Service 01
Embedded Firmware Development Services
Embedded firmware development for connected products, industrial devices and custom hardware. We help product teams turn hardware requirements into maintainable firmware, from the first board to production handover.
Work across STM32 and ESP32 with embedded C/C++, bare-metal or FreeRTOS architectures, device drivers, bootloaders and connectivity—with debugging at the hardware/software boundary.
What we can help with
Bring a new product, an existing codebase or a specific firmware fault. We agree a focused scope around the hardware, symptoms and outcome you need.
Capabilities
- New firmware and architecture
- Existing firmware rescue and refactoring
- STM32 and ESP32 development
- Custom-board bring-up
- Device drivers and BSPs
- FreeRTOS integration
- Bootloaders and OTA planning
- Wired and wireless connectivity
- Fault isolation and crash analysis
- Memory and performance optimisation
- Firmware validation
- Production-readiness review
Firmware engineering capabilities
Embedded firmware architecture
Embedded C/C++ for bare-metal and RTOS-based devices. Define module boundaries, state machines and error handling around timing, memory and power budgets, so new features do not undermine essential behaviour.
STM32 and ESP32 platforms
Platform selection and implementation for STM32 Arm Cortex-M and ESP32 products. Review the exact MCU, memory, peripherals and toolchain against your requirements, then validate the critical functions on representative hardware.
Device drivers and board support
Driver and BSP development for GPIO, UART, SPI, I2C, CAN, USB, ADC, PWM and timers where supported by the selected hardware. Integrate external sensors, memory and peripherals with explicit timeout and error handling.
FreeRTOS and task design
Design tasks, queues and synchronisation around deadlines and shared resources. Review interrupt boundaries, stack usage, allocation and watchdog behaviour to keep resource-constrained systems responsive under load.
Bootloaders and firmware updates
Develop or integrate bootloaders and firmware upgrade flows, including OTA where connectivity permits. Plan signed firmware, image validation and recovery or rollback around the device’s storage, boot architecture and security requirements.
Connectivity and protocol integration
Integrate Wi-Fi, Bluetooth/BLE, Ethernet, MQTT and HTTP/HTTPS where appropriate to the product. Define connection state, retry behaviour and message handling, alongside field interfaces such as CAN and Modbus.
Custom hardware bring-up
Bring up first boards by checking power, reset, clocks and peripheral initialisation. Trace interface failures against schematics and measurements to distinguish firmware configuration problems from electrical or assembly faults.
Debugging and production readiness
Isolate faults using logs, debugger traces and crash evidence. Develop watchdog strategy, production diagnostics and a validation plan covering normal operation, resource limits, communication failures and recovery.
Choosing a microcontroller? Our ESP32 vs STM32 comparison explains the trade-offs to review before committing to a platform.
For products that also include a Linux gateway, see planning reliable embedded Linux OTA updates. MCU bootloaders require their own device-specific update and recovery design.
From requirements to production handover
An engagement can cover a complete firmware implementation or a defined stage, such as bring-up or fault investigation. Scope and acceptance criteria are agreed around the product’s current needs.
- 01
Requirements and hardware review
Review schematics, the existing code and product constraints. Agree the scope, risks, acceptance criteria and hardware needed for development.
- 02
Firmware architecture
Define modules, interfaces, task or state-machine design, update requirements and a practical test strategy.
- 03
Bring-up and drivers
Establish a repeatable build and programming workflow, verify the board and bring up the interfaces required by the application.
- 04
Application and connectivity
Implement product behaviour, protocol integration and fault handling in reviewable increments.
- 05
Integration, debugging and validation
Exercise the firmware on target hardware. Measure timing and resource use, investigate failures and record remaining limitations.
- 06
Production handover
Prepare agreed release artifacts, build instructions, diagnostic notes and documentation so your team can reproduce and maintain the result.
See our engineering process for how firmware work fits into wider product development.
Typical project outputs
Deliverables depend on the agreed scope. A development engagement may include the following; a focused debugging review may instead produce findings, fixes and verification notes.
- Firmware source code and build configuration
- Driver/BSP code and protocol integration
- Bootloader and update configuration, where included
- Versioned firmware release and programming instructions
- Architecture, interface and maintenance documentation
- Test results, debug notes and known limitations
- Reproducible build and CI instructions, where applicable
- Handover guidance for your engineering team
Firmware development questions
Do you develop firmware for STM32 and ESP32?
Yes. We can help with architecture, drivers, application behaviour and connectivity on STM32 and ESP32. The specific part, board and framework are reviewed before agreeing the implementation scope.
Can you work with an existing firmware codebase?
Yes. We start by reproducing the build and understanding the faults or limitations. Changes can focus on a specific issue or a staged refactor, with checks to preserve behaviour that already works.
Do you support FreeRTOS and bare-metal firmware?
Yes. The choice depends on concurrency, timing, memory and maintenance requirements. We can develop either approach or review task structure, interrupt handling and shared-resource use in an existing system.
Can you help bring up a new custom PCB?
Yes. Bring-up combines schematic review, power/reset/clock checks and incremental peripheral testing. Access to representative boards, programming tools and relevant component documentation is needed.
Can you develop bootloaders and OTA update systems?
Yes. We can develop or integrate the update flow and define verification, activation and recovery behaviour. Available flash, boot-ROM capabilities and the product’s trust model determine which recovery guarantees are achievable.
Can you debug firmware/hardware integration problems?
Yes. We investigate reproducible symptoms using firmware logs, debugger evidence and electrical measurements. The work may identify changes needed in firmware, board configuration or hardware.
Can you optimise firmware memory and performance?
Yes. We first measure stack, heap, execution time or communication throughput against a defined target, then address the bottleneck. Improvements depend on the existing implementation and hardware limits.
What do you need to start a firmware project?
Share the product requirements, MCU and board details, schematics, available source code and build instructions. For debugging, include reproduction steps and logs. We then agree hardware access, scope, milestones and acceptance criteria.
Related services
Great products areengineered, notjust assembled.
Purpose-built Solutions
Designed for reliability.
End-to-End Expertise
From concept to deployment.
Quality That Lasts
Tested and built to perform.
Impact That Scales
Designed to grow with you.
Need help developing or debugging firmware for a custom embedded product? Share your hardware, current firmware and the problem you need to solve.
Discuss your firmware project