Microtalk

Tour of Embedded Systems: What in the World is Going On?

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10:02

EOC 2023

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Tim Guite

With over 7 years of industry experience in medical devices, scientific research and biotechnology, Tim Guite is an embedded systems engineer. Tim has enjoyed participating in EOC and has learned a lot. While he possesses a wide range of knowledge, Tim acknowledges that there is still much to learn when it comes to developing embedded systems and launching them into the world. His goal is to offer an interesting perspective on the industry and contribute to its growth and development.

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Topics Covered

FPGA IoT RISC-V Open Source

Microtalk

Tour of Embedded Systems: What in the World is Going On?

Tim Guite

10:02 EOC 2023

Tim Guite

10:02

It is hard to define an embedded system and even harder to decide where the world of embedded systems ends and becomes electronics on one side, software on the other side and system design on the other other side. In this talk, I will present the current state of two complimentary pillars of embedded systems - chips and software – with possible tangents into areas such as PCB design, testing and simulation.

The traditional hierarchy of chips (IC → FPGA → MCU → SoC) nicely mirrors the traditional hierarchy of embedded software (Bare Metal → RTOS → OS). However, this is not the world we live in: AMD owns Xilinx, Amazon and Microsoft are handing out RTOS’s, ST is presenting AI solutions. MCUs and FPGAs in the same chip, containers for embedded, RISC-V picking up steam. Consolidation and disruption has produced new combinations of technologies which challenge us on how best to use them and connect everything together.

After watching this talk, you should walk away with a better understanding of:

The major industry players in embedded systems
How new chips fit into the traditional hierarchy
What tools are available at different layers of the software stack
Some acronyms and strange words :)

Hope to see you there!

1 / 3

Please log in or create an account to test your knowledge and see the answers.

According to the talk, what is the primary reason RISC-V is becoming important in embedded systems?

A Because RISC-V delivers higher clock speeds than ARM across all devices.

B Because RISC-V is an open instruction set architecture that is free to use, encouraging broad manufacturer support and softcore implementations on FPGAs.

C Because RISC-V is a proprietary standard backed by a single dominant company that enforces quality.

D Because RISC-V only targets 8-bit microcontrollers and low-end devices.

E Because RISC-V eliminates the need for software optimizations by providing built-in hardware functions for every application.

What key advantage does the speaker attribute to SoC FPGAs (chips containing both FPGA and MCU) for embedded systems?

A They remove the need for any software stack because the FPGA handles every task.

B They combine FPGAs and MCUs with fast, low-power connections to get the best of both hardware flexibility and software accessibility.

C They are primarily useful only for desktop PCs and not for low-power or embedded applications.

D They make FPGAs obsolete by replacing all programmable logic with microcontrollers.

E They always increase system power consumption and therefore are unsuitable for battery-powered devices.

Why does the speaker argue that open-source tooling matters for the future of embedded systems?

A Because open-source tooling is only suitable for hobby projects and cannot support industrial use.

B Because open-source tooling increases competition, lowers development barriers, and helps bring technologies like Zephyr, RISC-V, Rust, and open FPGA toolchains to more users and markets.

C Because open-source tooling will immediately replace all proprietary tools and vendors overnight.

D Because open-source tooling removes the need to consider security on connected devices.

E Because open-source tooling guarantees better performance for every embedded application regardless of hardware.

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Upvotes Newest Oldest

amrith

Score: 0 | 3 years ago | 1 reply

Great and quick recap of everything happening!

TimGuiteSpeaker

Score: 0 | 3 years ago | no reply

Thanks, Amrith! Glad to hear you enjoyed it!

nathancharlesjones

Score: 0 | 3 years ago | 1 reply

Great talk! I enjoy hearing about the industry writ large.

TimGuiteSpeaker

Score: 0 | 3 years ago | no reply

Cheers, Nathan :) There really is a lot going on isn't there!

RaulPando

Score: 0 | 3 years ago | 1 reply

Hi Tim,
Fantastic comprehensive snapshot of the industry. Looking forward to next year's :)

TimGuiteSpeaker

Score: 0 | 3 years ago | no reply

Thanks Raul! Yes, I'm sure there will be lots more changes to talk about by then!

rokath

Score: 0 | 3 years ago | 1 reply

Thank you for this short overview, Tim!
These are things one has not in focus all the time but are really worth to know!

TimGuiteSpeaker

Score: 0 | 3 years ago | no reply

Thanks Rokath! Yea I had a lot of fun trying to organise all the interesting topics I have heard about and put them in context. I had to leave a lot out as well! Hope you learned something new :)

Mike.Foss

Score: 0 | 3 years ago | 1 reply

This was a great talk, thank you! It brushed on a lot more topics than I expected. I like all the references that you have at the end of your slides too.

TimGuiteSpeaker

Score: 0 | 3 years ago | no reply

Thanks Mike, glad you enjoyed it! I hope the references are a good jumping off point for people to learn more about the topics I only really touched on 👍

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