Sirin Software’s embedded developers accelerate release of a new technology that makes the internet of things vision a reality.
Introduction
The value of connected products is clear. Leading companies are rapidly moving beyond TVs, printers, washing machines, and thermostats, etc. Why? Because the Internet of Things (IoT) is one of the most relevant fields of technological innovation today.
The challenge
By 2020 there will be an estimated 30 billion devices connected to Internet. A current obstacle is that frequently devices need a technical person to set them up and keep them running smoothly. Another problem is that most devices have no input-output interface (e.g. no keyboard, monitor, etc.) to configure them.
Cirrent, a Silicon Valley startup, had a breakthrough technology to address two of the most critical aspects of connected products: ease of use and security. The urgent need for this technology was visible in the market, and Cirrent needed to rapidly develop a solution to help product companies make their products easier to use and more secure.
Cirrent had a small team of highly talented engineers, but needed to grow quickly to build a robust solution and hit the market window. With the labor market tight in Silicon Valley, and with the need for top-tier talent to make a high-quality solution, Cirrent needed a solution to scale quickly.
The solution – What did Sirin Software do?
Cirrent evaluated a number of technology development partners to expand the team. After trials with a few different vendors, Cirrent was impressed with the quality, speed, and cost of the work by Sirin Software, and chose Sirin Software as its sole embedded development partner. From that time on, Sirin Software’s engineers have been a core part of Cirrent: committing and reviewing code, testing, architecting, designing, and talking with Cirrent’s in-house developers on Slack, email, and skype.
The Sirin Software team contributed to the design and implementation of the Cirrent Wireless Connection Manager (WCM) that helps to connect devices instantly and securely with no setup on the user side. There is no need for an I/O interface, keyboard, or monitor – products connect automatically and securely. All required setup is done during the manufacturing process so users just plug and play.
Cirrent launched the Automatic Internet Connection Service for Smart Wi-Fi products in May 2016, and continues to have the Sirin Software team as a core part of development for new features, bug fixes, testing, and solution expansion. Check the case study for more details.
Implementation
Sirin Software’s engineering team was a core contributor to implementation and testing of Cirrent’s WCM (Wireless Connection manager), specifically working on:
- C programming for embedded
- Integration with dhcpcd, dhclient, wpa_supplicant, hostapd, and httpd
- API design and implementation
- Unit and module testing
The embedded software platform we helped build is capable of running across a large variety of devices. In addition, memory and performance restrictions were taken into account to enable its proper functioning on processors of major vendors.
Given the set of specifications and constraints, the architecture achieved a substantial simplification of porting processes on all platforms regardless of whether the operating system was Linux or RTOS. The Cirrent cloud team wrote a specifically targeted web service that works closely with the embedded component. It collects the device’s feedback, statistics, logs, and other essential network information. This data is needed to counter possible shortcomings, like unstable functioning or network problems that might occur while a device is in usage.
In order to discover vulnerabilities and critical software defects the automated testing environment was created with full unit test coverage. The result was the completion of a robust and extensible application that will have favorable maintenance costs over the long-term.
Sirin Software accelerated Cirrent’s product release, and continues to be a core part of Cirrent’s embedded development team as Cirrent’s continues to scale to meet global demand.