The Firmware Handbook

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ISBN: 9780750676069 | 075067606X
Cover: Paperback
Copyright: 3/18/2004

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This handbook provides a comprehensive reference for firmware developers looking to increase their skills and productivity. It addresses each critical step of the development process in detail, including how to optimize hardware design for better firmware. Topics covered include real-time issues, interrupts and ISRs, memory management (including Flash memory), handling both digital and analog peripherals, communications interfacing, math subroutines, error handling, design tools, and troubleshooting and debugging. The companion CD-ROM includes all the code used in the design examples and a searchable ebook version of the text. this book is not for the beginner, but rather is an in-depth, comprehensive one-volume reference that addresses all the major issues in firmware design and development, including the pertinent hardware issues.

Preface

What's on the CD-Rom?

xvi

Section I: Basic Hardware

(52)

Introduction

(2)

Chapter 1: Basic Electronics

(28)

DC Circuits

(9)

AC Circuits

(6)

Active Devices

(4)

Putting it Together-a Power Supply

(3)

The Scope

(6)

Chapter 2: Logic Circuits

(16)

Coding

(3)

Combinatorial Logic

(7)

Sequential Logic

(4)

Logic Wrap-up

(2)

Chapter 3: Hardware Design Tips

(4)

Diagnostics

(1)

Connecting Tools

(1)

Other Thoughts

(1)

Summary

(1)

Section II: Designs

(102)

Introduction

(2)

Chapter 4: Tools and Methods for Improving Code Quality

(12)

Introduction

(1)

The Traditional Serial Development Cycle of an Embedded Design

(1)

Typical Challenges in Today's Embedded Market

(1)

Generic Methods to Improve Code Quality and Reduce the Time-to-Market

(1)

Major Time Factors for the Engineering Cycle

(1)

Where is Most Time Needed?

(1)

How to Improve Software Development Time and Code Quality

(4)

How to Reduce Hardware Development Time

(1)

Outlook and Summary

(4)

Chapter 5: Tips to Improve Functions

(8)

Minimize Functionality

(1)

Encapsulate

(1)

Remove Redundancies

(1)

Reduce Real-Time Code

(1)

Flow With Grace

(1)

Refactor Relentlessly

(1)

Employ Standards and Inspections

(1)

Comment Carefully

(2)

Summary

(2)

Chapter 6: Evolutionary Development

(24)

Introduction

(1)

1. History

(2)

2. Issues Addressed by Evo

(9)

3. How Do We Use Evo in Projects

(3)

4. Check Lists

(2)

5. Introducing Evo in New Projects

(1)

6. Testing With Evo

(1)

7. Change Requests and Problem Reports

(1)

8. Tools

(1)

9. Conclusion

(1)

Acknowledgment

(1)

References

(2)

Chapter 7: Embedded State Machine Implementation

101

(10)

State Machines

101

(1)

An Example

102

(2)

Implementation

104

(4)

Testing

108

(1)

Crank It

108

(1)

References

109

(2)

Chapter 8: Hierarchical State Machines

111

(10)

Conventional State Machine Example

112

(2)

Hierarchical State Machine Example

114

(7)

Chapter 9: Developing Safety Critical Applications

121

(16)

Introduction

121

(1)

Reliability and safety

121

(1)

Along came DO-178B

122

(1)

Overview of DO-178B

123

(1)

Failure Condition Categorization

123

(2)

System Architectural Considerations

125

(1)

System Architectural Documentation

126

(1)

DO-178B Software life cycle

126

(5)

Object Oriented Technology and Safety Critical Software Challenges

131

(1)

Iterative Process

132

(1)

Issues Facing 00 Certification

133

(3)

Summary

136

(1)

References

136

(1)

Chapter 10: Installing and Using a Version Control System

137

(18)

Introduction

137

(1)

The Power and Elegance of Simplicity

138

(1)

Version Control

138

(1)

Typical Symptoms of Not (Fully) Utilizing a Version Control System

139

(1)

Simple Version Control Systems

139

(1)

Advanced Version Control Systems

139

(1)

What Files to Put Under Version Control

140

(1)

Sharing of Files and the Version Control Client

140

(1)

Integrated Development Environment Issues

141

(1)

Graphical User Interface (GUI) Issues

141

(1)

Common Source Code Control Specification

142

(1)

World Wide Web Browser Interface or Java Version Control Client

142

(7)

Bug Tracking

149

(1)

Non-Configuration Management Tools

150

(1)

Closing Comments

151

(1)

Suggested Reading, References, and Resources

152

(3)

Section III: Math

155

(52)

Introduction

157

(2)

Chapter 11: An Introduction To Machine Calculations

159

(22)

Introduction

159

(1)

Integer Arithmetic

159

(6)

Floating-Point Math

165

(11)

Fixed-Point Arithmetic

176

(3)

Conclusion

179

(1)

Bibliography

179

(2)

Chapter 12: Floating Point Approximations

181

(20)

General Trig Notes

182

(1)

Cosine and Sine

182

(7)

Higher Precision Cosines

189

(1)

Tangent

190

(5)

Higher Precision Tangents

195

(1)

Arctangent, Arcsine and Arccosine

196

(5)

Chapter 13: Math Functions

201

(6)

Gray Code

201

(1)

Integer Multiplication by a Constant

201

(1)

Computing an Exclusive Or

201

(1)

Integer Square Roots

202

(1)

Important Basic Math Operations

202

(1)

Chapter 14: IEEE 754 Floating Point Numbers

203

(1)

Special values

204

(3)

Section IV: Real-Time

207

(74)

Introduction

209

(2)

Chapter 15: Real-Time Kernels

211

(20)

Introduction

211

(1)

What is a Real-Time Kernel?

