eSIM – from physical cards to software solutions

eSIM – from physical cards to software solutions

What is the difference between an eSIM and a SIM? An eSIM is actually a SIM with Remote Provisioning, which means you can change carrier profiles remotely. No visit to the dealership and no replacement of the physical card. Most commonly found as a chip in an MFF2 case.Note, eSIM is not MFF2! The MFF2…

SIM card in embedded

SIM card in embedded

SIM technology has been a cornerstone of mobile connectivity for decades, enabling the identification and authentication of users on mobile networks. Before we dive into the meanderings of eSIM and its M2M version – it’s time for some details about SIM cards What is a SIM? It’s a security component. It’s a traditional card that…

Static in embedded

Static in embedded

Sometimes in a meeting it can happen that a question arises that on the surface seems easy, however, it raises a series of further inquiries. Such was the case in the situation at hand, when a whole series of questions emerged from a seemingly simple question about the C language keyword, “Static.” And here is…

Local testing of IoT device

Local testing of IoT device

While “internet” is not the first thing we think of when we hear about embedded, today, in the era of the Internet of Things, such an association is most appropriate. More and more devices are now connecting to the network, sending data to servers and exchanging it with other devices. Therefore, knowledge of how computer…

BLE and nRF5340: Your own characterization

BLE and nRF5340: Your own characterization

In this article, we’ll show you how to get a quick start on implementing basic BLE communications using Nordic Semiconductor’s nRF5340 processor on the nRF5340-DK development board. ‍ Project preparation We start our adventure by setting up the environment with nRF Connect SDK and Visual Studio Code, using an extension from Nordic. Getting started instructions are available in…

Bluetooth Low Energy in embedded: How to bite it?

Bluetooth Low Energy in embedded: How to bite it?

These days, as we look at the shelves of hardware, every piece of electronics seems to shout “I’m SMART!”. In this hustle and bustle, being part of the IoT is no longer a fad, but a standard. In short, every device must be able to talk to others. There is a whole range of communication…

Embedded software vs unit testing, mocking and dependency injection

Embedded software vs unit testing, mocking and dependency injection

As an embedded systems developer, I have often faced the challenge of integrating effective unit tests in an environment where hardware dependencies are an integral part of the development process. In this article, I want to share my experiences and techniques that have helped me overcome these challenges. I will focus on the use of…

Circular buffer as a key data structure

Circular buffer as a key data structure

Can the cyclic buffer, due to its simplicity, efficiency and multi-threaded security, be considered a key data structure in embedded software. In this article, we present the cyclic/circular buffer as an efficient and simple data structure often used in embedded software, especially for FIFO queues. We highlight its speed of operation, memory savings and safety…

Meson: a modern and efficient Build System for C/C++

Meson: a modern and efficient Build System for C/C++

What is Meson? Meson is an open sourcebuild system that is designed to be fast and as user-friendly as possible. The authors claim that when designing meson they had in the back of their minds that every second spent by a developer debugging a build system is a second wasted. To achieve the aforementioned ease of…

GPIO expander in a challenging environment – SX1509

GPIO expander in a challenging environment – SX1509

In embedded software, lighting LEDs is a simple task that can be a challenge in projects with limited PCB space. The problem is the lack of microcontroller pins. The solution is GPIO expanders, which allow multiple I/O to be handled via serial interfaces like I2C. The article discusses the challenges with latency in controlling LEDs…