Other Hardware Units

• Power Supply • Memories

• Clock Oscillator • Real Time Clock
• Reset Circuits • Watchdog Timer
• I/O Ports, Buses, • Interrupt Handlers
Interfaces • D/A Converter
• LCD & LED Displays (PWM)
• Keypad / Keyboard • A/D Converter
Power Supply
• Most Systems have their Power Supply with
5.0V +/- 0.25V; 3.3V +/- 0.3V;
2.0V +/- 0.2V 1.5V +/- 0.2V
Additionally, 12V +/- 0.2V may be needed for
RS232 serial interface, EEPROM or Flash.
• External I/O , Timers, Clock and Reset Circuits
should be should separately powered
• Ceramic Disc Capacitors placed near Vcc & Gnd
of each IC to bypass Radio Frequency
Interference
Power Supply from external source…..
• Some Systems do not have a power Source of
their own and connect to an external Supply.
Examples: Network Interface Card, Graphics
Accelerator Card in Personal Computer
• Some are Powered by use of a Charge Pump. Like
RTS Signal in case of ‘Mouse’ in Computer
• Contact less Smart Cards use radiation based
Charge Pump when used with Host Machine
To reduce the Power dissipation
• Use 3.3V supply instead of 5.0V and save power
up-to 50%
• Operate system at lowest possible voltage during
‘Idle’ state by selecting a Power Down Mode
• Disable use of certain hardware blocks when not
needed (Caches memory) by processor or during a
particular Code Execution (Timers or I/O Units)
• Avoid unnecessary glitches and frequent input
changes to CMOS logic gates.
Power Saving Modes Using “Stop”
States
• Processor enters into ‘Stop’ state after:
(i) It receives a “Stop” Instruction
(ii) Disabling Clock inputs to processor
(iii) Stopping the external clock circuit function
(iv) Auto Shut-down operation
• Processor can go to ‘Run’ Mode after receiving:
(i) A User Interrupt
(ii) Periodic Wake-up Interrupt
Power Saving Modes Using “Wait”
States
• Processor enters into ‘Wait’ state after:
(i) It receives a “Wait” Instruction which slows
down or disables Clock inputs to ALU.
(ii) While external clock circuit is non-functional,
Timer and DRAM continue to receive clock.
• Processor can go to ‘Run’ Mode after receiving:
(i) An Interrupt or
(ii) A “Reset” Signal
 Power Saving due to reduction of
Clock frequency
• Power Consumption reduces in CMOS typically
2.5 mW per 100 kHz.
• Reduction in clock from 8000 kHz to 100 kHz can
reduce power by 200 mW.
• Heat Generation reduces
• RF Interference also reduces
• Processor may take longer time to execute code
which may be acceptable during “Idle” time.
Clock Oscillator
• Clock controls the various timing requirements of:
• Processor, Timers and Machine Cycles for
fetching, decoding, executing, storing results
• Uses external Crystals or Int. Ceramic Resonator
• Crystals offer highest frequency stability with
variation in temperature, Voltage and with Aging
• Crystal Oscillator has higher driving capability as
needed in Multiprocessors systems to control and
synchronize clocks to all processors
Real Time Clock
• A suitably configured Timer Circuit is called
System Clock / Real Time Clock (RTC)
• RTC used by Scheduler for real time processing
• Assume a µP generates clock output every 0.5 µS.
If Timer is configured by S/W to issue Timeout
interrupts (ticks) after every 200 clock input,
causing RTC tick rate of 10 kHz.
• RTC Interrupt / Tick is generated every 100 µS
• RTC is also used to obtain S/W controlled delays
and Timeouts.
 Timers / Counters

• Each Timer has Clock, Gate and Output signals

• 8 / 16 Bit Timers / Counters cab be cascaded
• Configurable by software in following operating
Modes thru ‘Command’ and ‘Status’ Registers
(1) Time Out Interrupt Generation,
(2) Divide by N Counter / Square wave Generator
(3) Hardware triggered Mono-shot
(4) Software triggered Mono-shot
 Reset Circuits
• Power-on-Reset causes processor to begin
program execution from a pre-defined Starting
address in the program counter (default address)
• “Reset” generated for a fixed clock cycles.
• Reset activated by any one of the followings:
(1) External Power-On Reset Circuit
(2) On detection of low voltage on supply (LVDI)
(3) Software Instruction
(4) Timeout by Watchdog Timer due to a fault
Watchdog Timer (WDT)
• Watchdog Timer resets the system after a
predetermined timeout – during fault.
• Recovers the system if Program gets stuck.
Faults may develop in system due to:
(1) Processor loosing memory reference due to noise
spike on Address, Data and / or Control Bus
(2) A sensor getting damaged
(3) Actuator control circuit turns faulty during ‘run’
• Most µC have the Watchdog Timers
 Types of Memories
• Internal RAM: 256 or 512 byte for Registers,
Temporary Data and Stack
• Internal ROM / PROM: 4 to 16 kB of µC Program
• Internal Caches in certain µP
• EEPROM / Flash: To save result, system status,
Camera Images, Songs, Speeches after a suitable
format compression
• External ROM: For Embedded Software in µP
• RAM memory buffer at the ports
• External Caches: In Super scalar µP
Input Ports
• Inputs Signals from physical devices
Key Buttons,
Sensors & Transducers,
• Inputs from Communication system
Network Card
Fax Modem
Broadcasting Service
• System gets Inputs by ‘Read’ operation at the port
address
Output Ports
• Output Devices
– LCD and LED
– Printer
– Alarms, Actuators
– Communication Systems or Network
• System sends outputs through ‘Write’ operation
to port addresses
Interrupt Controllers
• Interrupts are asynchronous H/W events generated
by external devices or peripherals in the system
• Processor responds by an appropriate ISR for each
device requesting attention
• Certain Interrupt sources are Non-maskable and
therefore have highest priority
• Scheduler always gives priority to ISR over the
tasks of normal operation
 A/D Converters
• 8, 10, 12 bit A/D serial or parallel Converter
• Need Start Conversion Command from processor
• Generate End of Conversion Interrupt to µP / µC
• Principle of Operation:
– Successive Approximation (25 µS)
– Flash Converter (Less than a µS)
– Sigma Delta Converter (several mS)
 Keypad
• Keypad is read using input port
• 3 Steps to read a key depression event
– Detection of Key pressing event
– Debouching
– Encoding the value of key
 PC 2 Bytes for address from
Address where execution starts
during Power-On Reset
2 Bytes for address SP
of Stack On Reset Address
Bytes for data as
Interrupt Service Routine Input to Program
Vector Addresses of 2
bytes each Bytes for Machine
specific Codes for each
program, task, and ISR
Boot-up
Program Codes
Bytes for Machine
Code for RTOS

