The Challenge: Transition from Analog to Digital
In 2002, immediately after university, I joined a team tasked with a critical transition: moving vital anesthesia and respiratory equipment from legacy analog systems to modern digital control. The main hurdle? A complete lack of available libraries, source codes, or accessible documentation for the new hardware.
The Reliable Solution: bare-metal 8051 Assembler
To guarantee the required precision and fault-tolerance, every line of code was written from scratch using 8051 Assembler for the robust Silabs C8051F120 microcontroller. This choice provided absolute control over the system’s execution and memory management, crucial for life-support machinery.
Legacy of Reliability
Development took 2 years, followed by 15 years of continuous production and support.
I am proud to report: not a single failure or breakdown occurred during this entire period.
These machines operated with “Swiss watch” precision, establishing the foundation of my engineering philosophy: reliable opensource solutions built on meticulous design and robust documentation.