Software-defined future: Why prioritizing software is essential

At any point in the day, you’ll interact with hundreds if not thousands of smart embedded devices. From customizing home appliances to enhancing safe driving and smooth operation of automation in factories, these embedded technologies propel you forward with everything from comfort to productivity to making energy more sustainable.

While our company is a leader in developing hardware for embedded technologies, we have prioritized innovation through software for decades. “Software is fundamental, since it enables the use of semiconductors,” said Artem Aginskiy, our product line manager for general-purpose microprocessors. “Software’s comprehensive and flexible nature helps our customers solve problems and innovate.”

Software’s adaptability enables engineers to continually add and create new features, even on a finished hardware product. It’s becoming more important for companies to pivot to a software-first approach, which entails increased value in software investment to define and execute products. This approach should be scalable, smarter, and easier to develop and use. But what does a shift to a software-first approach actually mean for design engineers and semiconductor companies?

Flexibility and the rise of software as a differentiator

Hardware and software are both necessary to make systems run, but hardware is primarily static. Once a hardware component has been implemented, typically it’s finished and can’t be updated or changed. In contrast, the fact that software is dynamic increases capabilities in applications. “Integration is happening in a single chip. Where before, you were doing one function, now you’re doing hundreds of functions,” Artem said. Software has become the conduit for product differentiation. Our company provides easy to use platforms and tools for developing high-quality and reliable software.

For example, in a software-defined vehicle (SDV), software drives all functions of the car, ranging from autonomous driving to infotainment. Improved software algorithms have also enabled greater energy efficiency in battery-powered applications such as electric vehicle charging or personal electronics. End-equipment such as robotic arms may be programmed for one task, but can adapt to handle several additional workflows later through over-the-air updates.

With software’s impact on driving innovation in different industries, empowering its adoption is crucial; however, it’s not without its challenges.

Open source and standardization

Because software comes from hundreds of contributors and vendors, interoperability is a significant challenge. Open-source software is a primary way that our company addresses this challenge.

With open-source software, the code is available to anyone who wants to add or change it. As more developers validate, engage with, and integrate the software into products, it tends to become more reliable and interoperable; so even if two products have different specifications, they’ll be able to work together since their software is from the same community. Open-source software is also more maintainable because it is possible to modify or update it even several years after its initial release, furthering its flexibility and scalability.

The level of accessibility of open source enhances transparency and fuels the larger-scale adoption of software. It helps grow the ecosystem, allows more players to enter it, and lowers the barrier to entry.

“A unified and common collaborative approach is very, very important for standardization,” said Yashwant Dutt, R&D engineering manager for platform software. “Many wireless communication standards have been developed through open source.”

When it comes to connectivity, the need for devices to communicate with an ever-wider variety of other devices in more sophisticated ways is leading to a growing emphasis on communication standards. “A sensor might have to talk to multiple devices around it, as well as to the cloud,” said Marian Kost, business unit manager for connectivity. “That’s hard to do if the interfaces aren’t designed to comply with important standards. Whether it's Wi-Fi®, Bluetooth®, Matter or other important communication protocols and standards, not only does our company comply with the standards, we partner to play an active role in defining them. Our software continues to evolve as new and existing standards develop,” he said.

Standards enabled by software can look like the adoption of Matter in smart homes, enabling interoperability among different devices and products. Even if a voice assistant is sold by one company, for example, it could still interact with or control a smart thermostat sold by another company.

The dynamic nature of software does make interconnected devices vulnerable to security breaches. Our company builds infrastructures, such as secure boot and highly efficient and integrated cryptographic accelerators, to enable safe and accurate data storage, while still allowing secure communication.

Using software for tomorrow’s innovations

The demands of embedded development will only continue to grow. One reason is the increasing use of artificial intelligence in more applications. Software will need to integrate more complex capabilities, while maintaining ease of development and ensuring security. “We’re making sure that our software tools and platforms are ready for new, more powerful applications like advanced driver assistance systems,” Yashwant said.

Software will also need to handle the special demands of edge computing as it becomes more important in many of these applications.

For more than 30 years, our company has prioritized delivering full-featured, open-source software development platforms, enabling customers to start building innovative, highly functional applications quickly.

We also have a broad ecosystem of partnerships. By working closely with partners in developing applications and tools, we can contribute to – and benefit from – a wider range of different types of expertise to speed and improve technological advances. “We’re committed to bringing our partners and customers to the table with us to solve problems,” Artem said. “We’re going to keep building that ecosystem, as both active participants and contributors.”

Software innovation will remain a constant as new features, new applications and new technologies continue to emerge. “Software is never done, and neither are we,” Artem said. As we continue to support our partners in the next evolution of software-enabled technology, we empower the innovations of tomorrow.