Embedded Software and Industrial IoT
Embedded software is specialized software designed to perform a defined task on specific hardware. At the heart of every modern electronic product — from smart watches to industrial control panels, from automotive ECUs to medical devices — runs an embedded system.
Layers of a Modern Embedded System
A modern embedded system architecture consists of multiple layers:
- Hardware Layer: Microcontroller (MCU/MPU), sensors, actuators, and communication interfaces.
- BSP (Board Support Package): Drivers and startup code that bridge hardware and software.
- RTOS or Bare Metal: Provides task management, scheduling, and resource sharing.
- Application Layer: Business logic, protocol stacks, and user interface.
RTOS or Bare Metal?
For simple, single-task applications, bare metal (without RTOS) software is preferred — interrupt-driven architecture is sufficient. However, when multiple tasks must run concurrently, communication protocols need to be handled, or energy efficiency must be optimized, real-time operating systems like FreeRTOS, Zephyr, or ThreadX come into play.
In MECRONIC projects, the decision is typically based on: number of tasks, timing precision, memory constraints, and features to be added to the system down the road.
Industrial IoT Architecture
In industrial IoT, the device collects data, processes it, makes local decisions when needed (edge computing), and transmits it to the cloud. The key components of this pipeline:
- Sensor Integration: Data acquisition via I²C, SPI, UART, ADC interfaces.
- Edge Processing: Filtering, compressing, and converting raw data into meaningful information on the device.
- Connectivity: Cloud transmission via MQTT, Modbus TCP, OPC-UA, Wi-Fi, BLE, or LoRaWAN.
- Security: TLS/DTLS encryption, certificate-based authentication, and secure OTA updates.
OTA Updates and Long-Term Maintenance
Over-the-air (OTA) firmware updates — without requiring physical access to field devices — are now a necessity in industrial products. Secure OTA requires signed firmware, rollback mechanisms, and bootloader protection. When this infrastructure is not planned at the design stage, implementing it later is both costly and risky.
"Embedded software is as much a part of the product as the hardware. Planning the software architecture from the very beginning of the design prevents costly revisions later."
— MECRONIC Software Team
At MECRONIC, we architect the embedded software in parallel with the hardware design, and stay by your side from the prototype stage all the way through field testing.