A component oriented software engineering approach to a deeply embedded firmware based control platform

Embedded firmware control systems often model real world devices with data structures called objects. Traditional objects tend to be difficult to implement within the constraints of deeply embedded control platforms. In this paper we discuss the application of a newer methodology, component oriented software engineering to the implementation of an embedded control system. Objects are replaced by simpler entities called components which are neither constructed nor destructed within the embedded controller, but instead are created or re-incarnated. These components are placed in application specific Kontainers to constrain and manage their interconnectivity, permitting construction by composition without inheritance. Furthermore, the mapping of specific instances of a component to a specific location in a Kontainer can be modified at run time, thereby allowing the use of a single firmware load running on a generic control platform for multiple opto-electronic subsystem architectures