Hardware Podcasts

347: Be Careful About the Bits

Embedded.fm · 8 Oct 2020 · 56m · Episode 347

What this episode covers

Elecia White and Christopher White discuss API design strategies for embedded systems, emphasizing the use of abstraction layers and the POSIX model (open, close, read, write) to manage hardware interactions. They address a listener's question about organizing firmware modules, suggesting block diagrams to define hardware, control flow, and layered interfaces. The hosts also tackle a career dilemma involving a startup engineer who feels demoted after being acquired by Big Tech and assigned to work with a senior 'gray-beard' engineer, advising on how to navigate team dynamics and imposter syndrome.

Most relevant to

early-stage companies

Topics

Mentioned

Companies
Stewart MacDonald
Products
SewMac

Related episodes from other shows

Other shows on the same ground, closest first.

  • The Builder Circle · 1h 05m

    S2 E1: From Code to Creation: The Building Blocks of Firmware with Elecia White

    Elecia White, founder of Logical Elegance and host of the Embedded FM podcast, explains the unique constraints of firmware development for hardware entrepreneurs. She outlines the typical firmware build-out process, emphasizing the importance of early sensor selection, modular architecture, and critical testing phases like board bring-up and manufacturing validation. White advises founders to insource only their 'secret sauce' algorithms while buying commodities like GPS modules or radios, and warns against common pitfalls such as adding over-the-air updates at the last minute or ignoring market validation.

    Embedded firmwareValidation & product-market fit
    8 chapters

  • The Amp Hour · 1h 04m

    Hipster Fodder

    Hosts Chris Gammell and Dave Jones discuss a range of hardware engineering and business topics. Gammell shares his experience hiring tutors on Upwork to learn FreeRTOS and nRF52 firmware, while Jones details his decision to downsize his office space and his interest in writing a textbook after discovering a lost 1980s circuit design book. The conversation also covers the SBIR grant program for small businesses, the design of Arrival's electric delivery vans, and solder paste application techniques.

    Embedded firmwarePricing, margins & unit economics
    6 chapters

  • The Pragmatic Embedded Podcast · 48m

    Crossover with Mob Mentality part 1

    Jeff Gable and Luca Johnny of the Agile Embedded Podcast join Chris Lucian and Austin Chadwick of the Mob Mentality Show to discuss bridging hardware-software gaps in embedded systems. They argue that hardware abstraction layers and decoupling strategies allow embedded code to be tested on PCs, while mob programming eliminates silos between electrical, mechanical, and software engineers. The group highlights how mobbing improves flow efficiency and reduces documentation overhead in safety-critical medical device development by integrating all necessary roles into a single team.

    Embedded firmwareLeadership, teams & culture
    8 chapters

  • The Pragmatic Embedded Podcast · 39m

    Christmas Special

    Hosts Jeff Gable and Luca share war stories from their careers in embedded systems, highlighting the pain of manual testing in helicopter avionics, the chaos of managing requirements with Word and Excel in Dropbox for medical devices, and the technical debt of massive #ifdef blocks in legacy machine tool software. They discuss the industry's slow adoption of modern software practices like version control and CI/CD, contrasting embedded development with web development standards. The episode concludes with book recommendations including 'The Phoenix Project' and 'Team Topologies', and reflections on the future of IoT security and agile adoption in hardware.

    Debugging & failure analysisEmbedded firmware
    6 chapters

  • The Amp Hour · 1h 19m

    Firmware for Hardware Engineers with Phillip Johnston

    Phillip Johnston of Embedded Artistry explains how hardware engineers can improve firmware quality by adopting software engineering practices like separation of concerns, information hiding, and loose coupling. He details the implementation of Continuous Integration (CI) pipelines using tools like Jenkins and GitHub Actions to automate testing, static analysis, and hardware-in-the-loop checks. Johnston also discusses the strategic shift from bare-metal development to ecosystems like Zephyr RTOS and the importance of designing for change to mitigate supply chain risks.

    Embedded firmwareDebugging & failure analysis
    7 chapters

The summary, chapters and topics are generated from the episode’s audio by this directory, not written by Embedded.fm. The episode itself belongs to its publisher.