Chapter-1:

Introduction to Embedded Systems

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outline
 Introduction
 What is an Embedded System?
 Embedded systems Characteristics
 Embedded System Components/Elements
 Comparison between embedded systems & General
Purpose computer systems
 Embedded Applications

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What are Embedded Systems?
 Anything that uses a microprocessor but isn't a general-purpose computer
– PDAs
– Set-top boxes
– Televisions – Video Games – Refrigerators
– Cars
– Planes
– Elevators
– Remote Controls
– Alarm Systems
• The user “sees” a smart (special-purpose) system as opposed to the computer
inside the system
• “how does it do that?”
• “it has a computer inside it!”
• “oh! BTW, it does not or cannot run Windows or MacOS!”
– the end-user typically does not or cannot modify or upgrade the internals
Why are Embedded Systems important?
 Engineering reasons
– Why does a satellite need a Windows prompt ?
– Does the McDonald’s POS (point-of-sale) terminal need MacOS?
– Any device that needs to be controlled can be controlled by a
microprocessor
• Market reasons
– The general-purpose computing market is in billions of US $
– The embedded systems market is also in billions of $
– In year 2000, about $2,700 of every car went to electronics
• Pedagogical reasons
– General-purpose system designers specialize
– HW vs. SW
• Embedded system designers are often
– jack of many trades
– Need to know hardware, software, and some combination of
networking,
What are Embedded Systems anyway?
 Embedded Systems: An Introduction
• What is an embedded system?
– More than just a computer
• What makes embedded systems different?
– Real-time operation
– Many sets of constraints on designs
• size
• cost
• time
• reliability
• safety
• energy
• security
• What embedded system designers need to know?
– The “big” picture
– Skills required to be an “expert” in this area
What is an Embedded System?
• Computer purchased as part of some other piece of equipment
– Typically dedicated software (may be user customizable)
– Often replaces previously electromechanical components
– Often no “real” keyboard
– Often limited display or no general purpose display device
• But, every system is unique there are always exceptions
A Customer View
– Reduced Cost
– Increased Functionality
– Improved Performance
– Increased Overall Dependability
Some Embedded System Examples
• Pocket remote control RF transmitter
– 100 KIPS, water/crushproof, fits in pocket, 5year battery life
– Software handcrafted for small size (less than 1 KB)
• Industrial equipment controller (e.g., elevator; jet engine)
– 110 MIPS for 1 to 10 CPUs, 1 8MB memory
– Safety critical software; real time control loops
• Military signal processing (e.g., Radar/Sonar)
– 1 GFLOPS, 1 GB/sec I/O, 32 MB memory
– Software handcrafted for extremely high performance
 Embedded Computers Rule the
Marketplace

• ~80 Million PCs vs. ~3 Billion Embedded CPUs annually

– Embedded market growing; PC market mostly saturated
 Why Are Embedded Systems Different?
Four General Categories of Embedded Systems

• General Computing
– Applications similar to desktop computing, but in an embedded package
– Video games, set top boxes, wearable computers, automatic tellers

• Control Systems
– Closed loop feedback control of real time system
– Vehicle engines, chemical processes, nuclear power, flight control

• Signal Processing
– Computations involving large data streams
– Radar, Sonar, video compression

• Communication & Networking

– Switching and information transmission
– Telephone system, Internet
Types of Embedded System Functions
• Control Laws
– PID control
– Fuzzy logic, ...

• Sequencing logic
– Finite state machines
– Switching modes between control laws

• Signal processing
– Multimedia data compression
– Digital filtering

• Application specific interfacing

– Buttons, bells, lights,...
– High speed I/O

• Fault response
– Detection & reconfiguration
– Diagnosis
• etc...
 Distinctive Embedded System Attributes

• Reactive: computations occur in response to external events

– Periodic events (e.g., rotating machinery and control loops)
– Aperiodic events (e.g., button closures)

• Real-Time: timing correctness is part of system correctness

– Hard real-time
• Absolute deadline, beyond which answer is useless
• May include minimum time as well as maximum time
– Soft real-time
• Missing a deadline is not catastrophic
• Utility of answer degrades with time difference from deadline
– Example:
• a train is entering an urban area...
• the railway gate in the city allows automotive traffic to go over the tracks
• when should the railway gate close?
In general,
Real Time != “Real Fast”
Typical Embedded System Constraints
• Small Size, Low Weight
– Handheld electronics
– Transportation applications weight costs money
• Low Power
– Battery power for 8+ hours (laptops often last only 2 hours)
– Limited cooling may limit power even if AC power available
• Harsh environment
– Heat, vibration, shock
– Power fluctuations, RF interference, lightning
– Water, corrosion, physical abuse
• Safety critical operation
– Must function correctly
– Must not function incorrectly
• Extreme cost sensitivity
– $.05 adds up over 1,000,000 units
 Mission Critical Applications Require Robustness
• Loss of Arianne inaugural flight in June, 1996
– Lost a $400 million scientific payload (the rocket was extra)

• Efforts to reduce system costs led to the failure

– Reuse of Inertial Reference System software from Ariane 4
– Improperly handled exception caused by variable overflow during
– new flight profile (that wasn't simulated because of cost/schedule)
– 64bit float converted to 16bit int assumed not to overflow
• Exception caused dual hardware shutdown (software doesn't fail!)

• What really happened?

