   How big of a market?
  Recently I have become very interested in embedded system design and programming.  The thought of creating my own hardware is appealing, but as far as a custom embedded systems market goes, how big is it?  I''m sure there would be a few people interested, mostly companies to improve efficiency in production possibly, and every so often an individual that wants a custom piece of hardware made.  I may be way off on my thinking though.  Is there a large untapped market for custom embedded systems? 
  The market for embedded systems is a highly sophisticated one. Don''t expect to break in and immediately find an audience for any products you create unless they are spectacular. Typical customers include automobile manufacturers (think about how many sensors, chips and microcomputers go into cars these days), medical equipment manufacturers... mostly manufacturers. There''s no consumer embedded market to speak of.It''s probably better/easier to develop the skills and get a job in the sector, even if only to gain experience and perspective. ;  Military systems are embedded.  One of the features of ADA is that the language itself supports developing embedded systems. ;  Well, I wasn''t really expecting a huge government or automobile contract, I was thinking more along the lines of custom, consumer based systems.  Is the lack of a commercial market more due to the fact that people don''t really know what they''re looking for, they don''t care about that sort of thing, or there really is no good place of having such a market? ;  After thinking more about this I am starting to think that there might be more of a market in a small business environment, or very specialized markets.  Small business owners are always popping up and new industries are being created.  If you''re a small business owner and need a special piece of hardware, I can''t see why custom embedded systems wouldn''t be the answer.  Also, for clarification, I wasn''t thinking about trying to break in to a specific industry(like automotive) and make tons of money, my idea was more of an individual "Come to us and we''ll make you what you need."  Any thoughts on this? 