Embedded Systems Design and Embedded Systems Programming Online Archive

February 2008

2007

January 2007
Eclipse Unites the Embedded and Enterprise Environments
Minimize your ISR Overhead
Design Next-Generation Platforms While Adhering to Thermal-Management Standards
Separated by a Common Vocabulary
Views from the Corner Suites
On-the-fly RAM Tests
It's Not Always About Time to Market
Tear Down: Handset Makes Use of Good Design Practices, Especially in the Critical RF Subsystem

February 2007
Designing Custom Embedded Multicore Processors
Implement Reliable Embedded Ethernet Connectivity
COTS Solutions Can Accelerate Telecom Apps Development
SimpleVec Wrap
On-the-fly RAM Tests, Part Deux
Consortium Raises our SoC Design Spirits

March 2007
Demystifying ESL for Embedded Systems Designs
Use ESL Synthesis Techniques to Replace Dedicated DSPs with FPGAs
Game Console Goes Way Beyond the Average DVD Player
Bail, Return, Jump, or . . . Throw?
Contracts Put the "I Do" in Code
Bluetooth Competition Heats Up

April 2007
IEEE 802.15.4/ZigBee Hardware and Software Open the Applications Window
Understand Packet-Processing Performance when Employing Multicore Processors
Going Multicore Presents Challenges and Opportunities
Get Multicore Performance from One Core
Design User Interfaces for Cooperating Devices
Integrating and Evaluating Speech Algorithms
Verifying Embedded Software Supply Chains
Design and Debug your ROM-based Code
On to Objects
Reaching for Accuracy and Opportunity
Putting out Contracts on Bugs
Who Did you Select?
Tear Down: HD DVD Player Pushes the Performance Envelope

May 2007
Put a Configurable 32-bit Processor in your FPGA
Design an Efficient Programmable I²C Slave
Get Multicore Performance from One Core
Implement PCI Express 1.1 in your Latest Design
Throw and Catch
What's Holding up Patents for Processor Architectures?
Good Contracts Make Good Programs
The Need for More Programmers

June 2007
Verify and Debug DDR2 Memory Systems
Overcome Security Issues in Embedded Systems
Using Multikey Radix PATRICIA Fast Search
Chip Away at Project Management
The Vector Class
The Word: Jack Updates the Embedded Vernacular
Three Interconnect Technologies Should Suffice
Tear Down: Handset's Touch Sensor Permits More Functions in Less Space

July 2007
The Boards May Shrink, but Performance Doesn't
Increase your Boot Options with Managed NAND
Choosing the Best Wireless Digital-Video Architecture
DSP Serves the Convergence Needs of Small Business
It's Always the Software when Something Goes Wrong
Perfecting Naming Conventions
When size_t Matters
RC Car is Fraught with Design Tradeoffs

August 2007
The Software Detective: First-Fault Data Capture
Embedded Test Offers Unique Value for Serial I/O
Accelerate System Performance with Hybrid Multiprocessing and FPGAs
Use AADL to Analyze and Design Embedded Systems
Scheduling Momisms, or Lessons your Mom Should Have Taught You
How I Spent my Summer Vacation
Completing the Vector Class

September 2007
Annual Study Uncovers the Embedded Market
Employ Dynamic Power Reduction in an ASIC
Trace Exposes the Toughest Real-Time Bugs
Tear Down: Handheld Phone/PC Offers Full-Size Laptop Features
Lies, Damn Lies, and Schedules
Further Insights into size_t
Get a 3X Experience at ESC in Boston

October 2007
Embedded Systems security Has Moved to the Forefront
Employ a Secure Flavor of Linux
Transporting Video over Wireless Networks
Use an MCU's Low-Power Modes in Foreground/Background Systems
Vectors--the Last Word
Consulting as a Career
Designing in the Virtual World

November 2007
Build the Right UI for your Complex Embedded System
Unleash the Power of Flexible I/O Pin Mapping
Choose an RTOS for High-Speed Control
OCP SoC Instrumentation Solutions Involve More Than Just Trace
Innovation at the Embedded Systems ConferenceżBoston
Scope Regions in C and C++
Buy your Way to the Top of the Embedded Board Market
Tear Down: Wearable Training System Gets It Half Right

December 2007
Employ the Proper Flash Memory in your Design
Lower the Cost of Intelligent Power Control with FPGAs
The Basics of Embedded Multitasking on a PIC
Do-it-yourself Embedded Linux Development Tools
Search for Embedded Linux Patents
The Transistor: Sixty Years Old and Still Switching
Who Needs Matrices?
Twenty Years of Embedded

2006

January 2006
How To Choose the Right Bipolar Op Amp
Make a PI Controller on an 8-bit Micro
Source Control Is for Everyone
Volatile as a Promise
Ninety-Nine Years Ago
When's the Next Quake?

