Paper-2: Embedded Systems (BCA502)

UNIT 1 NOTES

8 Lectures

1. Introduction to Embedded System: Definition; Real-Time vs Non-Real-Time System; Overview of Embedded System
Architecture; Specialities of Embedded System – Reliability, Performance, Power Consumption, Cost, Size, Limited User
Interface, Software upgradation facility; Recent trends in Embedded System- Processor Power, Memory, Operating
System, Communication Interfaceand Network capability, Programming Languages, Development tools, Programmable
Hardware, Microprocessor vs Microcontroller.

8 Lectures

2. Architecture of Embedded Systems: Hardware architecture: CPU, Memory, Clock circuits, Watchdog Timer/Reset
Circuitry, Chip Select, I/O methods, Debug port, Communication Interface, Power Supply, A/D Converters; Software
architecture: Services provided by OS, Architecture of Embedded OS, Categories of Embedded OS, Application software,
Communication software.

8 Lectures

3. Process of Embedded System Development: Programming of Embedded Systems: GNU development tools, Bit
manipulation using C, Memory Management, Device Drivers, Productivity Tools, Programming in C++, Programming in
Java, J2ME, Server-side programming, Java Development tools.

8 Lectures

4. Development of Embedded Systems: Hardware platforms: Single Board Computers, PC add-on cards, Custom built
hardware platforms, Microcontroller development board: Communication interfaces: Serial/Parallel, UART/USART, PPI,
USB, Infra-Red, IEEE 1394 Firewire, Bluetooth, Ethernet; RFID and its applications; Managing Embedded System
Development Projects.

8 Lectures

5. Embedded/Real-Time OS concepts: Architecture of kernel, Task and Task Scheduler, Context Switching, Scheduling
algorithms: EDF and Rate Monotonic, Interrupt Service Routine, Memory Management, Priority Inversion Problem,
Priority Inheritance, Embedded OS, Handheld OS

References:

1. Automatic Control Systems: Kuo, B.C.

2. Real-time Computer Control: Linkens & Bennett

3. Real-time software for small systems: Leigh, A.W.

4. Programming embedded microprocessors: Fowler, R.J.

5. Real-time systems Design & Analysis: Laplante P.A.

UNIT 1:

What is System

System is a way of working, organizing or performing one or many tasks according to a fixed set of rules, program or plan.
It is an arrangement in which all the unit combined to perform a work together by following certain set of rules in real
time computation. It can also be defined as a way of working, organizing or doing one or many tasks according to a fixed
plan.

What is Embedded System

• An Embedded System is a system that has software embedded into computer-hardware, which makes a system
dedicated for a variety of application or specific part of an application or product or part of a larger system.
• An embedded system can be a small independent system or a large combinational system. It is a microcontroller-
based control system used to perform a specific task of operation.
• An embedded system is a combination of three major components:
• Hardware: Hardware is physically used component that is physically connected with an embedded system. It
comprises of microcontroller based integrated circuit, power supply, LCD display etc.
• Application software: Application software allows the user to perform varieties of application to be run on an
embedded system by changing the code installed in an embedded system.
• Real Time Operating system (RTOS): RTOS supervises the way an embedded system work. It acts as an interface
between hardware and application software which supervises the application software and provide mechanism
to let the processor run on the basis of scheduling for controlling the effect of latencies.

History of Embedded system

Here, are important milestones from the history of embedded system:

• In 1960, embedded system was first used for developing Apollo Guidance System by Charles Stark Draper at MIT.
• In 1965, Autonetics, developed the D-17B, the computer used in the Minuteman missile guidance system.
• In 1968, the first embedded system for a vehicle was released.
• Texas Instruments developed the first microcontroller in 1971.
• In 1987, the first embedded OS, VxWorks, was released by Wind River.
• Microsoft’s Windows embedded CE in 1996.
• By the late 1990s, the first embedded Linux system appeared.
• The embedded market reaches $140 billion in 2013.
• Analysts are projecting an Embedded market larger than $40 billion by 2030.

Types of Embedded System

Three types of Embedded Systems are:

• Small Scale
• Medium Scale
• Sophisticated

Small Scale Embedded Systems:

This embedded system can be designed with a single 8 or 16-bit microcontroller. It can be operated with the help of a
battery. For developing small scale embedded system, an editor, assembler, (IDE), and cross assembler are the most
vital programming tools.

Medium Scale Embedded Systems:

These types of embedded systems are designed using 16 or 32-bit microcontrollers. These systems offer both hardware
and software complexities. C, C++, Java, and source code engineering tool, etc. are used to develop this kind of embedded
system.
Sophisticated Embedded Systems
This type of embedded systems has lots of hardware and software complexities. You may require IPS, ASIPS, PLAs,
configuration processor, or scalable processors. For the development of this system, you need hardware and software co-
design & components which needs to combine in the final system.

