Motorola Solutions’ Tech MeetUp: Modern Firmware Development

Motorola Solutions is known for hosting regular Tech MeetUps featuring their top-notch experts, discussing the most exciting topics in the IT world. Mark your calendars for the upcoming meeting on June 20th in Cracow and get ready discover the future of firmware development!

We had the pleasure of speaking with Paweł Nowicki, Senior Software Engineer, and Piotr Żołnierczyk, Technical Manager of the Video Analytics Team at Motorola Solutions, who shared some interesting insights on what you can expect from this event.

Here’s a sneak peek:

How does moving from C++ into GO change our way of working?

Paweł: As a C++ developer, you are very likely to encounter various differences among projects. Each project dependency might require you to learn how to build it, include it in your project, and test it. Thanks to the Go toolchain, it is possible to focus more on solving coding-related problems rather than on playing with your developer environment.

What are the advantages and challenges of transitioning from C++ to GO in firmware development?

Paweł: Go definitely beats C++ in terms of coding speed, allowing engineers to prototype quickly. It also simplifies the process of making your software cross-platform. On the other hand, the complexity grows to the disadvantage of Go when one needs to provide very specialized optimization, for instance, for memory consumption.

You’re planning to have a discussion panel with ChatGPT! What can we expect from the discussion? Do you think ChatGPT will tackle the questions and provide insightful answers?

Piotr: Yes, I think that ChatGPT can provide us with very insightful answers and different perspectives on various problems. We would like to check if we can trust ChatGPT in the current state of technology as a single source of truth. Together with our experts we will ask ChatGPT various questions and evaluate the answers.

What role can AI, specifically ChatGPT, play in shaping the future of firmware development?

Piotr: Firmware development is full of hardware-related issues and special use cases. Many documents are confidential and it is hard to find important information using StackOverflow. AI like ChatGPT, especially customized and trained on internal docs and source code, can help us make it faster and better to find solutions to problems than ever before. It’s like having experienced colleagues just for you, accessible at every moment. 

How can the implementation of audio analytics inside affordable devices revolutionize direction detection for incidents?

Piotr: When all security cameras and sensors, even those cheap ones, will have the possibility not only to hear but detect where and what happened, we can provide more precise information to the incident response team, potentially saving lives. Cameras can sense an incident in every direction around them. We can automatically adjust other cameras to capture the event and even control doors in the area of the incident.

How can attending this tech meetup help us gain a deeper understanding of the latest technologies, trends, and career opportunities in the field of firmware development?

Piotr: We would like to show that firmware development is not just a boring task done with outdated technology. It involves implementing new advanced features that are exciting to work on, exploring new languages that make coding interesting, and using AI to make development tasks faster and easier.

Are there any highlights or special features planned for the meetup?

Piotr: Yes! There will be a quiz testing knowledge shared during the presentation. We’ve prepared a nice prize for the winners. You’ll also have the opportunity to discuss various topics with the speakers and network with other attendees.

Speakers:

Paweł Nowicki

Senior Software Engineer at Motorola Solutions, part of the Avigilon Alta Firmware team. Professionally always oscillating around computer security, hardware management and performance. In love-hate relationship with C++. Currently coding in Go. Definitely not an enthusiast for writing about himself.

Piotr Żołnierczyk

Technical Manager of Video Analytics Team at Motorola Solutions. From automotive to security, always around video processing and embedded development. Doesn’t like running and C++ but have been doing it every day for years now.