Lecture Slides

Embedded System Development

By

Asim Rehmat
Lecturer, CS&E department,
UET Lahore.
Embedded System Development
Today’s Agenda
► Embedded System Life Cycle
► Processor Selection
► Partitioning
 The Embedded Design Life Cycle
► software and hardware are being designed
in parallel
The Selection of Right Processor
► Embedded systems are specific to a single task.
► Design can be highly optimized
► Range of tasks the device must perform is well bounded.
Considerations for choosing the
right microprocessor
► Is it available in a suitable implementation?
► Is it capable of sufficient performance?
► Is it supported by a suitable operating
system?
► Is it supported by appropriate and adequate
tools?
 Is the Processor Available in a
Suitable Implementation?
► Cost-sensitive projects might require a highly
integrated part.
► High-performance applications might require gate-
to-gate delays.
► Vendor guarantee product availability over a
reasonable span of time.
► If a processor isn’t available in a military version,
you wouldn’t choose it for a missile guidance
system, no matter how good the specs are.
 Is the Processor Capable of
Sufficient Performance?
► Processor must be able to do the job on
time.
► For complex ES, characterizing “the job”
becomes more difficult.
► The bottlenecks that limit performance often
have less to do with computational power.
► It is the “fit” between the architecture and
the device’s more demanding tasks
 Is the Processor Supported by
an Appropriate Operating
System?
► Always an advantage in choosing a
processor that supports a commercial RTOS.
► Portability issues of the RTOS kernel to a
new or different microprocessor architecture
 Is the Processor Supported by
Appropriate and Adequate
Tools?
► Good tools are critical to project success.
► At a minimum, a good crosscompiler and
good debugging support is needed.
► In many situations, in-circuit emulators
(ICE) or simulators are needed.
Other Issues in the Selection of
right Processor
►A prior commitment to a processor family
► A prior restriction on language
► Time-to-market factors
HW/SW Partitioning Decision
► Designing the hardware for an embedded system
is more than just selecting the right processor and
gluing it to a few peripherals.
► HW/SW partitioning is the key part of designing an
Embedded System.
► You don’t just pick a processor, design the
hardware, and then throw it over the wall to the
software team.
► The partitioning choice has significant impact on
project cost, development time, and risk.
 Hardware/Software Duality
► Partitioning is possible and necessary because of
the duality between hardware and software.
► The 80386 is an integer-only processor.
► For speedy spreadsheet calculations an 80387
numeric FPU processor is used.
► This difference often made the calculations 10
times faster.
► Many systems are so complex that computer-aided
partitioning tools are desperately needed.
 Continued
► Ideally, partitioning require understanding of all
the alternative ways to solve the problem.
► Adding hardware means more speed but at a
greater cost (not always)
► Adding hardware also make design process riskier
► Redesigning a hardware element is considerably
more serious than finding a software defect.
► The fundamental problem is you can’t debug your
system until the hardware is available to work
with.
► Too long delay in the decision, the software team
is left idle.
 Hardware Trends
► In the past Hardware implementation was
very costly.
► Modern IC technology is changing that fact
rapidly.