EM
Embedded Systems Architecture
Guidelines for embedded systems architecture.
Details
Language / Topic
_UUniversal
Category
Architecture
Rules
balanced
Embedded Systems Architecture
- Use static memory allocation — avoid dynamic allocation (malloc/new) in production firmware to prevent fragmentation and non-deterministic behavior.
- Separate hardware abstraction (HAL) from application logic so business logic is portable across MCUs and testable on a host PC.
- Use fixed-priority preemptive scheduling (RTOS) or cooperative super-loop with explicit state machines — never use unbounded blocking waits.
Embedded Systems Architecture
- Use static memory allocation — avoid dynamic allocation (malloc/new) in production firmware to prevent heap fragmentation, memory leaks, and non-deterministic behavior.
- Separate hardware abstraction (HAL) from application logic with clean interfaces so business logic is portable across MCUs and testable on a host PC without hardware.
- Use fixed-priority preemptive scheduling (RTOS) or a cooperative super-loop with explicit state machines — never use unbounded blocking waits that can cause watchdog timeouts.
- Keep ISRs (interrupt service routines) minimal — set a flag or enqueue to a buffer and defer processing to the main loop or a task.
- Use ring buffers for producer-consumer data flow between ISRs and tasks — they are lock-free, fixed-size, and cache-friendly.
- Define explicit power states and transition logic — manage sleep modes, peripheral clock gating, and wake-up sources systematically.
- Use compile-time configuration (defines, constexpr) over runtime configuration to minimize code size and maximize determinism.