The associated complexity The development of embedded systems is increasing rapidly. For example, the average complexity of software projects in the automotive industry is estimated to have increased by 300% over the past decade.
Today, every piece of hardware is controlled by software, and most hardware consists of multiple electronic boards running synchronized applications. Tools have more and more features, but adding features means increasing complexity and debugging. Cambridge University reports that developers spend up to 50% of their programming time debugging.
Fortunately, there are practical ways to reduce the complexity of debugging embedded systems. Let’s see.
Earlier is better
Editing is only effective if you have the right information.
Bugs emerge throughout the entire product lifecycle: in development, testing, and field. Debugging later down the road can increase costs by up to 15 times and cause user frustration, as well as problems associated with updating embedded devices in production.
However, identifying bugs early in your product’s development allows you to track them down while prioritizing them by their severity. This allows you to debug other dependencies and variables before they enter the lifecycle, making troubleshooting easier and cheaper.
Edit version
To accurately reproduce a bug, you must have the same device as it was when the bug first appeared. With embedded devices, there are three different variables to look at when breaking issues:
- Software version. This is a version of each feature. This applies to the code you build as well as any dependencies such as imported libraries.
- Board version. Especially the design of the board. Board design changes constantly as components are added/removed or moved.
