the virtual machine to a range of official Arduino development boards. "Expanding on this initial experience we were lucky enough to partner with the creator of MicroPython, Damien George, to port the official the virtual machine to a number of Arduino products." It's a big shift for Arduino, which for years has focused on programming in C/C++ with its fork of Wiring to abstract the complexities of handling hardware aware from the user. MicroPython, then, becomes only the second officially-supported Arduino language in the project's history — but while it is official, it won't be found as an option in the official Arduino IDE any time soon. #news #arduino

📃 MISRA C: Write safer, clearer C code The C language is compact, expressive and powerful. It provides a programmer with the means to write efficient, readable and maintainable code. All of these features account for its popularity. Unfortunately, the language also enables the unwary developer to write dangerous, insecure code that can cause serious problems at all stages of a development project and into deployment. In the late 90s, the Motor Industry Software Reliability Association (MISRA) introduced a set of guidelines for the use of C in vehicle systems, which became known as MISRA C. Since then, the guidelines have been steadily refined, with updates being published from time to time. Although the guidelines were originally aimed at developers of software for use in cars, it was quickly realized that they are equally applicable to many other application areas where safety is critical, and the standard is now widely adopted in many industries. More information... #articles #security

💻 Write Less Code using the “auto” Keyword The auto keyword was introduced with C++11. It reduces the amount of code you have to write, reduces repetitive code and the number of required changes. Sadly, many C++ developers are not aware of how useful this keyword is. Especially embedded code can gain a lot by its usage. In this article, author will try to explain a number of useful cases of the auto keyword, using Arduino example code. The same principles are valid for any embedded environment which is using a modern C++ compiler. The C++11 standard is eight years old, and meanwhile, every C++ compiler should support it. The examples are written for Arduino or Adafruit SAMD boards using the Arduino IDE. The toolchain for these boards use a compiler which supports more features explained in this article. Using auto with AVR code is possible too, just give it a try. More information... #articles #programming #cpp

📟 BYOPM - Open-Source password manager based on Raspberry Pi Zero BYOPM is a portable Password Manager implementation based on BitWarden and a Raspberry PI Zero. It’s a self hosted solution, with full functionality, which is activated by just plugging the device on your computer. Bitwarden’s Official browser addons and extensions are also supported, and the device has been tested both on Windows (10 and 11) and Linux (Debian Based). How does it work? Plug BYOPM to your computer using a micro USB cable, after about a minute a new network device will be automatically created and appear as connected. BYOPM hosts a Bitwarden instance which is required for managing your passwords and also emulates an ethernet network interface card in order to be accessible from your computer without any configuration. More information... #projects #raspberry #security

📟 TinyML-CAM pipeline enables 80 FPS image recognition on ESP32 using just 1 KB RAM The challenge with TinyML is to extract the maximum performance/efficiency at the lowest footprint for AI workloads on microcontroller-class hardware. The TinyML-CAM pipeline, developed by a team of machine learning researchers in Europe, demonstrates what’s possible to achieve on relatively low-end hardware with a camera. Most specifically, they managed to reach over 80 FPS image recognition on the sub-$10 ESP32-CAM board with the open-source TinyML-CAM pipeline taking just about 1KB of RAM. It should work on other MCU boards with a camera, and training does not seem complex since we are told it takes around 30 minutes to implement a customized task. More information: The main article The GitHub repository #projects #machine_learning #esp32

📰 Tentacle robot can gently grasp fragile objects Most of today’s robotic grippers rely on embedded sensors, complex feedback loops, or advanced machine learning algorithms, combined with the skill of the operator, to grasp fragile or irregularly shaped objects. But researchers from the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) have demonstrated an easier way. The researchers used simulations and experiments to test the efficacy of the gripper, picking up a range of objects, including various houseplants and toys. The gripper could be used in real-world applications to grasp soft fruits and vegetables for agricultural production and distribution, delicate tissue in medical settings, even irregularly shaped objects in warehouses, such as glassware. #news #robots

📟 hgDeck - a wrist-word desk with a hybrid interface The design for this project is based on earlier hgTerm Raspberry Pi mini-laptop, which honestly would have made a great entry all by itself. But while the two version shares some similarities, the hgDeck puts a serious twist on the form factor. Device is based on the Raspberry Pi Zero W Soc. It contains one main 3.5" SPI TFT screen and additional 1" OLED screen. Additionally, it has BT keyboard, pi camera and MLX90640 thermal camera. The casing is 3D printed on Prusa Mini. It has a motor and a linkage system which enables it to (semi) automatically switch between just the display mode and full terminal (display+keyboard) mode. More information: The main page The repository #projects #raspberry

🎬 What Are The Essential Tools You Need For Embedded Firmware Development? In this video, embedded systems consultant Martin Schroder talks about the software and hardware you would need to start developing embedded firmware. https://youtu.be/d7Ow0lo1a8c #video

🤖 Mini Pupper – Open-source Raspberry Pi 4-based robot dog teaches ROS, SLAM, navigation and computer vision Mini Pupper is open-source, based on Ubuntu and ROS (Robot Operating System), and designed for robotics education in schools, homeschool families, enthusiasts and others, with notably students being able to learn out to use ROS, SLAM, navigation, and OpenCV computer vision through online courses that will come with the robot. One fully assembled and configured, the dog-shaped quadruped robot that can hop, trot, and run around, finding its way around using SLAM, Navigation, and OpenCV AI functions. Mini Pupper’s software relies on a fork of ROS based Champ Quadrupedal Framework led by Juan Miguel Jimeno, which you can also find on Github. ROS2 support is also in the works. More information: The main article The GitHub repository #projects #robots

