This book distills the experience of more than 90 design reviews on real embedded systems into a set of bite-size lessons learned in the areas of software development process, requirements, architecture, design, implementation, verification & validation, and critical system properties.

Each chapter describes an area that tends to be a problem in embedded system design, symptoms that tend to indicate you need to make changes, the risks of not fixing problems in this area, and concrete ways to make your embedded system software better. Each of the 29 chapters is self-sufficient, permitting developers with a busy schedule to cherry-pick the best ideas to make their systems better right away.

If you are relatively new to the area but have already learned the basics, this book will be an invaluable asset for taking your game to the next level. If you are experienced, this book provides a way to fill in any gaps. Once you have mastered this material, the book will serve as a source of reminders to make sure you haven't forgotten anything as you plan your next project. The product image of the back of the book lists the chapters.

I've done more than 125 design reviews of industry embedded systems, and teach embedded systems at Carnegie Mellon University. My other experiences include being a US Navy submarine officer in the Cold War, Navy computer system integration, embedded CPU IC design, research at United Technologies (elevators, cars, and many other embedded systems), and some startup companies.

I've worked on research projects in the areas of software robustness testing, wearable computers, graceful degradation, embedded real time networking, embedded system security, embedded system safety, and autonomous vehicles. I have a PhD from Carnegie Mellon University, and I'm a Senior Member of both ACM and IEEE.