INTRODUCTION TO EMBEDDED

SYSTEM DESIGN
Mukesh Kumar
mkb@genericembedded.com
www genericembedded com
www.genericembedded.com

Agenda(1)
IntroductiontoEmbeddedSystemDesign
GeneralIntroductiontoEmbeddedSystems
General Introduction to Embedded Systems
HardwarePlatformsandComponents
SystemSpecialization
y
p
ApplicationSpecificInstructionSets
MicroController
DigitalSignalProcessorsandVLIW
Di i l Si l P
d VLIW

ProgrammableHardware
ASICs

Agenda (2)
Agenda(2)
Challengesinembeddedsystemdesign
Challenges in embedded system design
Dependability,efficiency,

Designflows
Design flows
Requirementsforspecificationtechniques
Modelsofcomputation
Models of computation
Localmodel
Communication

What isEmbeddedSystem?..
y
Embeddedsystems(ES)
Embedded
systems (ES) =information
information
processingsystemsembeddedintoalarger
product
Anembeddedsystem isacomputersystem
designedtodooneorafewdedicatedand/or
specificfunctionsoftenwithrealtime
computingconstraints.Itisembedded aspart
ofacompletedeviceoftenincludinghardware
f
l
d i
f
i l di h d
andmechanicalparts.

What is Embedded System?..2

WhatisEmbeddedSystem?..2

Applicationareas(1)
Automotiveelectronics
Avionics
Trains
Telecommunication

Applicationareas(2)
Robotics

Examples of Embedded Systems

ExamplesofEmbeddedSystems
Carasanintegratedcontrol,communication
andinformationsystem.
di f
i

Examples of Embedded Systems

ExamplesofEmbeddedSystems
Consumerelectronics,forexampleMP3Audio,
digitalcamera,homeelectronics,.

Examples of Embedded Systems

ExamplesofEmbeddedSystems

ExamplesofEmbeddedSystems
Informationsystems,forexamplewireless
communication (mobile phone, Wireless LAN,
communication(mobilephone,WirelessLAN,
),enduserequipment,router,

CommunicatingEmbeddedSystems
Example:BTnodes http://www.btnode.ethz.ch)
completeplatformincludingOS
especiallysuitedforpervasivecomputingapplications

BTnode Platform

CommunicatingEmbeddedSystems
sensornetworks(civilengineering,buildings,environmental
monitoring,traffic,emergencysituations)
smartproducts,wearable/ubiquitouscomputing
/

CharacteristicsofEmbeddedSystems(1)
Mustbedependable:
Reliability:R(t)=probabilityofsystemworkingcorrectly
providedthatiswasworkingatt=0
Maintainability:M(d)=probabilityofsystemworking
correctly d time units after error occurred
correctlydtimeunitsaftererroroccurred.
Availability:probabilityofsystemworkingattimet
Safety:noharmtobecaused
Safety: no harm to be caused
Security:confidentialandauthenticcommunication
Even perfectly designed systems can fail if the assumptions about the
workload and possible errors turn out to be wrong. Making the system
dependable must not be an afterthought, it must be considered from
the very beginning.
beginning

CharacteristicsofEmbeddedSystems(2)
Mustbeefficient:

Energyefficient
Codesizeefficient(especiallyforsystemsonachip)
Runtimeefficient
Weight efficient
Weightefficient
Costefficient

D
Dedicatedtowardsacertain
di
d
d
i application:Knowledge
li i
K
l d
aboutbehavioratdesigntimecanbeusedto
minimizeresourcesandtomaximizerobustness.
Dedicateduser interface(nomouse,keyboardand
screen).

CharacteristicsofEmbeddedSystems(3)
ManyESmustmeetrealtimeconstraints:
A real-time system must react to stimuli from
the controlled object (or the operator) within the
time interval dictated by the environment.
Forrealtimesystems,rightanswersarrivingtoolate
(or even too early) are wrong
(oreventooearly)arewrong.

