Cortex-M Exception Handling (Part 2)
The first part of this article described the conditions for an exception request to be accepted by a Cortex-M processor, mainly concerning the relationship of its priority with respect to the current execution priority. This...
How to Build a Fixed-Point PI Controller That Just Works: Part I
This two-part article explains five tips to make a fixed-point PI controller work well. I am not going to talk about loop tuning -- there are hundreds of articles and books about that; any control-systems course will go over loop tuning enough to...
Linear Feedback Shift Registers for the Uninitiated, Part XVIII: Primitive Polynomial Generation
Mutex vs. Semaphores – Part 2: The Mutex & Mutual Exclusion Problems
Part 1 of this series we looked at the history of the binary and counting semaphore, and then went on to discuss some of the associated problem areas. In this posting I aim to show how a different RTOS construct, the mutex, may overcome some, if...
Linear Feedback Shift Registers for the Uninitiated, Part VIII: Matrix Methods and State Recovery
Introduction to Microcontrollers - Interrupts
[quicklinks] 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...
Digital PLL's -- Part 1
1. Introduction Figure 1.1 is a block diagram of a digital PLL (DPLL). The purpose of the DPLL is to lock the phase of a numerically controlled oscillator (NCO) to a reference signal. The loop includes a phase detector to compute ...
Linear Feedback Shift Registers for the Uninitiated, Part III: Multiplicative Inverse, and Blankinship's Algorithm
Scorchers, Part 3: Bare-Metal Concurrency With Double-Buffering and the Revolving Fireplace
This is a short article about one technique for communicating between asynchronous processes on bare-metal embedded systems. Q: Why did the multithreaded chicken cross the road? A: to To other side. get the — Jason Whittington There...
Can an RTOS be really real-time?
Real-Time Operating Systems are meant for real-time applications. But with conventional shared-state concurrency and blocking, can you honestly know the worst-case execution time of an RTOS thread?
Always-On Intelligence Without the Cloud: Why it matters more than you think
Much of the AI conversation today is still focused on scale: larger models, more data, more compute. Embedded systems live in a different reality, where constraints are unavoidable, and efficiency is the priority. What’s emerging is not a smaller version of cloud AI, but a different approach altogether, the one that values locality, predictability, resilience, and trust. Always-on intelligence without the cloud isn’t just a technical milestone. It’s a change in how we think about where intelligence belongs.
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.
Getting Started With Zephyr: DTS vs DTSI vs Overlays
Devicetrees can be daunting for traditional embedded software engineers that are new to Zephyr. In this blog post, I address these fears and show how navigating Devicetrees can be much easier if you understand that they represent the layered structure of the underlying hardware.
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.
Why Containers Are the Cheat Code for Embedded DevOps
Embedded software teams have long accepted toolchain setup as “part of the job,” but it’s a hidden productivity killer. Manual installs waste days, slow onboarding, and derail CI pipelines with “works on my machine” issues. While enterprise software solved this years ago with containerization, many embedded teams are still stuck replicating fragile environments. Containers offer a proven fix: a portable, reproducible build environment that works identically on laptops and CI servers. No brittle scripts, mismatched versions, or wasted time—just code that builds. IAR has gone further by delivering pre-built, performance-tuned Docker images for Arm, RISC-V, and Renesas architectures, ready for GitHub Actions and CI/CD pipelines. For regulated industries, containers simplify audits and compliance by enabling validation once and reuse everywhere. The result: faster onboarding, consistent builds, and stronger safety assurance. Containers aren’t a luxury—they’re the cheat code embedded teams need to modernize DevOps and compete effectively.
Lost Secrets of the H-Bridge, Part IV: DC Link Decoupling and Why Electrolytic Capacitors Are Not Enough
Those of you who read my earlier articles about H-bridges, and followed them closely, have noticed there's some unfinished business. Well, here it is. Just so you know, I've been nervous about writing the fourth (and hopefully final) part of this...
Getting Started with (Apache) NuttX RTOS - Part 1
NuttX RTOS is used in many products from companies like Sony, Xiaomi, Samsung, Google/Fitbit, WildernessLabs and many other companis. So, probably you are already using NuttX even without knowing it, like the you was using Linux on your TV, WiFi router more than 10 years ago and didn't know too! Today you will have the chance to discover a little bit of this fantastic Linux-like RTOS! Are you ready? So, let's get started!
Review: Embedded Software Design: A Practical Approach to Architecture, Processes, and Coding Techniques
Introduction Full disclosure: I was given a copy of this book to review. Embedded Software Design: A Practical Approach to Architecture, Processes, and Coding Techniques, by Jacob Beningo, is an excellent introduction to strategies for...
Chebyshev Approximation and How It Can Help You Save Money, Win Friends, and Influence People
Well... maybe that's a stretch. I don't think I can recommend anything to help you win friends. Not my forte. But I am going to try to convince you why you should know about Chebyshev approximation, which is a technique for figuring out how...
The volatile keyword
Although the C keyword volatile is very useful in embedded applications, care is needed to use it correctly and vigilance is required to ensure its correct implementation by compilers.
Handling Translations in an Embedded Project
A brief walkthrough on how to handle human language translations in a low level C application. Some options are listed, each with advantages and disadvantages laid out.
How to Read a Power MOSFET Datasheet
One of my pet peeves is when my fellow engineers misinterpret component datasheets. This happened a few times recently in separate instances, all involving power MOSFETs. So it’s time for me to get on my soapbox. Listen up! I was going to post...
Analog-to-Digital Confusion: Pitfalls of Driving an ADC
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....
From Baremetal to RTOS: A review of scheduling techniques
Transitioning from bare-metal embedded software development to a real-time operating system (RTOS) can be a difficult endeavor. Many developers struggle with the question of whether they should use an RTOS or simply use a bare-metal scheduler....
You Don't Need an RTOS (Part 2)
In this second article, we'll tweak the simple superloop in three critical ways that will improve it's worst-case response time (WCRT) to be nearly as good as a preemptive RTOS ("real-time operating system"). We'll do this by adding task priorities, interrupts, and finite state machines. Additionally, we'll discuss how to incorporate a sleep mode when there's no work to be done and I'll also share with you a different variation on the superloop that can help schedule even the toughest of task sets.
