1. What is embedded system?

An embedded system combines computer software and hardware designed to perform a

specific function. Embedded systems can also function within a more extensive system or
machine. They can be programmable or have a fixed functionality. Some examples of an
embedded system are Industrial machines, consumer electronics, agricultural and processing
industry devices, automobiles, mobile devices, etc.

2. Mention the essential components of the embedded system?

An embedded system has the following essential components for working of its hardware:
• Power Supply: The power supply is the essential part of an embedded system
circuit.
• Processor: A processor is the main brain inside an embedded systems=.
• Memory: Memory is used to store data and instructions in an embedded system.
• Timers: These are the counters.
• Communication Ports.
• Input and Output.
• Application-Specific Circuits.

Embedded system software: Softwares in an embedded system are a set of codes written to
carry out various/specific functions. Most embedded system software runs on micro-
controllers. It checks on the availability of System Memory and Processor Speed.
Real-Time Operating System (OS): It runs a process as scheduled and performs switching
from one process to another as and when required.

3. What is a real-time embedded system?

Computer systems that monitor, respond to, or control an external environment are called
real-time embedded systems. Actuators, sensors, and input-output interfaces connect this
environment to the computer system.

4. What are microcontrollers?

In an embedded system, a microcontroller is a small integrated circuit that governs a specific
operation. On a single chip, a microcontroller contains a CPU, memory, and input/output
(I/O) peripherals. A microcontroller is a self-sufficient system that may be used as an
embedded system.

5. What are the differences between a microcontroller and a microprocessor?

6. What is the DMA address? And what does it deal with?
Direct memory access (DMA) is speeding up memory operations by allowing an input/output
(I/O) device to send or receive data directly to or from the main memory, bypassing the CPU.
DMA addresses deal with physical addresses. During data transfer, it is a device that directly
drives the data and address bus. As a result, it's only a physical address.

7. What is interrupt latency? How to reduce it?

The period between when an interrupt/process is triggered and when the interrupt handler
begins to execute is known as interrupt latency. This is hardware-dependent and cannot be
improved in software for a single isolated interrupt.
However, If a lower priority interrupt is triggered while a higher priority interrupts handler is
active, the lower priority one will start later, increasing the interrupt latency. In this scenario,
reducing interrupt handler execution time reduces the interrupt latency for equal or lower
priority interruptions.

8. What are the buses used for communication in an embedded system?

The buses used for communication in embedded systems include
• I2C (Inter-Integrated Circuit) is used to communicate between numerous
integrated circuits (ICs).
• CAN (Controller Area Network) is a network protocol that's utilized in cars
with a centrally controlled network.
• USB (Universal Serial Bus) is a standard for communicating between a
computer's processor and peripheral devices such as a mouse.

9. Explain the need for an infinite loop in an embedded system?

For repeated processing or monitoring of the program's state, embedded systems require
endless loops. Consider the example of a program that is constantly checked for any unusual
mistakes that may occur during runtime, such as memory outage or dividing by zero, etc.

11. What are some applications of an embedded system?

The following are the applications of embedded systems:
• Using a speed-checker device, detect reckless driving on highways and alert
traffic officials.
• Control street lights and detect vehicle movement on highways.
• A density-based traffic signal system regulates signal timing at intersections
based on traffic density.
• Using a GPS modem, determine the exact location of a car.
• For a home automation system with a remote control based on an Android
application.

12. What is a real-time embedded system?

A real-time embedded system is a computer system that monitors, responds to, or controls
external environments.

13. What are the uses of a timer?

The various uses of timers in embedded systems are as follows:
• It is the RTC (Real-Time Clock) for the system
• It initiates an event after a provided time delay.
• It captures the count value of an event.
• It finds the time interval between any two events.
 • It reduces the time spent on various processes/tasks.
• It schedules tasks in RTOS

14. What is a Watchdog timer?

A watchdog timer is an electronic device dedicated to a specific operation after a specified
time if anything goes wrong with the system.

