6 trends in embedded systems that will change systems engineering
There is no question that a transformation is taking place in product development: New technologies are making new products possible and we are changing the way we think about established products, such as cars. But what trends are driving this transformation? Below I describe six trends that are based on the Keynote speech by Jean-Marc Chery which he gave at Embedded World 2019.
This is a summary that is still in more detail on the Formal Mind Blog in English is to be found.
A few trends
To quantify the changes, first a few figures. We can expect the following changes in the five years from 2017-2021:
- Number of portable (networked) devices: 300 → 800 million
- Number of networked household appliances: 0.4 → 1.8 billion
- Number of industrial (networked) devices: 4 → 10 billion
- Number of smart devices in the vehicle sector: 1.1 → 2.2 billion
These figures - and the resulting opportunities - are driving the following 6 trends:
More performance is needed for new functions, features, security and much more. The current architectures also need to be adapted, as they do not scale endlessly.
At the same time, there is pressure to minimize energy consumption. This can take place on many levels, both in hardware and software.
I already wrote an article on this topic last year IoT security: a tsunami is coming.
The more software flows into the products, the more important it is to take this into account, which also has an impact on the corresponding functional safety standards.
Networking is on the increase. And this applies not only to the network technologies we use in everyday life but also in other, surprising situations. For example, cables in robots are increasingly being replaced by local area network technologies, as this is more reliable.
Machines will increasingly make their own decisions. A decision must also be made as to where the data processing takes place: In the node, in the cloud, or at the edge of the network? Many of the algorithms used will employ machine learning, which makes development more complex.
Conclusion
For consumers, we live in a time of abundance. But we still have a lot to do to fulfill these expectations!
One more detailed description is on the Formal Mind Blog in English to find.
