Firmware build automation

Abstract

This thesis deals with the problem of Embelin’s firmware being built by hand, which demands a lot of time and effort. Additionally it can cause errors that may only be noticed in later stages of the project. The overall purpose of the thesis therefore was to redesign the overall workflow to be less human dependant, reduce the workload and create an overall more fluent process of creating new firmware.

The thesis examines the tools that were used, why they were chosen and how they were used. It expands on what automation is, why it was used and how the automation worked. This is a project-based thesis, which describes the process and result of the work that was carried out.

The result was a working automation process that was tested to be less error prone and quicker than the previous manual work. The new system still required some manual interaction but the overall labour involved was greatly reduced.

The newly built system will be beneficial for the companies currently running projects, as it allows the reallocation of employee efforts. Further improvements and additions are possible, which would further reduce the amount of manual labour or remove it entirely. However this would require further investigation and planning.