February 2006
Understanding Elliptic-Curve Cryptology
Program Flash Memory with Parallel Flash Loaders and CPLDs
Choosing Hardware IP
Improve your Root-Mean Calculations
A Call for Modern Compilers
Maybe We're All Crazy

March 2006
Demystifying UML
Tackle Team-Based FPGA Design
A Polymorphic Approach to Intertask Message Handling
Simulating and Debugging Multicore Behavior
Qualifiers in Multilevel Pointers
Future-proofing your Career
ESCape from your Cubicle

April 2006
Eclipse under the Hood
Closed for Business: How Open is Eclipse Open Source?
Offshoring Confidential
Detecting CTCSS Tones with the Goertzel Algorithm
Two Different Worlds
Approximating Reality
Getting Here from There
Taming the Hydra

May 2006
Escape the Software Development Paradigm Trap
Diversity Protects Embedded Systems
Right-Brained Programming
Real-Time Debugging 101
Design your own Memory Using ABEL
Approximations, Part Deux
Appeasing the Design Odds

June 2006
Programming a Cell Broadband Engine
A Glimpse Inside the Cell Processor
Linear Regulators vs. Switchers for Automotive Applications
Embedded Systems Design Survey: Operating Systems on the Rise
Taking the Last Lap Around the Rosetta Stone
eXtreme Instrumenting
Dept. of Necessary Recalibration

July 2006
Build a Super Simple Tasker
Using Nonlinear Kalman Filtering to Estimate Signals
Cast with Caution
Multiplying Monitors
Farewell x86

August 2006
Curing Nonlinear Distortion
Put the User in the Driver's Seat
How to Use ARM's Data-Abort Exception
Loose Ends
Version One
Semiconductors on a Train

September 2006
Saving Space with Pointer-less C
Programming Real-Time with Ada 2005
Getting Aboard the PCI Express
Modeling Interrupt Vectors
Those Not Busy Being Born
Getting the Boot
Programmed Cellular Relief

October 2006
Catching the Z-Wave
What Processor Is in your Product?
Special Report: Plug into M2M
Motivationally Speaking
A Pox on Globals
The Only Constant Is Change
Pet Sounds

November 2006
Embedded Multicore Needs Communications Standards
Control a Three-Phase Full-Wave Rectifier with an FPGA
Everything You Learned in Kindergarten was Wrong
Develop an RTOS on Solaris with RTEMS
Integrate Static Analysis into a Software Development Process
Coming to Terms with Interrupt Vectors and Tables
MISRA Minimizes Mishaps

December 2006
USB Eases Data Acquisition
Supporting Orthogonal Regions in Practical Large-scale Projects
Model Complex Behavior the Domino Way
DSP Power-management Techniques Help Achieve Faster Design Cycles
Making the Tough Coding Decisions
Jackżs Top Ten
Tear Downs Answer How and Why (not just What)
Tear Down: High-end Mouse Goes Where no Mouse Has Gone

2005

January 2005
Hardware Design Battles: Verilog vs. C
Earthly Disasters Unfold
New Stepper Motor Control
More Ways to Map Memory
Wind River CEO Looks Ahead
Managing Tasks on x86

February 2005
How to Sort Data in Two Clock Cycles
Watch Out for GetTickCount()
Designing the Aerospace Way
Why Not Synthesize Software
Embedded Processors Compared
We Learn by Tinkering

March 2005
The Four Rs of Efficient Systems Design
Beam Forming for Smart Antennas
Supervising Power-Up Reset
Electronic System Level Market Trends
Understanding A to D Converters

April 2005
Teaching an Old Filter New Tricks
Breathing Life into Codesign
Bring in the Fools
Bugs Flee in GetTickCount()
Tricks with PICs

