Sanjay Adhikari

I mentioned the operating system . It covers Linux as well. The cost of Linux system based SoCs used to be high and hence the system cost as well. That should be the target for career growth. I personally teach Linux Application development first to our students. It covers shell scripting as well. There are many affordable evaluation platforms such as RPI, BBB, Toradex, Phytec etc. There are many I.Mx series boards from NxP as well. Most of these boards also help in learning concepts like SD card formatting and preparation of the boot disk. This is similar to an old time floppy boot disk.

At beginner's level , one can try the following : 1: Start with simple projects which you can manage with the evaluation board itself. It will reduce the chances of failure due to additional hardware. For example : Many evaluation boards have provision of User LED, Push button and UART to USB virtual COM port. 2: After UART, you may select some well known modules for I2C and SPI. 3: Once you are done with LED blinking, Keypad , UART, I2C, SPI etc , you may now think about some unique projects by integrating some of these interfaces. 4: You may create simple products like a digital clock with the seven segment display or Dot matrix display. 5: After the above steps, try some common sensors like temperature. You may also try the ADC.

In the Embedded system journey, you can add advanced topics based on a particular domain. 1: After RTOS based devices , you should proceed for MMU based SoCs where one can run Linux . 2: Add high speed IPs like USB, Ethernet controller etc. in your portfolio . 3: Learn secure boot concepts 4: DDR , NOR/NAND flash, PCIe and Multi-core devices. 5: Tools like USB analyzer, PCIe Analyzer , SerDes validation, High speed debugging tools etc. can add value. 6: Many IPs will depend on your domain. For example: Image processing. 7: Multi-core AMP/SMP , Hypervisor etc. 8: RF concepts and Wireless protocols 9: Benchmarking 10: Linux Kernel and driver development 11: Machine learning concepts

Selection of the correct hardware platform is important. I think one can identify one board from each category depending on budget. 1: IoT based platforms - ESP32 , Nordic 2: ARM Cortex M based platforms STM32 , NxP, TI 3: ARM Cortex A based platforms Beagle bone , RPI, Toradex Make sure to check the device used in the board and it's life time. One can download all relevant docs and tools before purchasing the actual hardware. If there is no proper information available for a board or device , one can try to find alternative. Also check the community support for the board. Generally device is selected by both hardware and software team together. In case of advance embedded system , benchmarking also required.

The following points are important to get an embedded system job at entry level : 1: Basic analog & digital electronics 2: Excellent C programming 3: MCU Bare metal programming 4: RTOS 5: Understanding of schematic 6: Some unique projects with popular interfaces like USART, I2C, SPI 7: Working experience with well known IDEs 8: Working experience with Multimeter and logic analyzer. 9: Understanding of various datasheets and reference manuals 10: Hardwork, Patience and team work can add value. If someone is targeting freelancing or small companies for job , s/he should also learn PCB design as well. Sometime one may have to do a little bit of soldering as well.

20yrs ago how many devices were supporting OS within an affordable cost ? Now a complete RPI board comes within 80$. India has the R&D center of almost every well known company and most of the Indian students target a stable job. That is possible only when working towards high performance devices with capability to support OS. Operating system fundamentals help in understanding RTOS, QNX, various proprietary OS in Networking domains such as JunOS, IoS etc. , OSEK, AUTOSAR , Android OS etc. C++ background helps in ML, Multimedia etc. Companies like Google working on OS based concepts. Linux and C++ are in good demand in India.