Embedded Systems Engineering Standards Column vol 14.6 July/August 2007 Standards: Two Weeks in the Summer By Chris Hills

These are my own personal views and those of my company Phaedrus Systems. www.phaedsys.org which is where the full version of this column resides under the Technical Papers button.

Traditionally this two month edition of the column has been more philosophical and off the wall to give you some thing to think about as a counterpoint to normal work themes and usually some fun stuff.  People need a break from work.

We seem to get fewer chances to switch off. I run my own business so I can stop and start when I like and generally work how I like.  Yes, I work late and weekends but I can also take an hour or day out when ever I fancy.    I know of once company owner who quite often takes business calls on his mobile phone and does emails from a beach-side bar in Mombassa… though he draws the line at carrying his mobile on the golf course.

However, the other evening whilst relaxing in the office with a PC running re-runs of Sharpe and tidying up the odd emails from the day I got an immediate reply from an employee in the accounts department I had just emailed.  He had his work Blackberry at home and was replying at 21:30. Why?  As an office based 9-5 employee why should be carry a Blackberry out of hours? I know others who have these infernal machines.  They never stop. It has caused more than one marital rift that I know of.  People have this need to check email as if they are in a panic that they will miss something. The pace of life seems to be winding up to the point where there is no chance to take a break and recharge the batteries or clear the mind.   This is what holidays used to be for but now people take the email and mobile (if not a laptop) with them. I even had one customer anxious that a dev kit would arrive in time to him to take it on holiday as he would find it relaxing!   Mind you I have an electronic enigma cipher machine on the way that I am err… evaluating.

 

OK, so some people can relax whilst still doing something similar to their normal work. This is why I say a day at ESS (17-18 Oct at the NEC     http://www.edaexhibitions.com/ess/  ) is a day well spent: A change of environment and fresh ideas.  I have rarely found an engineer who did not find the day very useful and a way or recharging their thoughts. Last year several people found information that had a profound effect on their projects. However you should leave the blackberry at the office. 

 

The way most German engineers get to go to shows is they look at the exhibitor list, draw up a list of people, products and booths they want to see and present this to their management. They then write up a shore report on their return.  This shows a tangible benefit to the bean counters.

 

Coming back to Blackberry’s and where you do draw the line I said this month would be looking at ethics.  Much has been written recently about The War On Terror or TWOT (you have a feeling that John Cleese may have had a hand in that acronym) there is a balance between security and civil liberties. Do we want to be safe and in a police state or have freedoms and risk getting blown up?   OK it’s not that simple, life rarely is.  

 

There have been questions in some quarters as to whether professional engineers should be political?  Is it possible to avoid being political?  I know there are many engineers who will not work directly in the defence industry. Though these days the defence industry is using many off the shelf items… nothing is as clear cut as it was.

 

The IEEE recently disenfranchised something like 7000 of its professional members and refused to communicate with them because they were in “certain countries”. Yes, all the IEEE members in Iran, Iraq, Libya, Sudan etc were considered not friendly to the US government so the IEEE, a supposedly international Professional Institute dumped them… Of course questions about the IEEE having many US members making weapons of mass destruction or those banned under international law and supporting “illegal invasions” of several countries did not get quite the same airing.  Many of those wishing to discuss it were now ex-members.  There was some discussion but limited. Should organisations like the IEEE, IET, BCS etc be political in any way?  Some would argue that given their role they have no way but to be political.  Though, they should never be party political.

 

How do you determine what is morally or politically correct and I don’t mean in the nanny state view of PC. Whilst I have mentioned being PC I was Charing a recent IET conference I had a 2 page health and safety brief going on about fire alarms, please leave the building etc. turn off phones….  This is to a bunch of intelligent people in a building with international fire exit signs.  I didn’t give the brief. I just said when the alarms go use common sense and don’t complain if the coffee is hot but do complain if it is cold.   How many times do we need to be told turn off mobile phones in a presentation, if the fire alarm goes please leave promptly following the signs? Especially when you know everyone will just follow whoever is leading the rush to the exit.  No one is going to remember where the muster point is 10 seconds after the announcement anyway.

 

Where should our Professional Institutes draw the line at being political? I noted that a few years ago the BCS was making comments about the control of and access to “internet porn” why? As all it’s members are adults (I think at that time even the students had to be 18) it is a personal thing that the BCS should not be making moral comments about.   It is up to parents to monitor their children’s access to the internet.

