Hardware Podcasts

Applied Embedded Electronics with Jerry Twomey

The Amp Hour · 3 Oct 2025 · 50m · Episode 704

What this episode covers

Jerry Twomey, author of 'Applied Embedded Electronics' and founder of Effective Electrons, discusses his consulting work helping companies like Dexcom and IBM build reliable embedded systems. He emphasizes that robust design requires treating digital signals as analog communication channels, focusing on signal integrity, grounding, and EMI mitigation rather than just ideal logic levels. Twomey shares anecdotes from medical device development, high-speed data links, and chip design to illustrate why academic theory often fails in real-world hardware engineering.

Most relevant to

established companies

Topics

Mentioned

Companies
Effective Electrons, Dexcom, IBM, Cray, Axiom Micro Devices, Broadcom, O'Reilly Publishing, Keithley Instruments, Nokia, Intel, ARM, ST microelectronics
Products
Applied Embedded Electronics, Bluetooth
Also
EDN, Electronic Design, Ray Kierswell, Jim Williams, Barry Gilbert, Bob Pease

Related episodes from other shows

Other shows on the same ground, closest first.

  • Embedded.fm · 1h 01m

    480: Surprises Early In The Game

    Jerry Twomey, principal engineer at Effective Electrons and author of the new O'Reilly book 'Applied Embedded Electronics,' discusses the critical gap between ideal textbook electronics and real-world non-ideal behaviors. He explains how the industry's shift toward System-on-Chip (SoC) designs has led many engineers to treat hardware as a black box, often resulting in failures related to EMI, ESD, and signal integrity that are not caught in simulation. Twomey shares specific lessons from his 40-year career, including the unique challenges of designing for satellite environments like vacuum and radiation, and advocates for getting hardware prototypes early to uncover these surprises.

    Analog & power electronicsDebugging & failure analysis
    9 chapters

  • Embedded.fm · 1h 03m

    53: Being a Grownup Engineer

    Jack Ganssle, author of 'The Art of Designing Embedded Systems' and long-time embedded industry expert, argues that firmware engineers must adopt disciplined engineering practices rather than relying on 'heroic' hacking. He discusses the necessity of requirements gathering, design reviews, code inspections, and rigorous testing to ensure safety and reliability, citing the Toyota unintended acceleration case as a failure of process. Ganssle advocates for measuring metrics like bug rates and lines of code to benchmark performance, and critiques the misuse of Linux in deeply embedded systems and the confusion between the maker movement and professional engineering.

    Embedded firmwareCareers & education
    10 chapters

  • Embedded.fm · 1h 05m

    53: Being a Grownup Engineer (Repeat)

    Jack Ganssle, author of 'The Art of Designing Embedded Systems' and 'The Embedded Systems Dictionary', argues that embedded software development has failed to adopt true engineering discipline, relying on 'heroics' rather than process. He cites the Toyota unintended acceleration case, where Michael Barr identified 11,000 global variables, as evidence of the catastrophic costs of poor software practices. Ganssle advocates for rigorous requirements gathering, static analysis tools like LDRA and Spark, and metrics-driven benchmarking to reduce debugging time and improve code quality. He contrasts this disciplined approach with the 'hacker' and 'maker' cultures, emphasizing that safety-critical systems require proven processes rather than ad-hoc coding.

    Embedded firmwareDebugging & failure analysis
    10 chapters

  • Embedded.fm · 1h 20m

    379: Monstrous Cable Corporation

    Tom Anderson, an engineer at Keysight Technologies, discusses the practical realities of embedded hardware for new college graduates, focusing on the nuances of floating I/O pins, tri-state outputs, and latch-up failure modes. He explains the behavior of inductors in switching power supplies and relays, the importance of pull-up/pull-down resistors, and the differences between ADC types, sampling rates, and bandwidth. Anderson advocates for learning from vintage technical literature, such as TubeBooks.org and 'The Art of Electronics,' and shares his methodology for analog circuit design using symbolic algebra and system-level constraints.

    Analog & power electronicsEmbedded firmware
    8 chapters

  • Embedded.fm · 59m

    203: Save My Board

    Charlie Ladd, a principal electrical engineer with experience in medical, FAA, and consumer products, discusses bridging the gap between hardware and firmware. He details his work on an oil quality sensor for VSI Oil and emphasizes the importance of designing for failure, using redundancy, and providing clear documentation like 'PickIO' spreadsheets and 'Theory of Ops' to help firmware engineers debug boards safely. Ladd also shares insights on the evolution of the industry, the value of mentorship, and how to stay current with new components through trade magazines and development boards.

    Embedded firmwarePCB design & layout
    9 chapters

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