Chapter One

Introducing Embedded Systems

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 Embedded Systems
System
A system is a way of working, organizing or doing one or many
tasks according to a fixed plan, program, or set of rules.
A system is also an arrangement in which all its units assemble
and work together according to the plan or program.
Consider a watch. It is a time-display system. Its parts are its
hardware, needles and battery with the beautiful dial, chassis
and strap. These parts organize to show the real time every
second and continuously update the time every second. The
system-program updates the display using three needles after
each second.

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 Embedded Systems
It follows a set of rules illustrated below:
i.All needles move only clockwise.
ii.A thin and long needle rotates every second such that ¡t
returns to same position after a minute.
iii.A long needle rotates every minute such that it returns to
same position after an hour.
iv. A short needle rotates every hour such that ¡t returns to
same position after twelve hours.
v.All three needles return to the same inclination after twelve
hours each day. 

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 Embedded Systems
 As its name suggests, Embedded means something that is
attached to another thing.
 An embedded system is a system that has embedded software
and computer-hardware, which makes it a system dedicated for
an application(s) or specific plan of an application or product.
 Embedded systems can also defined be defined as: a systems
and/or devices used to control, monitor or assist the operation
of equipment, machinery or plant.
 “Embedded” reflects the fact that they are an integral part of
the system.
 It may be either an independent system or a part of a larger
system its software usually embeds in ROM (Read Only Memory)
it does not need secondary memory as in a computer.

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 An embedded system has
three components:
• It has hardware.
• It has application software.
• It has Real Time Operating system
(RTOS) that supervises the
application software and provide
mechanism to let the processor run a
process as per scheduling by following
a plan to control the latencies.

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 Characteristics of an
Embedded System

• Single-functioned – An embedded system usually performs a specialized

operation and does the same repeatedly.

• Tightly constrained – All computing systems have constraints on design

metrics, but those on an embedded system can be especially tight.

• Reactive and Real time – Many embedded systems must continually

react to changes in the system's environment and must compute certain

results in real time without any delay .

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 Embedded Systems
We can classify embedded systems into three types as follows
1.Small Scale Embedded Systems:
These systems are designed with a single 8- or 16-bit microcontroller; they
have little hardware and software complexities and involve board-level
design.
They may even be battery operated.
When developing embedded software for these, an editor, assembler and
cross assembler, specific to the microcontroller or processor used, are the
main programming tools.
Usually, ‘C’ is used for developing these systems. ‘C’ program compilation is
done into the assembly, and executable codes are then appropriately located
in the system memory.
The software has to fit within the memory available and keep in view the
need to limit power dissipation when system is running continuously.

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 Embedded Systems
2. Medium Scale Embedded Systems:
These systems are usually designed with a single or few 16- or
32-bit microcontrollers or DSPs or Reduced Instruction Set
Computers (RISCs).
These have both hardware and software complexities.
For complex software design, there are the following
programming tools: RTOS, Source code engineering tool,
Simulator, Debugger and Integrated Development Environment
(IDE).
Software tools also provide the solutions to the hardware
complexities. An assembler is of little use as a programming tool.

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 Embedded Systems
3. Sophisticated Embedded Systems:
Sophisticated embedded systems have enormous hardware
and software complexities and may need scalable processors or
configurable processors and programmable logic arrays.
They are used for cutting edge applications that need
hardware and software co-design and integration in the final
system; however, they are constrained by the processing speeds
available in their hardware units.

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Embedded system Vs. Computer system

A computer is a system that has the following or more

components.
1.A microprocessor
2.A large memory of the following two kinds:
Primary memory  semiconductor memories: RAM, ROM and fast
accessible caches)
Secondary memory  magnetic memory located in hard disks,
 diskettes and cartridge tapes
optical memory in CD-ROMs
memory sticks (in mobile computers

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Embedded system Vs. Computer system

3. I/O units such as touch screen, modem, fax cum modem, etc.
4. Input units such as keyboard. mice, digitizer, scanner, etc.
5. Output units such as an LCD screen, video monitor, printer,
etc.
6. Networking units such as an Ethernet card, front-end
processor-based server, bus drivers, etc.
7. An operating system (OS) that has general purpose user and
application software in the secondary memory.

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Embedded system Vs. Computer system
 An embedded system is a system that has three main
components embedded into it
1. It embeds hardware similar to a computer system.
 As its software usually embeds in the ROM or flash
memory.
 It usually do not need a secondary hard disk and CD
memory as in a computer.
2. It embeds main application software. The application
software may concurrently perform a series of tasks or
processes or threads.

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Embedded system Vs. Computer system

3. It embeds a real-time operating system (RTOS) that

supervises the application software running on hardware
and organizes access to a resource according to the priorities
of tasks in the system. This provides a mechanism to let the
processor run a process as scheduled.

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The components of embedded system hardware

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 Why study Embedded System?
 Embedded systems are playing important roles in our lives
every day, even though they might not necessarily be visible.
 Some of the embedded systems we use every day control the
menu system on television, the timer in a microwave oven, a
cellphone, an MP3 player or any other device with some
amount of intelligence built-in.
 The purpose of embedded systems is to control a device,
a process or a larger system.
 Since we are sharing the virtue of embedded system
applications, it is better to study the design of such systems.

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Basic Structure of an Embedded System

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Application
Areas

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 Application Areas
Consumer Electronics
 TV, stereo, remote control, phone / mobile phone,
refrigerator, microwave, washing machine, electric tooth
brush, oven, watch, alarm clock
 Electronic musical instruments
 Electronic toys (stuffed animals, handheld toys, pinballs, etc.)
 Medical home equipment (e.g. blood pressure, thermometer)
 DVD players, stereos, security systems, lawn sprinkler
controls, thermostats, cameras, clock radios, answering
machines, set top boxes, other appliances.

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 Application Areas
Medical Systems
 patient monitoring systems, injection systems, intensive
care units, Ultrasound imaging systems, heart pacers (pace
maker).
Office Equipment
 Printer, copier, fax machine, calculators, cash registers, …
Banking
 ATMs, statement printers, …
Transportation
 Planes, Trains, and Boats, Ships
 Radar, traffic lights, signaling systems, …

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 Application Areas
Automobiles
 engine management, trip computer, cruise control,
immobilizer, car alarm,
 airbag, ABS, ESP, …
Building Systems
 Elevator, heater, air conditioning, lighting, key card entries,
locks, alarm systems, …
Agriculture
 feeding systems, milking systems, …
Space
 satellite systems, …

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 Application Areas
Electronic Instrumentation
Data acquisition systems, oscilloscopes, voltmeters, signal
generators, logic analyzers, line tester.
Personal Devices
Cell phones, portable MP3 players, Video players, Personal
Digital Assistants (PDAs), electronic wrist watches, handheld
video games, digital cameras, GPS systems.
Robots
Industrial robots, autonomous vehicles, space exploration
robots (i.e. Mars robots)

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Application Examples: Refrigerator

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Examples: Car Door

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Examples: Autonomous Guided Vehicle

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The End

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