Mitigate Stress and Angst Over IoT Embedded Software Development (.PDF Download)
Virtually every electronic product contains at least one embedded controller. For that reason, it’s safe to say that at some point every design ultimately becomes a software development project. That makes software design and coding the critical chore of the project. The result is a massive amount of stress and responsibility on the engineer or team creating the software. The hardware is dead in the water until the code comes along.
However, some new hardware and software tools have arrived to help speed up and simplify such designs. Here’s an IoT example.
Development Goals
A good representation of a contemporary embedded project is creating an Internet of Things (IoT) product. Many engineers are engaged in designing one of those 50 billion IoT products that are supposed to come on line by 2020. The design goals are always the same:
- Low cost
- Ultra-low-power consumption to lengthen battery life.
- Use a wireless standard that’s proven and available.
- Include security measures appropriate to the application.
- Beat the competition to the market.
- Make the software reusable
- Have it complete and error free by “yesterday”
Another goal and challenge is producing code that can be reused if a spinoff, upgrade, or variation is to be developed later. No reinventing the wheel is allowed. The objective here is to generate code that can be reused and enhanced quickly. Your goal as a developer is to create code that’s flexible so that your investment in time and money will produce a reasonable return.
But just how do you go about simplifying software development to maximize return on investment? The answer is to adopt hardware and software that has not only been proven earlier, but also offers features to make modifications fast and easy.