– The narrow view: it was a software bug fix it
– The broad view: the loss was caused by a lack of system robustness in an
exceptional (unanticipated) situation
Many embedded systems must be robust
 Software Drives Designs
• Hardware is mostly a recurring cost
– Cost proportional to number of units manufactured
• Software is a “one time” nonrecurring engineering design cost (NRE)
– Paid for ``only once''
• But bug fixes may be expensive, or impossible
– Cost is related to complexity & number of functions
– Market pressures lead to feature creep
• Software Is NOT free!!!!!
Embedded Systems

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Embedded systems Characteristics
a. Embedded systems are designed to do some specific task, rather
than be a general-purpose computer for multiple tasks.
b. Embedded systems are not always standalone devices/reactive
systems.
c. may have low or no performance requirements, allowing the system
hardware to be simplified to reduce costs.
Must be efficient:
 Weight efficient
 Energy efficient
 Run-time efficient
 Cost efficient
 Code-size and data memory efficient

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Cont…
d. Embedded systems are typically designed to meet real time
constraints that must be met, for reasons such as safety and
usability; For real time systems, right answers arriving too late (or
even too early) are wrong.
e. Embedded systems often interact (sense, manipulate &
communicate) with external world through sensors and actuators.
f. Tightly constrained
Low cost, Fewer components based/small, Simple systems, Performs
functions fast enough and Minimum power
g. Hardware and software co-exist
The software written for embedded systems is often called firmware. It
is stored in read only memory or Flash memory chips rather than a
disk drive.

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Cont…
h. Must be dependable:
 Reliability(t)= probability of system working correctly provided
that it was working at t=0
 Maintainability(d)= probability of system working correctly d time
units after error occurred.
 Availability: probability of system working at time t
 Safety: no harm to be caused
 Security: confidential and authentic communication

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Embedded System Components/Elements
1. Hardware: to give computer like functionalities
 Processor( CPU): is responsible for performing all the
computational and logical operations in an Embedded Systems.
 Memory: is a device which can be used to store data (or
instructions) in a system.
 User Interface: is a mechanism through which user can provide
certain choices to the Embedded System. E.g. Keypad
2. Software: Embeds main application software generally into flash or
ROM and the application software performs concurrently the number
of tasks.
3. Operating system: Embeds a real time operating system (RTOS),
which supervises the application software tasks running on the
hardware and organizes the accesses to system resources according to
priorities and timing constraints of tasks in the system

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Comparison between embedded systems &
General Purpose computer systems
 Embedded systems are dedicated to specific tasks, whereas
PCs are generic computing platforms.
 Embedded systems are supported by a wide array of processors
and processor architectures.
 Embedded systems are usually cost sensitive.
 Embedded systems have real-time constraints.
 If an embedded system is using an operating system at all, it is
most likely using a real-time operating system (RTOS), rather
than Windows 9X, Windows NT, Windows 2000, Unix, Solaris,
or HP- UX.

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Cont..
 The implication of software failure is much more severe in
embedded systems than in desktop systems.
 Embedded systems often have power constraints.
 Embedded systems often must operate under extreme
environmental conditions.
 Embedded systems have far fewer system resources than
desktop systems.
 Embedded systems often store all their object code in ROM.
 Embedded systems require specialized tools and methods to
be efficiently designed.
 Embedded microprocessors often have dedicated debugging
circuitry.

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Skills Needed for Embedded Applications
An embedded system application involves a diverse set of skills that
extend across traditional disciplinary boundaries, including
 computer hardware
 software
 algorithms
 interface electronics
 application domain

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Embedded Systems and You
As engineers, it is very likely that you will
 design algorithms (control, signal processing) that will be
implemented on embedded microprocessors
 design microprocessors to be used in embedded applications
 design software (e.g. RTOS) for the embedded market
 work in application fields that involve an embedded
microprocessor
 develop sensors/actuators (e.g., MEMS devices) that may be
used in embedded systems

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Embedded Applications
Embedded systems are commonly found in consumer, cooking,
industrial, automotive, medical, commercial and military applications.
 Automobiles: anti-lock braking system (ABS), Electronic Stability
Control (ESC/ESP), traction control (TCS), automatic four-wheel
drive, Fuel Injection control (for fuel efficiency), Air bags and
Automatic braking (for safety), and car entertainment systems.
 Medical Electronics: Body Scanners, Heart rate monitors,
Pacemaker etc
 Industrial Control:
 Business Applications: Vending machines, scanners, printers.
 Defense: RADARs, SONARs (for suvellience), Guided Missile
Systems
 Communication:
 multi-media systems

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Summarized Examples of application of
Embedded Systems
 Personal Computers(PCs)
 ATMs
 Heating, Cooling and
 Ventilating Systems
 Security Systems
 Elevators
 Bar Code Equipment
 Real Time Control Systems
 Computer Numeric Controls
(CNCs)
 mission critical controls
Nuclear plant control, aircraft
navigation ,military equipment
 Toy
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 Telephone Exchanges
 and Switches (PBXs)
 Environmental
 Monitoring Equipment
 Global Positioning
 System (GPSs)
 Programmable Logic
 Controls (PLCs)
 Test Equipment
 Robotics
 Supervisory Control &
 Data Acquisition Systems
(SCADAs)
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Embedded world.

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End Of Chapter

Thank you !!! Q&A

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