May 2005
Build it Faster and Cheaper with Partitioning
EEMBC Benchmarks for Network Processors
Embedded Systems Annual Survey
CEO Soapbox
Cool Mini Oscilloscopes
Sizing Device Register

June 2005
Extracting Clock Signals
Debug Like You Mean It
Pocket Logic Analyzers
Fact Checking and Fears
Operating Systems Survey

July 2005
The Gift of the Good GUI
Write Touch-Screen Drivers
Compile-Time Assertions Stop Errors
Teach Kids Electronics
Development Teams Explored

August 2005
Expanding 8051 Addressing
Stupid Management Tricks
Return to the Rosetta Stone
Visualize with Encoders
Custom Chips: What People Want

September 2005
The Architecture of Safety-Critical Systems
Test-osterone! A Case Load of Tests
Implementing the Logic Behind Complex Behavior
The Changing Role of Software as Hardware
Use Volatile Judiciously
Understand Your Users' Needs
Surprise, Surprise

October 2005
Digital Filtering Without the Pain
Extreme Partitioning
Develop FFTs Apps on Low-Power Microcontrollers
Decoding the Rosetta Stone
The Great Divide
Welcome, Welcome

November 2005
Designing Data-Centric Software
The Case for Real-Time Visibility
The End of Moore's Law
Place Volatile Accurately
The Recovery Has Already Begun
Computer Science Lab
Preventing Code Theft

December 2005
Bugopedia
In Praise of XP: Why Software Projects Fail
An Overview of Systems Modeling Language
More on the Rosetta Stone
Will DVD Recorders Succeed Despite User Interface Problems
The Fourth Estate
Be Understood II

2004

January 2004
Optimizing Multimedia Data Transfers
DSP device drivers
XP Deconstructed
C++ Classes
Programming Seven Segment Displays

February 2004
The Right Pitch: A DSP Algorithm For Frequency Analysis
Silicon Basics
Algorithms In Hardware
Explain Firmware To The Boss

March 2004
Design Methodolgies: Following the Right Plan
Extreme Programming
Code Compression for RISC
Version Control-the Right Way
Firmware Design Practices

April 2004
Predicting Trajectories of Moving Targets
FPGA Programming
More About C++ Classes
Initializing Variables
Switch Bounce
An Indispensable Macro

May 2004
Saftety Critical System Design Standards
Zigbee in the Home
Switch Debounce Solutions
Device Drivers Abstracted
Back to Crenshaw's Roots
Saks on Compile-Time Errors

June 2004
How to Generate Random Numbers
Ways to Avoid Priority Inversion
Memory Transfers Optimized
Protecting Against Hackers

July 2004
Extend Digital-to-Analog Resolution
Code Tames Switch Bounce
New Processors Strut Their Stuff
Building Fuzzy-Logic Controllers on DSPs
Crenshaw on Karnaugh Maps and Flip-Flops

August 2004
Crank Up the Quality of User Interfaces
Calculate CPU Loading
x86 Privilege Protection
Planning for Product Longevity

September 2004
Is the Microprocessor History?
Device Driver Memory
The ABCs of NPUs
Security on an 8-bit Budget
All About Quine-McClusky

October 2004
How to Estimate Stack Size
Programming FPGAs
Discover the Secrets of Debugging
What Vendors Should Know About You
What You Should Know About End-Users

November 2004
Challenges of Designing In-Body Communications
Better Software Schedules
Mechanical Computer Toys
Tricks of Memory-Mapped I/O
Three Ps of DSO Evaluation
I²C and Opto-Isolation

December 2004
What Can You Build with and Integer?
Feynman Debugs
Software for Startups
Galloping Towards Failure
Turley's Ode to Appollo 13
Communicate Clearly with Users

2003

January 2003
A New Way To See Bugs
Refine Color Displays
Ada For Everyone
Watchdog Timers

February 2003
Power Consumption: How Low Can You Code
What Is XTUML?
Primer on Class Diagrams
Watchdog Design Tips
Crenshaw's Favorite Tool

March 2003
Get Organized: Multimedia File Systems From A to V
On-Chip Debug
FPGA Clock Schemes
RISC v. CISC
3-D Effects

April 2003
A Look at Diagnostic Techniques
Make a Difference Equation
Enumeration Gotchas
Preemption Basics
Beyond Functional Firmware

