The development of firmware is much more challenging than in the past. Creating connected devices is still very challenging for developers, especially now that almost everything is connected. Developers face a lot of challenges due to the increasing complexity of systems. To make a fully functioning system in this modern era, developers have to overcome the following challenges:
1. Connectivity
Connectivity is a significant challenge for modern developers. The developer has to address all the options to access an internet connection. Bluetooth bridges, Cellular, Ethernet, Wi-Fi, etc. The firmware developer has to analyze all the pros and cons of using each connectivity option.
The developer also has to learn the software stacks which come with the option they choose. He also has to understand the protocols for the internet connection, e.g., TCP/IP, COAP, UDP, etc. They then have to learn MQTT and TLS and understand the challenges they might face when accessing servers.
2. Over-the-Air Updates
Did you know that you can update devices remotely? With the more traditional stand-alone devices, developers would email the customers, who were then expected to get their firmware updates at secure sites.
The modern firmware developer has made this possible by learning how to generate firmware-update jobs, secure the updates, validate that the source is valid, withdraw the updates if they are faulty, and determine the appropriate time to perform a firmware update. The process is very tricky and time-consuming and has made the development of firmware a lot more challenging than it used to be.
3. Security
Every connected device is usually visible to other devices with an internet connection. A firmware developer must learn to ensure that their devices are safe from evolving security threats.
Developers have to think about the security of their firmware in every firmware development stage; they can't just add it as a last-minute consideration. This makes firmware development very complicated because the security threats are continuously changing. The developer needs to understand which information they need to protect and how the system should be isolated and partitioned. This helps them have a clear picture of the security level of their system.
When developing firmware, developers need to ensure that it is stable. The stability of firmware is of utmost importance. This means that the firmware should never behave unexpectedly, posing serious problems for the system. The behavior of firmware should be uniform under every circumstance. Ensuring stability is a big task for the developers to ensure durability.
Firmware is used in very many life-saving and critical functionalities. Therefore, the safety of the firmware is a crucial factor that plays a big role during its development. This means that the development stages of the firmware have a lot of strict requirements that demand engineering expertise, a lot of testing, and the development of a high-quality product.
4. Debugging
Most firmware is usually developed by a team or teams of experts rather than a single individual. Using a team to develop the firmware usually increases the system's complexity and, in turn, makes debugging more difficult and time-consuming. The integration of different firmware that different teams have developed can sometimes create other problems that further increase the time required to debug.
Approximately 40% of a firmware developer's time is spent debugging. To reduce the duration the developers take and the costs they incur while debugging, they need to learn as many debugging techniques as possible.
5. Rapid Change
Technology today shifts dramatically in a relatively short amount of time, in contrast to the gradual pace of technological advancement in the past when firmware development techniques remained largely unchanged for an extended period of time. To ensure that the systems are up to date and can perform at the same level as the currently available technology, the firmware developers need to keep up with the constantly evolving technology. Since this is the case, it is essential for them to learn and then forget a broad range of technologies as they come and go.
Bottom Line
When it comes to developing firmware for connected devices, modern firmware developers face a variety of challenges, some of the most significant of which have been outlined above. A good firmware developer ought to be able to overcome these challenges and create a sound system despite the fact that solutions are available for the majority of these issues.