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Firmware Update
- February 16, 2010
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In this issue:
-- The Top 10 Firmware-Specific Bugs
-- Firmware-Specific Bug #1: Race Condition
-- Win an iPad at Embedded Software Boot Camp
-- Embedded Software is the Future of Product Quality (and Safety!) -- Industry News You Can Use
Firmware Update is a free newsletter by embedded software expert Michael Barr. It is Copyright 2010 by Netrino, LLC, but may be reprinted for non-commercial purposes. Please forward it to colleagues who may benefit from the information. |
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The Top 10 Firmware-Specific Bugs ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I am compiling a list of the most common and
most challenging bugs in embedded software.
These are the little nasties that cause
our products to "glitch" once in the customer's
hands--yet can't be reproduced in the lab.
Tracing backward from rare symptoms to
root cause can be a real challenge with some
of these bugs, so a big part of my focus is
preventing them altogether.
The results of this effort will be presented at the Embedded Systems Conference on April 26 in a half-day tutorial entitled "The Top 10 Firmware Flaws: How to Find, Fix, and Prevent the Most Common Causes of Bugs in Embedded Software". |
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Firmware-Specific Bug #1: Race Condition ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A race condition is any situation in which the
combined outcome of two or more threads of
execution (which can be either RTOS tasks or
main() plus an ISR) varies depending on the
precise order in which the instructions of each
are interleaved.
Locating all potentially shared objects is the first step in a code audit for race conditions. |
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Win an iPad at Embedded Software Boot Camp ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Is it just me or is Apple's iPad in
a class all its own? On the one hand, it is the
embedded systems version of a personal
computer: in trade for fewer "knobs and
buttons," users stand to gain an optimized
user experience with substantially reduced
risks for malware and blue screens. But the
iPad may also change the way some
embedded systems are designed. For
example, why design a $2,000 oscilloscope for
the few, when you could instead tweak the
scope's probe connectors, sell them
standalone for $50, and offer a free
iOscilloscope App download to the masses?
In honor of Steve Job's self-proclaimed "most important thing I've ever done" (wow!), everyone who attends an Embedded Software Boot Camp this Winter or Spring will be automatically entered to win one of three Apple iPads we'll be giving away on May 7. |
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Embedded Software is the Future of Product Quality (and Safety!) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
What do pacemakers and other implantable
medical devices have in common with cars made
by Toyota? They all have software embedded
within the product. And they're all at risk of
product recalls for firmware upgrades!
Increasingly, the quality and reliability of the embedded software is a primary driver of product quality and reliability. Can we trust that our car's factory firmware is safe? Or that the upgraded firmware is safer than the version it replaces? |
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Industry News You Can Use ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Use code "SP100" to save 25% when you
register for ESC Silicon Valley 2010.
http://bit.ly/esc_sv2010
Got 66 cents? You can buy an ARM Cortex- M0 processor from NXP! http://tinyurl.com/ycbqwau Cannondale is revolutionizing mountain bike suspension by adding a CPU and firmware. Can golf clubs be far behind? http://bit.ly/5vmTMU MRAM might just be the future of non-volatile memory. http://bit.ly/8eUMvm Developers needing worst-case execution time of C++ code should apply here for beta tool: http://bit.ly/cbva15 The IEEE 802.3at standard (PoE+) puts Power Over Ethernet within reach of tons of embedded applications. Learn PoE+ from a PoE guru: http://bit.ly/9kTK33 |
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Quick Links ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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Contact Us... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
email:
[email protected]
phone:
866.78.EMBED
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