Embedded Systems Stories and Remarks

Etching circuit boards and writing firmware for my highschool robotic’s club gave way to an interesting career in the design and implementation of embedded systems.

• A product family without a market
• When testing reveals too much
• PIC 8-bit MCUs: Hardware stack limitations
• PIC 8-bit MCUs: C compiler bugs
• 32bit ARM Cortex vs 8-bit PIC - never looking back
• PICs are more “fun”, ARMs are more productive
• STM32 Quirks and Errata
• FreeRTOS: Mystery bug, Stack overflows on an Ethernet Product
• Frugality: In less than 64kb - run an ethernet stack, generate webpages, and run an RTOS
• Early years: Magic smoke
• Early years: The scale, pushing ADC to the limits
• Early years: Fountain of woe (Nestle)
• Early years: A power saving recirculation pump, and compiler bugs
• Early years: The nut grinder