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Embeddedsystemsinterviewquestionsandanswers
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ComputerArchitecture:AQuantitativeApproach

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EmbeddedSystemsinterviewquestionsandanswers

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Embeddedsystemsinterviewquestionsforfreshersbasicquestions

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AdvancedEmbeddedsystemsinterviewquestionsseniorlevelquestions

WhatistheneedforaninfiniteloopinEmbeddedsystems?

C++

Howdoescombinationoffunctionsreducememoryrequirementsinembeddedsystems?

Java

AvastmajorityofHighPerformanceEmbeddedsystemstodayuseRISCarchitecturewhy?
Whydoweneedvirtualdevicedriverswhenwehavephysicaldevicedrivers?

Oops

WhatistheneedforDMACinES?

Datastructure

WhatisEndiannessofasystemandhowdodifferentsystemscommunicatewitheachother?
Howaremacrosdifferentfrominlinefunctions?

Operatingsystem

WhatcouldbethereasonsforaSystemtohavegoneblankandhowwouldyouDebugit?

Databaseconcepts

Explaininterruptlatencyandhowcanwedecreaseit?

Oracle

Howtocreateachildprocessinlinux?
SignificanceofwatchdogtimerinEmbeddedSystems

Sqlserver

IfyoubuysomeRTOS,whatarethefeaturesyoulookforin?

Biztalk

Whyisjavamostlyusedinembeddedsystems?

Sharepoint

Differentiatebetweenmutexesvssemaphores

Notificationservices

WhatarethecommonlyfounderrorsinEmbeddedSystems?

Reportingservices

Whatistheneedforhavingmultibytedatainputandoutputbuffersincaseofdeviceports?

Serviceorientedarchitecture

WhatistheneedforaninfiniteloopinEmbeddedsystems?
InfiniteLoopsarethoseprogramconstructswhereinthereisnobreakstatementsoastogetoutofthe
loop,itjustkeepsloopingoverthestatementswithintheblockdefined.

Datawarehousing

PHP

Example:

MySQL

While(BooleanTrue)ORfor()

Projectmanagement

Linux

//Code
}

Testing

Embeddedsystemsneedinfiniteloopsforrepeatedlyprocessing/monitoringthestateoftheprogram.One

Networking

examplecouldbethecaseofaprogramstatecontinuouslybeingcheckedforanyexceptionalerrorsthat

Softwareengineering

mightjustoccurduringruntimesuchasmemoryoutageordividebyzeroetc.,

Microsoftsolutionframework

Fore.g.CustomercareTelephonesystemswhereinaprerecordedaudiofileisplayedincasethedialer
isputonhold..

UML
XML
HTML

Alsocircuitsbeingresponsibleforindicatingthataparticularcomponentisactive/aliveduringitsoperation
bymeansofLED's.

Howdoescombinationoffunctionsreducememoryrequirementsinembedded
systems?

SOAP
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Theamountofcodethathastobedealtwithisreducedthuseasingtheoverheadandredundancyis

eliminatedincaseifthereisanythingcommonamongthefunctions.
Jobinterviews

Memoryallocationisanotheraspectthatisoptimizedanditalsomakessensetogroupasetoffunctions
relatedinsomewayasonesingleunitratherthanhavingthemtobedispersedinthewholeprogram.

Workingfromhome
ArticlesNishantKumar

Incaseofinteractivesystemsdisplayofmenulistandreadinginthechoicesofuser'scouldbe
encapsulatedasasingleunit.

AvastmajorityofHighPerformanceEmbeddedsystemstodayuseRISCarchitecture
why?
Accordingtotheinstructionsetsused,computersarenormallyclassifiedintoRISCandCISC.RISC
standsfor'ReducedInstructionSetComputing'.ThedesignphilosophyofRISCarchitectureissuchthat
onlyoneinstructionisperformedoneachmachinecyclethustakingverylesstimeandspeedingupwhen
comparedtotheirCISCcounterparts.
Heretheuseofregistersisoptimisedasmostofthememoryaccessoperationsarelimitedtostoreand
loadoperations.
Fewerandsimpleaddressingmodes,andsimpleinstructionformatsleadstogreaterefficiency,
optimisationofcompilers,reorganisationofcodeforbetterthroughputintermsofspaceandtime
complexities.AllthesefeaturesmakeitthechoiceofarchitectureinmajorityoftheEmbeddedsystems.
CISCagainhavetheirownadvantagesandtheyarepreferredwhenevertheperformanceandcompiler
simplificationaretheissuestobetakencareof.

