Embedded World - Embedded Software

By Colin Walls

This week sees the biggest trade show and conference in the world of embedded systems – Embedded World in Nuremberg, Germany. The exhibition is incredibly diverse with vendors showing a vast array of products – anything that can be remotely thought of as being connected with embedded systems. The conference has multiple streams of sessions covering the whole spectrum of technologies. As with all good technical conferences, there are strict rules that prohibit presentation of pure “sales pitches”.

Of course, I and a bunch of my colleagues will be there …

Mentor/Siemens have a booth in Hall 4 – #4-643 – where a variety of embedded development products will be on show and live presentations throughout the three days [Tues/Weds/Thurs] of the show. You can find full details of our activities here.

As is usually the case, I have a number of sessions in the conference, as follows:

Tuesday 11:30-12:00 – How to Measure RTOS Performance

In the world of smart phones and tablet PCs memory might be cheap, but in the more constrained universe of deeply embedded devices, it is still a precious resource. This is one of the many reasons why most 16- and 32-bit embedded designs rely on the services of a scalable real-time operating system (RTOS). An RTOS allows product designers to focus on the added value of their solution while delegating efficient resource (memory, peripheral, etc.) management. In addition to footprint advantages, an RTOS operates with a degree of determinism that is an essential requirement for a variety of embedded applications. This paper takes a look at “typical” reported performance metrics for an RTOS in the embedded industry.

Tuesday 12:00-12:30 – Writing Reliable Code with MISRA C

C is the most widely used language for embedded software development. Although it is compact, efficient, expressive and powerful, some features of the language can be used in ways that result in unsafe code. The Motor Industry Software Reliability Association defined MISRA-C – a set of guidelines for using C language to create reliable, safe software. This session illustrates how MISRA-C C may be employed, using examples to show how the guidelines may be applied to any safety-critical software, not just automotive applications.

Thursday 09:30-10:00 – Self-testing in Embedded Systems

If you are attending Embedded World, do stop by and say Hi. If you are not attending and would like a copy of any of my presentations, please contact me via social media or email.