UNIT 1

INTRODUCTION TO EMBEDDED SYSTEMS

 SYLLABUS
Unit-I Introduction to Embedded Systems:
Definition of Embedded System, Embedded
Systems Vs General Computing Systems,
History of Embedded Systems, Classification,
Major Application Areas, Purpose of
Embedded Systems, Characteristics and
Quality Attributes of Embedded Systems.
1.1 What is Embedded System?
 An Electronic/Electro mechanical system which is
designed to perform a specific function and is a
combination of both hardware and firmware (Software)
 E.g. Electronic Toys, Mobile Handsets, Washing Machines,
Air Conditioners, Automotive Control Units, Set Top Box,
DVD Player etc…
 Embedded Systems are:

 Unique in character and behavior

 With specialized hardware and software

 1.2 Embedded Systems Vs General Computing
Systems:
General Purpose Computing System Embedded System

A system which is a combination of generic hardware and A system which is a combination of special purpose
General Purpose Operating System for executing a variety of hardware and embedded OS for executing a specific set of
applications applications

Contain a General Purpose Operating System May or may not contain an operating system
(GPOS) for functioning

Applications are alterable (programmable) by user (It is The firmware of the embedded system is pre-programmed
possible for the end user to re-install the and it is non-alterable by end-user
Operating System, and add or remove user
applications)

Performance is the key deciding factor on the Application specific requirements (like performance,
selection of the system. Always „Faster is Better‟ power requirements, memory usage etc) are the key deciding
factors

Less/not at all tailored towards reduced operating power Highly tailored to take advantage of the power saving
requirements, options for different levels of power modes supported by hardware and Operating System
management.

Response requirements are not time critical For certain category of embedded systems like mission
critical systems, the response time requirement is highly
critical

Execution behavior is deterministic for certain type of

Need not be deterministic in execution behavior embedded systems like Hard Real Time systems
1.3 History of Embedded Systems:
 ES were built around the old vacuum tube and
transistor technologies and embedded algorithm was
developed in low level languages.

 First recognized modern Embedded System: Apollo

guidance Computer(AGC) developed by MIT
Instrumentation Laboratory for the Lunar Expedition.

 It has two modules 1. Command Module

2. Lunar Excursion Module(LEM)

Command Module: designed to encircle the moon

LEM: designed to go down to the moon surface and land

there safely.
 The Lunar module featured in total 18 engines.
 There were 16 reaction control thrusters, a descent
engine and an ascent engine.
 The descent engine was designed to provide
thrust(push) to the lunar module out of the lunar orbit
and land it safely on the moon.
 MITs original design was based on 4k words of fixed
memory (Read only memory) and 256 words on Erasable
memory (Random Access Memory)
 By June 1963, the figures reached 10k of fixed and 1k of
erasable memory.
 The final configuration was 36k words of fixed memory
and 2k words of erasable memory.
 The clock frequency of the first microchip proto model
used in AGC was 1.024 Mhz and it was derived from
2.048 Mhz crystal clock.
 The computing unit of AGC consisted of
approximately 11 instructions and 16 bit word logic.
 Around 5000 IC s (3-input NOR gates, RTL Logic)
supplied by Fairchild semiconductor were used in this
design.
 The user interface unit of AGC is known as DSKY
(display/keyboard).
 DSKY looked like calculator type keypad with an array
of numerals.
 It was used for inputting the commands to the
module numerically.
1.4 CLASSIFICATION OF EMBEDDED SYSTEMS
 Criteria used in classification of Embedded Systems
1. Based on generation
2. Complexity and performance requirements
3. Based on deterministic behaviour
4. Based on triggering

5. Classification based on generation:

 First Generation:
 built around 8 bit microprocessors like 8085 and
Z80,and 4 bit microcontrollers.
 Simple in hardware circuits with firmware
developed in assembly code.
 digital telephone keypads, stepper motor control
units etc are examples of this.
 Second Generation:
 built around 16 bit microprocessors and 8 or 16 bit
micro controllers.
 The instruction set for the generation
processors/controllers were much more complex and
powerful that the first generation
processors/controllers.
 Some of them contained embedded operating systems
for their operation.
Ex: data acquisition systems, SCADA systems

 Third Generation:
 built making use of powerful 32 bit processors and 16
bit microcontrollers for their design.
 A new concept of application and domain specific
processors/controllers like DSP and Application
specific Integrated circuits(ASIC) came into picture.
 The instruction set of processors became more
complex and powerful and the concept of instruction
pipelining also evolved.
 Processors like Intel Pentium, Motorola 68K, etc gained
attention in high performance embedded
requirements.
 Dedicated embedded real time and general purpose
operating systems entered into the embedded market.
 Ex: robotics, media, industrial process control,
networking etc.

