Jacdac: Service-Based Prototyping of Embedded Systems

The traditional approach to programming embedded systems is monolithic: firmware on a microcontroller contains both application code and the drivers needed to communicate with sensors and actuators, using low-level protocols such as I2C, SPI, and RS232. In comparison, software development for the cloud has moved to a service-based development and operation paradigm: a service provides a discrete unit of functionality that can be accessed remotely by an application, or other service, but is independently managed and updated.

We propose, design, implement, and evaluate a service-based approach to prototyping embedded systems called Jacdac (opens in new tab). Jacdac defines a service specification language, designed especially for embedded systems, along with a host of specifications for a variety of sensors and actuators. With Jacdac, each sensor/actuator in a system is paired with a low-cost microcontroller that advertises the services that represent the functionality of the underlying hardware over an efficient and low-cost single-wire bus protocol. A separate microcontroller executes the user’s application program, which is a client of the Jacdac services on the bus.

Our evaluation shows that Jacdac supports a service-based abstraction for sensors/actuators at low cost and reasonable performance, with many benefits for prototyping: ease of use via the automated discovery of devices and their capabilities, substitution of same-service devices for each other, as well as high-level programming, monitoring, and debugging. We also report on the experience of bringing Jacdac to commercial availability via third-party manufacturers.