Arealtimeconstraintiscalledhard,ifnot
meetingthatconstraint
g
couldresultina
catastrophe[Kopetz,1997].
Allothertimeconstraintsarecalledsoft.
Aguaranteedsystemresponsehastobe
explainedwithoutstatisticalarguments.

CharacteristicsofEmbeddedSystems(4)
Frequentlyconnectedtophysicalenvironment
through sensorsandactuators,
Hybridsystems(analog+digitalparts).
Typically,ESarereactivesystems:
Areactivesystemisonewhichisincontinual
interactionwithisenvironmentandexecutesat
apacedeterminedbythatenvironment
d
i db h
i

[Berg,1995]
Behaviordependsoninputandcurrentstate.
B h i d
d
i
t d
t t t
automatamodeloftenappropriate,

Comparison
EmbeddedSystems

FFewapplicationsthatareknown
li i
h
k
atdesigntime.
Notprogrammablebyenduser.
Fixedruntimeequirements
(additionalcomputingpowernot
useful).
Criteria:

cost
powerconsumption
predictability

GeneralPurposeComputing

B d l
Broadclassofapplications.
f
li i

Programmablebyenduser.
Fasterisbetter.

Criteria:
cost
averagespeed

Agenda
GeneralIntroductiontoEmbeddedSystems
General Introduction to Embedded Systems
HardwarePlatformsandComponents
SystemSpecialization
S t
S i li ti
ApplicationSpecificInstructionSets
MicroController
Mi
C
ll
DigitalSignalProcessorsandVLIW

ProgrammableHardware
Programmable Hardware
ASICs

EmbeddedSystemHardware
Embeddedsystemhardwareisfrequently
used in a loop (hardware
usedinaloop(
hardwareinaloop
in a loop):
):

TypicalArchitecture

Agenda
GeneralIntroductiontoEmbeddedSystems
General Introduction to Embedded Systems
HardwarePlatformsandComponents

SystemSpecialization
System Specialization
ApplicationSpecificInstructionSets
MicroController
Mi
C
ll
DigitalSignalProcessorsandVLIW

ProgrammableHardware
Programmable Hardware
ASICs

ImplementationAlternatives

GeneralpurposeProcessors
Highperformance
Highlyoptimizedcircuitsandtechnology
Useofparallelism
superscalar:dynamicschedulingofinstructions
superpipelining:instructionpipelining,branchprediction,
speculation

complexmemoryhierarchy

Notsuitedforrealtimeapplications
f
pp
Executiontimesarehighlyunpredictablebecauseof
intensiveresourcesharinganddynamicdecisions

Properties
Goodaverageperformanceforlargeapplicationmix
Highpowerconsumption

PentiumP4

SystemSpecialization
Themaindifferencebetweengeneralpurposehighest
volumemicroprocessorsandembeddedsystemsis
p
y
specialization.
Specializationshouldrespectflexibility
application
applicationdomainspecificsystemsshallcoveraclassof
domain specific systems shall cover a class of
applications
someflexibilityisrequiredtoaccountforlatechanges,
debugging

Systemanalysisrequired
identificationofapplicationpropertieswhichcanbe
usedforspecialization
df
i li ti
quantificationofindividualspecializationeffects

Example:CodesizeEfficiency
CISCmachines:RISCmachinesdesignedforrun
time, not for codesizeefficiency.
time,notforcode
size efficiency.
Compressiontechniques:keyidea

Example:Heterogeneousregisters

Example:Multiplememorybanksormemories

Agenda
GeneralIntroductiontoEmbeddedSystems
General Introduction to Embedded Systems
HardwarePlatformsandComponents
SystemSpecialization
System Specialization
ApplicationSpecificInstructionSets

MicroController
Mi
C t ll
DigitalSignalProcessorsandVLIW

ProgrammableHardware
P
bl H d
ASICs

Microcontroller
controldominantapplications
supportsprocessschedulingand
synchronization
preemption(interrupt),context
switch
it h
shortlatencytimes

lowpowerconsumption
peripheralunitsoften
integrated
suitedforrealtime
applications

