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Volume 2, Number 3 Copyright 1997 TGG July 14, 1997
You may redistribute this newsletter for noncommercial purposes. For commercial use contact jack@ganssle.com.
EDITOR: Jack Ganssle, jack@ganssle.com
CONTENTS:
- Mars Pathfinder
- Embedded Seminar in Boston
- Thought for the Week
- About The Embedded Muse
Mars Pathfinder
Mars Pathfinder withstood its spectacular descent and landing on Mars intact; the rover Sojourner is now happily scurrying about the planet’s surface acquiring data.
The rover is quite a fascinating device. With an 11 minute time delay between the Earth and Mars it has to be rather autonomous, yet clearly there’s not much of an energy or size budget for a lot of computer horsepower. Sojourner is quite a little fellow after all, with a rather small solar array. Apparently it’s capable of producing about 16 watts at peak solar illumination - not a lot of energy.
It would be fascinating to understand the decision process that led the engineers to select a 20 year old CPU for this very modern mission. Certainly radiation hardening must have been important, as well as low power consumption and high reliability.
My hat’s off to all of the engineers who built this amazing mix of the modern and the old, that has performed so well for the last week. It’s exciting to extend our presence - even if only virtually - to another planet.
Embedded Seminar! Boston - Thursday, September 18
One of the gratifying things about writing for the magazines and producing this newsletter is the response from so many of you. Since leaving the tool business I’ve been overwhelmed with requests for both private and public seminars - usually, the request goes, “anything about embedded systems”. So, I’ve decided to conduct a one-day class on embedded systems in Boston on September 18.
It’s called “The 24 Best Ideas for Developing Better Firmware Faster”, and is for the developer who is honestly looking for new ideas, but who wants to cut through the academic fluff of formal methodologies and immediately find better ways to work.
The focus is uniquely on embedded systems, where firmware can only be understood in the context of the hardware. I’ll talk about ways to link the hardware and software, to identify and stamp out bugs, to manage risk, and to meet impossible deadlines.
Colleges prepare people with a fine theoretical background, but the skills needed to schedule, manage, and complete a product come from casual mentoring by co-workers. Isn’t it astonishing that such a technical, complex art is acquired by on-the-job experience? Why don’t we train developers in the art of doing projects?
For more information check out www.ganssle.com or email info@ganssle.com.
Thought for the Week
The World's Last C Bug:
while (1)
{
status = GetRadarInfo();
if (status = 1)
LaunchMissiles();
}