Handbook

Embedded / IoT ↔ SDLC ↔ PDLC bridge

This document maps **Embedded / IoT Engineering** practices to the two lifecycle frameworks:

Embedded / IoT ↔ SDLC ↔ PDLC bridge

Purpose

This document maps Embedded / IoT Engineering practices to the two lifecycle frameworks:

  • PDLC — "Are we building the right product?"
  • SDLC — "Are we building the product right?"
  • Embedded/IoT — "Is the firmware/device reliable, safe, and field-ready?"

Embedded/IoT engineering extends standard SDLC with hardware-software co-design, safety certification, and field deployment constraints, and connects to PDLC through physical product manufacturing, fleet operations, and long-lived device lifecycle.

Canonical sources: EMBEDDED-IOT.md (this package) · Product development lifecycle (PDLC) · Software development lifecycle (SDLC).

Comparison table

Dimension Embedded/IoT Engineering SDLC PDLC
Core question Is the firmware/device reliable, safe, and field-ready? How do we build this correctly? Should we build this; does it create the right outcomes?
Scope Real-time systems, firmware, constrained resources, protocols, edge computing, OTA, safety certification, field ops Requirements → design → implementation → verification → release (A–F) Problem discovery → strategy → launch → growth → sunset (P1–P6)
Primary owner Embedded / firmware engineers; safety engineers for SIL/ASIL Delivery team Product manager / product trio
Success metric Uptime, OTA success rate, field failure rate, WCET compliance, safety certification status Velocity, defect escape rate, CI/CD pass rate Adoption, revenue, fleet size, field reliability
Key artifacts Firmware binaries, HAL/BSP, device provisioning config, safety case, test harness Specs, code, tests, release notes Research, strategy, metrics
Risk focus Hardware failures, real-time violations, safety hazards, field inaccessibility, constrained resources Technical correctness Market and outcome risk

Embedded/IoT across the lifecycle

Phase Embedded role Key activities Outputs
P1 Discover Feasibility assessor Evaluate hardware constraints, sensor availability, connectivity options, power budget Feasibility report, component shortlist
P2 Validate Prototype builder Hardware prototype (dev board), proof-of-concept firmware, sensor integration test Working prototype, power measurements
P3 Strategize Platform architect RTOS selection, SoC/MCU selection, connectivity stack, safety certification scope, BOM cost Platform ADR, BOM estimate, certification plan
A Discover System designer Hardware-software interface definition; partition responsibilities between edge and cloud System architecture, HW/SW interface spec
B Specify Firmware specifier Real-time requirements (WCET, jitter), memory budget, power budget, protocol selection Firmware requirements, timing spec, memory map
C Design HAL/BSP designer Hardware Abstraction Layer, Board Support Package, driver architecture, RTOS task design HAL API, task graph, interrupt map
D Build Firmware implementer Driver implementation, application logic, protocol stack integration, OTA client Firmware binary, unit tests, simulation results
E Verify Integration tester Hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) testing, EMC pre-compliance, safety analysis (FMEA), field pilot HIL results, safety analysis, field test report
F Release Firmware release engineer Binary signing, OTA deployment, manufacturing image, production programming Signed firmware, manufacturing script, OTA rollout
P4 Launch Fleet deployer Device provisioning, initial fleet deployment, monitoring setup, field support readiness Provisioned fleet, monitoring dashboards
P5 Grow Fleet operator OTA updates, remote diagnostics, predictive maintenance, telemetry analysis Fleet health reports, OTA campaign results
P6 Sunset Decommission planner End-of-life firmware (security-only patches), device recall/recycling, data deletion EOL firmware, decommission plan

Embedded-specific lifecycle concerns

Hardware-software co-design

SDLC phase Hardware activity Software activity Coordination point
A–B Component selection, schematic design HAL requirements, memory/timing constraints Interface specification (pin assignments, register maps)
C PCB layout, prototype fabrication HAL/BSP design, RTOS configuration Hardware review with firmware team
D Prototype boards available Driver development on real hardware Daily integration on prototype boards
E EMC/safety testing, design-for-manufacturing HIL testing, field pilot, conformance testing Combined hardware-software test campaigns
F Manufacturing pilot run Production firmware, programming scripts Manufacturing test integration

Safety certification impact on SDLC

SDLC phase Additional safety activities
A Hazard analysis, safety requirements derivation
B Safety requirements specification, SIL/ASIL allocation
C Safety architecture, redundancy design, fault detection
D MISRA-compliant coding, static analysis, traceability
E Safety validation, fault injection, independent verification
F Safety case documentation, certification authority review

Anti-patterns

Anti-pattern Description Fix
Cloud-first thinking Designing IoT system as if devices always have fast, reliable connectivity Offline-first; local autonomy; sync when possible; degrade gracefully
Ignoring the field Building firmware that is only testable on the bench HIL testing, field pilot, remote diagnostics, OTA from day one
One firmware fits all Same binary for all hardware variants, controlled by runtime config Compile-time configuration for hardware variants; BSP abstraction
Security as an afterthought Shipping devices with default credentials, no secure boot, no OTA signing Secure boot chain, device identity, encrypted OTA, certificate rotation
Unbounded dynamic allocation Using malloc/free in real-time paths on constrained devices Static allocation or memory pools for real-time tasks; monitor heap in non-real-time
Doc Why
EMBEDDED-IOT.md Real-time systems, firmware, protocols, edge computing, OTA, digital twins
IoT communication protocols (blueprint) MQTT, CoAP, BLE, Zigbee, LoRaWAN, Modbus, OPC UA
Safety-critical standards (blueprint) IEC 61508, ISO 26262, DO-178C, MISRA
Software development lifecycle (SDLC) Delivery phases A–F
Product development lifecycle (PDLC) Product phases P1–P6
Security ↔ SDLC ↔ PDLC bridge IoT security — device identity, OTA integrity, fleet key management
DevOps ↔ SDLC ↔ PDLC bridge Embedded DevOps — firmware CI/CD, HIL testing, OTA pipelines

Canonical source

Edit https://github.com/autowww/blueprints/blob/main/disciplines/engineering/embedded-iot/IOT-SDLC-PDLC-BRIDGE.md first; regenerate with docs/build-handbook.py.