Professional Articles

How embedded systems can benefit from immutable Linux in a container environment.

Immutable Linux is a concept where a base Linux system exists in read-only form and cannot be modified or deleted. The core of the idea is that a base Linux exists with immutable system files and directories and functions, or sub-areas are modularized by being moved out into containers. Each change made is – where it is at all possible – only temporarily and/or surely separated.

When developing embedded systems that are to be real-time capable, one of the first and most important questions is whether the applications should run under a real-time operating system (RTOS) or whether a bare-metal solution should be developed. Bare-metal programming is generally understood to mean that an application is written directly on the hardware without using an external programming interface, i.e. an operating system. Applications access here directly hardware registers of…

Linux makes valuable contributions as a component of medical devices. Due to a large user base, security gaps are quickly detected and thus also closed. Of course, it also plays a role at this point that a professional team takes care of the maintenance of a Linux integration in medical devices and that the system is also regularly maintained. An optimal combination of a core development team and the use of open source can bring great advances in medical technology. The biggest advantage of…

When people think of satellite-based GPS, they envision a high-tech satellite navigation system that can pinpoint locations worldwide to within a few meters. But global navigation systems (GNSS) such as the American GPS or the European Galileo struggle with many environmental interferences. So-called satellite-based augmentation systems (SBAS) improve the performance of these navigation systems by correcting their data. From 2022, the Korean peninsula will also benefit from the PikeOS-based SBAS…

The electronic systems such as the anti-lock braking system inside a modern car are able to take control of critical systems such as the steering and braking gears. This significantly increases functional safety during vehicle operation, but at the same time also creates the risk of unauthorized access. Consequently, the functional safety of a vehicle must be supported by IT security measures. Real-time applications require deterministic response times, which can only be achieved with the help…

For many years, embedded Linux systems have been used predominantly in networked environments. These systems worked well for a long time - true to the motto "Never touch a running system". However, this inevitably leads to security problems and is accompanied by the fact that, according to the latest Cyber Security Report by Allensbach and Deloitte, managers see a growing threat situation in their IT infrastructures. Embedded systems can be found in many electronic devices - from specialized…

What steps led to the creation of a heterogeneous overall system that meets the functional safety requirements defined in ISO 26262?