Hardware-Independent Embedded Firmware Architecture Framework

Abstract

Unlike other forms of development, the way firmware development is designed is somewhat outdated. It is not unusual to come across whole systems implemented in a cross-dependent monolithic way. In addition, the software of many implementations is hardware-dependent. Hence, significant hardware changes may result in extensive firmware implementation reviews that can be time-consuming and lead to low-quality ports, which may represent an important problem for Internet of Things (IoT) applications that evolve very frequently. To address this problem, this study proposes an embedded firmware development framework that allows reuse and portability while improving the firmware development life cycle. In addition, the typical mistakes of a novice software developer can be reduced by employing this methodology. An embedded IoT system project was refactored for this framework model to validate this proposal. Finally, a comparison was made between a legacy and framework project to demonstrate that the proposed framework can make a substantial improvement in portability, reuse, modularity, and other firmware factors.