Whydoweneedvirtualdevicedriverswhenwehavephysicaldevicedrivers?
Devicedriversarebasicallyasetofmodules/routinessoastohandleadeviceforwhichadirectwayof
communicationisnotpossiblethroughtheuser'sapplicationprogramandthesecanbethoughtofasan
interfacethuskeepingthesystemsmallprovidingforminimalisticofadditionsofcode,ifany.
PhysicaldevicedriverscantperformallthelogicaloperationsneededinasystemincaseslikeIPC,
Signalsandsoon...
Themainreasonforhavingvirtualdevicedriversistomimicthebehaviourofcertainhardwaredevices
withoutitactuallybeingpresentandthesecouldbeattributedtothehighcostofthedevicesorthe
unavailabilityofsuchdevices.
Thesebasicallycreateanillusionfortheusersasiftheyareusingtheactualhardwareandenablethem
tocarryouttheirsimulationresults.
ExamplescouldbetheuseofvirtualdriversincaseofNetworksimulators,alsothesupportofvirtual
devicedriversincaseauserrunsanadditionalOSinavirtualboxkindofasoftware.

WhatistheneedforDMACinES?
Directmemoryaccessismainlyusedtoovercomethedisadvantagesofinterruptandprogamcontrolled
I/O.
DMAmodulesusuallytakethecontroloverfromtheprocessorandperformthememoryoperationsand
thisismainlybecausetocounteractthemismatchintheprocessingspeedsofI/Ounitsandthe
procesor.Thisiscomparativelyfaster.
Itisanimportantpartofanyembeddedsystems,andthereasonfortheiruseisthattheycanbeusedfor
burstydatatransfersinsteadofsinglebyteapproaches.
Ithastowaitforthesystemsresourcessuchasthesystembusincaseitisalreadyincontrolofit.

WhatisEndiannessofasystemandhowdodifferentsystemscommunicatewitheach
other?
Endiannessbasicallyreferstotheorderingofthebyteswithinwordsorlargerbytesofdatatreatedasa
singleentity.
Whenweconsideraseveralbytesofdatasayforinstance4bytesofdata,XYZQthelowerbyteifstored
inaHigheraddressandothersinsuccessivelydecreasingaddresses,thenitreferstotheBigEndianand
theviceversaofthisreferstoLittleEndianarchitecture.
Intel80x86usuallyfollowsLittleEndianandotherslikeIBMsystemsfollowBigEndianformats.
Ifthedataisbeingtransmittedcarehastobetakensoastoknowastowhichbyte,whetherthehigheror
thelowerbyteisbeingtransmitted.
Henceacommonformatpriortocommunicationhastobeagreedupontoavoidwrong

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interpretation/calculations.
UsuallylayermodulesarewrittensoastoautomatetheseconversioninOperatingsystems.

Howaremacrosdifferentfrominlinefunctions?
Macrosarenormallyusedwheneverasetofinstructions/taskshavetoberepeatedlyperformed.Theyare
smallprogramstocarryoutsomepredefinedactions.
Wenormallyusethe#definedirectiveincaseweneedtodefinethevaluesofsomeconstantssoincase
achangeisneededonlythevaluecanbechangedandisreflectedthroughout.
#definemul(a,b)(a*b)
Themajordisadvantageofmacrosisthattheyarenotreallyfunctionsandtheusualerrorcheckingand
steppingthroughofthecodedoesnotoccur.
Inlinefunctionsareexpandedwheneveritisinvokedratherthanthecontrolgoingtotheplacewherethe
functionisdefinedandavoidsalltheactivitiessuchassavingthereturnaddresswhenajumpis
performed.Savestimeincaseofshortcodes.
inlinefloatadd(floata,floatb)
{
returna+b
}
Inlineisjustarequesttothecompileranditisuptotothecompilerwhethertosubstitutethecodeatthe
placeofinvocationorperformajumpbasedonitsperformancealgorithms.

WhatcouldbethereasonsforaSystemtohavegoneblankandhowwouldyou
Debugit?
Possiblereasonscouldbe,
PCbeingoverheated.
Dusthavingbeingaccumulatedallaround.
CPUfansnotworkingproperly.
Faultypowerconnections.
Faultycircuitboardfromwherethepowerisbeingdrawn.
SupportDriversnothavingbeinginstalled.
Debuggingstepswhichcanbetakenare:
Cleaningthesystemthoroughlyandmaintainingitinadustfreeenvironment.
Environmentthatiscoolenoughandfacilitatesforeasypassageofairshouldbeidealenough.
Bylocatingtheappropriatesupportdriversforthesysteminconsiderationandhavingtheminstalled.

Explaininterruptlatencyandhowcanwedecreaseit?
Interruptlatencybasicallyreferstothetimespananinterruptisgeneratedanditbeingservicedbyan
appropriateroutinedefined.,usuallytheinterrupthandler.
Externalsignals,someconditionintheprogramorbytheoccurrenceofsomeevent,thesecouldbethe
reasonsforgenerationofaninterrupt.
Interruptscanalsobemaskedsoastoignorethemevenifaneventoccursforwhicharoutinehastobe
executed.
Followingstepscouldbefollowedtoreducethelatency
isrsbeingsimpleandshort.
Interruptsbeingservicedimmediately
Avoidingthoseinstructionsthatincreasethelatencyperiod.
Alsobyprioritizinginterruptsoverthreads.
AvoidinguseofinappropriateAPIs.

