added a nice class for 1-byte counters that wrap
diff --git a/aos/common/util/util.gyp b/aos/common/util/util.gyp
index e295682..852f3d7 100644
--- a/aos/common/util/util.gyp
+++ b/aos/common/util/util.gyp
@@ -41,5 +41,23 @@
         '<(AOS)/build/aos.gyp:logging',
       ],
     },
+    {
+      'target_name': 'wrapping_counter',
+      'type': 'static_library',
+      'sources': [
+        'wrapping_counter.cc',
+      ],
+    },
+    {
+      'target_name': 'wrapping_counter_test',
+      'type': 'executable',
+      'sources': [
+        'wrapping_counter_test.cc',
+      ],
+      'dependencies': [
+        'wrapping_counter',
+        '<(EXTERNALS):gtest',
+      ],
+    },
   ],
 }
diff --git a/aos/common/util/wrapping_counter.cc b/aos/common/util/wrapping_counter.cc
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..61f5047
--- /dev/null
+++ b/aos/common/util/wrapping_counter.cc
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+#include "aos/common/util/wrapping_counter.h"
+
+namespace aos {
+namespace util {
+
+WrappingCounter::WrappingCounter(int32_t initial_count)
+    : count_(initial_count), last_count_(0) {}
+
+int32_t WrappingCounter::Update(uint8_t current) {
+  if (last_count_ > current) {
+    count_ += 0x100;
+  }
+  count_ = (count_ & 0xffffff00) | current;
+  last_count_ = current;
+  return count_;
+}
+
+}  // namespace util
+}  // namespace aos
diff --git a/aos/common/util/wrapping_counter.h b/aos/common/util/wrapping_counter.h
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..fbf3611
--- /dev/null
+++ b/aos/common/util/wrapping_counter.h
@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+#ifndef AOS_COMMON_UTIL_WRAPPING_COUNTER_H_
+#define AOS_COMMON_UTIL_WRAPPING_COUNTER_H_
+
+#include <stdint.h>
+
+namespace aos {
+namespace util {
+
+// Deals correctly with 1-byte counters which wrap.
+// This is only possible if the counter never wraps twice between Update calls.
+// It will also fail if the counter ever goes down (that will be interpreted as
+// +255 instead of -1, for example).
+class WrappingCounter {
+ public:
+  WrappingCounter(int32_t initial_count = 0);
+
+  // Updates the internal counter with a new raw value.
+  // Returns count() for convenience.
+  int32_t Update(uint8_t current);
+
+  // Resets the actual count to value.
+  void Reset(int32_t value = 0) { count_ = value; }
+
+  int32_t count() const { return count_; }
+
+ private:
+  int32_t count_;
+  uint8_t last_count_;
+};
+
+}  // namespace util
+}  // namespace aos
+
+#endif  // AOS_COMMON_UTIL_WRAPPING_COUNTER_H_
diff --git a/aos/common/util/wrapping_counter_test.cc b/aos/common/util/wrapping_counter_test.cc
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e257fb0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/aos/common/util/wrapping_counter_test.cc
@@ -0,0 +1,58 @@
+#include "aos/common/util/wrapping_counter.h"
+
+#include <limits.h>
+
+#include "gtest/gtest.h"
+
+namespace aos {
+namespace util {
+namespace testing {
+
+TEST(WrappingCounterTest, Basic) {
+  WrappingCounter test_counter;
+  EXPECT_EQ(0, test_counter.count());
+  EXPECT_EQ(1, test_counter.Update(1));
+  EXPECT_EQ(1, test_counter.Update(1));
+  EXPECT_EQ(2, test_counter.Update(2));
+  EXPECT_EQ(7, test_counter.Update(7));
+  EXPECT_EQ(7, test_counter.count());
+  EXPECT_EQ(123, test_counter.Update(123));
+  EXPECT_EQ(123, test_counter.count());
+}
+
+TEST(WrappingCounterTest, Reset) {
+  WrappingCounter test_counter;
+  test_counter.Update(5);
+  test_counter.Reset();
+  EXPECT_EQ(0, test_counter.count());
+  test_counter.Reset(56);
+  EXPECT_EQ(56, test_counter.count());
+}
+
+namespace {
+void test_wrapping(int16_t start, int16_t step) {
+  WrappingCounter test_counter;
+  for (int16_t i = start; i < INT16_MAX - step; i += step) {
+    EXPECT_EQ(i, test_counter.Update(i & 0xFF));
+  }
+}
+}
+
+// This tests the basic wrapping functionality.
+TEST(WrappingCounterTest, ReasonableWrapping) {
+  test_wrapping(0, 13);
+  test_wrapping(0, 53);
+  test_wrapping(0, 64);
+  test_wrapping(0, 73);
+}
+
+// It would be reasonable for these to fail if the implementation changes.
+TEST(WrappingCounterTest, UnreasonableWrapping) {
+  test_wrapping(0, 128);
+  test_wrapping(0, 213);
+  test_wrapping(0, 255);
+}
+
+}  // namespace testing
+}  // namespace util
+}  // namespace aos