Designing for Humans: Viewing DFM and Industrialization Through the Lens of the Fitts MABA–MABA List
"Operator’s fault" and "Inadequate Training" are the phrases you typically hear when yield loss and stubborn manufacturing issues are discussed. While these factors may play a role, they rarely tell the whole story. This article views DFM and industrialization through the lens of a classic human factors principle; the Fitts MABA-MABA list, and highlights a critical, yet less-discussed factor: the lack of manufacturing-focused human factors considerations in product design. It explores practical examples like Proprioceptive Fatigue and Visual SNR, and shows how lots of chronic manufacturing issues are results of bad upstream design decisions, echoing the fact that in many cases, inspection exists not because it is inherently valuable, but because the design failed to encode correctness directly into the product or process. If you’ve ever wondered why "retraining" never seems to fix a recurring defect, this take on industrialization and manufacturing might explain why.
Project Log: Pixelblaze Christmas Lights
Festive fun and the hacker spirit combine in my janky attempt to adorn my house with addressable LEDs! In this post, I show you how I used a Pixelblaze and a cheap strip of WS2811 RGB LEDs (and not a little bit of hot glue and paper clips) to make a super cool set of Christmas lights.
Breaking AES with an Oscilloscope
AES is a powerful encryption algorithm that protects some our most important secrets. But did you know that many devices are inadvertently leaking the value of their private key through their power pins?! Join me in this special preview of my upcoming workshop at the Embedded Systems Summit (14-16 October 2025 in San Jose, CA) as we explore the world of hardware security and discover just how easy it could be to break AES encryption with only an oscilloscope and some math.
Better Hardware Design Decisions, Faster: A Lean Team’s Guide to MDO
As design complexity grows, siloed decision-making often leads to late-stage surprises, costly rework, and missed opportunities for optimization. Multidisciplinary Design Optimization (MDO) offers a structured approach to solving this by enabling teams to evaluate trade-offs and impacts across the full system before implementation begins. Traditionally used in large, high-budget industries like aerospace, MDO is now within reach for lean teams, thanks to more accessible modeling tools and an urgent need for tighter collaboration. This article outlines how small hardware teams can adopt MDO in a practical way, starting simple, integrating key models early, and building toward a culture of systems thinking. The result is better design decisions, faster development, and more robust, manufacturable products with fewer surprises along the way.
How to Design Reliable Reset Circuits for Embedded Microcontrollers
In the world of embedded systems, the reset circuit is a critical component that ensures the microcontroller starts up correctly and recovers gracefully from unexpected events like power fluctuations or software crashes. A poorly designed reset circuit can lead to erratic behavior, system lockups, or even permanent damage to the microcontroller. For embedded engineers, designing a reliable reset circuit is essential for ensuring the stability and robustness of the system.
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.
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!
Here Comes The Noise!
Noise. That awful thing which nobody wants that most sadly never learn about. It's time to change that with this blog post.
Getting Started With CUDA C on an Nvidia Jetson: GPU Architecture
In the previous blog post (Getting Started With CUDA C on Jetson Nvidia: Hello CUDA World!) I showed how to develop applications targeted at a GPU on a Nvidia Jetson Nano. As we observed in that blog post, performing a calculation on a 1-D array on a GPU had no performance benefit compared to a traditional CPU implementation, even on an array with many elements. In this blog post, we will learn about the GPU architecture to better explain the behavior and to understand the applications where a GPU shines (hint: it has to do with graphics).
Make Your Own MCU Boards (2023 Teardown Conference)
Ditch the development boards! Products like the Nucleo development boards serve a wonderful purpose, but they’re ill-suited for projects that need to be small and cheap, such as hobby projects or products just beginning a production run. In this talk (a recording from the 2023 Teardown Conference), you’ll learn how to put a microcontroller or other custom circuit on a PCB a little larger than a stick of gum for less than $3 a board.
VHDL tutorial - A practical example - part 2 - VHDL coding
Gene Breniman walks through the VHDL coding for a CPLD-based data acquisition engine, turning the hardware spec into a working state machine and signal generators. The article explains SPI and I2S timing choices, an internal SPI peripheral latch, and counter-based timing (seqCount and CycleCnt) used to create LRCK, BCK, SPI SCK and nvSRAM write control. It’s a practical, implementation-focused guide for embedded designers.
