Anna-Lena Marx

Embedded Systems Engineering

I am passionate about the Yocto Project, Linux kernel development, Zephyr, AOSP, FPGAs and the electronics behind them. My professional work focuses on building sophisticated embedded systems solutions, which I often share through talks at conferences.

In my free time, I dedicate myself to personal projects like the open-source ZEReader, a microcontroller-based E-Reader which originated from my bachelor’s thesis in electrical engineering and enjoy photographing urban wildlife and being in the nature.

Explore my page for more on my professional work, upcoming talks, and my personal projects!

ZEReader

ZEReader is an open source hardware and software project dedicated to creating a hackable and customizable E-Reader platform. What began as an electrical engineering bachelor’s thesis has evolved into a hobby initiative.

While the project is still in its early stages and requires significant improvements to become a daily-use device, there are many exiting ideas for future hardware and software revisions. The goal is to continue the development of ZEReader to create a truly usable and open platform.

Recent Blog Posts

Building Trust - Use Cases and Implementation of TPM 2.0 in Embedded Linux Systems

Artwork by: Sparkelle (Yan) — Licensed under Creative Commons BY-SA 4.0

As embedded systems become increasingly interconnected, the demand for robust platform security and integrity has surged. Trusted Platform Modules (TPM), currently in version 2.0, are becoming increasingly beneficial for enhancing security in embedded systems. TPMs provide hardware-backed mechanisms for critical functions such as random number generation, cryptographic key generation, key binding and data sealing.

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Patching Unpatchable Files

In the Yocto world, the .bbappend file is a well-known and documented mechanism for altering recipe files, and an essential part of daily operations. While not common, there are instances where it becomes necessary to modify other file types, such as .inc or .bbclass, which do not offer an equivalent append mechanism. This session will summarize various strategies for effectively handling these file types when patching cannot be avoided.

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Yocto on the Edge - Unusual challenges when building not so embedded systems

Building embedded systems with Yocto on ARM platforms is a common practice, but when the products move further to the edge and become less “embedded,” new challenges arise. In this session, we will explore the requirements and challenges faced when developing Yocto-based systems for edge computing based on Intel.

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