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Real-time embedded systems for industrial automation
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Industrial automation enabled unparalleled productivity and efficiency for businesses across multiple sectors, primarily manufacturing, agriculture, and healthtech.
At its core are embedded systems, working silently to provide precise control, monitoring, and operation.
In simple terms, an embedded system is the pairing of software and hardware to build task-specific devices. These are often integrated into larger systems, which are made for more complex tasks.
While hardware components are the muscles of an embedded system, the software is the brain or neural network that makes it function.
We're talking about embedded systems apps, firmware, drivers, bootloaders, and Real-Time Operating Systems (RTOS).
In this post, we'll take a look at a particular type of embedded systems software: real-time embedded systems apps.
More specifically, we'll unveil what they are, how they work, and the intricate art of developing them.
But first, a quick introduction.
Here's a quick rundown of the types of embedded systems software and how they differ:
Aside from the examples listed above, there are also real-time embedded systems apps.
Just like embedded systems apps, these are software developed for user-facing tasks. The key difference is that real-time apps follow stringent timing constraints, be it for the sake of safety, performance, or stability of the system's operation.
Real-time embedded systems apps are critical in industrial automation, where consistency and predictability are paramount.
To better understand this, let's go over a few real-world examples:
PLCs are initially designed to replace complex and cumbersome electromechanical relay systems, executing automated control functions in industrial applications through a more usable software interface. Some of their primary functions include synchronizing machinery in manufacturing lines, controlling conveyors, and managing automated quality control stations.
While HMIs and PLCs are often used together, both types of embedded systems perform different functions. In simple terms, the primary use case of HMIs is to allow human operators to control and monitor industrial processes (whereas PLCs execute pre-programmed control logic).
SCADA systems provide human operators with a bird's-eye view of entire production lines. These systems aggregate and compile real-time sensor data into graphical dashboards, which may also come with digital controls for fine-tuning processes and system parameters.
Similar to SCADA systems, a DCS is also a type of embedded system for monitoring and controlling automated processes. But although SCADA is used for broader data acquisition across distributed systems, DCS is designed for localized, real-time process control (i.e., ABB 800xA for remote monitoring and control of industrial processes).
These embedded systems facilitate the connectivity and exchange of data and instructions between industrial IoT machines. Other systems like SCADAs, HMIs, and PLCs may also use IIoT systems for more streamlined process automation, monitoring, and preventive maintenance.
Although the software side of real-time embedded systems may not always include a user-facing app, having one comes with huge benefits:
Planning to maximize the potential of your industrial automation embedded system?
Before we go any further, take note that you can always source your software development to seasoned developers, especially if you're prioritizing faster time to market, dependable software quality, and seamless integration with industrial automation embedded systems. You can learn more by booking a free consultation here.
Follow this guide to create real-time embedded systems apps for industrial automation:
The early stages of developing real-time embedded system apps involve defining your functional needs.
Start with a clear and exhaustive list of all the core functionalities your app needs to include. Be as specific as possible, like "enabling real-time monitoring of factory production and operating metrics" and "adding emergency and automated controls for safety."
Defining clear function requirements allows for more focused real-time app design and development down the line. Just be sure to consult your stakeholders, including your operators and engineers, to make sure everyone is on the same page.
When picking a software framework for your real-time embedded app, a key consideration would be your target platform, be it a tablet, desktop or laptop computer, smartphone, or a custom hardware Graphical User Interface (GUI).
Below are some of the top options and their advantages:
Website: https://www.qt.io/
A robust and versatile platform capable of building cross-platform embedded system apps.
Qt features a comprehensive collection of tools for planning, building, and testing real-time embedded systems. It is trusted by a range of well-known brands (e.g., Peugeot, LG Electronics, and Formlabs) across multiple industries, including automotive, Business Intelligence (BI), home appliances, aerospace, and medtech.
Website: https://flutter.dev/
Flutter's key selling point is cross-device development.
While this is not unique to the platform, it streamlines the process of developing apps with a single codebase, be it for mobile, tablets, desktops, browsers, or proprietary embedded systems.
Flutter also comes with a "hot reload" feature, which can refresh or restart apps on a simulated or physical hardware environment in a snap. This allows developers to build, test, and iterate applications much faster than with other software platforms.
Website: https://eclipseide.org/
Eclipse IDE lets you take advantage of Java's platform independence, which can help you develop robust user-facing embedded systems applications.