15. What are some common errors in an Embedded system?

Some of the common errors encountered in an embedded system are as follows:
• Data lines malfunctioning.
• Some memory locations become inaccessible.
• Address line malfunctioning due to a short in the circuit.
• Damage to memory devices.
• Wrong control signals.

16. What is an embedded C?

Embedded C is an extended version of the C programming language. We can use it to
develop applications based on micro-controllers like device drivers (WIFI device drivers,
Camera device drivers, etc.)

Fig 16X2 LCD interfacing with LPC2148

17. What are the characteristics of embedded system?
The Characteristics of the embedded systems are as follows-
1. Sophisticated functionality
2. Real time behavior
3. Low manufacturing cost
4. Low power consumption
5. User friendly
6. Small size

18. What are the types of embedded system?

They are of 4 types
1. General computing
2. Control System
3. Digital Signal Processing
4. Communication and network

19. What are the components of embedded system?

Microcontroller, microprocessor, DSC, DSP, busses, system clock, Read only
Memory(ROM), RAM, Real time clock these are the components of embedded system.
20. Why we use embedded systems?
Ans. Embedded systems avoid lots of electronic components and they have rich built in
functionality. They reduces the cost and maintenance cost and the probability of failure of
embedded system is less so embedded system are in very much use now a days.

21. What are the languages used in embedded system?

Ans. Assembly language and C are basically used for embedded system. Java and ADA are
also preferred.

22. What are the benefits of Embedded Systems?

Embedded systems are inexpensive and are easy to manage. Not only are they smaller in size
making them faster to load, but they also deliver quality performance by performing
dedicated functions.

23. ARM stands for _____________

a) Advanced Rate Machines
b) Advanced RISC Machines
c) Artificial Running Machines
d) Aviary Running Machines

24. The main importance of ARM micro-processors is providing operation with ____
a) Low cost and low power consumption
b) Higher degree of multi-tasking
c) Lower error or glitches
d) Efficient memory management

25. ARM processors where basically designed for _______

a) Main frame systems
b) Distributed systems
c) Mobile systems
d) Super computers

26.Features of ARM Processor

• Multiprocessing System
• Tightly Coupled Memory
• Memory Management
• Thumb-2 Technology
• One-Cycle Execution Time
• Pipelining
• A large number of Registers

27.Advantages of ARM Processor

• ARM processors deal with a single processor at a time, which makes it faster and
it also consumes lesser power.
• ARM processors work in the case of a multiprogramming system, where more
than one processor is used to process information.
• ARM processors are cheaper than other processors, which makes them usable in
mobile phones.
 • ARM processors are scalable, and this feature helps it in using a variety of
devices.

28. Disadvantages of ARM Processor

• ARM processors are not stable with x86 processors, and due to this, they cannot
be used in Windows Systems.
• ARM processors are not capable of very high performance, which limits them to
a variety of applications.
• ARM processor execution is a little hard, which requires skilled programmers to
use it.
• ARM processor is inefficient in handling Scheduling instructions.

29. Features of LPC2148 Microcontroller

LPC2148 microcontroller has developed by Philips (NPX semiconductor) company It has so
many built-in peripherals and features. Therefore it has become so efficient and reliable as
compared to other microcontrollers. It is 16 bit or 32 bit ARM 7 based microcontroller which
as different features.