ControlDominatedSystems
Reactivesystemswitheventdrivenbehavior
Underlyingsemanticsofsystemdescription(input
modelofcomputation)typically(coupled)Finite
StateMachines

Agenda
GeneralIntroductiontoEmbeddedSystems
General Introduction to Embedded Systems
HardwarePlatformsandComponents
SystemSpecialization
System Specialization
ApplicationSpecificInstructionSets
MicroController
Micro Controller

DigitalSignalProcessorsandVLIW

ProgrammableHardware
ASICs

DigitalSignalProcessor
optimizedfordataflowapplications
suitedforsimplecontrolflow
parallelhardware
ll l h d
units(VLIW)

specialized
specialized
instructionset
highdatathroughput
zerooverheadloops
specializedmemory
suitedforrealtime
df
l
applications

MAC(multiply&accumulate)

DataDominatedSystems
Streamingorientedsystemswithmostly
periodicbehavior
Underlyingsemanticsofinputdescriptione.g.
flowgraphs(inputmodelofcomputation)

Applicationexamples:signalprocessing,
controlengineering
g
g

VeryLongInstructionWord(VLIW)
Keyidea:detectionofpossibleparallelismtobedone
bycompiler,notbyhardwareatruntime(inefficient).
VLIW:paralleloperations(instructions)encodedin
onelongword(instructionpacket),eachinstruction
controlling one functional unit E g :
controllingonefunctionalunit.E.g.:

Example:PhilipsTriMedia TM1000

Agenda
GeneralIntroductiontoEmbeddedSystems
General Introduction to Embedded Systems
HardwarePlatformsandComponents
SystemSpecialization
System Specialization
ApplicationSpecificInstructionSets
MicroController
Micro Controller
DigitalSignalProcessorsandVLIW

ProgrammableHardware
bl
d
ASICs

FPGA BasicStructure
LogicUnits
I/OUnits
Connections

FPGA Classification
Granularityoflogicunits:
Gate,tables,memory,functionalblocks(ALU,
control,datapath,processor)

Communicationnetwork:
Crossbar,hierarchicalmesh,tree

Reconfiguration:
fixedatproductiontime,onceatdesigntime,
p
,
g
,
dynamicduringruntime

FloorplanofVIRTEXIIFPGAs

Agenda
GeneralIntroductiontoEmbeddedSystems
General Introduction to Embedded Systems
HardwarePlatformsandComponents
SystemSpecialization
System Specialization
ApplicationSpecificInstructionSets
MicroController
Micro Controller
DigitalSignalProcessorsandVLIW
ProgrammableHardware
P
bl H d

ASICs

ApplicationSpecificCircuits(ASICS)
Customdesignedcircuits
necessary
ifultimatespeedor
energyefficiencyisthegoaland
energy efficiency is the goal and
largenumberscanbesold.

Approachsuffersfrom
longdesigntimes,
l
d i
i
lackofflexibility

(
(changingstandards)and
g g
)
highcosts

(e.g.Mill.$maskcosts).

Agenda (2)
Agenda(2)
Challengesinembeddedsystemdesign
Challenges in embedded system design
Dependability,efficiency,

Designflows
Design flows
Structureofthiscourse
Requirementsforspecificationtechniques
Requirements for specification techniques
Modelsofcomputation
Localmodel
L l
d l
Communication

Quiteanumberofchallenges,e.g.
dependability
Dependability?
Nonrealtimeprotocolsusedforrealtimeapplications
(e.g.Berlinfiredepartment)
Oversimplificationofmodels
(e.g.aircraftanticollisionsystem)
Usingunsafesystemsforsafetycriticalmissions
(e.g.voicecontrolsysteminLosAngeles;~800
planeswithoutvoiceconnectiontotowerfor>3hrs
l
h
f
h

ItisnotsufficienttoconsiderES
just as a special case of software engineering
justasaspecialcaseofsoftwareengineering
EEknowledgemustbeavailable,
WallsbetweenEEandCSmustbetorndown

CS

Thesameforwallstootherdisciplinesandmorechallenges.