Advantages of Embedded System

As the embedded system is combination of software system and hardware system they are widely used as electrical
system that can be used in cameras, vending machines, vehicles, cars, airplanes, mobile phones and many other places.
They are used in every sector like medical sector, agricultural sector and commercial sector.

1. Size of Embedded System

The embedded system size is very small when it is compared to other computational products like computer system. As
the embedded system is specifically designed for some particular use case, the components sued for designing system is
small which reduce the overall size of embedded system. As the system is designed for particular task it cannot be used
for other purpose. The size of components directly affects the size of embedded system.

2. Accuracy

The performance and accuracy of the embedded system is very high whenever it is compared to computer systems and
other computational products. As the system is designed for performing particular operation, the accuracy is important
factor that need to be considered and cannot be neglected. The embedded system are used in medical sector and the
accuracy is key factor there. The embedded systems are also used in calculation and the result calculate by embedded
system should be correct and accuracy needs to be high.

3. Power

As the size of embedded system are very small the power consumption is also very less for embedded system when it is
compared to computer system. The power consumed by computer system is 60 W and 230 AC approximately and the
power consumed by embedded system is less than 1 W and 3.3V.

4. Price

The embedded systems are available in market at very low price. The prices of embedded systems are very less compared
to other computational devices. As the embedded system uses very less components in its hardware architecture it
directly effects the cost of system and make the embedded system cheap and easy to use.

5. Portability

The other major advantage of embedded system is portability of system. As the size of embedded system is very small the
system can be easy portable from one location to another. This advantage makes the system of prominent use as it can
be carried from one location to another.

6. Speed

As the embedded system is designed for performing some particular tasks and at the time the system performs only one
task the processing speed is very fast. It is because the flash memory is sued for fetching the data which is very fast. This
advantage makes the embedded system of more use in all other sectors like educational, corporate sector where the
processing speed is important.
Real-Time Vs Non-Real Time

REAL-TIME TASKS NON-REAL-TIME TASKS

Real-time task is the task that is associated with time Non-real-time task is not associated with time bound.
bound.
It can be expressed as quantitative expression of time. It can’t be expressed ad function of time.

It is of two types – Hard and Soft. It is not further classified.

Deadline of real-time tasks are in the order of seconds. Deadline of non-real-time tasks may be minutes, hours or
even days.
Most of the interactive tasks are real-time tasks. It includes some old jobs used some decades ago.
It is widely used in computer systems. It is not used now-a-days in computer systems.
It is computed by real-time systems. It is computed by traditional systems.
Example: Satellite tracking, video conferencing etc. Example: Batch processing jobs, old email services etc.

Requirements That Affect Design Choices

Each embedded system must meet a completely different set of requirements, any or all of which can affect the
compromises and trade-offs made during the development of the product. For example, if the system must have a
production cost of less than $10, other desirable traits—such as processing power and system reliability—might need to
be sacrificed in order to meet that goal. Of course, production cost is only one of the possible constraints under which
embedded hardware designers work. Other common design requirements include:

Processing power

The workload that the main chip can handle. A common way to compare processing power is the millions of instructions
per second (MIPS) rating. If two otherwise similar processors have ratings of 25 MIPS and 40 MIPS, the latter is said to be
the more powerful. However, other important features of the processor need to be considered. One is the register width,
which typically ranges from 8 to 64 bits. Today's general-purpose computers use 32- and 64-bit processors exclusively, but
embedded systems are still mainly built with less costly 4-, 8-, and 16-bit processors.

Memory

The amount of memory (ROM and RAM) required to hold the executable software and the data it manipulates. Here the
hardware designer must usually make his best estimate up front and be prepared to increase or decrease the actual
amount as the software is being developed. The amount of memory required can also affect the processor selection. In
general, the register width of a processor establishes the upper limit of the amount of memory it can access (e.g., a 16-bit
address register can address only 64 KB (216 ) memory locations).

The narrower the register width, the more likely it is that the processor employs tricks such as multiple address spaces to
support more memory. There are still embedded systems that do the job with a few hundred bytes. However, several
thousand bytes is a more likely minimum, even on an 8-bit processor.

Number of units

The expected production runs. The trade-off between production cost and development cost is affected most by the
number of units expected to be produced and sold. For example, it rarely makes sense to develop custom hardware
components for a low-volume product.

Power consumption

The amount of power used during operation. This is extremely important, especially for battery powered portable devices.
A common metric used to compare the power requirements of portable devices is mW/MIPS (milliwatts per MIPS); the
greater this value, the more power is required to get work done. Lower power consumption can also lead to another
favorable device characteristics, such as less heat, smaller batteries, less weight, smaller size, and simpler mechanical
design.
Development cost

The cost of the hardware and software design processes, known as nonrecurring engineering (NRE). This is a fixed, one-
time cost, so on some projects, money is no object (usually for highvolume products), whereas on other projects, this is
the only accurate measure of system cost (for the production of a small number of units).

