Engineering Glossary

Application-Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) — A custom silicon chip optimized for a single specific use case or application.

ATEX is the EU framework for equipment in explosive atmospheres — defining equipment groups and categories with corresponding Notified Body requirements.

The Battery Passport is a mandatory digital record for EV, LMT, and industrial batteries under EU Battery Regulation 2023/1542 — containing lifecycle data, carbon footprint, recycled content, and supply chain information accessible via a QR code linked to each physical battery.

BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) — Wireless protocol for ultra-low-power IoT devices, enabling years of battery life with data ranges up to 240 m.

BOM Management covers selecting, tracking, and maintaining every hardware component to manage obsolescence, supply chain risk, and RoHS/REACH compliance.

BSP (Board Support Package) — Hardware abstraction layer bridging PCB design to an RTOS, including startup code, drivers, and peripheral config.

CE Marking — Mandatory European conformity marking indicating a product meets all EU health, safety, and environmental requirements.

Conformity Assessment: the structured process manufacturers use to demonstrate product compliance with EU directive requirements before affixing the CE mark.

EU Cyber Resilience Act (CRA) — Mandatory cybersecurity regulation for all hardware and software products with digital elements sold in the EU.

CVE (Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures) is the global standard for identifying cybersecurity vulnerabilities, each assigned a unique CVE-ID.

The DoC is the legally binding document in which a manufacturer declares EU directive conformity — required to affix the CE mark to a product.

Design for Manufacturing (DFM) and Design for Assembly (DFA) are critical engineering methodologies that ensure a hardware product can be mass-produced...

Digital Product Passport (DPP) — Structured digital record of product identity, composition, and recycling info, mandated by EU ESPR regulation.

Digital Twin — Real-time virtual replica of a physical device or system enabling simulation, monitoring, and predictive analytics.

DO-254 (RTCA DO-254 / EUROCAE ED-80) — International standard for design assurance of airborne electronic hardware including FPGAs and ASICs.

Edge AI (Artificial Intelligence at the Edge) — Processing AI algorithms locally on hardware devices for real-time inference without cloud dependency.

Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC) is the ability of electronic equipment to function in its environment without introducing intolerable...

EN 18031 is the European harmonised standard series defining cybersecurity requirements for radio equipment under the RED Delegated Act — mandatory for CE marking of internet-connected radio products from August 2025.

ETSI EN 300 328 is the principal harmonised standard for 2.4 GHz wideband radio devices — covering Wi-Fi (802.11b/g/n/ax), Bluetooth, Zigbee, and any other spread-spectrum or FHSS technology in the 2.4 GHz ISM band, mandated under the Radio Equipment Directive (RED).

ETSI EN 301 893 is the harmonised standard for 5 GHz Wi-Fi radio devices (RLAN — Radio Local Area Networks) in the EU — defining transmit power limits, Dynamic Frequency Selection (DFS) for radar avoidance, and Transmit Power Control (TPC) requirements under the Radio Equipment Directive.

ETSI EN 303 645 is the foundational cybersecurity standard for consumer IoT devices — defining 13 security provisions covering default passwords, software updates, vulnerability disclosure, and secure communications that form the baseline for RED and CRA compliance.

EN 62368-1 is the harmonised product safety standard for audio/video, information, and communication technology equipment under the EU Low Voltage Directive — replacing IEC 60950-1 (IT equipment) and IEC 60065 (AV equipment) with a unified hazard-based safety engineering approach.

EN IEC 62443 is the international and European standard series for cybersecurity of Industrial Automation and Control Systems (IACS) — defining security levels, risk assessment processes, and requirements for OT network components, systems, and suppliers used in industrial, critical infrastructure, and manufacturing environments.

ENISA — The EU's central cybersecurity authority, responsible for CRA vulnerability reports, certification schemes, and policy guidance.

ETSI (European Telecommunications Standards Institute) is the EU-recognised standards body responsible for developing harmonised telecommunications and radio standards — including EN 300 328, EN 301 893, EN 303 645, and EN 18031 — that provide presumption of conformity with RED, LVD, and related CE marking legislation.

EU AI Act — First comprehensive AI legal framework establishing risk-based rules for AI systems on the EU market, with edge AI hardware implications.

EU Battery Regulation (2023/1542) is the EU's comprehensive framework for sustainable batteries — replacing the 2006 Battery Directive with mandatory lifecycle performance standards, carbon footprint declarations, recycled content requirements, and digital Battery Passports for EV and industrial batteries.

The EU Responsible Person is a mandatory EU-based representative required by GPSR (EU 2023/988) for non-EU manufacturers — taking on legal accountability for product safety compliance and serving as the official contact for market surveillance authorities.

Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) — A reconfigurable semiconductor device that can be programmed after manufacturing for custom hardware logic.

GPSR (General Product Safety Regulation, EU 2023/988) replaces the General Product Safety Directive and imposes strict safety obligations on all consumer products — including electronics and IoT devices — sold in the EU from December 2024.

A Hardware Abstraction Layer (HAL) is a software subsystem that provides a standardized API to interact with underlying hardware components, hiding the...

Hardware Root of Trust (HRoT) — Immutable, tamper-resistant hardware foundation anchoring all cryptographic operations and security in a device.

Harmonised Standards are EU Official Journal-listed EN standards whose application gives a legal presumption of conformity with EU directive requirements.

Hardware Security Module (HSM) — Tamper-resistant device for cryptographic key management, digital signing, and encryption in secure environments.

Internet of Things (IoT) — Network of sensor-equipped devices exchanging data to enable intelligent automation and real-time monitoring.

JTAG and SWD are the primary hardware interfaces used by embedded engineers for boundary-scan testing, internal silicon debugging, and direct memory...

