At least half of all the code written by Chelsfield Consultants has been firmware. Our work has covered many types of programmable devices from simple fusible gate arrays to full custom ASICs with masked ROM built around advanced DSP or MCU cores.

Existing product designs may benefit from hardware/firmware integration as production volume gets higher. In many situations it can become increasingly important to move as much system functionality into the code domain as possible. A dedicated solution can dramatically reduce cost and improve both flexibility and reliability.

You may wish to contract us to migrate your existing code and hardware to a new unified architecture. We provide complete project transparency by working with you to assist with the specification, hardware design, cross-assembly, compilation, verification, documentation, test and replication of the final firmware image.

Today, firmware just isn't as firm as it was.  Historically, code contained in ROM wasn't expected to change too often. Nowadays however, rapidly moving technology necessitates the constant review of functionality and this includes embedded code. The need for constant updating renders such software decidedly less firm. Today "firmware" may be loaded on start up from any number of re-writable mass storage media devices. One clear advantage of this is to employ on-the-fly update mechanisms.

There may be situations where only your firmware requires updating and of course we'd be pleased to assist on this too if we can. 

For new production projects we can formulate a strategy for selecting the core processor. In many instances a new design can be built around a third party sub-assembly. There are a vast array of these on the market covering a large number of CPU cores. We have experience in going down this design route and can assist you in fitting together core and I/O sub-assemblies to match precise requirements without compromising design ideals.

For one-off or production projects with zero to very low volume, the best approach to engineer-out cost, improve performance, or add functionality will undoubtedly be to create a new design using fewer components. This will almost certainly require a firmware update as well.   

Please do talk to us about any type of programming or hardware design or modification task; no matter how small a job it may seem.  Even if we can't assist you directly, we may be able to put you in touch with engineers, organisations or suppliers that could help.