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The 2025 Embedded Online Conference

On optimizing manual soldering

Ido Gendel December 9, 2024

When faced with manual soldering of thousands of components, speed and efficiency become pivotal. Here are some takeaways from my own experience attempting to optimize such a process.


On hardware state machines: How to write a simple MAC controller using the RP2040 PIOs

Sergio R Caprile December 8, 2024

Hardware state machines are nice, and the RP2040 has two blocks with up to four machines each. Their instruction set is limited, but powerful, and they can execute an instruction per cycle, pushing and popping from their FIFOs and shifting bytes in and out. The Raspberry Pi Pico does not have an Ethernet connection, but there are many PHY boards available… take a LAN8720 board and connect it to the Pico; you’re done. The firmware ? Introducing Mongoose…


Graphical medicine

Colin Walls December 5, 2024

Although an appealing user interface is a good option for any device, in medical applications it can be a life saver.


Pay it Forward

Nathan Jones December 1, 2024

A popular car bumper sticker reads, "If you can read this, thank a teacher!" I might say, "If you can read THIS (article on Embedded Related), then you've been blessed with great experiences and/or great educators or volunteers that got you excited about tech and helped you believe that you had a future in this field!" Why not pay it forward by helping other children have those same great experiences? As we enter another season of giving, I hope you consider doing what you can to support the hundreds or thousands of non-profit organizations, educators, and volunteers around the world who are getting kids excited about tech the same way YOU got excited about tech. In this article, I'll share with you a handful of organizations that I know of or donate to that have this mission. How do you like to give back?


Zephyr: West Manifest For Application Development

Mohammed Billoo November 25, 2024

In this blog post, I show a simpler way to create custom West manifest files. This technique eliminates the need to duplicate the complex West manifest from upstream Zephyr. I also show how we can use the West manifest to include out-of-tree board and SoC definitions, and include our own out-of-tree drivers.


What is “real time”?

Colin Walls November 7, 20244 comments

The term “real time” is widely used nowadays. Although it is a technical term, it finds its way into quite normal conversation. I might be heard to say “I do not watch much real-time TV”, meaning that I use streaming services to watch what I want when I want. So, colloquially, real time means “immediate” or “occurring now”. How does this align with its precise meaning when we refer to a real time operating system, for example? …

Looking up “real-time system” in a rather...


Simulating Your Embedded Project on Your Computer (Part 2)

Nathan Jones November 4, 20243 comments

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 the last article, I showed you how to use the terminal (i.e. printf/getchar) to easily make a completely functional simulation. In this article, we'll take simulation to the next level, either in terms of realism (by using virtual hardware) or in terms of user experience (by using a GUI to simulate our hardware, instead of using the terminal).


Blocking == Technical Debt

Miro Samek October 25, 20246 comments

Blocking occurs every time a program waits in line for something to happen. For instance, the basic Arduino "Blink" example turns the LED on and calls the delay() function to wait for a timeout event in 1000 milliseconds. Then it turns the LED off and calls delay() to wait in line for another timeout event in 1000 milliseconds. Performed in a loop, this ends up blinking the LED.

Blocking in Arduino programming is accomplished by busy waiting. But it is not the only form. Blocking based...


In TCL FPGA Wizards Trust

GLENN Kirilow October 16, 2024

In TCL FPGA wizards trust. The best way to learn TCL is exposure therapy which we will be doing here using two examples: One for creation of a project with synthesis and implementation steps and another for simulation.


How 5G impacts future IoT development

John Koon October 11, 2024

The Internet of Things (IoT) applications are ubiquitous today. IoT is used in almost every industrial, commercial, and consumer market segment, including autonomous driving, smart factories, automation and preventive maintenance, smart homes, smart cities, security, asset tracking, supply chain management, agriculture, farming, healthcare, smart medicine and remote surgery, augmented reality applications, activity monitoring, and more. The three most promising uses of IoT are smart manufacturing, autonomous driving, and healthcare, particularly remote surgery.


StrangeCPU #1. A new CPU

Victor Yurkovsky February 24, 20136 comments

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 - Driving WS2812 RGB LEDs

Mike Silva November 14, 201330 comments

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 Future

Remember how we started this...


Important Programming Concepts (Even on Embedded Systems) Part I: Idempotence

Jason Sachs August 26, 20145 comments

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...


MSP430 LaunchPad Tutorial - Part 3 - ADC

Enrico Garante June 25, 20138 comments

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...


Introduction to Microcontrollers - Interrupts

Mike Silva September 18, 20136 comments

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...


Boot Sequence for an ARM based embedded system

DM January 16, 201231 comments

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...


VHDL tutorial

Gene Breniman October 4, 20079 comments

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...


Introduction to Microcontrollers - Hello World

Mike Silva September 11, 201316 comments

Embedded Hello World

A 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,...


Analog-to-Digital Confusion: Pitfalls of Driving an ADC

Jason Sachs November 19, 20118 comments

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...


Using the C language to program the am335x PRU

Fabien Le Mentec June 7, 201481 comments
Introduction

Some weeks ago, I published an article on how we used the PRU to implement a power supply control loop having hard realtime constraints:

//www.embeddedrelated.com/showarticle/586.php

Writing this kind of logic in assembly language is not easy. First the assembly language itself may be difficult to learn depending on your background. Then, fixed and floating point arithmetics require lot of code. While macros help to handle the complexity, they still are error prone as you...


Back from Embedded World 2019 - Funny Stories and Live-Streaming Woes

Stephane Boucher March 1, 20191 comment

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

Stephane Boucher February 21, 2019

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

Stephane Boucher February 21, 2019

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!

Stephane Boucher February 12, 2019

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!

Stephane Boucher August 3, 20183 comments

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...


Who else is going to Sensors Expo in San Jose? Looking for roommate(s)!

Stephane Boucher May 29, 20186 comments

This will be my first time attending this show and I must say that I am excited. I am bringing with me my cameras and other video equipment with the intention to capture as much footage as possible and produce a (hopefully) fun to watch 'highlights' video. I will also try to film as many demos as possible and share them with you.

I enjoy going to shows like this one as it gives me the opportunity to get out of my home-office (from where I manage and run the *Related sites) and actually...


Crowdfunding Articles?

Stephane Boucher April 12, 201828 comments

Many of you have the knowledge and talent to write technical articles that would benefit the EE community.  What is missing for most of you though, and very understandably so, is the time and motivation to do it.   

But what if you could make some money to compensate for your time spent on writing the article(s)?  Would some of you find the motivation and make the time?

I am thinking of implementing a system/mechanism that would allow the EE community to...


Embedded World 2018 - More Videos!

Stephane Boucher March 27, 20181 comment

After the interview videos last week, this week I am very happy to release two more videos taken at Embedded World 2018 and that I am proud of.  

For both videos, I made extensive use of my two new toys, a Zhiyun Crane Gimbal and a Sony a6300 camera.

The use of a gimbal like the Zhiyun makes a big difference in terms of making the footage look much more stable and cinematographic.

As for the Sony camera, it takes fantastic slow-motion footage and...


Embedded World 2018 - The Interviews

Stephane Boucher March 21, 2018

Once again this year, I had the chance to go to Embedded World in Nuremberg Germany.  And once again this year, I brought my video equipment to try and capture some of the most interesting things at the show.  

Something new this year, I asked Jacob Beningo if he would partner with me in doing interviews with a few vendors.  I would operate the camera while Jacob would ask the right questions to the vendors to make them talk about the key products/features that...


The 2025 Embedded Online Conference