211

(1)

What is a task?

212

(3)

The Clock Tick

215

(1)

Scheduling

216

(2)

Context Switching

218

(1)

Kernel Services

219

(1)

Kernel Services, Semaphores

219

(4)

Kernel Services, Message Queues

223

(2)

Kernel Services, Memory Management

225

(1)

Do You Need a Kernel?

225

(1)

Can You Use a Kernel?

226

(1)

Selecting a Kernel?

227

(2)

Conclusion

229

(2)

Chapter 16: Reentrancy

231

(14)

Atomic Variables

231

(2)

Two More Rules

233

(1)

Keeping Code Reentrant

234

(1)

Recursion

235

(1)

Asynchronous Hardware/Firmware

236

(1)

Race Conditions

237

(1)

Options

238

(1)

Other RTOSes

239

(1)

Metastable States

240

(2)

Firmware, not Hardware

242

(3)

Chapter 17: Interrupt Latency

245

(6)

Taking Data

248

(3)

Chapter 18: Understanding Your C Compiler: How to Minimize Code Size

251

(16)

Modern C Compilers

252

(7)

Tips on Programming

259

(6)

Final Notes

265

(1)

Acknowledgements

266

(1)

Chapter 19: Optimizing C and C++ Code

267

(8)

Adjust Structure Sizes to Power of Two

267

(1)

Place Case Labels in Narrow Range

267

(1)

Place Frequent Case Labels First

267

(1)

Break Big Switch Statements into Nested Switches

268

(1)

Minimize Local Variables

269

(1)

Declare Local Variables in the Innermost Scope

269

(1)

Reduce the Number of Parameters

269

(1)

Use References for Parameter Passing and Return Value for Types Bigger than 4 Bytes

269

(1)

Don't Define a Return Value if Not Used

270

(1)

Consider Locality of Reference for Code and Data

270

(1)

Prefer int over char and short

270

(1)

Define Lightweight Constructors

271

(1)

Prefer Initialization Over Assignment

272

(1)

Use Constructor Initialization Lists

272

(1)

Do Not Declare "Just in Case" Virtual Functions

273

(1)

Inline 1 to 3 Line Functions

273

(2)

Chapter 20: Real-Time Asserts

275

(6)

Embedded Issues

275

(1)

Real-Time Asserts

276

(5)

Section V: Errors and Changes

281

(74)

Introduction

283

(2)

Chapter 21: Implementing Downloadable Firmware With Flash Memory

285

(14)

Introduction

285

(1)

The Microprogrammer

286

(1)

Advantages of Microprogrammers

286

(1)

Disadvantages of Microprogrammers

287

(1)

Receiving a Microprogrammer

287

(1)

A Basic Microprogrammer

288

(1)

Common Problems and Their Solutions

289

(6)

Hardware Alternatives

295

(1)

Separating Code and Data

295

(4)

Chapter 22: Memory Diagnostics

299

(8)

ROM Tests

299

(2)

RAM Tests

301

(6)

Chapter 23: Nonvolatile Memory

307

(6)

Supervisory Circuits

307

(2)

Multi-byte Writes

309

(2)

Testing

311

(1)

Conclusion

312

(1)

Chapter 24: Proactive Debugging

313

(8)

Stacks and Heaps

313

(2)

Seeding Memory

315

(1)

Wandering Code

316

(2)

Special Decoders

318

(1)

MMUs

318

(1)

Conclusion

319

(2)

Chapter 25: Exception Handling in C++

321

(18)

The Mountains (Landmarks of Exception Safety)

322

(1)

A History of this Territory

323

(1)

The Tar Pit

324

(2)

Tar!

326

(1)

The Royal Road

326

(2)

The Assignment Operator-A Special Case

328

(1)

In Bad Weather

329

(3)

Looking back

332

(5)

References

337

(2)

Chapter 26: Building a Great Watchdog

339

(18)

Internal WDTs

342

(1)

External WDTs

343

(2)

Characteristics of Great WDTs

345

(2)

Using an Internal WDT

347

(2)

An External WDT

349

(1)

WDTs for Multitasking

350

(2)

Summary and Other Thoughts

352

(3)

Appendix A: ASCII Table

355

(2)

Appendix B: Byte Alignment and Ordering

357

(4)

Byte Alignment Restrictions

357

(2)

Byte Ordering

359

(2)

Index

361

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The Firmware Handbook

Summary

Table of Contents

Supplemental Materials