What's ahead for embedded software?

Abstract

Most of today's gadgets and cars use embedded software, which in many cases has taken over what mechanical and dedicated electronic systems used to do. Indeed, embedded software appears in everything from telephones and pagers to systems for medical diagnostics, climate control, and manufacturing. The author believes that research computer scientists have largely ignored embedded software because it has not been sufficiently complex or general to warrant the effort. There are many re-search questions but most center around one issue: how to reconcile a set of domainspecific requirements with the demands of interaction in the physical world. How do you adapt software abstractions designed merely to transform data to meet requirements like realtime constraints, concurrency, and stringent safety considerations? The answer to this question has given rise to some promising research angles discussed in this article, including novel ways to deal with concurrency and real time, and methods for augmenting component interfaces to promote safety and adaptability.