Event-Driven State Machine

BME554L - Fall 2026

Author

Affiliation

Dr. Mark Palmeri, M.D., Ph.D.

Duke University

Published

August 25, 2026

Introduction

Nested conditional logic main loops are hard to read and maintain.
State machines are a common way to implement complex logic.
States have transitions that are triggered by events or conditions.
- States can have entry / exit routines that are executed when the state is entered / exited.
- The “run” status of a state is commonly referred to as the “state machine tick” and recurrently loops.
State diagrams are used to visualize state machines.
State structures are used to capture variables associated with describing the state.

In-Class Demo

You (and your daily routine)
- What are your “states”?
- What are your “events”?
ICD

stateDiagram-v2
    direction LR
    [*] --> Init

    Init : Do Stuff
    RhythmDetect : Detect Rhythm
    Sleep : Save Power
    Pace : Pace
    Error : Put device into safe mode

    state OTA {
        direction LR
        [*] --> ota_init
        ota_init --> ota_run
        ota_run --> ota_exit
        ota_init : Download Update
        ota_run : Over The Air Update
        ota_exit : Post Successful OTA
    }

    Init --> RhythmDetect : Successful Init
    Init --> Error : Init Fault Error Code
    RhythmDetect --> Pace : Arrhythmia Detected
    Pace --> RhythmDetect : Pacing Timer Expired
    RhythmDetect --> Sleep : NSR
    Sleep --> RhythmDetect : Sleep Timer Expired
    Sleep --> OTA : OTA Button Pressed
    OTA --> RhythmDetect : OTA Success Kernel Event Posted
    Error --> [*]

Implementation

State Diagram

Generating the state diagram is the first step in implementing a state machine.
Usually start with “pencil and paper” to sketch out the states and transitions.
Consider the following:
- What are the states?
- What are the transitions?
- What are the events that trigger transitions?
- What are the entry / exit routines for each state?
UML (Universal Modeling Language) is a common way to represent state diagrams.

Mermaid Example

stateDiagram-v2
    direction LR
    [*] --> Init

    state Init {
        init_run: Do Stuff
    }

    state RhythmDetect {
        rhythm_detect_run: Detect Rhythm
    }

    state Sleep {
        sleep_run: Save Power
    }

    state Pace {
        pace_run: Pace
    }

    state OTA {
        ota_init: Download Update
        ota_init --> ota_run
        ota_run: Over The Air Update
        ota_run --> ota_exit
        ota_exit: Post Successful OTA
    }

    state Error {
        error_run: Put device into safe mode
    }

    Init --> RhythmDetect : Successful Init
    Init --> Error : Init Fault Error Code
    RhythmDetect --> Pace : Arrhythmia Detected
    Pace --> RhythmDetect : Pacing Timer Expired
    RhythmDetect --> Sleep : NSR
    Sleep --> RhythmDetect : Sleep Timer Expired
    Sleep --> OTA : OTA Button Pressed
    OTA --> RhythmDetect : OTA Success Kernel Event Posted
    Error --> [*]

Rendered Diagram

stateDiagram-v2
    direction LR
    [*] --> Init

    state Init {
        init_run: Do Stuff
    }

    state RhythmDetect {
        rhythm_detect_run: Detect Rhythm
    }

    state Sleep {
        sleep_run: Save Power
    }

    state Pace {
        pace_run: Pace
    }

    state OTA {
        ota_init: Download Update
        ota_init --> ota_run
        ota_run: Over The Air Update
        ota_run --> ota_exit
        ota_exit: Post Successful OTA
    }

    state Error {
        error_run: Put device into safe mode
    }

    Init --> RhythmDetect : Successful Init
    Init --> Error : Init Fault Error Code
    RhythmDetect --> Pace : Arrhythmia Detected
    Pace --> RhythmDetect : Pacing Timer Expired
    RhythmDetect --> Sleep : NSR
    Sleep --> RhythmDetect : Sleep Timer Expired
    Sleep --> OTA : OTA Button Pressed
    OTA --> RhythmDetect : OTA Success Kernel Event Posted
    Error --> [*]

Kernel Events

What is a “kernel”?
- The part of the RTOS that interacts with hardware.
Kernel events can be used to indicate that “something” has happened, which may dictate the function of the state machine.
- Button press
- Sensor crossing a threshold
- Timer expiring
When an event occurs, it triggers an Interupt Service Routine (ISR), which calls a callback function.

Code: Switch-Case

The simplest implementation of a state machine is a switch-case statement.
The switch statement is used to select the current state.
The case statements are used to implement the logic for each state.
- Cases can be nested to implement sub-states.
- Enumerations can be used to give states verbose names instead of numbers.
The break statement is used to exit the switch statement.
The default statement is used to handle unexpected states.

Pseudo-Code

enum device_states { init, run, sleep };

int device_state = init; // initialize state

/* structure to bookkeep state variables */
struct device_state_vars {
    int var1;
    int var2;
};

while (1) {
    switch (device_state) {
        case init:
            /* do stuff to initialize device */
            device_state = run; // change the state
            break;  // exit the switch statement
        case run:
            /* run device */
            if (condition) {
                device_state = sleep;
            }
            break;
        case sleep:
            /* sleep device */
            if (condition) {
                device_state = run;
            }
            break;
        default:
            /* handle unexpected state */
            break;
    }
}

The switch-case approach loses some of its elegance when there are many states and many transitions and states have entry / exit routines.