25th Fribourg Linux Seminar : CI/CD for Embedded Systems

Join us at the 25th Fribourg Linux Seminar, where we explore how to make Continous Integration/Continous Delivery (CI/CD) for Embedded Systems happen.

Our expert speakers will share their insights and experiences, offering practical advice and best practices for running secure, reliable and resilient devices in today's fast-paced world.

Don't miss this opportunity to network with fellow developers and DevOps professionals, and learn from the best in the business.

Context
Today engineers who create Embedded Systems - from large, high-performance machines to IoT devices - face a daunting task. They must thoroughly test their devices, which are packed with a multitude of features, to deliver high quality products, while also ensuring security. This leaves many engineers wondering "How do we tackle this?"

While Continous Integration/Continous Delivery (CI/CD) has transformed the landscape of software development, the Embedded Systems domain presents a distinct set of challenges due to its intimate connection with hardware.

The goal of the event is to shed light on available, open source, modern and mature CI/CD solutions suitable (also) for Embedded System development and practical insights from industry deployments.

Agenda

- 16h45 : Reception of Attendees
- 17h00 : Welcome (Jacques Supcik Professor HEIA-FR, Luca Haab HEIA-FR)
- 17h05 : Information HEIA-FR (Roland Scherwey, Professor HEIA-FR)
- 17h20 : CI/CD using Nerves and Elixir (Loïc Stankovic, Elixir software engineer and founder at nyght)

One often hears that using CI/CD with embedded systems is challenging because there is not as much comfort as with cloud applications – even though CI/CD is critical if the goal is to create a quality product. But it doesn't have to be hard! By leveraging the vibrant ecosystem of Elixir, an Erlang-based functional programming language, the Nerves project greatly supports IoT development by providing a fully-featured platform for simulating and integrating such devices into CI/CD.
At nyght, a brand new event management platform, we use Elixir in our product every day and we're constantly looking for new ways to make life easier for music venues.

- 17h50 : CI for a Zephyr RTOS based device - A brief experience report (Mario Jaun, Lead Embedded Software Architect at Zühlke Engineering AG)

Recently I had the great opportunity to be involved in a project that was - from a technological perspective - almost a greenfield project. Hence there was also great freedom in how to setup the CI pipeline but also a lot of decisions to make. In this talk I would like to elaborate on some of these and share interesting experiences around the topics: Unit testing, simulators, HIL (hardware in the loop) testing, BDD (behavior driven development), toolchain management and project organization. While the device is based on Zephyr RTOS, the majority of the concepts are applicable to other Embedded Systems as well.

- 18h25 : Securing the CI/CD pipeline - for real (Imre Andor - Cyber and Information Security Leader, Hitachi Energy)

This presentation offers a hands-on exploration of the implementation of Shift-Left Security practices in the development of products for critical infrastructure. By embedding a suite of security scanners directly into the Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment (CI/CD) pipeline, vulnerabilities are detected earlier, enabling swift and targeted responses.

Key Points:

• Learn how integrating security scanners drastically enhances the ability to identify vulnerabilities.
• Gain insights into the strategies for swift and effective response to potential vulnerabilities.
• Practical takeaways, Lessons Learned & Best Practices.

- 19h00 : Aperitive & Networking

Sponsors:
Alumni HEIA-FR

Slides / Languages
EN: The slides will be in English and the talks will be either in English, French, or German (according to the speaker's preference).
FR: Les transparents seront en anglais et les présentations pourront être faites en français, en anglais, ou en allemand (selon la préférence de l'orateur).
DE: Die Folien werden auf Englisch sein und die Vorträge können entweder auf Deutsch, Englisch oder Französisch gehalten werden (je nach Vorliebe des Sprechers).

You can download the flyers and handouts of the previous seminars from our archive website (https://fls.isc.heia-fr.ch/archives/).

Contact Info
Feel free to suggest something using the discussion page: https://www.meetup.com/fr-FR/Fribourg-Linux-Seminar/discussions/

We are also always interested in good speakers. If you want to present a subject during a seminar, just fill out this form: https://goo.gl/forms/yQpJO0kJi1y0Blqu2

You can also contact the organizers by e-mail at jacques.supcik@hefr.ch or luca.haab@hefr.ch