Lifetime

How long the product is expected to stay in use. The required or expected lifetime affects all sorts of design decisions,
from the selection of hardware components to how much system development and production is allowed to cost. How
long must the system continue to function (on average)? A month, a year, or a decade?

Reliability Programming

How reliable the final product must be. If it is a children's toy, it may not have to work properly 100 percent of the time,
but if it's an antilock braking system for a car, it had sure better do what it is supposed to do each and every time.

In addition to these general requirements, each system has detailed functional requirements. These are the things that
give the embedded system its unique identity as a microwave oven, pacemaker, or pager. Table 1-1 illustrates the range
of typical values for each of the previous design requirements. The "low," "medium," and "high" labels are meant for
illustration purposes and should not be taken as strict deliniations. An actual product has one selection from each row. In
some cases, two or more of the criteria are linked. For example, increases in required processing power could lead to
increased production costs. Conversely, we might imagine that the same increase in processing power would have the
effect of decreasing the development costs—by reducing the complexity of the hardware and software design. So, the
values in a particular column do not necessarily go together

What is a Microprocessor?
A microprocessor is a controlling unit of a micro-computer wrapped inside a small chip. It performs Arithmetic Logical
Unit (ALU) operations and communicates with the other devices connected with it. It is a single Integrated Circuit in which
several functions are combined.

What is Microcontroller?
A microcontroller is a chip optimized to control electronic devices. It is stored in a single integrated circuit which is
dedicated to performing a particular task and execute one specific application.

It is specially designed circuits for embedded applications and is widely used in automatically controlled electronic devices.
It contains memory, processor, and programmable I/O.
Types of Microprocessors
Important types of Microprocessors are:

• Complex Instruction Set Microprocessors

• The Application Specific Integrated Circuit
• Reduced Instruction Set Microprocessors
• Digital Signal Multiprocessors (DSPs)

Types of Microcontrollers
Here are important types of Microcontrollers:

• 8-bit Microcontroller
• 16-bit Microcontroller
• 32-bit Microcontroller
• Embedded Microcontroller
• External memory Microcontroller

History of Microprocessor
Here, is the important landmark from the history of Microprocessor

• Fairchild Semiconductors invented the first IC (Integrated Circuit) in 1959.

• In 1968, Robert Noyce, Gordan Moore, Andrew Grove found their own company Intel.
• Intel grew from 3-man start-up in 1968 to industrial giant by 1981.
• In 1971, INTEL created the first-generation Microprocessor 4004 that would run at a clock speed of 108 kHz
• From 1973 to 1978, second-generation 8-bit microprocessors were fabricated like Motorola 6800 and 6801, INTEL-
8085, and Zilog’s-Z80.
• In 1978, Intel 8008 third-generation process came into the market.
• In the early 80s, Intel released fourth-generation 32-bit processors.
• In 1995, intel released in fifth-generation 64-bit processors.

History of Microcontroller
Here, are important landmarks from the history of Microcontroller:

• First used in 1975(Intel 8048)

• The introduction of EEPROM in 1993
• The same year, Atmel introduced the first microcontroller using Flash memory.
Microprocessor vs Microcontroller

Microprocessor Microcontroller
Microprocessor is the heart of Computer system. Micro Controller is the heart of an embedded system.
It is only a processor, so memory and I/O components need Micro Controller has a processor along with internal
to be connected externally memory and I/O components.
Memory and I/O has to be connected externally, so the circuit Memory and I/O are already present, and the internal
becomes large. circuit is small.
You can’t use it in compact systems You can use it in compact systems.
Cost of the entire system is high Cost of the entire system is low
Due to external components, the total power consumption is As external components are low, total power
high. Therefore, it is not ideal for the devices running on consumption is less. So it can be used with devices
stored power like batteries. running on stored power like batteries.

Most of the microprocessors do not have power saving Most of the microcontrollers offer power-saving mode.
features.
It is mainly used in personal computers. It is used mainly in a washing machine, MP3 players, and
embedded systems.
Microprocessor has a smaller number of registers, so more Microcontroller has more register. Hence the programs
operations are memory-based. are easier to write.
Microprocessors are based on Von Neumann model Micro controllers are based on Harvard architecture
It is a central processing unit on a single silicon-based It is a byproduct of the development of microprocessors
integrated chip. with a CPU along with other peripherals.
It has no RAM, ROM, Input-Output units, timers, and other It has a CPU along with RAM, ROM, and other peripherals
peripherals on the chip. embedded on a single chip.
It uses an external bus to interface to RAM, ROM, and other It uses an internal controlling bus.
peripherals.
Microprocessor-based systems can run at a very high speed Microcontroller based systems run up to 200MHz or more
because of the technology involved. depending on the architecture.
It’s used for general purpose It’s used for application-specific systems.
applications that allow you to handle loads of data.
It’s complex and expensive, with a large number of It’s simple and inexpensive with a smaller number of
instructions to process. instructions to process.