May 2003
Queueing Theory Simplified
Real-Time Java
Step Motor Control
Tools for GUI Integration
Microsoft's Embedded Opportunity

June 2003
Low-Cost Techniques for Generating Sound
Multiprocessing with real-time operating systems
Tips for checking schematics
Introduction to UML sequence diagrams
Introduction to UML sequence diagrams

July 2003
Exploring Optical and Magnetic Sensors
State machine shortcuts
Sampling rates for analog sensors
IPv6 on a microcontroller
Introduction to fuzzy control
Saks on Enumerations

August 2003
Hardware Design Tools: Verilog for C Programmers
Encrypting data with the Blowfish algorithm
Where testing fails
Introduction to timer-based measurement
More on Enumerations

September 2003
New Technologies for Automotive Electronics
Hybrid and Fuel Cell Electronics
CAN and CANOpen
Automotive Processors
UML Statecharts
Avoid Memory Corruption

October 2003
Probability-based Estimation: A DSP Solution
Memory Management in Object-Oriented C
The ARM Thumb Instruction Set
Move from C to C++
Fixed-Point Power Calculation

November 2003
The Future of Embedded Technology
Platform FPGAs
Wireless Network Architecture
Tomorrow's Embedded Processors
Logic: From Aristotle to Boole

December 2003
Automating Stress Tests
Ada and Java: real-time advantages
A primer on Karnaugh maps
Introduction to the universal design methodology
Incomplete types as abstractions

2002

January 2002
Low-Power Design: Do More With Less
Porting eCos
An Open Source Standard Library
Big Endian vs. Little Endian
Murphy's Law of Interfaces

February 2002
Finding the Right Temperature Sensor
An Introduction to Embedded Web Servers
Ganssle Disses Hardware
A Beginner's Guide to SPI
ISO 9000 Steams Murphy

March 2002
Go Bug Fishing To Catch Hidden Defects
Real-Time Garbage Collection
Ganssle Comments on Comments
Is Hardware Engineering Dead?
Track Down Memory Leaks

April 2002
Get Off the Ground With Simulation
World's Best Root Finder
Ganssle Helps You Help Yourself
Introduction to Priority Inversion
More on Memory Leaks
How to Debug USB

May 2002
Exterminate Complexity with Artificial Intelligence
Object-Oriented State Machines
Ganssle's Rules of Thumb
Trap Defects with Lint
C's Unspecified Behavior

June 2002
Serial Protocols: Take Your Pick
Algorithm for Touch Screen Calibration
Ganssle on Metrics
ISO 9000 Backlash
Interrupt Debugging Tips

July 2002
Sampling Rates: How to Find the Right One
T/TCP Speeds Up Transactions
Ganssle Bugs Out
Saks On Sequence Points
MOSRA Makes C Safer

August 2002
Linux and the Law
Achieving High Availability
Intro to Closed-Loop Control
An Open-Source ROM Monitor
Newton's Forward Interpolator
Ganssle Gets Ethical

September 2002
Internet Security: Keep Hackers Out
Goertzel Algorithm
Counters and Timers
Breaking into Embedded

October 2002
Multiplatform Design: Software That Travels
Ganssle's Good Guys
Shot-range Wireless
Prototyping User Interfaces
Forth Revisited

November 2002
Upgrade in a Flash
A World Without ASICs
More Prototyping Tips
JTAG
Electronic Election Day
Message Sequence Charts

December 2002
Scheduling Sporadic Events: Predict the Unpredictable
Make Systems Easier to Debug
finite Impulse Response Filters
The Rosetta Stone of Computer Math
Saks Counts on Enumeration

2001

January 2001
Give the Dog a Chip: Processor-based Toys
Real-Time Networking
1-Wire Protocol
Embedded Linux: A Porting Guide
Testing Interactive Programs
Saks on References

February 2001
Sorting Through the Babble: A Developer's Guide to Multi-Language Support
Object-Oriented C
Graphical User Interfaces
HAVi, Jini, and UPnP
A Survey of Task Schedulers

March 2001
Wireless Web: What You Need to Take the Plunge
Simulating Dynamic Designs
True Real-Time Scheduling
More on Object-Oriented C
Murphy on Translation
Emerging Memory Technologies