Designing for Humans: Viewing DFM and Industrialization Through the Lens of the Fitts MABA–MABA List
"Operator’s fault" and "Inadequate Training" are the phrases you typically hear when yield loss and stubborn manufacturing issues are discussed. While these factors may play a role, they rarely tell the whole story. This article views DFM and industrialization through the lens of a classic human factors principle; the Fitts MABA-MABA list, and highlights a critical, yet less-discussed factor: the lack of manufacturing-focused human factors considerations in product design. It explores practical examples like Proprioceptive Fatigue and Visual SNR, and shows how lots of chronic manufacturing issues are results of bad upstream design decisions, echoing the fact that in many cases, inspection exists not because it is inherently valuable, but because the design failed to encode correctness directly into the product or process. If you’ve ever wondered why "retraining" never seems to fix a recurring defect, this take on industrialization and manufacturing might explain why.
VHDL tutorial - A practical example - part 3 - VHDL testbench
Gene Breniman walks a complete VHDL testbench workflow for a CPLD-based data acquisition engine, from Xilinx ISE testbench generation to stimulus processes. He shows clock and SPI gating, a simulated ADC data generator tied to ADC_LRCK and ADC_BCK, and how simulation revealed a timing bug in the nvSRAM header that was then fixed in the VHDL. Practical and hands-on for verification work.
VHDL tutorial - A practical example - part 1 - Hardware
Gene Breniman walks through a practical CPLD-based data acquisition engine built for a low-power handheld instrument, focusing on hardware choices, signal flow, and pin assignments. The article explains component selection including a PCM1870 ADC, CY14B101Q2 serial nvSRAM, and an XC2C64A CPLD, and shows how the CPLD acts as an SPI sequencer and I2S clock master while minimizing microcontroller pins and power draw.
How to Design Reliable Reset Circuits for Embedded Microcontrollers
In the world of embedded systems, the reset circuit is a critical component that ensures the microcontroller starts up correctly and recovers gracefully from unexpected events like power fluctuations or software crashes. A poorly designed reset circuit can lead to erratic behavior, system lockups, or even permanent damage to the microcontroller. For embedded engineers, designing a reliable reset circuit is essential for ensuring the stability and robustness of the system.
Creating a GPIO HAL and Driver in C
Creating a GPIO Hardware Abstraction Layer (HAL) in C allows for flexible microcontroller interfacing, overcoming the challenge of variability across silicon vendors. This method involves reviewing datasheets, identifying features, designing interfaces, and iterative development, as detailed in the "Reusable Firmware" process. A simplified approach prioritizes essential functions like initialization and read/write operations, showcased through a minimal interface example. The post also highlights the use of AI to expedite HAL generation. A detailed GPIO HAL version is provided, featuring extended capabilities and facilitating driver connection through direct assignments or wrappers. The significance of a configuration table for adaptable peripheral setup is emphasized. Ultimately, the blog illustrates the ease and scalability of developing a GPIO HAL and driver in C, promoting hardware-independent and extensible code for various interfaces, such as SPI, I2C, PWM, and timers, underscoring the abstraction benefits.
Breaking AES with an Oscilloscope
AES is a powerful encryption algorithm that protects some our most important secrets. But did you know that many devices are inadvertently leaking the value of their private key through their power pins?! Join me in this special preview of my upcoming workshop at the Embedded Systems Summit (14-16 October 2025 in San Jose, CA) as we explore the world of hardware security and discover just how easy it could be to break AES encryption with only an oscilloscope and some math.
Using the Beaglebone PRU to achieve realtime at low cost
Fabien Le Mentec shows how the BeagleBone Black's PRU coprocessors can run hard realtime control loops, removing the need for an FPGA or dedicated microcontroller. He walks through Linux setup, device tree enabling, assembler and loader tools, and a timer example that reads ADCs and drives PWM from PRU code. The post highlights community SDKs and a recent TI Code Composer Studio option for C-based PRU development.
