#019 – Modernizing Embedded Systems: Step #3 – Adopt DevOps

The Embedded Frontier

This podcast episode explores step three of modernizing embedded software development: adopting DevOps practices to solve the critical problem of late and over-budget project delivery in embedded systems. Host Jacob Beningo discusses the four core DevOps principles, presents a compelling case study of the Ariane 5 rocket failure that cost $500 million, and provides practical guidance for implementing CI/CD pipelines to improve software quality and delivery speed.
Key Takeaways:
• Only 35% of embedded development teams deliver projects on time, with most running 3-6 months late
• DevOps focuses on incremental value delivery, improved collaboration, automation, and continuous improvement
• The Ariane 5 rocket explosion ($500 million loss) could have been prevented with proper integration testing and CI/CD practices
• Start DevOps implementation with automated builds using containers to create unified development environments
• Enforce code quality and standards automatically within CI/CD pipelines using tools like Misra C/C++
• Implement regression testing to catch bugs early when they're easier and less costly to fix
• Use metrics analysis to automatically identify tight coupling and potential bug locations in code
• Artifact management ensures traceability and ability to deliver specific software versions to customers
• Deployment automation should at minimum enable automatic hardware testing, even if not direct customer deployment
• DevOps creates a value feedback loop between companies and customers through observability and telemetry