System ROM Memory

Types of Languages:

• Machine Language
• Assembly Language
• High Level Language
– C,
– C++
– Java
Selection of Language

• Code Density
• Time Density
• Development time
• Programming Skills
• Portability
• Complexity
Programming in Machine Language

• Used in specific situations like configuring a

Physical Device or a Sub-system
• Programmer must understand the Processor,
Memorize Instruction Set and Machine code
• Very difficult and Time consuming.
• Not portable – Dedicated to hardware
Assembly Language

• Programmer must have thorough understanding of

(i) Processor Architecture and
(ii) Instruction Set.

• Compact Code generated

• Minimum Execution time

Assembly Language

Useful to write Assembly code for:

• Simple / Small systems
Toys,
Robot Arm,
Data Acquisition system,
Chocolate Vending Machine
• Configuring physical devices like
Ports, Display, ADC, DAC,
Reading into or transmitting from a buffer,
device driver code
High Level Language ‘C’:
• For most systems, C is a preferred language.
• Programs written in C are
fast, portable, robust and efficient
• Well suited to structured programming
• has a rich set of library functions,
• Extendable: add our own functions to library
• C Programs have capability of an Assembly
language with all features of High level language
 Preprocessor Commands

Main( ) Function
Interrupt Service Routines

Task 1, 2, …, N

Kernel and Scheduler

Standard Library Functions,

Network Protocol functions,
Stacks Allocation Functions

Different Program Layers in Embedded System

Programming Languages used in new
Emb Designs
90.0%

80.0%

70.0%
1998-1999
60.0%
1999-2000
50.0%

40.0%

30.0%

20.0%

10.0%

0.0%
Assembly C C++ Java Other
Development Tools needed:

• Editors, Cross-Assemblers,
• Compiler, Cross Compilers, linkers,
• Simulator, In-circuit Emulators,
• Integrated Development Environment (IDE)
• OS: Windows 2000; XP or Unix
• RTOS: RT Linux, VxWorks, Win CE, QNX
 Use of Real-Time Kernels in New
Embedded Designs.
100.0%

80.0%

60.0%

40.0%

20.0%

0.0%
4-bit 8-bit 16-bit 32-bit 64-bit Special
 The build and load process for
desktop application program
Object Files

Compiler Executabl
e Image
File Read-Write

Loader
Linker
Assembler Memory
(RAM)

Boot
Operating System Image:
Process
 The build and load process for
embedded application program
Object ROM
Files Read-
Image
Cross Write
File
Compiler Memory
(RAM)
Executabl
Cross
Cross Linker e Image
Assemble Program
File
r Initialization

Flash/EPRO
M/Read-
Real-Time Target
Only
Kernel: Programm
Memory
ers
(ROM)
 Applications – Small scale Embedded
System
• Washing Machine
• Keyboard Controller
• Serial Ports Card
• Computer Mouse
• CRT Display Controller
• Remote Controller of TV
• Microcontroller based Digital Panel meters for
Voltage, Current, resistance, Frequency
Applications - Medium Scale Emb.
Systems
• Computer Networking Systems:
Firewall / Router, Switch, Bridge, Hub, Gateway,
Front End Processor in a server,
• Attitude & Orbit Control Electronics in Satellites
• Banking System- ATM & credit card transaction
• Communication: Mobile Phone, Cable TV terminal
• Image Processing, Pattern Recognizers, Filtering,
Speech and Video processing
• DNA Sequence and Pattern Storage Card and DNA
Pattern Recognizer
Applications - Sophisticated Emb
Systems
• Wireless LAN and convergent technology devices
• Real time Video/ Speech, Multimedia processing
• Security Products & High speed network security
Gigabit rate encryption rate products
• Interface & Networking systems using high speed
400 MHz plus, Ultra high speed 10 Gbps and large
bandwidth: Routers, LANs, Switches, Gateways,
WAN
• Space exploration: the Mars Pathfinder