290: Rule of Thumbs (Repeat)

Embedded.fm · 7 Jan 2022 · 1h 13m · Episode 290

What this episode covers

Phillip Johnston, founder of Embedded Artistry, discusses his embedded systems consulting firm and his educational website, highlighting his focus on firmware engineering, code reviews, and robust software design. He explains how his company helps early-stage startups and medium-sized companies transition from prototypes to production, often by addressing firmware bottlenecks and implementing better testing and abstraction strategies. The conversation covers specific technical challenges, including the limitations of standard C++ threading libraries on embedded RTOSs like FreeRTOS and ThreadX, and the importance of risk analysis in complex systems, using the Boeing 737 MAX crashes as a case study for systemic failure.

Mentioned

Companies
Embedded Artistry, Apple, Boeing, Airbus
Products
MCAS
Chips
nRF52
Tools
IAR, newlib, FreeRTOS, ThreadX, Clang, libc++, GCC
Also
FAA

Other shows on the same ground, closest first.

  • The Amp Hour · 1h 08m

    An Interview with Jack Ganssle (2nd)

    Jack Ganssle, author of the Embedded Muse, discusses the evolution of embedded firmware, highlighting the shift toward cloud-connected platforms and the acquisition of RTOS providers like FreeRTOS by Amazon and ExpressLogic by Microsoft. He critiques the current state of vendor-supplied software, praising Renesas' Synergy platform for providing fully tested, guaranteed software components, while noting the decline of legacy RTOSs like VxWorks. Ganssle emphasizes that firmware development requires rigorous design and quality processes, arguing that jumping into code without solid requirements leads to catastrophic failures, as seen in recent medical device and aviation incidents.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • The Pragmatic Embedded Podcast · 59m

    100 Episodes! Break Out the Champagne! A Retrospective

    Joe Schneider and Jacob Beningo interview founders Luca Ingianni and Jeff Gable of the Agile Embedded Podcast, discussing their origin story as solo consultants who started the show in 2021 without prior connection. The hosts share war stories about difficult debugging challenges, including a one-line interrupt fix that took five days and a temperature-dependent DDR RAM failure that required two months to resolve. They also analyze the current state of the industry, debating whether AI is following the Gartner hype cycle like Agile did and predicting a future focus on requirements engineering and AI integration in embedded development.

  • The Amp Hour · 1h 49m

    An Interview with Piotr Esden-Tempski

    Piotr Esden-Tempski, founder of One Bit Squared, discusses the development of open-source hardware and software tools for embedded systems, specifically the Blackmagic Probe and OneBitC board. He explains the technical rationale behind creating these tools, citing licensing issues with STMicroelectronics libraries and the need for robust, open debugging capabilities like GDB integration. The conversation covers the hardware design of the Lisa series autopilots, the software architecture of Paparazzi UAV, and the community-driven growth of the Blackmagic Probe project following a successful Kickstarter.

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.