In case there is one constant across the embedded systems industry, it is that the delivery timelines are yesterday. The need for advances in embedded systems and even for the advanced and greatest widget put a constant pressure on designers to simply deliver as efficiently as possible. If you look into the embedded system solution, you would find how rapidly they have been scaling with time.
This is one post that would get you a rough idea about the methods. That you can use to ensure Architectural Scalability in overall embedded systems. Of course, the ways can always vary but there are certain things that do stay somewhat same.
Take the needed time to design a scalable & flexible architecture
The hardware as well as software architecture that is design for a product is so crucial. The architecture offers the map for the product that displays all the major blocks. Their inputs and even outputs and how they have to do with all the other components. A shallowly designed architecture can end up in multiple hardware spins to adapt to altering market conditions. A poorly designed architecture may actually end up in constant software rework. It is something that takes up time and money. Spend the time up front to simply carefully think through your hardware and even software architecture. Make sure that it is somewhat flexible and scalable to manage adjustments and feature additions or even product changes. You are going to find that a well thought architecture can always save a lot of rework. That the additional time has a massive return on investment (ROI).
Leverage the current platforms
Well, being the engineers you do love to get into the low-level details and simply fiddle. Beginning a new project with a new type of processor can be really exciting! The issue is that in case you want to do things swiftly and even accelerate development. You cannot simply start from scratch on each project. Working at bit and byte degree is time consuming and even has a huge sized learning curve. Even starting with basic types of building blocks and trying to blend up them together can be full of issues and even pain.Â
Now, this is exactly where leveraging an existing type of hardware and software platform can really dramatically help developers. A platform offers all the basic building blocks, the scaffolding for overall both hardware and software. All the developer require to do is at their features and product discriminators and they are done. Of course, a good embedded design service is the one that actually work at all these levels. And a service is good only if the engineers are dedicate and vigilant about all such aspects.
Master the overall debugging methods
It blows the minds of people how much time is spent debugging software. There was a survey in the Embedded Industry that nearly forty percent of a developer’s time gets spent debugging. After you talk to the people working in the field for quite some time. You would realise that survey is actually accurate! On a normal twelve -month project, which is nearly five months spent debugging! Debugging is failure work. It is somewhat like fixing something that must have been done right the first time. Dropping the time spent debugging in half could massively accelerate development and costs. (This is somewhat per developer!). Take the overall time in the world to learn how to avert overall bugs. And swiftly find the ones that do simply sneak through.
Slow down to get ahead
It is something that you can find to be somewhat counter intuitive. Slowing down to simply go fast? Yet, with all the different clients you may come across and the companies you talk to. You would find that slowing them down always makes them absolutely get ahead that too faster. The reason for such a thing is that many technology companies are actually working at warp 9 and at such a speed, developer discipline gets out the windows. Processes simply steps out the window. Corners get simply cut. The latest fire re-assigns and even redirects development constantly. The outcomes , very fast paced work that goes nowhere and generates lots of overall defects that then require to fix. Slow down and simply resist the overall pressure. Once you do that, you are certainly going to find out that you are in a position to drop the overall development time as well as the costs.
Always stay ready to take an external opinion
As a consultant, this tip may sound somewhat self-serving. But many people have discovered that even for themselves , having a second set of eyes on a specific task or project, a code base, and more , can help make sure that the project is somewhat going in the correct direction. Once you start in developing a product, you find that you are somewhat at the ground level, looking through the overall forest and all the trees (project details). Simply having a second opinion brings in someone who has no sort of prejudices and no-bias. Of course, it would be like a breath of fresh air. They can simply look at the product from the air and even witness the path that the team is somewhat going and if it’s in the incorrect direction!
ConclusionÂ
So, the point is simple, once you stay careful about these foundational tips. For how you can actually accelerate your overall development efforts, you can do wonders. Whether you speak with the pcb board manufacturing or any other experts; everyone has some or the other ways to speed up their tasks that too with productivity. Since you have now a set of tips on your hand. Make sure you comprehend them and accordingly introduce them into your tasks and procedures. Moreover, the way that embedded developers construct the systems in the present time do demand scalability in a way. That it is either design overkill or even is discrete to cover a specific restricted number of issue domains.
