Special Issue Editorial: Embedded Systems Applications: Future Society Applications

Developing reliable software for embedded systems is a formidable challenge. The main objective is to create a piece of software, usually called firmware, running on a specific microcontroller. In most applications, embedded systems fall into the category of control and monitoring systems that is why embedded software has to be safe and predictable, while operating under severe resource and timing constraints. Unfortunately, the development of embedded software is not as mature as other engineering fields, and it is roughly understood by the majority of developers as programming, or writing code. In the context of FP7 project ‘MODUS’ the research team has developed an open-source toolset, addressing 4 discrete domains of the ESD Software Market, resolving much of these issues and enabling SME developers to produce dependable embedded code. Most of the papers in this Special Issue emanate from MODUS work.