Back to more serious ethics and dilemmas. A recent article got me thinking. See
http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/article1831494.ece   

 

According to the Times on line:-  “Can cyborg moths bring down terrorists? A moth which has a computer chip implanted in it while in the cocoon will enable soldiers to spy on insurgents, the US military hopes…”  Fascinating technology apart from having to work with creepy crawlies, I doubt there is an engineer reading this who isn’t interested in the technology and how it is done.  However, should the engineers at the company producing it be concerned about the fact they are modifying a living being?  Where will it lead?  Implants in fully informed humans are one thing, they have the choice, but this seems to be different.  Then we have to ask: how it will be used?   These are similar to the questions that are asked of people working in the conventional weapons industry.  The problem is the lines are less clear than they used to be. At one time weapons were obvious but not any more, especially with electronics and software.    A couple of months ago I mentioned a US based distributor who refused to export a Keil, NXP   based ARM7 kit (that is German, Dutch, British) to the UK… 

Though dangers lurk everywhere. A recent study by Bloor Research, a UK based firm of analysts, says . "Spreadsheets . . . used improperly or incorrectly, or without sufficient control, pose a greater threat to your business than almost anything you can imagine," So there it is. They are worried about the vast number of spreadsheets around the place that are uncontrolled, unchecked or audited.  Should spread sheets be audited and validated the same as any other tool used on a safety critical project?  It may not generate the code but it may be used to generate numbers used in the code. 

Whilst I think about it has anyone else recently tried to book tickets for the Odeon Cinema on-line with a Mastercard?  It is good practice to carefully check your statement at the end of the month.

 

There are other places where there are ethical dilemmas, what was high-end security and surveillance is now commonplace in everyday life.  I live in a town with more cameras per “something” in the town centre than anywhere else in Europe (I have no idea how that was determined). Cameras in themselves have been around a long time it is the use they are now being put to and the way the data is shared that is worrying.  The cameras or rather the SW behind them now have face and number plate recognition almost as standard. 

 

It has long been possible to track mobile phones but not always easy to get hold of the data. Now I note that the RAC is saying if you have a mobile we can find you… If they can as a commercial organization who else can? 

 

I see that a recent government survey discovered that most people are against pay as you drive because they are worried about their loss of privacy and being tracked all the time.  Well given the number of cameras and mobile phones we have now, I think we are way past that point without the majority realizing it.  As it is the ground work is being prepared anyway as draft bills were being moved around at the end of May.

 

What is the responsibility of the engineers designing the components?  In many cases, they have no idea how and where the items will be installed and used.  As some one said after Peter Sutcliff murdered a dozen girls with a hammer “should we ban hammers”?   With some technology, the use is clear but with most electronics, it is “duel use”.

 

Moving on but still with ethics and technology, Google has been put in the dock with the EU Commission, EPIC and others over the data it collects and stores.  Apparently, it stores search data and who is searching for over 2 years and makes this available to US Law Enforcement Agencies…. However, my understanding it the definition of a US LEA is very wide.

 

Here's the list of data that Google collects and retains this personally identifiable information and the technologies through which the company gets it:

 

Google search: any search term a user enters into Google;
Google Desktop: an index of the user's computer files, e-mails, music, photos, and chat and Web browser history;
Google Talk: instant-message chats between users;
Google Maps: address information requested, often including the user's home address for use in obtaining directions;
Google Mail (Gmail): a user's e-mail history, with default settings set to retain emails "forever";
Google Calendar: a user's schedule as inputted by the user;
Google Orkut: social networking tool storing personal information such as name, location, relationship status, etc.;
Google Reader: which ATOM/RSS feeds a user reads;
Google Video/YouTube: videos watched by user;
Google Checkout: credit card/payment information for use on other sites

 

And you all thought Google did Google-Groups as a bolt on front end to Usenet out of the goodness of it’s heart! The problem is that they can cross reference all this.  This is a problem because while algorithms have got better it is still an automated system.   Hopefully we are past the point where Scunthorpe is going to be blocked for being obscene and the use of Bangor is less explosive but US paranoia is still going to generate more smoke and noise than useful information.   Whilst Goolge is being targeted I wonder who else is doing similar things?  Though I do know that depending on where you are in the world does affect what results you can get from a search engine and I don’t just mean in China.  

