Design review: Hardware abstraction

[krook]

Implement code in a way to abstract specific components so they can be replaced as needed and to support a larger range of component types.

It is common in product lifecycles to experience changes to hardware, especially changing sensors and even processors. This is especially true in times of global supply chain crises, as is the case with semiconductor shortages at the present time.

It is a significant risk to be bottlenecked into a particular sensor, sensor family/series, or processor. To that end, the firmware should be designed with hardware abstraction in mind. Minimal, if any, application firmware should be written which references specific implementations of sensors or processors. All core functionality should be implemented through hardware abstraction layers so that changes can be made safely in the future without the risk of complication.