Embedded Software with Rust

Embedded Software with Rust is a practical introduction to building firmware that is fast, efficient, and far safer than traditional embedded software written in C or C++. Rust gives developers the low-level control embedded systems demand, but adds modern guarantees around memory safety, data races, and error handling. In a field where a single bug can cause crashes, security flaws, or costly field failures, those guarantees are a major advantage. In this engaging book, Dr. David Cabanis shows readers how Rust can deliver the performance and hardware access expected in embedded work while reducing entire categories of defects that have long been treated as unavoidable.

More products than ever depend on specialized, connected, resource-constrained devices: consumer electronics, industrial control systems, vehicles, medical devices, robotics, and edge computing platforms. As those systems become more capable and more connected and integrate local AI features, expectations for reliability, security, and maintainability will keep rising. Engineers who can develop software close to the hardware, while meeting modern standards for robustness, are in growing demand. Rust is uniquely well suited to that future, and this book helps readers build those skills in a practical way.

Embedded Software with Rust is designed to support learning step by step by introducing essential embedded concepts alongside the Rust features that make them safer and more expressive. As you read, you’ll understand not just what to do, but why it works. The book builds from foundational ideas toward real hardware-focused development in a way suitable for firmware beginners or experienced embedded developers who want to add Rust to their toolbox. Readers learn by connecting language features directly to practical embedded tasks such as peripheral access, memory-mapped I/O, timing, interrupts, and communication interfaces.

Hands-on examples are central to the approach. Readers will work through the kinds of projects that define embedded development: controlling LEDs, reading switches and sensors, exchanging data over serial interfaces, and coordinating multiple peripherals under realistic constraints. These examples are valuable not just as demonstrations, but also as reusable patterns for real-world firmware design. You’ll learn exactly how Rust runs on bare metal by building a minimal no_std Rust binary from scratch, explore concurrency, and see how Rust can interop C as you adopt Rust inside an existing firmware codebase.

Unlike scattered tutorials or videos, this book offers a coherent path through a complex subject, with enough space to explain concepts, compare approaches, and build confidence through sequence and repetition. It succeeds both as a guided tutorial and a lasting reference.

What's inside

• Set up an embedded Rust development environment
• Configure no_std projects for bare-metal execution
• Safely access and control hardware using PACs, HALs, and BSPs
• Manage memory in constrained systems
• Safely interoperate with existing C codebases

About the reader

For software engineers with basic Rust knowledge. Familiarity with the basics of embedded development, including microcontrollers, memory-mapped I/O, interrupts, and build/debug workflows, will help but is not required.

About the author

Dr. David Cabanis is Principal Engineer at Doulos, specializing in Arm embedded software, FPGA and SoC design, and system-level modeling. An ARM Accredited Engineer, MCU Engineer, and former ARM Certified Trainer, he brings deep, practical expertise in embedded Rust.