With the constant efforts to build functionalities and fit small devices into even smaller ones, basics like security often get neglected. Embedded and firmware is a niche where people intend to develop more ingenious solutions and opt for minimalistic product creation. Here are a few challenges which are potential threats that can fracture the systems and needs to be addressed.

Crealoons Innovations have attempted to share our experience and observation with the Embedded and firmware services through this blog.

Security is the biggest concern that is neglected; why?

IoT takes over billions of devices now, modern devices are coming up with compact & smaller version. To fit in the process, the urge to add more functionalities in the same device & the process of early launch somewhere testing is compromised. Hence security being a key concern remains a question.

There are have been few breaches that has happened early this year-
– The Solar Winds Hack
– NZ Reserve Bank Data Breach
– Precision Spine Care Data Breach

This can affect organisations credibility, losing customer’s trust and financial loss too.

Apart from security, there are other challenges to be addressed too-

  • Safety

Working in critical segments like life-saving functionality, it becomes a primary medium. Hence the quality testing and engineering expertise become key driver.

  • Launch phase

There is still a colossal wait cycle between marketing and generating revenue if we exclude, which is the time span between making and time to market. Especially when embedded and firmware devices are supported by IoT now. It takes a more extended period for timely updates, and the final release becomes a challenge for the component designer. There is a need of multi-disciplinary expertise and broader bandwidth of core technical team working on designing and mechanical engineering facets, supports its clients to push the process fast for quicker returns.

  • More scalability in design

The market demands smaller devices with a more extended period, with the constant need for scalability and cost centricity. This combination is a bit challenging for embedded and firmware product. There is a need to focus on creating a more capable system with a higher rate of performance in internal and external configurations.

  • The pace of change

The growth in the area of embedded and firmware system was slow initially. In the past five years, we witness the fast development of engineering segments like artificial intelligence. Thus, cause a challenge for developers to match the pace. By the time they master one technology, there is a new one invented already.

  • Avoiding the extra cost- Debugging

Debugging is always a parallel challenge that happens with connected devices. Hence, the project ends up at an additional cost. There is a need to understand the software integration and unexpected behavioural tendencies to interact well. It is crucial to understand and ensure the project has agile flow and execution is planned promptly with its technically well-equipped team.

Final words-

All the above key challenges are to be addressed in the initial stage of development. It is when the resources are within reach. Embedded and firmware is the core of the system, is supposed to be headstrong over other enterprise tools’ support.

All said & done! The keywords driving our daily lives through embedded systems are changeability, variability, configuration, and extendibility. They bring smarter ways to change daily lives.

Crealoons Innovations is a team of professionals who have been supporting multiple organisations for forming smart devices by understanding futuristic demand & approach.