April 2001
Controlling Message Traffic: A simplified Look at Queueing Theory
Fixed-Point Math in C
C++ Tips for Tracking Units
Design Issues for Service Software
POSIX for Real-Time Systems
Build a Tiny HTTP Server
Murphy on Assertiveness

May 2001
Analog-to-Digital Converters
A C++ Message Switch Class
Morgan on Adaptive Filters
Device Driver for Real-Time Linux

June 2001
Scaling Java: How Low Can it Go?
Verification and Validation
Kalman Filters
Understanding Interrupts
More on Real-Time Linux

July 2001
On The Road With Mobile IP
Windows CE Drivers Explained
Debug with History Buffers
Crenshaw Improves on Brent's Method

August 2001
Coping with Change: Design for Adaptations
Handling Interrupts in C++
An Overview of I²C Bus
Metastability Gets Ganssle
Murphy on Web Browsers
Network Processor Programming

September 2001
Support for Safety-Critical Systems
Cleaner Hardware/Software Interfaces
Crenshaw Converges on a Minimizer
Drawbacks of OOP
Communicating Without Wires

October 2001
H_∞ Filters
C++ on Low-End Micros
Working with Watchdog Timers
Embedding SMTP
User Interface Annoyances

November 2001
Capturing Real-Time Requirements
Meet Esterel, System-Design Language
Defining Real-Time
Saks on Constants
Text Messaging
Reentrancy in Protocol Stacks

December 2001
Build Modules in C
Hardware-in-the-Loop Simulation
ICEs for Beginners
Single-Bit I/O Possibilities
Ganssle Gets eXtreme
Compact Graphics

2000

January 2000
Assembly Language Programming
Embedding TCP/IP
The JetSend Protocol

February 2000
Protecting Firmware: Security for Binary Executables
The GNU Compiler and Linker
More on Paging

March 2000
Different Views of UML
Designing OSEK/VDX Functions in FPGAs
Introduction to USB
Using Pink Noise

April 2000
Taking Control of Your Embedded Projects
Memory Allocation
TCP/IP Configuration
Transmeta's Crusoe Processor

May 2000
A Record/Playback Scheme for Software Test
A Test for Embedded Programmers
A Simpler Approach to Web Servers
More On SNMP

June 2000
Real-Time: Analyzing Worst-Case Response Time
DSP and Motion Control
Linux: Ready or Not
Compiled Java

July 2000
Low-Cost Wireless Communication
Software-based Memory Testing
The Basics of Bluetooth
Moving from PROM to Flash

August 2000
Nested State Machines Made Simple
Mathematical Models of Dynamic Systems
Motor Rotation Control
Interrupt Handling Under Linux
Voice Over IP

September 2000
Open Source: Is It Worth the Price?
Analysis with Sequence Enumeration
Configuration Managements Tips
Souped-up Z80s
How to do Hartley
When no RTOS in Needed
IPv in Your Future

October 2000
Avoid Mismeasurement: Use Unit Names
Ada: Nuts to C++
Maximize Software Reuse
PID Control Made Easy
Ganssle Offers Timeless Debug Tips
USB Firmware
Wireless Application Protocol

November 2000
Safety-Critical Systems: How to Reduce Risks
Embedded Salary Survey
OOD for 8-bit Systems
Median Filter Implementation
Embedded Processors: Expanding the Possibilities
Network Processors: An Overview
Home Networking Alternatives

December 2000
State Machines: From Design to Code
Rapid Object-Oriented Development (ROPES)
Flexible Dynamic Arrays in C
Best Practices for Component Software
Tiny File System
Usability

1999

January 1999
UML Statecharts
C++ Memory Allocation
Special Report: Software Debuggers

February 1999
Scheduling a Real-Time Program
Special Report: 8-Bit Processors

March 1999
Digital Signal Processing
Soft Modem Integration
Special Report: RTOSes

April 1999
Developing Highly Integrated Systems
PIC Programming in C Using Hand Compilation
Digital Signal Processing With or Without a DSP
Special Report: DSPs

May 1999
In Search of New Development Environments
Internet Appliance Design
Special Report: C/C++ Cross Compliers

June 1999
HDTV Software
ATV Software Challenges
Fundimentals of Firewire
Special Report: Programmable Logic

