💻 5 best practices for writing ISRs

Interrupt Service Routines (ISRs) are essential for embedded systems, but poorly written ISRs can cause race conditions, poor responsiveness, and high CPU usage.

To write effective ISRs, it's crucial to keep them short and fast to minimize CPU cycle consumption and avoid timing issues. Avoid calling functions within ISRs to reduce execution time and prevent system instability. Instead, use static compilation, preprocessor, and inline functions to streamline ISR code without compromising modularity.

Additionally, offload intensive processes to other threads by using flags, queues, and proper synchronization to ensure efficient and responsive ISRs. Declaring shared variables as volatile prevents compiler optimizations that might lead to unpredictable behavior. Customize default ISR handlers to set diagnostic flags instead of infinite loops to handle unexpected interrupts safely. By following these best practices, you can enhance the performance and reliability of your embedded systems.

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#programming

🍏 Apple Intelligence: Apple’s New Generative AI Unveiled

At WWDC 2024 which took place today, Apple introduced Apple Intelligence, a generative AI integrated across its ecosystem. Apple Intelligence is designed to offer highly personalized experiences while prioritizing user privacy.

It’s personal intelligence, and it’s the next big step for Apple
Tim Cook

This announcement underscores the integration of Apple Intelligence into iOS, macOS, and VisionOS. SVP Craig Federighi highlighted that much of the processing occurs locally on Apple silicon, with additional support from Private Cloud Compute for tasks needing cloud resources.

The key moments of the presentation:
➡️Enhanced Siri: Deeply integrated with new capabilities, including text-based queries and expanded App Intents for first and third-party apps.
➡️App Integration: Helps compose messages in Mail and supports Smart Replies.
➡️Image Playground: On-device image generation for apps like Messages and Keynote.
➡️Image Wand: A tool for Apple Pencil to create images from text.

Apple Intelligence will be available on iPhone 15 Pro and M1 Mac and iPad devices with upcoming OS updates. Additionally, Apple announced a partnership with OpenAI to integrate ChatGPT into Siri, offering advanced image and text generation features.

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#news #artificial_intelligence

©️ Strategies for Handling Padding in C Programming

In C programming, padding refers to the extra memory space added between members of a structure to align the data in a way that the CPU can access it more efficiently. Normally, the compiler adds padding to structures to align data members according to their natural boundaries. Consider the following structure in a firmware written for a 32-bit system:

struct foo {
  uint32_t i;
  uint8_t b;
};

In this example, the compiler adds 3 bytes of padding after "b" to ensure the structure’s total size is a multiple of 4 bytes, making it 8 bytes in total.

To address this issue the referred article proposes several strategies regarding structure padding to optimize memory layout and access efficiency, particularly focusing on packed structures.

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#programming

🍏 New Embedded Programming Language by Apple

The last week at WWDC 2024, Apple showed its new programming language for resource-constrained systems. Embedded Swift is a specialized version of Apple's 🖥 Swift programming language designed for microcontrollers like the 🇨🇳 ESP32, 🍓 Raspberry Pi RP2040, 🦋 STM32. It enables the development of IoT and low-power devices with Swift's familiar syntax and features.

Features of the language:
➡️Supports value and reference types, closures, optionals, and error handling
➡️Designed for the constrained environments of microcontrollers
➡️Seamlessly integrates with existing C and C++ SDKs
➡️Wide range of supported microcontrollers and plenty of code examples

Embedded Swift brings the benefits of Swift's ergonomics, safety features, and ease of use to embedded development, making it accessible for both hobbyists and professional developers familiar with 🖥 Swift language.

More information:
🔗 The main article
😹 The GitHub repository
📺 The YouTube video

#news #swift #programming

💻 Qt vs. Flutter: Which Framework is Right for Your Embedded Project?

Choosing between Qt and Flutter for embedded project development depends on the specific technical needs of the project.

Qt, built on C++, excels in native performance and efficiency, making it ideal for complex, high-performance applications. It offers extensive libraries and robust community support, catering to projects that require sophisticated functionalities and direct hardware access, such as medical devices and low-end hardware without GPU support.

