Firmware for the Common Man
Embedded Systems Come Down from the Mountain

A colleague told me that the embedded systems conference felt different this year. Yes, it was the first run of the new 4-in-1 super-conference which combined the Embedded Systems Conference with the Communications Design Conference, Power Electronics, and Emerging Technologies Forum to form the obliquely-named “ElectronicaUSA” in San Francisco’s Moscone Center. Yes, there were acres of booths and exhibits containing everything from pen-sized suction-cup manipulators for handling components to a full-scale replica of the Mars Rovers “Spirit” and “Opportunity.” (Oh yes, and some embedded systems stuff too.) And yes, there were more enthusiastic attendees flowing through the gauntlet of eager marketing representatives showcasing their companies’ latest innovations than I’d seen at any technology conference in recent memory.

While all these things were welcome signs of a successful event, another, more subtle trend was in evidence. The technologies showcased here were more accessible this year. The products being designed with embedded technology today are closer to the masses. They control automobiles and video games and PDAs; washing machines and toasters and digital televisions. For a number of years now, technology has been creeping down the mountain from rarified, abstract applications such as wireless infrastructure, network routers, and industrial automation systems and it has finally, firmly arrived at ground zero where the rest of us live. I realized as I walked around the floor that I really didn’t know how many embedded processors I was carrying on my person right then. Between laptop, cellphone, digital camera, PDA, watch… I had to estimate the number at five or six. [more]

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