📚 Frank Bruno - FPGA Programming for Beginners (2021) The book will introduce you to the FPGA and Xilinx architectures and show you how to work on your first project, which includes toggling an LED. You'll then cover SystemVerilog RTL designs and their implementations. Next, you'll get to grips with using the combinational Boolean logic design and work on several projects, such as creating a calculator and updating it using FPGA resources. Later, the book will take you through the advanced concepts of AXI and show you how to create a keyboard using PS/2. Finally, you'll be able to consolidate all the projects in the book to create a unified output using a VGA controller that you'll design. What you will learn: ▫️ Understand the FPGA architecture and its implementation ▫️ Get to grips with writing SystemVerilog RTL ▫️ Work with computer math basics, parallelism, and pipelining ▫️ Discover how you can implement a VGA interface in your projects Download the book (.pdf, 16 MB) #books #fpga

📟 ESP-NOW: Auto-pairing for ESP32/ESP8266 with Bidirectional Communication and Web Server This guide shows how to build an ESP32 web server and use ESP-NOW communication protocol simultaneously. We’ll show you how to establish a two-way communication between the master (web server) and slaves, and how to automatically add boards to the network (auto-pairing). More information... #projects #esp32 #IoT

📃 Embedded IoT Without Hardware: The Must Know Resources The list of resources allowing to prototyping IoT projects without hardware ▫️ Wokwi is an online Electronics simulator that currently supports several popular platforms including several Arduinos, ESP32, and Rasberry Pi Pico among others. There is a wide variety of popular components to also select from. Wokwi also supports debugging and network connections. You can actually connect to Wi-Fi and establish an MQTT or HTTP connection. Supports languages like MicroPython, CircuitPython and Rust! ▫️ Planet Debug by MikroElektronika. With it the user gets to interact with real hardware through a live stream. This allows users to view a hardware development working in real-time. ▫️ Allhardware provides remote access to real embedded platform hardware to program and debug. ▫️ Arm Mbed Simulator provides access to a good amount of electronic components to connect and wire to the simulated hardware platform. #aritcles #IoT

💻 Consistent Error Handling in C++ Error handling in firmware is a difficult task. If you decide to ignore errors, the best you can expect is a deadlock, but you could also damage the hardware. When reviewing existing code, you can often find boolean return values or a system of error codes. The problem with these systems is the lack of readability. It is hard to say whether true is the result of a successful call or means an error. In the article, author explains different methods to handle errors in your firmware. Although the provided examples are for the Arduino Uno, the concepts will work with any platform and with all modern C++ compilers. More information... #articles #programming #cpp

🤖 3 trending robot startups from Kickstarter Worth looking into startups to keep up with the latest trends 🐶 Loona is a four-wheeled robot standing in (172 mm) high, with a 2.4-in LCD screen for a face. The robot can perform face recognition, body detection, gesture recognition, 3D motion capture, object recognition, emotion perception, label recognition, and more. 💡 Werobot Pino Lamp is designed with an Artificial Intelligence algorithm that supports automatic object tracking, recognizing and following selected objects, including the user's face, in the most targeted and optimized illumination experience that thus far was not available to users. 🎾 Rollbot is 100% Automatic and is designed with interactive moving feature that will stimulate the pet’s nature of hunting, and help fully mobilize their enthusiasm and curiosity. This intelligent ball toy is going to give your pet the interaction and exercise they crave even when you are not around. #robots

📰 Multiple Industries Are Reaping Big Rewards from Robots According to a report by the International Federation of Robotics, the number of robots in factories has almost doubled in recent years. ▫️ Manufacturing and Warehousing: The nature of manufacturing has changed significantly in recent years, largely due to COVID-19. North American companies purchased 11,595 robots in the first quarter of 2022. This record high amounted to a staggering $646 million. ▫️ Healthcare and Medical: Innovations in robotics have many uses within healthcare, ultimately improving the service that patients receive. Supplementary robots can transport goods, such as life-changing medication, around the hospital when nurses are understaffed or preoccupied. ▫️ Schools and Education: Robotics is also highly beneficial within the education system. Teachers and learning professionals can use robotics to help students within the classroom, all the way from primary school to higher education. #articles #robots

📟 Labfab's Open-Source CO2 Sensor This sensor help you to determine the periods of ventilation in closed spaces, in particular in the school context. Indeed, a high concentration of CO2 in a classroom has the possible consequence of a drop in concentration and even a state of drowsiness. This issue was raised during the COVID-19 health crisis when a correlation was established between the concentration of CO2 in a room and the transmission of the virus. The link between the CO2 concentration and the air quality in a room makes it possible to establish reference thresholds, in our case we use the CO2 recommendation of the French authorities: ▫️ at 800 ppm and below : Recommended for interior spaces in society. ▫️ from 800ppm : Space must be ventilated! ▫️ Above 1000 ppm : It is necessary to ventilate the space and it is not advisable to stay in the room. The CO2 sensor is designed to interpret these different CO2 alert levels by simple color code. More information... #projects #sensors

🔐 5 Elements to a Secure Embedded System (series of articles) Nearly every embedded system requires some level of security, whether its just the basics to lock down the programming port or something more complex to protect a connected device from hackers. For many developers, securing their device can be intimidating especially given that many embedded developers don’t come from a security background and have to learn security concepts on the fly. When it comes to establishing the primary elements that form the foundation for a secure system, the five elements every developer should be looking to implement are: ▫️ Hardware based isolation ▫️ A Root-of-Trust (RoT) ▫️ A secure boot solution ▫️ A secure bootloader ▫️ Secure storage The author dives into each of these topics in greater detail in order to understand how to create a solid security foundation from which a system can be built. More information... #articles #security