As a well-established, open development platform, its main strength lies in its rich ecosystem of plugins and debugging tools. This extensibility lets you customize the platform to suit your development goals and workflows, like creating cross-platform monitoring and control software for industrial automation.
Aside from the choices above, here are other tools you should consider when picking your embedded software platform:
The next step is to set up the rest of your software development environment, including installing your Software Development Kits (SDKs), setting up your toolchain (e.g., compiler and debugger), and integrating the essential vendor-specific libraries.
You also have to decide whether your application needs an RTOS, which will require further configuration.
Here are some of the biggest reasons to do so:
Deciding if you need an RTOS will make it easier to build a more cohesive embedded software ecosystem, as opposed to building operating systems designed to work underneath embedded apps after the fact. Just bear in mind that this will add more memory and CPU overhead, making your software substantially more resource-hungry than bare-metal systems.
For RTOS development, you need specialized tools like FreeRTOS, Zephyr, and Real-Time Executive for Multiprocessor Systems (RTEMS). You then have to configure the RTOS for your embedded system's hardware, which includes optimizing task prioritization, setting the stack sizes, and adjusting timing constraints to meet the real-time system's requirements.
Once you have all the tools necessary for your embedded system's software, you need to break your embedded application into components.
For example, your entire system architecture may include modular components like the sensor drivers, data logger, error handler, task scheduler, and communication protocol handler.
Next, define your system's task partitioning to optimize resource allocation, like RAM, communication buses, and processor cores. See to it that critical tasks are prioritized to meet deadlines and visualize your architecture (including data flow and task interactions) using a block diagram or flowchart.
With your system architecture laid out, it's time to bring your app to life.
Naturally, the language you'll need will depend on your development software stack.
Building with Qt, for example, works best with C++ and Python, whereas Eclipse IDE is for Java.
If you have skill gaps in your internal dev team, consider outsourcing freelancers or working with a software development agency.
Remember, each component should be coded as a separate module.
Lacking the manpower and technical skills will bottleneck the process, increasing costs and negatively impacting your app's performance or reliability in the future. At the very least, consider hiring an external consultant to get your development team off on the right track.
Rigorous testing is a critical part of every software project.
Experienced developers should know that things rarely work flawlessly in the early stages. And with embedded systems, each individual module needs to undergo extensive testing using your debugging tools.
Use stress tests to surface potential issues due to extended use or configurations outside the system's normal parameters. If necessary, use in-circuit debuggers (i.e., Joint Test Action Group or JTAG) to test your code and monitor performance in real time.
In addition to identifying potential issues, testing your system will also help you identify performance optimization opportunities.
Just keep in mind that, when it comes to software, performance can typically be boosted through:
Developing intuitive, user-facing applications for real-time embedded systems isn't easy, even more so in a precise space like industrial automation.
What you need is a meticulous, expert approach that most developers can only learn through experience.
That's why we're here.
At Horizon Labs, we tap into our team's decades of cumulative experience to develop software that can bring out the best in your hardware. Click here to schedule a personal consultation and let's discuss your needs!
An embedded application is real-time when correctness depends on completing specific work within defined timing constraints, not merely on running quickly on average. The team must state the events, deadlines, jitter limits, execution budgets, and required behavior when a deadline is missed, then measure them on representative hardware.
No. A small superloop, interrupt-driven design, Linux system, or hardware state machine may be appropriate depending on timing, concurrency, drivers, memory, and maintenance needs. An RTOS provides scheduling and synchronization primitives; it does not automatically make an application deterministic.
An ISR should normally acknowledge the interrupt, capture the minimum time-sensitive data and timestamp, and notify deferred work through a bounded mechanism. Parsing, allocation, blocking I/O, retries, business logic, and verbose logging usually belong in task or thread context, subject to the target architecture and framework APIs.
Define timing assertions, instrument task and interrupt boundaries, and run production-like builds on representative boards under worst credible communications, CPU, memory, and I/O load. Combine on-target integration and hardware-in-the-loop tests with protocol faults, queue saturation, power interruption, watchdog recovery, soak runs, and repeated measurements.
Record bounded counters and traces for deadline misses, observed execution high-water marks, queue depth and overruns, interrupt-to-task latency, protocol errors, reconnects, watchdog resets, reset cause, state transitions, and build, configuration, and hardware versions. Budget the telemetry path so it does not become the timing fault.
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