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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.


The Top 10 Firmware-Specific Bugs
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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".

Suggest a bug...


Firmware-Specific Bug #1: Race Condition
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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.

Read on...


Win an iPad at Embedded Software Boot Camp
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Apple iPad 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.

Check dates and locations...


Embedded Software is the Future of Product Quality (and Safety!)
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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?

Be afraid, be very afraid...


Industry News You Can Use
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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

Adapted from my twitter feed...


Quick Links
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  • Embedded Systems Glossary
  • Embedded Systems Blogs
  • Embedded C Coding Standard - Now Just $29
  • iPad Giveaway - the Fine Print


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