I note that Microsoft is leading the charge to have a privacy framework. I worry when the companies rush be game keepers. Whilst I have mentioned the Great Satan Microsoft. I understand that the new MS Vista comes complete with DRM or Digital Rights Management built in….  compare that with the features of DOS or other desk top OS  Should an operating system do this sort of locking in as standard?  Personally I want an operating system to be a platform to run other applications of my choosing. Not have a vast amount of additional bells and whistles irrevocably built in.  You try removing MS Messenger… As for DRM take a look at this link and decide for yourself.

http://www.cs.auckland.ac.nz/~pgut001/pubs/vista_cost.html

Of course many will just insist we move to Linux. However as I have reported previously all does not seem well in the Linux camp with many in the Open Source community speaking or Red Hat in tones normally reserved for Microsoft… Also a recent survey said that Linux had as many security holes as Vista though I think that was another report from Ethics. Besides most professional development software is yet to be ported to Linux. When it does it won’t be Open source.

Further turmoil has been caused by Microsoft Saying It is Not Bound by GPLv3 under the deal it signed with Novell last year. Though I understand there are problems in the Open source community with GPL3 anyway,

 

If that isn’t enough the open source movement was dealt an unexpected blow by the US authorities.  The FCC has brought in new regulations regarding the use of software in mobile phones or SDR (Software-defined Radios) where the software is publicly available.  That is whether it is Open Source or just source that is available.   This will affect all sorts of hardware including WiFi cards.  What it says is:-

The Commission hereby states that ... manufacturers should not intentionally make the distinctive elements that implement that manufacturer's particular security measures in a software defined radio public, if doing so would increase the risk that these security measures could be defeated or otherwise circumvented to allow operation of the radio in a manner that violates the Commission's rules. A system that is wholly dependent on open source elements will have a high burden to demonstrate that it is sufficiently secure to warrant authorization as a software defined radio.

What they seem frightened of is some one reprogramming the phones to endanger public safety. I.e. trigger bombs, affect medical equipment, redirect aeroplanes or other things that require Bruce Willis to run around in his vest, shooting guns and shouting ypppie-ki-yea-mother…..   Now these new rules that came in on the 6th of July are already here. Apparently the  new regulations were actually proposed by Cisco, who do a lot of wireless cards and other networking equipment.  So if you have a device that emits RF and uses Open source think again if you want to have it passed for use in the USof A.

 

However it appears that a lot of the mobile phones already have the application and the SDR parts of the devices strictly separated so there is no linux or any open source anywhere near the phone side of things.   The full FCC summary his here.: http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2007/07-2684.htm

I am not a lawyer. Go seek your own council for this.

 

However… In the bad news in the US for Apple, whose software is usually anything but open source, is that Independent Security Evaluators has informed Apple of a hole in the new iPhone! The apparent flaw puts users data at risk. It is apparently patchable. 

 

Patches, security and paranoia…. You need to read and contemplate
http://scienceblogs.com/goodmath/2007/04/strange_loops_dennis_ritchie_a.php  This puts an undetectable security hole in UNIX. Unfortunately the same method works equally well for Linux.  No one is really sure how real or how much of a hoax this is. Also even if Dennis didn’t do it has anyone else, apart from the CIA, and the bad guys Bruce Willis et al are now chasing? 

 

So Windows is out because of DRM, UNIX and Linux are a security risk, Apple stuff can be hacked…. Does any one have a copy of CP/M?

 

Well it may not matter what the OS is because if you are on an Intel platform you could be stuffed anyway, and just for once the Mac users can stop feeling smug!   The International Herald Tribune carried a nice item http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/06/17/technology/NA-TEC-US-Intel-Remote-Control-Chips.php  that says intel have new chips that will permit “authorized managers to power up and repair turned-off PCs within the corporate network at virtually any time.”

 

Ok something is wrong here.  How many mangers go round fixing PC’s let alone remotely outside normal working hours? Seriously, this has far-reaching consequences if your computer is connected to a network and has power to the machine. Unless you reach around the back and switch it off on the mechanical switch at the back….  Assuming there is one.

 

They are saying that this means updates and patches can be installed at any time even if the PC has been turned off. Now call me cynical but I have seen a very convincing demos by Guidance Software who make some very nice auditing and checking SW used use by the Police and government to do forensics on computer to find pedophiles, drugs dealers and terrorists (it’s a load of TWOT again).  They can, on the high-end (government only) version, put a patch on your PC that gives them remote access.  Intel has just given the government remote access to any computer connected to the network even if it is off.

 

Hmmmm… my PowerPC based MAC is starting to look more useful all the time,  I wonder if I can pick up a VAX on Ebay….