1. It is 16 or 32 bit ARM 7 family-based microcontrollers and is available in

market in small packages such as LQFP64.
2. Its programming time is 1 millisecond for 256 bytes and 400 millisecond for
erasing the on full chip data .
3. It is used on-chip bootloader software during the ISP (in system programming)
and IAP ( in application programming)
4. It has 8 kB to 40 KB on chip static RAM and 32 kB to 512 kB on chip flash
memory.
5. It offers the high speed operation at frequency 60 MHz with wide range of
interface almost 128 bit.
6. LP218 has clock input with 32 K Hz frequency and low power RTC (real time
clock).
7. It has embedded ICE RT and embedded trace interface which offers the
tracing of instruction execution with high speed with real time debugging.
8. It offers a changeable output with 10 bit DAC( digital to analog converter).
9. In this LQFP64 small package, it also has 5 volts input output pins for any
general purposes.
10. For counting the external events it has two 32 bit timers, watchdog timer and
PWM unit.
11. LPC2148 offers the changeable input with 10 bit ADC (analog to digital
converter) with very conversion time such as 2.44μs / channel.
12. The modes, which are used for power conversion are called idle and power
down.
13. It has several serial interfaces such as two 12C buses, two 16C550 UARTs
with 400 Kbit speed.
14. It has 1 MHz to 25 MHz on chip incorporated oscillator which works as an
exterior crystal.
15. It also has individual enable or disable peripheral function and peripheral SLK
scaling for extra power optimization.
30. LPC2148 Microcontroller Pinout Diagram
LPC2148 microcontroller consists of 64 pins and the group of these pins is called a port. It
consists of two ports and registers. These ports could be used as input or output ports therefore
the pins of these ports are called GPIO (general purposes input-output ) pins. LPC 2148
microcontroller pin configuration figure is shown below,

LPC2148 has two 32-bit General Purpose I/O ports.

1. PORT0
2. PORT1
PORT0 is a 32-bit port

• Out of these 32 pins, 28 pins can be configured as either general purpose input or
output.
• 1 of these 32 pins (P0.31) can be configured as general-purpose output only.
• 3 of these 32 pins (P0.24, P0.26 and P0.27) are reserved. Hence, they are not available
for use. Also, these pins are not mentioned in pin diagram.

PORT1 is also a 32-bit port. Only 16 of these 32 pins (P1.16 – P1.31) are available for use as
general-purpose input or output.
31. RISC:
It stands for Reduced Instruction Set Computer. It is a type of microprocessor architecture
that uses a small set of instructions of uniform length. These are simple instructions that are
generally executed in one clock cycle. RISC chips are relatively simple to design and
inexpensive. The setback of this design is that the computer has to repeatedly perform
simple operations to execute a larger program having a large number of processing
operations.
Examples: SPARC, POWER PC, etc.

32.CISC:
It stands for Complex Instruction Set Computer. These processors offer the users, hundreds
of instructions of variable sizes. CISC architecture includes a complete set of special-
purpose circuits that carry out these instructions at a very high speed. These instructions
interact with memory by using complex addressing modes. CISC processors reduce the
program size and hence lesser number of memory cycles are required to execute the
programs. This increases the overall speed of execution.
Examples: Intel architecture, AMD

33.What is Von Neumann Architecture?

It is a type of digital computer architecture in which the design follows the concept of the
computers with stored programs where they store the program data along with the instruction
data in the very same memory. The famous physicist and mathematician John Von Neumann
designed this architecture back in 1945.

34.What is Harvard Architecture?

It is a type of digital computer architecture in which the design follows a basic concept of
having separate signal paths (buses) and separate storage for data and instructions. This type
of architecture basically surfaced to overcome the overall bottleneck of the Von Neumann
Architecture.

35.The ARM processors don’t support Byte addressability.

a) True
b) False

36. The address space in ARM is ___________

a) 224
b) 264
c) 216
d) 232

37.The address system supported by ARM systems is/are ___________

a) Little Endian
b) Big Endian
c) X-Little Endian
d) Both Little & Big Endian
38.RISC stands for _________
a) Restricted Instruction Sequencing Computer
b) Restricted Instruction Sequential Compiler
c) Reduced Instruction Set Computer
d) Reduced Induction Set Computer
39.In the ARM, PC is implemented using ___________
a) Caches
b) Heaps
c) General purpose register
d) Stack
40.What do you understand about ARM processors?
ARM processors are a type of microprocessor that is used in many small devices, such as cell
phones and PDAs. They are known for their low power consumption and high performance.

41.Can you give me some examples of companies that use and sell ARM processors?
Some of the most popular companies that use ARM processors include Apple, Samsung, and
Qualcomm. These companies all manufacture devices that use ARM processors, and they
also sell these processors to other companies who then use them in their own devices.

42.What’s the difference between a register bank and a co-processor?

A register bank is a set of registers that are all used for the same purpose, such as storing data
or holding address values. A co-processor is a separate processor that is used to perform
specific tasks, such as floating point calculations.