LoRaWAN — Low-power, long-range wireless protocol enabling IoT sensor networks spanning 5-15 km with multi-year battery life.

The Low Voltage Directive (LVD) is an EU regulatory framework ensuring that electrical equipment within certain voltage limits provides a high level of...

EU Machinery Regulation 2023/1230 sets essential health and safety requirements for machinery on the EU market — replacing Directive 2006/42/EC from January 2027.

Market Surveillance is the EU system by which national authorities monitor products already on the market to verify compliance with CE marking requirements — including random testing, technical file requests, and enforcement actions against non-compliant products.

A Market Surveillance Inspection is an official investigation by a national authority into whether a CE-marked product complies with EU legislation — covering technical file review, product testing, and enforcement actions including market withdrawal and recall.

Matter — Universal smart home connectivity standard (CSA) enabling interoperability across Apple, Google, Amazon over Thread and Wi-Fi.

Understanding the architectural and application differences between Microcontroller Units (MCUs) running bare-metal or RTOS, Microprocessor Units (MPUs)...

MCUboot — Open-source secure bootloader for 32-bit MCUs with verified boot, encrypted OTA updates, and rollback protection.

MDR (EU 2017/745) governs medical devices: requires Notified Body certification for Class IIa+ and mandates strict post-market surveillance obligations.

MISRA C — Coding guidelines for safe, reliable C software in embedded and safety-critical systems. 2023 edition supports C11/C18.

Module A (Internal Production Control) is the EU conformity assessment procedure where the manufacturer independently verifies product compliance with applicable directives and issues the EU Declaration of Conformity — the legal foundation of self-declaration and CE marking for most hardware products.

NIS2 Directive (EU 2022/2555) — EU cybersecurity directive imposing strict security obligations on essential entities across critical infrastructure.

NIS2 Directive (EU 2022/2555) is the EU's landmark cybersecurity law for essential and important entities across 18 critical sectors — imposing risk management obligations, 24-hour incident reporting, and personal C-level liability.

A Notified Body is an EU-designated body for third-party conformity assessment — required when a directive prohibits manufacturer self-declaration.

A Neural Processing Unit (NPU) is a specialized hardware accelerator designed specifically to execute machine learning algorithms (like convolutional...

The Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU) is the authoritative daily publication of the EU — the only source where EU legislation, harmonised standards references, and official notices acquire legal force, making it the definitive resource for identifying which standards provide presumption of conformity with EU directives.

OTA Update (Over-the-Air) — Wireless firmware delivery enabling remote updates to embedded devices, now mandatory under the EU Cyber Resilience Act.

PCB Design — Engineering discipline of designing multi-layer circuit boards interconnecting electronic components in hardware products.

Post-market Surveillance is mandatory EU monitoring after product launch — CRA extends this with 5-year vulnerability management and SBOM requirements.

Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC) — Next-gen cryptographic algorithms resistant to quantum computer attacks, essential for long-lived embedded systems.

A RAG Report classifies every EU directive requirement as Green (met), Amber (at risk), or Red (non-compliant) — the standard compliance assessment format.

Radio Equipment Directive (RED) — EU regulation mandating cybersecurity and data protection for all wireless devices sold in Europe.

RED Delegated Act (EU 2022/30) activates mandatory cybersecurity requirements for internet-connected radio equipment under Articles 3(3)(d)(e)(f) of the Radio Equipment Directive — compliance compulsory from 1 August 2025.

RISC-V — An open-standard instruction set architecture (ISA) enabling royalty-free custom processor design, driving Europe's push for semiconductor...

RoHS restricts specific hazardous materials in electronic products, while REACH governs the registration, evaluation, authorization, and restriction of...

Register-Transfer Level (RTL) Design — Hardware abstraction layer describing digital logic as data flow between registers and operations.

RTOS (Real-Time Operating System) — Specialized OS guaranteeing deterministic task execution within strict timing constraints for embedded devices.

Safety Gate (formerly RAPEX) is the EU's rapid alert system for dangerous non-food consumer products — enabling real-time sharing of serious product risk notifications across all 27 EU member states and triggering coordinated enforcement actions against unsafe products.

Software Bill of Materials (SBOM) — Machine-readable inventory of all software components and dependencies, required by the EU CRA for vulnerability tracking.

Secure Boot — A hardware-rooted security mechanism that ensures only authenticated and cryptographically verified firmware runs on a device from power-on.

Secure Element (SE) — Tamper-resistant microchip providing hardware-level protection for cryptographic keys and device identity in IoT systems.

Self-Declaration of Conformity is the manufacturer's direct route to CE marking — where the manufacturer itself assesses compliance with applicable EU directives and regulations, without mandatory third-party involvement, and issues the EU Declaration of Conformity.

Sensor Fusion is the algorithmic process of combining data from multiple distinct sensors to compute a unified, highly accurate output state that is...

SIL (Safety Integrity Level) and ASIL (Automotive SIL) are formal, quantified risk classification schemes used to define the required safety and...

System on Chip (SoC) — An integrated circuit that integrates all components of a computer or other electronic system into a single chip.

The Technical File is the mandatory documentation package a manufacturer must compile and retain to support a CE marking Declaration of Conformity.

TinyML — ML inference on microcontrollers consuming milliwatts, enabling on-device AI for anomaly detection and predictive maintenance.

V-Model — Systems engineering methodology pairing each development phase with a verification phase for safety-critical hardware validation.

VHSIC Hardware Description Language (VHDL) — The industry-standard language for designing and modeling digital circuits used in FPGA and ASIC development.

The WEEE Directive governs how electrical and electronic equipment is treated at the end of its lifecycle, mandating producer responsibility for...

Zephyr RTOS — Modular open-source RTOS from the Linux Foundation supporting 450+ boards with BLE/Thread/LoRaWAN and MCUboot secure boot.