Features of Microprocessor
Here are some important features of Microprocessor:

• Offers built-in monitor/debugger program with interrupt capability

• Large number of instructions each carrying out a different variation of the same operation
• Offers Parallel I/O
• Instruction cycle timer
• External memory interface

Features of Microcontroller
Here are some important features of Microcontroller:

• Processor reset
• Program and Variable Memory (RAM) I/O pins
 • Device clocking central processor
• Instruction cycle timers

Applications of Microprocessor
Microprocessors are mainly used in devices like:

• Calculators
• Accounting system
• Games machine
• Complex industrial controllers
• Traffic light
• Control data
• Military applications
• Defense systems
• Computation system

Applications of Microcontroller
Microcontrollers are mainly used in devices like:

• Mobile phones
• Automobiles
• CD/DVD players
• Washing machines
• Cameras
• Security alarms
• Keyboard controllers
• Microwave oven
• Watches
• Mp3 players

Applications of Embedded Systems

Following are the important applications of Embedded system:

Robotic science

• Ground Vehicles
• Drones
• Underwater Vehicles
• Industrial Robots

Medical

• Dialysis Machine
• Infusion Pumps
• Cardiac Monitor
• Prosthetic Device

Automotive

• Engine Control
• Ignition System
• Brake System

Networking
 • Router
• Hubs
• Gateways
• Electronics Instruments

Home Devices

• TVs
• Digital Alarm
• Air Conditioner
• DVD Video Player
• Cameras

Automobiles

• Fuel Injection
• Lighting System
• Door Locks
• Air Bags
• Windows
• Parking Assistant System
• Anti-stealing Alarms Whippers Motion

Industrial Control

• Robotics
• Control System
• Missiles
• Nuclear Reactors
• Space Stations
• Shuttles

Advantages of Embedded System

Here, are Pros/benefits of using Embedded System:

• It is able to cover a wide variety of environments

• Less likely to encore errors
• Embedded System simplified hardware which, which reduces costs overall.
• Offers an enhanced performance
• The embedded system is useful for mass production.
• The embedded system is highly reliable.
• It has very few interconnections.
• The embedded system is small in size.
• It has a fast operation.
• Offers improved product quality.
• It optimizes the use of system resources.
• It has a low power operation.

Disadvantages of Embedded System

Here, are important cons/ drawbacks of using Embedded system.

• To develop an embedded system needs high development effort.

• It needs a long time to market.
• Embedded systems do a very specific task, so it can’t be programmed to do different things.
• Embedded systems offer very limited resources for memory.
 • It doesn’t offer any technological improvement.
• It is difficult to backup of embedded files.

Summary

• A system is an arrangement where all its component assembles work according to the specific define rules.
• Embedded System definition: Embedded systems meaning a combination of computer software and hardware
which is either fixed in capability or programmable.
• Example of embedded systems is laser printer which manage various aspect of the printing.
• In 1960, embedded system was first used for developing Apollo Guidance System by Charles Stark Draper at
MIT.
• Embedded system requires real time performance
• Reliability measure of the survival probability of the system when the function is critical during the run time.
• Fault-Tolerance is the capability of a computer system to survive in the presence of faults.
• Embedded system must meet various timing and other constraints.
• Flexibility is building systems with built-in debugging opportunities which allows remote maintenance.
• Portability is a measure of the ease of using the same embedded software in various environments.
• A microcontroller is a single-chip VLSI unit which is also called microcomputer.
• A microprocessor is a single chip semiconductor device. Its CPU contains a program counter, an ALU a stack
pointer, working register, a clock timing circuit.
• Architecture of the Embedded System includes: Sensor, A-D Converter, Memory, Processor & ASICs, D-A
Converter, and Actuator.
• Three types of Embedded Systems are: 1) Small Scale, 2) Medium Scale, and 3) Sophisticated.
• Major difference between In Microprocessor and Microcontroller is that In Microprocessor, bit handling
instruction is less while Microcontroller offers many kinds of bit handling instruction.
• Application of Embedded System includes: 1) Robotic science, 2) Medical, 3) Automotive, 3) Networking, 4)
Home Devices, 5) Automobiles, and 6) Industrial Control.
• Major advantages of Embedded System are that it is able to cover a wide variety of environments.
• The major drawback of Embedded System is that it needs a long time to market.