JN-AN-1107 Designing Robust Embedded Systems

Many embedded systems operate in remote or harsh environments. Systems in these environments are required to be robust. Human intervention, even to perform a system reset, may not be possible. This Application Note details how to prevent and recover from software failures using the following methods:

•  Defensive programming
• Exception handling
• Hardware Watchdog Timer (WDT)

This Application Note is not an exhaustive guide to defensive programming. The aim of the document is to introduce this subject to the application programmer within the Jennic environment. Other related areas that are not covered are unit testing, coding standards and external watchdog timer controllers.

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