As a footnote to my column on the possible dangers of Wi-FI it looks like The Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution, an independent group of experts will be investigating the issue.  Some while ago the Daily Telegraph  announced  that Prof Lawrie Challis, a expert on mobile phone emissions, had called for  monitoring of pupils in schools using wireless internet in the classrooms.  Also the Chairman of the Health Protection Agency (HPA), Sir William Stewart, has called for a review on the issue after emissions from one school's wi-fi network were shown to be three times those from a nearby mobile phone mast. Some of you may remember the BBC Panorama program.   I keep all the wifi and blue tooth off unless I actually need it but then I have total control over my work space.
However, ironically or perhaps rather too conveniently a report on mobile phone masts has just come out saying Mobile phone masts do not cause ill health effects….. so that’s alright then.  Well no, not at all. Prof Elaine Fox, a psychologist,  not an electronics engineer, from the University of Essex (spelling?) who led the research, said: "Our study leads to the conclusion that short-term exposure to mobile phone mast signals is not related to levels of well-being or physical symptoms in these individuals. “

"Some people did drop out because they said they felt ill. That’s unfortunate but I don’t think it undermines the study.”

These trials, it appears, tested people for 50 minutes once a week for three weeks...  One session was simulating a conventional mast 150ft away, another simulating a G3 mast and one with no exposure to catch out the cheats…  Some what lower doses than the 8 hours of the average working day let alone the 12-18 hours you get at home!  What is worse they did not count those who dropped out “feeling ill”!  Neither did they test for some of the symptoms normally reported.  One of their comments was "We do know there is a large (scientific) literature that shows if people believe something will do them harm or benefit them, this can cause real biological effects due to the placebo effect." So its all mass hysteria then?  

No surprise that his is government backed research… that is the same government that sold the overpriced G3 licenses and then refused to permit objections to radio masts after they cut the safe distance requirements around the masts….   However many have already said the report is seriously flawed though I understand the same team are doing a similar study on the new emergency services radio system (TETRA),..  The university is in Essex…

 

Any one seriously worried can search for:  T-Mobile ECOLOG report or the HECHT-BALZAAR report which may have different conclusions.

Another interesting item came my way recently:  PCMag was saying that people over 30 can’t get funding for starting up companies….. Now whether this is just in the IT area or more prevalent in the US I don’t know but most of the embedded engineers I talk to are probably a shade or two over 30.  Certainly as fewer people are going into electronics and embedded type university courses it is going to be interesting to see if anyone will be able to start a high tech company in the UK without having to pass off their children as the MD and CTO

It shouldn’t be a problem as the UK government has undermined engineers with a decision to redefine a ‘professional engineer’ as an accredited degree graduate with no work experience.  So passing the kids off as Engineers shouldn’t be a problem.  Worse still I was talking to an old acquaintance who proudly told me her son was now an Engineer. He worked in a machine shop. I said you mean a Mechanic. No I was told he did not work on cars in a garage. He was an Engineer.

 

Some of you will recall and I hope have signed the petition from Jon Jennings to protect the title “Engineer” http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/Engineer-Status/?ref=engineer-status If you haven’t signed up please do so. It is all our interests. Those of you who are not C.Eng should have a look at the requirements.  It is not that difficult.  As for those who are I.Eng you will find that if/when this goes forward the IET and BCS will make damned sure it incorporates I.Eng as well as C.Eng. 

 

Some people have actually started a counter petition. Last I looked it had 75 signatures and says:  “In my opinion, it is ludicrous for Jon Jennings to suggest that the Government should introduce new laws enabling only chartered engineers to use the title ‘engineer’. I, personally, am qualified in electrical and electronic engineering and feel that I have earned the right to the title ‘engineer’”

 

In other words if “I get a degree I’m an engineer” where do “earning the right” come from? The 3 years hard work earns you a degree… in most other professions you need a period of experience before you are fully qualified.  He goes on “as have many others who not only have qualifications but a wealth of skills and knowledge gained through years of experience that no education can provide.”  Well if you have a degree and experience, you have what is required to be a Chartered or Incorporated Engineer.  So what is he arguing against other than letting everyone who pick up a spanner calling themselves an engineer.

 

Finally he says “it would be fairer to introduce a tiered system where chartered engineers, who normally have the greatest level of responsibility for engineering projects, are recognised by their status and placed in the top tier, and engineers at other various levels can be placed in the tier most appropriate to their skills and qualifications but always with the right to be called ‘engineer’.”  In other words any one can be an engineer like now.  They all want the title but not have to earn it. 

 

One of my readers wrote to me with the following:-

 

Does engineering need more attractive salary structures? Probably.