July 1999
GUI Development
Bit Manipulation in C
Designer Filters

August 1999
Nuts to OOP!
GUI Development Part 2
Special Report: 16-bit MCUs

September 1999
Trends in Debugging
Embedding with GNU
Architecting Embedded Systems for Add-on Software Modules
Driver-Based Protocol Stack Design

October 1999
Avoiding Pitfalls in Real-Time Development
Special Report: In-Circuit Emulators
Enhancing TV with ATVEF
Windows CE Internet Support
Crenshaw on Minimization Techniques

November 1999
Common Communications Architectures
More Pitfalls for Real-Time Developers
gdb's Remote serial Protocol
Jini in the Box
Embedded Web Servers

December 1999
Defensive C Programming
Intro to TCP/IP
Real-Time Java Extensions
More on Minimization

1998

January 1998
Internet Connectivity
C Pointers on the x86
Special Report: Flash Memory in Embedded Systems

February 1998
Implementing a Java Virtual Machine
C++ in Embedded Systems: Myth and Reality
Integer Square Roots

March 1998
Designing Real-Time Systems with UML--Part 1
Code Generation from Object Models
Estimating Program Complexity

April 1998
Embedding Ethernet Connectivity
Designing Real-Time Systems with UML--Part II
Fixed-Point Arithmetic
x86 Programming: Protected Mode

May 1998
Intro to DSP
Designing Real-Time Systems with UML - Part III
x86 Programming: Protection and Segmentation
Special Report: The State of C/C++ Compilers

June 1998
Strategies for Communications System Software Design
x86 Programming: Paging
Special Report: CompactPCI

July 1998
Challenges of Real-Time Programming
How to Build Complex Protocols in Embedded Software
MCore: Does Motorola Need Another Processor Family?
August 1998
Safe Systems Through Better User Interfaces
A Personal Tour of Interpreters
Perceptual Coding

September 1998
Guidelines for DSP Development
Interpreters - A Recap

October 1998
Software Quality
Developing Applications with Windows CE 2.10
Introduction to CORBA

November 1998
Hands-On Development on Windows CE
Efficient C Code for Eight-Bit MCUs

December 1998
Configuring Changeable Embedded Systems
Solving the Software Safety Paradox
Requirements Management Using Tables
Static vs. Dynamic Initialization
Crenshaw on Interpreters

1997

January 1997
Software Debug Options on ASIC Cores

February 1997
Cache Coherency Issues for Real-Time Multiprocessing

March 1997
Interoperable Objects for Distributed Real-Time Systems

April 1997
Implementing Network Protocols and Drivers with Streams
General Purpose Watchdog Timer Component for a Multitasking System
Special Report: DSP Development Tools

May 1997
Java: Too Much for Your System?
Special Report: Single Board Computers

June 1997
Co-Simulating Software and Hardware in Embedded Systems
State-Oriented Programming

July 1997
Finite Word Length Effects on Digital Filter Implementations
Understanding Universal Serial Bus: Part 2
Special Report: 8- and 16-Bit MCUs

August 1997
Graphics Libraries For Embedded Systems
Making Nonvolatile Data Reliable

September 1997
Meeting Aggressive Schedules Through Smart Integration
Embedded Communication Network Pitfalls

October 1997
An Introduction to I₂O
Multithreading in the Java Language
Linux as an Embedded Operating System

November 1997
Understanding and Using the I²C Bus
Special Report: An Emulator Status Report

December 1997
Embedded C++: An Overview
Portable Inheritance and Polymorphism in C
Assembly Language Tips
Haar Wavelets

1996

January 1996
Trends in Hardware/Software Codesign
Floating-Point Math, Part 3

February 1996
Adding Wireless Communications Capability to Embedded Systems

March 1996
Simulating Embedded Systems

April 1996
Flexibility by Design
May 1996
Designing User Interfaces
June 1996
Java: Virtual Machine for Virtually Any Platform

July 1996
Multiresolution Signal Analysis and Wavelet Decomposition

August 1996
Device Drivers for Nonexistent Devices

September 1996
Quality Software Via a Cleanroom Methodology

October 1996
The Octopus Method: Requirements Specification and Software Architecture

November 1996
How to Talk to "Smart Batteries"

December 1996
Can Software Be Safe? -An Ada Viewpoint