EE

Agenda (2)
Agenda(2)
Challengesinembeddedsystemdesign
Challenges in embedded system design
Dependability,efficiency,

Designflows
Design flows
Requirementsforspecificationtechniques
Modelsofcomputation
Models of computation
Localmodel
Communication

App
plicationKn
nowledge

Hypotheticaldesignflow
Specification

Designrepository

EShardware

Design

Test*
Applicationmapping

Systemsoftware
System
software
(RTOS,middleware,
)

O ti i ti
Optimization
Evaluation&Validation
(energy,cost,performance,
)
)

Genericloop:toolchainsdifferinthenumberandtypeofiterations
e e c oop oo c a s d e
e u be a d ype o e a o s

*Couldbe
Could be
integrated
intoloop

Iterativedesign(1)
Afterunrollingloop
After unrolling loop

Example:
SpecC
SpecC
tools

Iterativedesign(2)
Afterunrollingloop

Example:Vmodel
Requirement
analysis

System
architecture

System
System
design

Software
architecture
Software
design

Acceptance
&use

System
integration

Integration
testing

Unit
tests

Skippingsomeexplicit
repositoryupdates..

ApplicationKno
owledge

Hypotheticaldesignflow
2:Specification

3:EShardware
4:Systemsoftware
4:
System software
(RTOS,middleware,
)

Designrepository

6:Application
mapping
7 O ti i ti
7:Optimization
5:Evaluation&Validation
(energy,cost,performance,
)
)

Numbersdenotesequenceofchapters

Design

8.Test*

*Couldbe
Could be
integrated
intoloop

Motivation for considering specs

Motivationforconsideringspecs
Whyconsideringspecs?
If
Ifsomethingiswrongwiththespecs,thenit
something is wrong with the specs then it
willbedifficulttogetthedesignright,
potentiallywastingalotoftime.
Typically,weworkwithmodels ofthe
systemunderdesign (SUD)
) Whatisamodel anyway?

Models
Definition:Amodelisasimplificationofanotherentity,
which can be a physical thing or another model. The model
whichcanbeaphysicalthingoranothermodel.Themodel
containsexactlythosecharacteristicsandpropertiesofthe
modeledentitythatarerelevantforagiventask.Amodel
isminimalwithrespecttoataskifitdoesnotcontainany
is minimal with respect to a task if it does not contain any
othercharacteristicsthanthoserelevantforthetask.
[Jantsch,2004]:

Whichrequirementsdowehaveforourmodels?

Requirementsforspecificationtechniques:
Hierarchy
Hierarchy
Humansnotcapabletounderstandsystems
containingmorethan~5objects.
Mostactualsystemsrequiremoreobjects
) Hierarchy
Behavioralhierarchy
Examples:states,processes,procedures.
Structuralhierarchy
Examples:processors,racks,
p
printedcircuitboards

proc
proc
proc

Requirementsforspecificationtechniques(2):
Componentbased
Component
baseddesign
design
Systemsmustbedesignedfrom
components
Mustbeeasytoderivebehaviorfrom
behaviorofsubsystems
)WorkofSifakis,Thiele,Ernst,
Concurrency
Synchronizationandcommunication

Requirementsforspecificationtechniques(3):
Ti i
Timing
Timingbehavior
Essentialforembeddedandcyphy systems!
Additionalinformation(periods,dependences,
scenarios,usecases)welcome
Also,thespeedoftheunderlyingplatformmustbe
Also the speed of the underlying platform must be
known
Farreachingconsequencesfordesignprocesses!
Thelackoftiminginthecoreabstraction (ofcomputerscience) isaflaw,fromthe
perspectiveofembeddedsoftware [Lee,2005]

Requirementsforspecificationtechniques(3):
Ti i (2)
Timing(2)

4typesoftimingspecsrequired,accordingtoBurns,1990:

1.