 Fourth Generation:
 The advent of System-on-chips(SOC), reconfigurable
processors and multi-core processors are bringing high
performance, tight integration and miniaturization
into the embedded device market.
 The SoC technique implements a total system on a chip
by integrating different functionalities with a processor
core on an integrated circuit.
 The fourth generation embedded systems are making
use of high performance real time embedded operating
systems for their functioning.
 Ex: Smart Phone devices, Mobile Internet devices etc

2. Classification based on Complexity and performance:

 Small scale Embedded Systems:
 ES which are simple in application needs and where the
performance requirements are not time critical fall
under this category.
 An electronic toy is a typical example of a small-scale
embedded system.
 They are built around low performance and low cost 8 or
16 bit microprocessors/microcontrollers.
 A small scale embedded system may or may not contain
an operating system for its functioning.

 Medium Scale Embedded Systems:

 ES which are slightly complex in hardware and
firmware(software) requirements fall under this
category.
 Built around medium performance, low cost 16 or 32 bit
microprocessors/microcontrollers or digital signal
processors.
 They usually contain an embedded operating system
(either general purpose or real time operating system)
for functioning.

 Large scale Embedded Systems/Complex systems:

 ES which involve highly complex hardware and firmware
requirements fall under this category.
 They are employed in mission critical applications
demanding high performance .
 Such systems are commonly built around high
performance 32 or 64 bit RISC processors/controllers
or Reconfigurable System on Chip (RSoC) or multi-
core processors and programmable logic devices.
 They may contain multiple processors/controllers and
co-units/hardware accelerators for offloading the
processing requirements from the main processor of
the system.
 Decoding/Encoding of media, cryptographic function
implementation, etc are examples for processing
requirements which can be implemented using a co-
processor/hardware accelerator.
 Complex embedded systems usually contain a high
performance Real Time Operating System (RTOS) for
task scheduling, prioritization, and management.
3. Based on deterministic behaviour:
 The classification based on deterministic behaviour is
applicable for ‘Real Time Systems’.
 The application/task execution behaviour for an
embedded system can be either deterministic or non-
deterministic.
 Based on the execution behaviour, Real time embedded
systems are classified into hard or soft.

4. Based on Triggering:
 ES which are ‘Reactive’ in nature (like process control
systems in industrial control applications) can be
classified based on the trigger.
 Reactive systems can be either event triggered or time
triggered.
 1.5 MAJOR APPLICATION AREAS OF ES
The application areas and the products in the
embedded domain are countless. A few of the
important domains and products are listed below:

i. Consumer electronics: Camcorders, cameras, etc.

ii. Household appliances: Television, DVD players,
washing machine, fridge, microwave oven, etc.
iii. Home automation and security systems:
Airconditioners, sprinklers,intruder detection
alarms, closed circuit television cameras, fire
alarms, etc.
iv. Automotive industry: Anti-lock breaking systems
(ABS), engine control, ignition systems, automatic
navigation systems, etc.
v. Telecom: Cellular telephones, telephone switches,
handset multimedia applications, etc.
vi. Computer peripherals: Printers, scanners, fax
machines, etc.
vi. Computer Networking systems: Network
routers,switches, hubs, firewalls, etc.

viii. Healthcare: Different kinds of scanners, EEG, ECG

machines etc.
ix. Measurement & Instrumentation: Digital multi
meters, digital CROs, logic analyzers PLC systems,
etc.
x. Banking & Retail: Automatic teller machines(ATM)
and currency counters, point of sales (POS).
xi. Card Readers: Barcode, smart card readers, hand
held devices, etc.
xii. Wearable Devices: Health and fitness Trackers,
Smartphone Screen extension for notification etc.
xiii. Cloud Computing and Internet of Things (IOT)
1.6 PURPOSE OF EMBEDDED SYSTEMS
Embedded systems are used in various domains like
consumer electronics, home automation,
telecommunications, automotive industry, healthcare,
control & instrumentation, retail and banking
applications, etc. Within the domain itself, according to
the application usage context, they may have different
functionalities. Each embedded system is designed to
serve the purpose of any one or a combination of the
following tasks:
Data collection/Storage/Representation
Data Communication
Data (signal) processing
Monitoring
Control
Application specific user interface
i. Data Collection/Storage/Representation
 Embedded systems designed for the purpose of data
collection performs acquisition of data from the external
world.
 Data collection is usually done for storage, analysis,
manipulation and transmission.
 The term “data” refers all kinds of information, such
as text, voice, image, video, electrical signals and any
other measurable quantities.
 Data can be either analog (continuous) or digital
(discrete).
 Embedded systems with analog data capturing
techniques collect data directly in the form of analog
signal whereas embedded systems with digital data
collection mechanism converts the analog signal to the
digital signal using analog to digital (A/D) converters
and then collects the binary equivalent of the analog
data.
 If the data is digital, it can be directly captured
without any additional interface by digital embedded
systems.
 The collected data may be stored directly in the
system or may be transmitted to some other systems
or it may be processed by the system or it may be
deleted instantly after giving a meaningful
representation.
 These actions are purely dependent on the purpose for
which the embedded system is designed.
 Embedded system designed for pure measurement
applications without storage, used in control and
instrumentation domain, collects data and gives a
meaningful representation of the collected data by
means of graphical representation or quantity value
and deletes the collected data when new arrives at
the data collection terminal.
 Analog and digital CROs without storage memory are
typical examples of this. Any measuring equipment
used in the medical domain for monitoring without
storage functionality also comes under this category.