On the other hand, Flutter focuses on rapid development and cost-effectiveness, utilizing Dart for an accessible programming experience. Key features like hot reload enable quick iteration, and a single codebase ensures consistent UI across platforms.

To sum up, Qt is suited for intricate, performance-critical applications, while Flutter is ideal for projects prioritizing speed, cost-efficiency, and cross-platform consistency.

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#articles #qt #flutter #programming

🇸🇬 Singaporian Researchers developed a flexible battery for smart contact lenses

A team from Nanyang Technological University has developed a flexible and thin battery for smart contact lenses that can be powered by a wearer’s tears.

The development overcomes the limitations of current rechargeable batteries that depend on metal electrodes or induction coils. Offering a safer and more efficient alternative, this new battery can produce enough power for smart contact lenses which might be used in augmented reality, health monitoring, and disease treatment.

Right now researchers are working towards commercializing their invention and collaborating with contact lens companies to further enhance the technology.

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#news #battery

📺 Comparing Fake vs. Genuine Power Semiconductors

In this video, the author shows the significant performance differences between genuine and fake power semiconductors using advanced testing equipment.

Viewers will learn that fake semiconductors have much higher on-resistance and lower gate charge, resulting in poorer efficiency and higher temperatures in practical applications like a DC/DC converter.

The video demonstrates static tests with a curve tracer and dynamic tests with a double pulse tester, highlighting the critical importance of using genuine components for reliable and efficient device operation.

⛓ https://youtu.be/3BIpCOOiHKw

#video #electronics

💻 What happens to the semiconductor industry If China invades Taiwan?

As the tensions in the Asia region continue to grow, the industry analysts are trying to foresee any possible scenario. As such, if China invades Taiwan, the global semiconductor industry would face severe disruptions due to Taiwan's dominance in chip manufacturing. Taiwan produces over 60% of the world's chips and 70% of advanced chips smaller than 7 nanometers.

TSMC, a major Taiwanese company, supplies chips to tech giants like Apple and Google and has started diversifying production to the US, Japan, and Germany to mitigate risks. Nonetheless, any conflict disrupting Taiwan's chip production could cause a global shortage, skyrocketing prices, and significant economic impact.

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📺 Fusion Power: Inside the ITER Project

This new documentary explores the ambitious ITER project in 🇫🇷 France, where scientists and engineers are working tirelessly to harness nuclear fusion, a technology that could be a potential solution to the global energy crisis.

The video beautifully captures the construction of the fusion reactor, showcasing impressive infrastructure, cutting-edge engineering, and the most complex equipment in the world, highlighting the extraordinary human endeavor behind this monumental project.

⛓ https://youtu.be/sBaU4BVM5h8

#video #energy #fusion

🦠 CrowdStrike Update Highlights the Need for Safer Programming Languages

A global IT outage affecting 8.5 million Windows devices was caused by a faulty update from CrowdStrike, leading to significant disruptions. The issue stemmed from a null pointer bug in the C++ code of the update, which triggered widespread system crashes. Specifically, the program attempted to access memory at an invalid address ("0x000000000000009c"), resulting in a cascade of failures across various critical services and platforms.

Many experts argue that if the update had been written in 🦀 Rust, the compiler would have caught the null pointer bug before deployment, avoiding the widespread disruptions and ensuring safer software deployment practices.

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#news #crowdstrike #rust #programming #security

🤖 ESP32 and ESP8266: Timer Interrupts with MicroPython

This tutorial guides you through using timer interrupts with the 🇨🇳 ESP32/ESP8266 boards programmed in MicroPython. You’ll learn to schedule and execute tasks at specified intervals or delays using timer interrupts, which rely on the board's hardware timer.

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#articles #beginner #esp32 #micropython

🤖 Navigating Elevators: Enhancing Human-Robot Interaction

In NAVER 1784, a study focused on optimizing 📺 robot behaviors in elevators was conducted to improve human satisfaction. It revealed that both politeness and efficiency matter, but time is slightly more critical. Humans perceive robots as slower when they make unnecessary movements, impacting satisfaction even if the actual time taken is the same.

Continuous updates to robots' boarding rules and positions are made to enhance their perceived competence and efficiency. This research highlights the importance of considering human perceptions in Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) to ensure smooth integration of robots in everyday environments.

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#news #robots