Does engineering need more credence amongst the professional bodies? Definitely. But raising the bar on entry qualifications may not be the answer. Raising the bar on adding value to each and every person that gives engineering a go is probably a much better investment. We need very practical engineers with the backing of sound theory and not just academically brilliant people who couldn't solder two wires together if they tried.

 

This comes back to getting a degree then adding in some practical training before being qualified.  It is also why many university offshoot companies fail:  Plenty of academic theory but no real-world practicalities.  I once spoke to the MD of a start up who was proud his whole team of 6 to 8 directors were MSc, PhD. As he said you don’t often see a line up like that. Very true a board made up entirely of academics is not a good sign.

 

We will need people in the UK because it seems the off-sore boom is definitely slipping. In India the salaries have tripled since 2004. Though, countries such as Russia and Eastern Europe are becoming targets at the moment. However it’s not just salaries. There are lots of other hidden costs such as culture and time shifts. The project control costs soared. Also in the current climate, business travel to some areas of the world is less of a perk than it was.

 

The following was posted, in desperation, to a public newsgroup:

 

I'm currently doing a code review of code that is delivered by an outsourcing company located in India. (CMM Level 5)  In the header file of a C++ library I found the following:

 

#define STRINGSIZE 35000
struct String
{
// ------------------------------------------------------------
/// string (array of characters)
// ------------------------------------------------------------
char string[STRINGSIZE];
int size;  //to be used only if NULL character is not valid };

I don't know how to continue the review, I'm expected to give feedback on this final delivery before midnight...

>You need to realize that CMM5 doesn't guarantee quality - only repeatability.

That's correct. The previous project was a failure: doesn't work and the implementation is so bad that it's not useable.  So yes, it's repeatable: also this project will not be successful without dictating every single line of code.

So yes, they are cheap per hour, but the end result is more expensive than with a decent programmer who's paid what he deserves.

Well that tells you a lot and that was a CMM5  project! 

 

TO cheer you all up or perhaps frighten you I can across a report
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/08/02/wrobot102.xml

that in American (where else) they have a computer that understands humour!  For example: 
Mother: "My, you’ve been working in the garden a lot this summer."
Boy: "I have to because teacher told me to weed a lot."

Property broker: "I tell you this new house has no flaws at all."
Buyer: "Then what do you walk on?"

Why the computer gets the joke: It realises that "weed" makes sense in the context of "working in the garden" but has no place in the same sentence as the words "teacher told me". Likewise with "flaws" and what the property buyer wants to walk on. Substituting in "read" and "floors" irons this out – allowing the computer to identify a play on words.

 

A joke the software did not "find funny":
Patient: "Doctor, doctor, I swallowed a bone."
Doctor: "Are you choking?"
Patient: "No, I really did!"

Why it doesn’t get it: It is perfectly possible that someone might go to the doctor if he or she were choking. The lack of incongruity means the computer is unable to identify the exchange as a joke.

I wonder how many of GWB’s comments or how much of “Bermner Bird and Forture” it will understand.

One place that is worth a visit is
http://blogs.eweek.com/up_for_discussion/content/infrastructure

/the_seven_wonders_of_the_modern_computing_world.html?kc=EWKNLEDP071907A

Where they are discussing what are the “seven wonders of Computing“. Answers range from the Transistor and IC to  MS Windows, Spread sheets and various old computers …. It is fascinating the lists of seven computing items. You can probably guess what sort of job some the resonance do. Worth looking at and thinking about.   If anyone feels the urge send me a lit of the Seven Wonders of [Embedded] Computing and I will publish the consensus and the off beat

 

Now just to round things off and give you a chuckle but the ESE Editor heart failure, my spalling is ledgendary, a little rhyme I found

 

Eye halve a spelling chequer
It came with my pea sea,
It plainly marques four my revue
Miss steaks eye kin knot sea.

Eye strike a quay and type a word
And weight four it two say,
Weather eye am wrong oar write
It shows me strait a weigh.

As soon as a mist ache is maid
It nose bee four two long,
And eye can put the error rite
Its rare lea ever wrong.

Eye halve run this poem threw it
I am shore your pleased two no,
Its letter purr fact awl the weigh
My chequer tolled me sew.

-Sauce unknown!

 

 

Author Details and contact

 

Eur Ing Chris Hills BSc CEng MIET MBCS MIEEE  FRGS   FRSA is a Technical Specialist and can be reached at This Contact

 

Copyright Chris A Hills  2003 -2008
The right of Chris A Hills to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988