Firmware Development

Firmware is “hard” software that resides in the system’s RAM with instructions and data for it loaded from permanent memory. Instructions used in your solution are adjusted by changing the data stored in memory.

Firmware is considered “hard” because its instructions stored on a physical device are usually loaded into a hardware platform for long-term performance, with only minor further tweaks involved.

The principal difference between firmware and software is more about functionality specifics. Firmware is a system component that can be customized to define new system functions that can only be implemented within the constraints of the given hardware and firmware.

The environment for embedded firmware development differs significantly from test and production environments. Firmware development engineers can use specialized software stacks, different chip architectures, and even operating systems. The embedded system allows to significantly facilitate the circuitry and hence reduce project costs and hardware size.

In a nutshell, however, embedded firmware development is not so different from the process of developing “standard” software. Regardless of the development/management model used, it consists of the following stages:

1. Requirements analysis;
2. Design and algorithm composing;
3. Firmware coding;
4. System testing.

Embedded OS
In essence, an embedded system is a combination of software and hardware. The Embedded Computing Platform combines hardware based on a microprocessor or microcontroller and a firmware OS that enables actuators and sensors to perform tasks.

A standard OS is about the interaction between human users with computers. In turn, an embedded system performs a limited scope of tasks with minimum human involvement.

A firmware engineer creates a set of instructions – a device-activating algorithm. One or more processing cores power up embedded systems – microcontrollers or digital signal processors, FPGAs or ASIC. During the firmware development process, microprocessors or microcontrollers of embedded system hardware are programmed to perform specific tasks based on the previously composed set of instructions.

Basically, firmware converts microprocessor commands into signals readable by hardware components while microcontrollers enable system performance alterations. To implement significant algorithm changes, the firmware code must be rewritten.

High-level languages like C++ or Python and low-level ones like Assembler are used in the firmware development process. The most widely used underlying platforms are Linux and Android.

Embedded Apps
Once an embedded system is connected to a centralized network it becomes an IoT device. Our firmware development company, for instance, offers such solutions for a wide scope of purposes and niches, including computer networks, electronics, telecommunications, medicine, research equipment, and more.

As you may know, the usual IoT network is composed of interconnected devices powered by special firmware. Such devices working within a centralized network are very handy to manage and update remotely. Specialized standards are used to collect data from sensors and make the whole network energy-efficient – SigFox and LoRa (Long Range).