Howtocreateachildprocessinlinux?
Prototypeofthefunctionusedtocreateachildprocessispid_tfork(void)
Forkisthesystemcallthatisusedtocreateachildprocess.Ittakesnoargumentsandreturnsavalue
oftypepid_t.
Ifthefunctionsucceedsitreturnsthepidofthechildprocesscreatedtoitsparentandchildreceivesa
zerovalueindicatingitssuccessfulcreation.
Onfailure,a1willbereturnedintheparent'scontext,nochildprocesswillbecreated,anderrnowillbe
set
Thechildprocessnormallyperformsallitsoperationsinitsparentscontextbuteachprocess

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independentlyofoneanotherandalsoinheritssomeoftheimportantattributesfromitsuchasUID,
currentdirectory,rootdirectoryandsoon.

SignificanceofwatchdogtimerinEmbeddedSystems
Watchdogtimerisbasicallyatimingdevicethatissetforpredefinedtimeintervalandsomeeventshould
occurduringthattimeintervalelsethedevicegeneratesatimeoutsignal.
Oneapplicationwhereitismostwidelyusediswhenthemobilephonehangsandnoactivitytakes
place,inthosecaseswatchdogtimerperformsarestartofthesystemandcomestotherescueofthe
users.
Itisusedtoresettotheoriginalstatewheneversomeinappropriateeventstakeplacesuchastoomany
commandsbeinggivenatthesametimeorotheractivitiesthatresultinmalfunctioningoftheGUI.Itis
usuallyoperatedbycounterdevices.

IfyoubuysomeRTOS,whatarethefeaturesyoulookforin?
Deterministicoperatingsystemhavingguaranteedworstcaseinterruptlatencyandcontextswitchtimes.
Documentationprovidingfortheminimum,average,andmaximumnumberofclockcyclesrequiredby
eachsystemcall
Interruptresponsetimesshouldbeveryminute.
Contextswitchtimeshouldbeverylow.
Compatibilitywithseveralplugindevices.
Overallitshouldbeveryreliable.

Whyisjavamostlyusedinembeddedsystems?
Javawasmainlydesignedandconceputalisedforcodethatcanworkondifferentplatformswithoutany
hasslesandalsoforbeingsecureenoughsoastonotharmorcorruptothermodulesofcode.
Featureslikeexceptionhandling,simplesyntaxandAutomaticGarbagecollectionallworkinitsfavouras
thelanguageforuseinES's.
AlsothatitiswidelyusedintheformofJavaappletsmakesitverypopularconfiningittothelimitsof
JVM.ItisDynamicinnature.
ItsuseisalsobeingexploitedinenterprisesystemsintheformofJ2EE,J2SE
J2MEincaseofmobileapplications.

Differentiatebetweenmutexesvssemaphores
Semaphoresisasynchronisationtooltoovercomethecriticalsectionproblem.
AsemaphoreSisbasicallyanintegervariablethatapartfrominitialisationisaccessesonlythrough
atomicoperationssuchaswait()andsignal().
Semaphoreobjectbasicallyactsasacountertomonitorthenumberofthreadsaccessingaresource.
Mutexisalsoatoolthatisusedtoprovidedeadlockfreemutualexclusion.Itprotectsaccesstoevery
criticaldataitem.ifthedataislockedandisinuse,iteitherwaitsforthethreadtofinishorawakenedto
releasethelockfromitsinactivestate.

WhatarethecommonlyfounderrorsinEmbeddedSystems?
Damageofmemorydevicesduetotransientcurrentandstaticdischarges.
Malfunctioningofaddresslinesduetoashortinthecircuit
MalfunctioningofDatalines.
Somememorylocationsbeinginaccessibleinstorageduetogarbageorerrors.
ImproperinsertionofMemorydevicesintothememoryslots
Faultycontrolsignals.

Whatistheneedforhavingmultibytedatainputandoutputbuffersincaseofdevice
ports?
Itsnormallythecasethatsomedevicestransfertheoutputeitherinaburstyorasequentialmannerand
alsoduringinputentry.Ifwetaketheexampleofkeyboards,allthedataenteredisstoredinabufferand
givenatatimeoronecharacteratatime.
Incaseofnetworkingtheremaybeseveralrequeststoaccessthesameresourceandalltheseare
queuedinabufferandservicedintheordertheyarereceived
Hencetoavoidtheinput/outputunitsfromgettingoverloadedwithrequests,weusemultibytebuffers.
LatestC++interviewquestions

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Whataretheadvantagesofthrow.....catchinC++?
ExplainthedifferencebetweenStackandQueue
WhatisthedifferencebetweenMutexandBinarysemaphore?
Whatistheimportanceofmutablekeyword?
Whatdoyoumeanbybinding?Staticvs.dynamicbinding
DefineaccessprivilegesinC++.
C++COMandActiveX:InterviewQuestions
LatestDataStructureinterviewquestions
ExplainthedifferencebetweenStackandQueue
WhatisStack?Explainitsuses.
Vectorvs.deques
WhatisNULLpointerandvoidpointerandwhatistheiruse?

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