Measureelapsedtime
Check,howmuchtimehaselapsedsincelastcall
?

execute
t

2.

Meansfordelayingprocesses

Requirementsforspecificationtechniques(3)
Ti i (3)
Timing(3)
3.

Possibilitytospecifytimeouts
Stay in a certain state a maximum time
Stayinacertainstateamaximumtime.

4.

Methodsforspecifyingdeadlines
Notavailableorinseparatecontrolfile.

execute
t

Specificationofembeddedsystems(4):
Support for designing reactive systems
Supportfordesigningreactivesystems
Stateorientedbehavior
Requiredforreactivesystems;
classicalautomatainsufficient.
Eventhandling
(externalorinternalevents)
Exceptionorientedbehavior
Notacceptabletodescribe
exceptions for every state
exceptionsforeverystate

Wewillsee,howallthe
arrowslabeledk canbe
replacedbyasingleone.
p
y
g

Requirementsforspecification
techniques (5)
techniques(5)

Presenceofprogrammingelements
Executability(noalgebraicspecification)
y(
g
p
)
Supportforthedesignoflargesystems() OO)
Domainspecificsupport
R d bilit
Readability
Portabilityandflexibility
Termination
SupportfornonstandardI/Odevices
Nonfunctionalproperties
S
Supportforthedesignofdependablesystems
t f th d i
fd
d bl
t
Noobstaclesforefficientimplementation
Adequatemodelofcomputation
q
p
Whatdoesitmeantocompute?

Models of computation
Modelsofcomputation
Whatdoesitmean,tocompute?
Modelsofcomputationdefine:
Componentsandanexecutionmodelfor
computationsforeachcomponent
Communicationmodelforexchangeof
Communication model for exchange of
informationbetweencomponents.

C1

C2

Communication
Sharedmemoryy

Comp1

memory

Comp2

Variablesaccessibletoseveralcomponents/tasks.
Modelmostlyrestrictedtolocalsystems.

Shared memory
Sharedmemory
Potentialraceconditions()inconsistentresultspossible)
) Criticalsections=sectionsatwhichexclusiveaccessto
Critical sections = sections at which exclusive access to
resourcer (e.g.sharedmemory)mustbeguaranteed.
task a{
..
P(S)//obtainlock
..//criticalsection
V(S)//releaselock
}

task b{
..
P(S)//obtainlock
..//criticalsection
V(S)//releaselock
}

P(S)andV(S)aresemaphore operations,
allowingatmostn accesses,n =1inthiscase(mutex,lock)

Racefreeaccesstoshared
memoryprotectedbyS
possible

Nonblocking/asynchronous
message passing
messagepassing
Senderdoesnothavetowaituntilmessagehasarrived;

send()

Potentialproblem:bufferoverflow

receive()

Blocking/synchronousmessagepassing
rendezvous
d
Senderwillwaituntilreceiverhasreceivedmessage

send()

receive()

Nobufferoverflow,butreducedperformance.

Agenda (2)
Agenda(2)
Challengesinembeddedsystemdesign
Challenges in embedded system design
Dependability,efficiency,

Designflows
Design flows
Requirementsforspecificationtechniques
Modelsofcomputation
Models of computation
Localmodel
Communication

Testing

Test: Goals
Test:Goals
1. Productiontest
2 IIsthereanywayofusingtestpatternsforproduction
2.
th
f i t t tt
f
d ti
testalreadyduringthedesign?
3 Testforfaultsafterdeliverytocustomer
3.
T t f f lt ft d li
t
t

Whyistestingofembedded
systemsdifficult?
Embedded/cyber
Embedded/cyberphysicalsystemsintegratedintoa
physical systems integrated into a
physicalenvironmentmaybesafetycritical.Asa
result,expectationsfortheproductqualityare
h h h f
higherthanfornonsafetycriticalsystems.
f
l
Testingoftimingcriticalsystemshastovalidatethe
correcttimingbehavior.Thismeansthatjusttesting
thefunctionalbehaviorisnotsufficient.
Testingembedded/cyberphysicalsystemsintheir
realenvironmentmaybedangerous.

