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The Pragmatic Embedded Podcast

A show about the craft of building embedded products, from architecture, testing and requirements to team process and AI tools, with an eye on safety-critical fields such as medical devices.

106 episodes · 79 hours · since 2021

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The Pragmatic Embedded Podcast is filed under embedded, engineering and product development. Its most recent episode published on , so it is still actively publishing. Listeners have left 12 ratings on Apple Podcasts, averaging 4.9 out of 5.

Latest episodes

The 10 newest episodes of The Pragmatic Embedded Podcast, each with a summary and chapters.

  • · 45m

    Testing Embedded Systems in the Cloud and On-Prem with Marie Meyer and Joel Schulz-Andres

    Marie Meyer and Joel Schulz-Andres, founders of OnMCU, discuss their cloud-based and on-prem hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) testing platform designed to bridge the gap between host unit tests and physical integration. They explain the concept of 'on-target unit tests' using remote dev boards to catch peripheral errata early, and detail the significant hardware challenges they faced, including unreliable USB hubs and non-existent cable chains, when building their infrastructure. The conversation covers the trade-offs between cloud scalability and on-prem security, as well as their strategy to offer a generalized interposer box to help small-to-medium companies avoid building expensive custom test rigs from scratch.

    Test & measurementDebugging & failure analysis
    10 chapters

  • · 45m

    TDD: The Hard Parts - Getting Started with Test-Driven Development

    Jeff Gable and Luca Ingianni discuss the practical challenges of adopting Test-Driven Development (TDD) in embedded software, specifically addressing the difficulty of starting with a blank screen. They outline a process that begins with decomposing systems into modules, sketching test ideas as bullet points, and writing test outlines in plain English before implementing code. The hosts highlight how LLMs can help overcome the fear of the empty screen but create new traps by generating overwhelming or nonsensical test suites, requiring developers to review test code more thoroughly than production code to ensure it accurately reflects the desired module interface and behavior.

    Embedded firmwareAI & machine learning
    8 chapters

  • · 16m

    The Big Rename: From Agile to Pragmatic

    Hosts Jeff Gable and Luca Ingianni announce the renaming of their show from The Agile Embedded Podcast to The Pragmatic Embedded Podcast, explaining that the term 'agile' has become outdated and restrictive for their current scope. They discuss the reality of AI adoption in embedded development, noting that while hype is high, actual integration into core workflows remains limited among most developers. The hosts emphasize that software engineering fundamentals remain critical, with AI serving as a tool that shifts developers toward lead-level responsibilities for code quality and architecture rather than replacing them.

    Embedded firmwareAI & machine learning
    5 chapters

  • · 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.

    Embedded firmwareAI & machine learning
    8 chapters

  • · 43m

    From Vision to Reality: Product Roadmaps in Embedded Development

    Hosts Jeff Gable and Luca Ingianni discuss the hierarchy of planning artifacts, moving from product vision to roadmaps and backlogs, emphasizing that roadmaps are alignment and discovery tools rather than static commitments. They identify common mistakes such as the 'progress by PowerPoint' trap, where teams list milestones like 'specification complete' instead of value delivery, and the danger of over-committing to dates before understanding the problem space, particularly in VC-funded startups. The conversation covers tailoring roadmaps for different audiences, the importance of prioritization, and the 'iceberg principle' of granularity, concluding with a discussion on the iron triangle of project management and why varying resources is often the least effective lever when a project is late.

    Validation & product-market fitStarting a product company
    10 chapters

  • · 50m

    Factory Firmware Flashing with Pete Staples

    Pete Staples, founder of Blue Clover Devices, explains the disconnect between engineering and manufacturing, noting that factory firmware flashing is often a dusty, manual afterthought rather than a sophisticated process. He details how Blue Clover’s Production Line Tool (PLT) and Test Agent standardize hardware and software to bridge the gap between engineer desks and factory floors, addressing security, provisioning, and calibration. Staples argues that engineers must define the test plan and 'good enough' criteria early to avoid costly emergency travel and production delays.

    Embedded firmwareManufacturing partners & offshoring
    9 chapters

  • · 50m

    Requirements Engineering, part 2: A Practical Process for Safety-Critical Development

    Jeff Gable and Luca engineer discuss a rigorous process for requirements engineering in safety-critical development, particularly for medical devices. They distinguish between prototyping (technical feasibility) and MVPs (market viability), emphasizing that design-controlled requirements must be minimal yet comprehensive, including extensive error handling. The hosts advocate for writing test cases alongside requirements, tracking requirements completion for honest project status, and using 'tracer bullets' to reduce uncertainty early in implementation.

    Validation & product-market fitEmbedded firmware
    7 chapters

  • · 48m

    Fuzzing and Dynamic Analysis for High-Integrity Software with Paul Butcher

    Paul Butcher, Unit Director of Dynamic Analysis at AdaCore, explains how dynamic analysis techniques like fuzzing find corner-case bugs that traditional unit testing misses in high-integrity software. He details the mechanics of fuzzing, including mutation engines and anomaly detection, and discusses challenges with timing and concurrency in embedded systems, citing success with the NH90 avionics MIL bus. Butcher also describes combining static analysis with targeted fuzzing to automatically triage false positives and generate reproducers, while touching on formal verification using SPARK for the London Underground's Victoria line and the cautious role of LLMs in verification workflows.

    Debugging & failure analysisEmbedded firmware
    8 chapters

  • · 46m

    Linux Profiling with Mohammed Billoo

    Mohammed Billoo, founder of Mab Labs Embedded Solutions and author of the Embedded Linux Essentials Handbook, explains how to profile embedded Linux systems by distinguishing between VM size and VM RSS to identify memory leaks in scientific instruments. He details how to use tools like HTOP, perf, and LTTNG to prove that the CPU is rarely the bottleneck, often pointing to crypto engines, DMA, or file system I/O as the real constraints. Billoo advocates for baking kernel configurations like kallsyms and function tracers into builds from day one to enable rapid debugging without premature optimization. The conversation also covers using LLMs to interpret complex tool outputs like Valgrind and perf, while emphasizing that physical measurements remain the ultimate arbiter of system performance.

    Embedded firmwareDebugging & failure analysis
    11 chapters

  • · 47m

    E94 Requirements Engineering, part 1: Fundamentals

    Jeff Gable, a medical device consultant, and Luca, with automotive and aerospace experience, discuss the fundamentals of requirements engineering for safety-critical products. They explain the hierarchy from user needs to system requirements, emphasizing the EARS format and the critical distinction between verifiable requirements and design choices. The hosts argue against using Word or Excel for complex traceability, advocating instead for dedicated requirements management tools to ensure regulatory compliance and engineering rigor.

    Industrial & consumer product designMechanical engineering
    8 chapters

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