Embedded Forum 2020 Highlights: Tools, Microcontrollers, IoT, and Low‑Power Design

During the four‑day electronica 2020, the Embedded Forum delivered a series of keynotes and technical presentations that covered the entire spectrum of embedded systems design and development.

The program spanned from the essential tools and software that drive end‑to‑end product lifecycles, through the evolution of microcontrollers past and present, to the challenges of a future smart, connected world. In particular, the sessions addressed the growing ecosystem of IoT devices—highlighting security, connectivity, and low‑power design for billions of sensors and edge devices that must operate for years or even rely on energy harvesting for battery‑free operation.

All keynote talks and technical sessions are available on‑demand. Free registration is required—see the Embedded Forum link below for full access.

Day 1: Tools and Software

Electronic systems are now integral to everyday life, yet their complexity continues to grow. Aileen Ryan, Senior Director of Portfolio Strategy at Mentor (a Siemens Business), opened the day with a keynote that examined how the next generation of tools and software can help engineers design systems that are safe, secure, and resilient. She underscored the critical role of product‑lifecycle management in achieving these goals.

Additional talks explored delivering deterministic real‑time performance on multicore processors, applying mutation testing for higher test quality, optimizing traceability in Industry 4.0, enforcing concise and uniform model descriptions through automated architecture conformance checks, and migrating AI/ML algorithms onto heterogeneous architectures with custom instructions.

Day 2: Microcontrollers

Daniel Cooley, Chief Strategy Officer at Silicon Labs, provided a forward‑looking keynote that traced the evolution of embedded microcontrollers over the past two decades and identified the future need for more secure, smart controllers amid the explosive growth of IoT, connectivity, and AI.

Other sessions covered microcontroller interface evolution, energy‑harvesting techniques for extending battery life in IoT sensors, a case study of a smart camera for non‑intrusive vital‑sign detection built on a MIPS solution, open‑source RISC‑V processors and their hardware implementation, and the advantages of custom instructions.

Day 3: IoT, Connectivity, Security

The prevailing theme of the day was the convergence of IoT, connectivity, and security. Flavio Bonomi, technical advisor at Lynx Software Technologies and widely regarded as the father of fog computing, delivered a keynote on the next phase of edge computing. He highlighted the shift toward “systems of systems” architectures, time‑sensitive networking, and dynamic processing that bring intelligence closer to the data source.

The day’s 12 talks addressed a range of topics, from environmental sensors and robust packet handling to electrostatic discharge protection, efficient over‑the‑air firmware updates, prescriptive remote management, condition‑based monitoring, wearable devices, and embedded device security. Sessions also explored lessons from past security breaches, secure flash memory, and secure provisioning.

Day 4: Low‑Power Design

The final day focused on low‑power design, a critical area as IoT, wearables, hearables, and edge devices scale exponentially. Ravi Ambatipudi, Vice President & General Manager for the Mobile Power Business Unit at Maxim Integrated, opened with a keynote that traced historical trends in battery‑operated systems and discussed the evolving challenges of low‑power IC design, battery management, and topology‑level power solutions.

Complementary talks covered simplifying thermal management in high‑reliability processors, challenges in portable low‑power device testing, ultra‑low‑power and battery‑free connectivity for smart lighting, reducing current draw to enhance IoT endpoint intelligence, and enabling embedded vision through ultra‑low‑power image classification. A session also showcased an IoT smart selector web tool that assists engineers in choosing the optimal battery for low‑power applications.

All speaker details, session outlines, and video recordings of keynotes and technical presentations are available upon free registration – click here.