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Code Running on Living Metal When Hardware Stops Playing by the Rules
Software engineers love to believe their code runs in a clean, deterministic universe. But once you drop below the OS layer and step onto bare metal, that illusion collapses. Microcontrollers, avionics systems, and industrial controllers operate inside physics not logic and physics doesn’t care about your abstractions. 1. Hardware Is Not a Perfect Machine…
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N-Version Programming and Design-Fault Tolerance in Safety-Critical Actuators
Safety-critical aerospace systems demand reliability far beyond ordinary software engineering standards. In modern fly-by-wire architectures, actuators that drive control surfaces — elevators, ailerons, rudders, flaps, and high-authority maneuvering systems — must function correctly under all circumstances. Hardware redundancy alone cannot guarantee this; design faults in software remain a major threat. This is where N-Version…
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Power and Electromagnetic Side Channels: Data Extraction Across Physical Gaps
1. Beyond Software Boundaries: The Invisible Leakage When people talk about cybersecurity, they usually imagine code vulnerabilities, not physical ones. Yet some of the most insidious data leaks come not from compromised networks but from the subtle energy a device emits as it operates. Power consumption fluctuations and electromagnetic (EM) radiation — normally just…
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Building Real-Time Systems with RTOS: Achieving Deterministic Low-Latency Performance
🔹 Understanding Real-Time Systems Real-time systems are not just about running fast — they are about running predictably. In a typical computer, slight timing variations are acceptable. But in real-time applications — like industrial automation, medical equipment, or autonomous vehicles — a delay of even a few microseconds can lead to catastrophic consequences.A real-time…