Firmware Update for Improved Reliability Embedded Systems

A. Krupiński, G. Świstak, P. Nowak vel Nowakowski, D. Makowski (Lodz Univ. of Techn., Poland)

Embedded systems become more and more complex, and this is also a case for their software. For this reason, there is an increased demand for software updates and data compression to decrease the application download time. The purpose of this paper is to compare the algorithms in terms of their use for firmware updates in the Micro Telecommunications Computing Architecture (MicroTCA) system for the Basic Advanced Mezzanine Card (AMC) board. To reduce the firmware upload time for Module Management Controller (MMC) a literature review was conducted. Selected lossless data compression algorithms were tested. The implemented solution is compatible with Hardware Platform Management version 1 (HPM.1) standard. Initial results of firmware upgrade performance and challenges faced during the design are presented.