Embedded Systems Research: Missed Opportunities

With society's increasing dependence on software, the issue of software quality is becoming more prominent. The term quality of service (QoS) has been used in conjunction with software to cover a broad range of characteristics, such as dependability, responsiveness, security, etc. Historically, the technical challenge of achieving a desired QoS in conditions of limited resources (e.g., finite computing power, memory capacity, communication bandwidth) was primarily relegated to the specialized domain of real-time and embedded software systems, that is, systems involved in continuous and timely interaction with the physical world. The "mainstream7" view and dominant software design philosophy are still based on the flawed premise that software should be developed without any considerations given to the characteristics and limitations of the hardware and software platforms that give it life. The important and useful principle of platform independence is being tragically misinterpreted as implying platform ignorance.