Project Log: Pixelblaze Christmas Lights
Festive fun and the hacker spirit combine in my janky attempt to adorn my house with addressable LEDs! In this post, I show you how I used a Pixelblaze and a cheap strip of WS2811 RGB LEDs (and not a little bit of hot glue and paper clips) to make a super cool set of Christmas lights.
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.
VHDL tutorial - A practical example - part 3 - VHDL testbench
Gene Breniman walks a complete VHDL testbench workflow for a CPLD-based data acquisition engine, from Xilinx ISE testbench generation to stimulus processes. He shows clock and SPI gating, a simulated ADC data generator tied to ADC_LRCK and ADC_BCK, and how simulation revealed a timing bug in the nvSRAM header that was then fixed in the VHDL. Practical and hands-on for verification work.
Using the Beaglebone PRU to achieve realtime at low cost
Fabien Le Mentec shows how the BeagleBone Black's PRU coprocessors can run hard realtime control loops, removing the need for an FPGA or dedicated microcontroller. He walks through Linux setup, device tree enabling, assembler and loader tools, and a timer example that reads ADCs and drives PWM from PRU code. The post highlights community SDKs and a recent TI Code Composer Studio option for C-based PRU development.
VHDL tutorial - A practical example - part 2 - VHDL coding
Gene Breniman walks through the VHDL coding for a CPLD-based data acquisition engine, turning the hardware spec into a working state machine and signal generators. The article explains SPI and I2S timing choices, an internal SPI peripheral latch, and counter-based timing (seqCount and CycleCnt) used to create LRCK, BCK, SPI SCK and nvSRAM write control. It’s a practical, implementation-focused guide for embedded designers.
VHDL tutorial - A practical example - part 1 - Hardware
Gene Breniman walks through a practical CPLD-based data acquisition engine built for a low-power handheld instrument, focusing on hardware choices, signal flow, and pin assignments. The article explains component selection including a PCM1870 ADC, CY14B101Q2 serial nvSRAM, and an XC2C64A CPLD, and shows how the CPLD acts as an SPI sequencer and I2S clock master while minimizing microcontroller pins and power draw.
OOKLONE: a cheap RF 433.92MHz OOK frame cloner
Fabien Le Mentec built a pocket device that listens to and clones 433.92MHz OOK frames, automating the tedious reverse engineering of cheap wireless outlets. The prototype uses a Moteino with an RFM69 to sample demodulated OOK data, stores pulse durations in SRAM, and replays frames; the code and hardware notes are available on GitHub along with limitations and next steps.
Using XML to describe embedded devices (and speak to them)
Make embedded devices tell you what they can do. Martin Strubel shows how to use XML and XSLT with the DClib/netpp framework to describe hardware, map registers into abstract properties, and auto-generate compact C, documentation, and VHDL. The netpp property protocol then lets you probe, query, and control those properties over TCP, UDP, or other transports, simplifying test benches and multi-device families.
Creating a GPIO HAL and Driver in C
Creating a GPIO Hardware Abstraction Layer (HAL) in C allows for flexible microcontroller interfacing, overcoming the challenge of variability across silicon vendors. This method involves reviewing datasheets, identifying features, designing interfaces, and iterative development, as detailed in the "Reusable Firmware" process. A simplified approach prioritizes essential functions like initialization and read/write operations, showcased through a minimal interface example. The post also highlights the use of AI to expedite HAL generation. A detailed GPIO HAL version is provided, featuring extended capabilities and facilitating driver connection through direct assignments or wrappers. The significance of a configuration table for adaptable peripheral setup is emphasized. Ultimately, the blog illustrates the ease and scalability of developing a GPIO HAL and driver in C, promoting hardware-independent and extensible code for various interfaces, such as SPI, I2C, PWM, and timers, underscoring the abstraction benefits.
Basic hand tools for electronics assembly
Though the software tools vary with different microcontrollers, many hardware tools are the same.
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.
First Steps in OrCAD 16 [Capture]
A practical, beginner-friendly walkthrough of OrCAD 16 Capture that gets you from a blank project to a netlist ready for PCB layout. Maykel explains the OrCAD suite, project tree and design cache behavior, how to manage part libraries, and the Tools menu utilities you should run. The article ends with step-by-step instructions for creating the .mnl netlist and previews a follow-up on layout and footprint libraries.
