As a firmware engineer, I often find myself in a classic conundrum when asked about my profession. Responses like, "Oh, so you're a software engineer?" or "How is that different from hardware?" are all too familiar. It's challenging to explain what firmware engineering entails since it resides in a niche space that bridges hardware and software. However, consider this astonishing fact: High-end cars like the Mercedes-Benz S-Class contain over 10 million lines of code , all of which are processed by up to 100 microprocessors networked throughout the car. This immense amount of firmware-based ..read more

Introduction In our ongoing effort to continuous improvement, we’ve embraced the emergence of Artificial Intelligence and integrated it into our workflow. The adoption of such technologies has improved the quality of our code while also freeing developers to focus on higher level decision making throughout a project. By trialing a number of AI tools, we’ve seen improvements in our development practices, albeit not without encountering a set of challenges. This piece aims to share how AI has improved our firmware and what we’ve found useful, what AI doesn’t do well and how we’ve mitigated this ..read more

Introduction Rinnai is synonymous with innovative heating solutions, providing customers with advanced technology designed for efficiency and reliability. As they ventured into their new project - the HydraHeat™ Hot Water Heat Pump - Rinnai turned to our expertise to develop an electronic control system refined for performance. We worked closely with Rinnai to create a control system harnessing the efficiency of heat pump technology, with estimations of up to 75% savings on hot water costs*. Opportunity Rinnai's HydraHeat™ represents the evolution of water heating solutions, integrating h ..read more

How to Nail Your Products Release. Product reliability issues can escalate into crises that exact a heavy toll on customer satisfaction and brand reputation. No product is 100% perfect and no doubt issues will arise, but how do you best capture these issues quickly before they get a chance to snowball? Take this hypothetical scenario for example. Example Scenario: Navigating customer issues the outdated way. Customer Complaint: Jane recently purchased a smart thermostat from your company and is now facing a persistent issue: her device keeps resetting to a default temperature, undoing her ..read more

Decoding the Tech Behind Rugby World Cup Player Analytics Overview The Rugby World Cup is pushing portable, durable, athlete data measuring wearables into the limelight. This year biometric wearables company STATSports is serving as the go-to team for the high-level player tracking needs of the legendary All Blacks [2]. What are these wearables? How do they work? What are they being used for? From the type of sensors employed, their safety profile, power efficiency, and robustness, to the real-time retrieval of data and the categorizing of the collected metrics, this post will unwrap the techn ..read more

Author: Aaron Fulton, Systems Developer Part 2  This post is Part 2 of a 2-part series on what to consider when planning an Internet of Things (IoT) solution. As we discovered in Part 1, IoT is a complex subject which crosses many disciplines ranging from embedded electronics through to communications, cloud infrastructure, and software design. Architecting an IoT solution is a multifaceted business, there are many things to consider. For most organisations, working with companies who have IoT experience is critical to architecting and implementing a solution which works on all levels ..read more

Author: Phillip Abplanalp, Hardware Engineer  Introduction Motor racing with the absence of screaming engines and grid girls would have been a recipe for catastrophe only 20 years ago. But here we are, 2018, and this is exactly what Formula E (FE) offers and it seems be working, really well in fact – although it seems the removal of the grid girl has resulted in quite a saga! For those that may have missed the memo, Formula E is a single seater, fully electric racing series, competing at a range of street circuits around the globe. Started in 2014, it’s seen a rapid growth in both viewersh ..read more

Author:  Jonathan Kapene, Firmware Engineer Introduction This article discusses firmware development in embedded systems, specifically common design patterns implemented today. The article defines what a design pattern is, why it should be used in firmware development, and outlines one of the more popular patterns used in embedded systems today. However, this will not go in depth into any one specific pattern and rather touches on some popular ones. To be able to do this we have to first define what the terms "firmware" and "embedded systems" mean. An embedded system is a "computerised sy ..read more

Author: Jason Cleland, Electro-mechanical Engineer So you've got an idea for a brilliant new product that you want to develop and then put to market? And you've heard about this thing called 'EMC' but you don't know exactly what it is or why it should matter to you? Or how long will it take? Or how much will it cost? The purpose of this blog is to answer some of these questions and explain what 'EMC' is and why you really do need to know about it. If you haven't already, please read our previous blog on compliance,  Electronic Product Compliance - Answers to FAQs , which answers commo ..read more

Author: Jonathan Kapene, Firmware Engineer In this blog we take a closer look at the Sigfox technology that was first introduced in our December Blog: "LPWAN Benefits for IoT Connectivity". To recap, LPWAN - which stands for Low Power Wide Area Network - is a communication protocol which is designed to transmit small amounts of data over large distances. Compared with traditional cellular-network connected devices, LPWAN devices consume significantly less electrical power, enabling these devices to last 5-10 years on a single battery. Large Telcos (such as Spark and Vodafone) are now recog ..read more