Embedded Systems – The New Center of Gravity

From NI Week 2005 it became clear that Embedded Systems Design programming is a key area to explore for virtual instrumentation. The center of gravity is shifting from personal computing to embedded computing due to the development of VLSI system level integration and system-on-a-chip technologies. Embedded systems have been around for sometime but were typically implemented in a monolithic manner with centralized control. The next generation will be implemented with distributed control working in a parallel manner in order to optimize cost, power, security, and performance.

Finding a way to make the systems more programmable is one challenge. Finding someone to do the programming for you is another. Check out the number of available jobs for embedded programming on the web at the Feedster Blog site. The Craigslist shows over 100 open jobs in the SF bay area alone for embedded programmers.

A great site for learning more about embedded programming is Embedded.com The Embedded Conference held in April, 2006, in San Francisco is another great venue for learning about the latest technologies.

If you are working with embedded systems, I would like to hear from you. You can reach me at hall.martin@ni.com.

Best regards,
Hall T. Martin