Stack Overflow
Stack Overflow

Questions tagged [embedded]

Embedded refers to embedded systems, which involves areas such as microcontroller/DSP firmware programming, real-time systems, electronic interfaces, hardware drivers, serial bus communication etc.

Embedded systems are computer systems which are an internal component of a product (that is, embedded within a product) for a specific, usually limited, purpose which includes control, reconfigurability, or translation. Examples include digital watches, smart thermostats, automotive engine supervision, firewalls, solar panel controllers, PC keyboards, digital billboards, digital cameras, GPS receivers, traffic signal control and MP3 players.

Embedded systems contain a processing core that is either a microprocessor, a or a digital signal processor .

The key characteristic is being dedicated to handle a particular task. Since the embedded system is dedicated to specific tasks, its design can be optimized to reduce the size and cost of the product and increase the reliability and performance. Some embedded systems are mass-produced, benefiting from economies of scale.

The complexity of an embedded system can be any point along several orders of magnitude: from a vehicle counter with 150 bytes of code to an iPad with a sophisticated operating system kernel which manages gigabytes of local information.

Two major aspects of embedded system design and implementation is to reduce power consumption and heat reduction.

Tag usage

Apart from the tag, also tag your question with a specific development platform, tool chain, and/or target platform. Relevant tags are the specific compiler, specific processor, specific evaluation boards etc. that are used. Avoid using manufacturer tags such as for example as they generally add nothing of value. Instead, specify the microcontroller being used, for example .

This tag is not for questions about embedding media into HTML pages (<embed>), the #embed preprocessor directive, embedding visual components in a GUI, or embedding programming languages, databases or other things into web/desktop programs.

Please note that Stack Overflow is a programming site, and therefore questions about embedded systems that are related both to software and hardware will likely get a better reception at Electronics.stackexchange.com, where embedded systems hardware questions always are on-topic. For example, if you have a problem which could either be caused by software or by hardware, it is better to ask it on the electronics site.

Other sites that may also give a better response to specific embedded system questions:

Books

Resources

  • Wikipedia overview: including history, manufacture, implementations, debugging, tools, UIs, and architectures.
10540 questions
51
votes
10 answers

Static allocation of opaque data types

Very often malloc() is absolutely not allowed when programming for embedded systems. Most of the time I'm pretty able to deal with this, but one thing irritates me: it keeps me from using so called 'opaque types' to enable data hiding. Normally I'd…
Bart
  • 1,633
  • 14
  • 21
51
votes
5 answers

How to determine maximum stack usage?

What methods are available for determining the optimum stack size for embedded/memory constrained system? If it's too big then memory is wasted that could be used elsewhere. However, if it is too small then we get this website's namesake... To try…
Judge Maygarden
  • 26,961
  • 9
  • 82
  • 99
48
votes
9 answers

How can I make my own microcontroller?

How can I make my own microcontroller? I've done some work using GAL chips and programmed a chip to do simple commands such as add, load, move, xor, and output, but I'd like to do something more like a real microcontroller. How can I go about doing…
samoz
  • 56,849
  • 55
  • 141
  • 195
48
votes
14 answers

Looking for an efficient integer square root algorithm for ARM Thumb2

I am looking for a fast, integer only algorithm to find the square root (integer part thereof) of an unsigned integer. The code must have excellent performance on ARM Thumb 2 processors. It could be assembly language or C code. Any hints welcome.
Ber
  • 40,356
  • 16
  • 72
  • 88
46
votes
5 answers

Direct Memory Access in Linux

I'm trying to access physical memory directly for an embedded Linux project, but I'm not sure how I can best designate memory for my use. If I boot my device regularly, and access /dev/mem, I can easily read and write to just about anywhere I want.…
Mikeage
  • 6,424
  • 4
  • 36
  • 54
46
votes
1 answer

Hosting multiple clients with freemodbus

I am working on a project involving a microcontroller communicating to a PC via Modbus over TCP. My platform is an STM32F4 chip, programming in C with no RTOS. I looked around and found LwIP and Freemodbus and have had pretty good success getting…
JNMarch
  • 469
  • 4
  • 5
45
votes
7 answers

Are Exceptions still undesirable in Realtime environment?

A couple of years ago I was taught, that in real-time applications such as Embedded Systems or (Non-Linux-)Kernel-development C++-Exceptions are undesirable. (Maybe that lesson was from before gcc-2.95). But I also know, that Exception Handling has…
towi
  • 21,587
  • 28
  • 106
  • 187
45
votes
15 answers

Cool Hardware/Devices that can be programmed in .NET?

I'd love to start writting managed code for external devices and sensors. Are there any devices that come to mind that can be coded against using .NET? Any suggestions? Edit: The main thing I'm trying to do is learn how device programming works. …
Achilles
  • 11,165
  • 9
  • 62
  • 113
45
votes
14 answers

Polling or Interrupt based method

When should one use polling method and when should one use interrupt based method ? Are there scenarios in which both can be used ?
Karthik Balaguru
  • 7,424
  • 7
  • 48
  • 65
44
votes
10 answers

Device misdetected as serial mouse

I'm working on a device which communicates with a PC through a (virtual) serial port. The problem is that the data we are sending occasionally gets incorrectly identified by Windows as a bus mouse, after which the "Microsoft Serial Ballpoint" driver…
doynax
  • 4,285
  • 3
  • 23
  • 19
44
votes
16 answers

Optimizing for space instead of speed in C++

When you say "optimization", people tend to think "speed". But what about embedded systems where speed isn't all that critical, but memory is a major constraint? What are some guidelines, techniques, and tricks that can be used for shaving off those…
Emile Cormier
  • 28,391
  • 15
  • 94
  • 122
43
votes
21 answers

Embedded systems worst practices?

What would you consider "worst practices" to follow when developing an embedded system? Some of my ideas of what not to do are: Avoid abstracting the hardware layer, instead spreading hardware accesses throughout the code. Not having any type of…
Fred Basset
  • 1,147
  • 1
  • 12
  • 10
42
votes
17 answers

Power Efficient Software Coding

In a typical handheld/portable embedded system device Battery life is a major concern in design of H/W, S/W and the features the device can support. From the Software programming perspective, one is aware of MIPS, Memory(Data and Program) optimized…
goldenmean
  • 18,376
  • 54
  • 154
  • 211
42
votes
4 answers

How to run a C program with no OS on the Raspberry Pi?

I'd like to experiment using the Raspberry Pi for some different low level embedded applications. The only problem is that, unlike the AVR and PIC microcontroller boards available, Raspberry Pi typically runs an OS (like Raspbian) that distributes…
watswat5
  • 671
  • 1
  • 7
  • 19
42
votes
3 answers

C/C++ HTTP Client Library for Embedded Projects

So I have trawled through pages and pages of search results on StackOverflow and Google and I have come across very few C/C++ HTTP client libraries suitable for a resource-constrained, embedded environment (e.g. an ARM). I have however come across…
thegreendroid
  • 3,239
  • 6
  • 31
  • 40
1 2
3
…
99 100