Boot and BSP Bring-Up: From Reset to a Reproducible Image

Treat boot as a sequence of observable handoffs

Embedded Systems Interview Series — Part 6 of 18

Why can an image fit in memory yet still have an invalid entry address? Check each boundary independently before treating a binary as executable firmware.

Parts 1 and 4 explain memory addresses. A BSP is the board support package: the startup, drivers and configuration needed for a particular board.

Mini-example: The first address outside an image. A 256-byte image beginning at 0x20000000 covers addresses below 0x20000100. An entry address equal to 0x20000100 is outside the image. This is the lesson’s address-range exercise, not a complete Cortex-M vector or Thumb-state check.

Your place: C and data (1–3) → hardware, RTOS, BSP and protocols (4–8) → Embedded Linux and reliability (9–12) → company clinics (13–18). This part is in hardware, rtos, bsp and protocols.

Start here — Part 1: Embedded C and memory

Inside a logic analyzer: digital capture hardware records signal samples. Software field extraction still needs an explicit width and bit numbering; this photo is illustrative, not a test performed for the lesson.