Skirrid Systems
Electronics and software solutions
Real-time embedded systems
Embedded Systems
Embedded software is the program used to control a self-contained device, such as a printer, washing machine or mobile phone. It is very often held in permanent (ROM) or semi-permanent (Flash) storage, and runs whenever the device is switched on, unlike normal computer programs which are loaded and run only when the user chooses. Embedded software normally performs a few specific functions and has minimal user interface. For this reason it must be reliable and fault-tolerant because there is often no-one around to notice an error.
Real-time software must respond to events with hard deadlines. For example an inkjet printer must release ink droplets at precisely the right moment as the print head travels across the page. If it misses its deadline, the image becomes corrupted.
Design and implementation of real-time embedded software is a particular speciality, and I take pride in producing software which is robust and reliable, but also simple and efficient. Making best use of limited hardware resources is one way of keeping product costs down. Producing high quality, maintainable code is the best way of keeping support and maintenance costs down.
Previous work has been mostly in C/C++ and assembler, and has covered a wide variety of applications, such as:
- Thermal printing
- Lithium-ion battery charging
- ECG monitoring and analysis
- Water leak detection and location
- Thermal imaging
- Airborne camera platforms
Many different processor architectures have been used:
- 68K/Coldfire
- 80x86 family
- H8
- AVR
- PIC16xxx family
- PIC18xxx family
- TMS320C54x DSP
- 80x51 family
- Z80/64180