Scope
Testing includes
theapplicationoftestpatternstotheinputsofthe
deviceundertest(DUT)and
theobservationoftheresults.
the observation of the results
Moreprecisely,testingrequiresthefollowingsteps:
p
y,
g q
g p
1. testpatterngeneration,
2. testpatternapplication,
3. responseobservation,and
4. resultcomparison.

Faultmodelsandtestpattern
generation
Testpatterngenerationtypically
T
i
i ll
considerscertainfaultmodelsand
generatespatternsthatenableadistinction
betweenthefaultyandthefaultfreecase.
Examples:
Booleandifferences
DAlgorithm
Selftestprograms

Stuckat
Stuck
atfaultmodel
fault model
Hardwarefaultmodel:
NetpermanentlyconnectedtogroundorVdd
Simplificationoftherealsituation
Neverthelessusefulinmanycases

Example:

Stuckat1at port p
Stuckat1atportp

Other Hardware fault models

OtherHardwarefaultmodels
Faultmodelsinclude:

stuck
stuckopenfaults:
open faults:
forCMOS,open
transistorscan
behave like
behavelike
memories

www.cedcc.psu.edu/ee497f
/rassp_43/sld022.htm

delayfaults:circuitis
functionallycorrect,
but the delay is not.
butthedelayisnot.

Faultmodelsandtestpattern
generation
Testpatterngenerationtypically
T
i
i ll
considerscertainfaultmodelsand
generatespatternsthatenableadistinction
betweenthefaultyandthefaultfreecase.
Examples:
Booleandifferences
DAlgorithm
Selftestprograms

TheDalgorithm:asimpleexample
noerror

0
1

error

0 /1
1/0
1

1/0

Couldwecheckforastuckatoneerroratportp (sa1(p))?
Solution(justguessing):
Solution (just guessing):

Signal f='1'ifthereisanerror
) a='0',b='0'inordertohavef='0'ifthereisnoerror
g='1'
g=
1 inordertopropagateerror
in order to propagate error
SymbolicvaluesD
c='1'inordertohaveg='1'(orsetd='1')
andD areassignedto
e='1'inordertopropagateerror
signalsf, h andi
i='1'
i=
1 ifthereisnoerror&i=
if there is no error & i='0'
0 ifthereis
if there is

GenerationofSelfTestProgramGeneration
Keyconcept
y
p

1.

Storepatternofall1sintheregisterfile

2.

Performxor betweenregisterandconstant00..0";

3.

Testifresultcontains0bit

4.

Ifyes,reporterror;

5.

Otherwise start test for next fault;

Otherwisestarttestfornextfault;
Exmaple:checksummatching.

Software fault injection

Softwarefaultinjection
Errorsareinjectedintothememories.
j
Advantages:
Predictability: itispossibletoreproduceeveryinjected
it is possible to reproduce every injected
faultintimeandspace.
Reachability:
y p
possibletoreachstoragelocationswithin
g
chipsinsteadofjustpins.
Lesseffort thanphysicalfaultinjection:nomodified
hard are
hardware.

Samequalityofresults?

Th k
Thankyou!
!

References:
Embedded
EmbeddedSystemDesign
System DesignBookand
Book and
LectureofPeterMarwedel
Hard
HardRealTimeComputingSystems
Real Time Computing SystemsBook
Book
ofGiorgioButtazzo.
EmbeddedSystemDesign:Aunified
E b dd d S
D i
A ifi d
Hardware/softwareintroduction
V hid/Gi
Vahid/Givargis
i