 A digital camera is a typical example of an

embedded system with data
collection/storage/representation of data. Images
are captured and the captured image may be stored
within the memory of the camera. The captured
image can also be presented to the user through a
graphic LCD unit.
a
(ii) Data Communication:
 Embedded data communication systems are deployed
in applications ranging from complex satellite
communication systems to simple home networking
systems.
 The data is collected by an embedded terminal may
require transferring of the same to some other system
located remotely.
 The transmission is achieved either by a wire-line
medium or by a wireless medium.
 Wire-line medium was the most common choice in all
olden days embedded systems.
 A wireless medium offers cheaper connectivity
solutions and make the communication link free from
hassle of wire bundles.
 Data can be transmitted by analog means or by digital
means
 The data collecting embedded terminal itself can
incorporate data communication units like wireless
modules (Bluetooth, Zigbee, Wi-Fi, EDGE, GPRS, etc.)
or wire-line modules (RS-232C, USB, TCP/IP, PS2
etc.)
 Certain embedded systems act as a dedicated
transmission unit between the sending and receiving
terminals, offering sophisticated functionalities like
data packetizing, encrypting and decrypting.
 Network hubs, routers, switches, etc are typical
examples of dedicated data transmission embedded
systems.
 They act as mediators in data communication and
provide various features like data security,
monitoring etc.
(iii) Data (Signal) Processing:
 Embedded Systems with signal processing
functionalities are employed in applications
demanding signal processing like speech coding,
synthesis, audio video codec, transmission
applications, etc.
 A digital hearing aid is a typical example of an
embedded system employing data processing.
 Digital hearing aid improves the hearing impaired
persons
(iv) Monitoring:
 ES falling under this category are specifically
designed for monitoring purpose.
 Almost all embedded products coming under the
medical domain are with monitoring functions only.
 Electro Cardiogram (ECG) machine for monitoring the
heartbeat of a patient.
 Other examples are digital CRO, digital multi-meters,
Logic Analyzers etc., they are used to measure the
voltage and current.
(v) Control:
 ES with control functionalities impose control over
some variables according to the changes to input
variables.
 A system with control functionality contains both
sensors and actuators.
 Sensors are connected to the input port for capturing
the changes in environmental variable or measuring
variable.
 The actuators connected to the output port are
controlled according to the changes in input variable
to put an impact on the controlling variable to bring
the controlling variable to the specified range.
 Ex: Air Conditioner
(vi) Application Specific User Interface:
 These are embedded systems with application-
specific user interfaces like buttons, switches,
keypad, lights, bells, display units, etc.
 Ex: Mobile phone
1.7 CHARACTERISTICS OF EMBEDDED SYSTEMS
 The characteristics of embedded system are
different from those of a general purpose computer
and so are its Quality metrics.
 Some of the important characteristics of an
embedded system are:
 Application and domain specific
 Reactive and Real Time
 Operates in harsh environments
 Distributed
 Small size and weight
 Power concerns
1. Application and Domain Specific
 An embedded system is designed for a specific purpose
only.
 It will not do any other task.
 Ex. Air conditioner’s embedded control unit, it cannot
replace microwave oven…
 Ex. A washing machine can only wash, it cannot cook..
Because the embedded control units of microwave
oven and air conditioner are specifically designed to
perform certain specific tasks.
 Certain embedded systems are specific to a domain:
ex. A hearing aid is an application that belongs to the
domain of signal processing and telecom with another
control unit designed to serve another domain like
consumer electronics.
2. Reactive and Real Time
 Certain embedded systems are designed to react to
the events that occur in the nearby environment.
These events also occur real-time.
 Ex. Flight control systems, Antilock Brake Systems
(ABS), etc. are examples of Real Time systems
 Ex. An air conditioner adjusts its mechanical parts as
soon as it gets a signal from its sensors to increase
or decrease the temperature when the user operates
it using a remote control.
 An embedded system uses Sensors to take inputs and
has actuators to bring out the required
functionality.
3. Operation in Harsh Environment
 Certain embedded systems are designed to operate
in harsh environments like a dusty one or a high
temperature zone or an area subject to vibrations
and shock or very high temperature of the deserts or
very low temperature of the mountains or extreme
rains.

 These embedded systems have to be capable of

sustaining the environmental conditions
4. Distributed
 The term distributed means that embedded systems
may be a part of larger systems.
 Many numbers of such distributed embedded
systems form a single large embedded control unit.
 An automatic vending machine is a typical example
for this.
 It contains a card reader (for pre-paid vending
systems)
 A vending unit etc
 Each of them are independent embedded units but
they work together to perfrom the overa;; vending
function.
5. Small size and Weight
 An embedded system that is compact in size and has light
weight will be desirable or more popular than one that is
bulky and heavy.
 Ex. Currently available cell phones. The cell phones that
have the maximum features are popular but also their size
and weight is an important characteristic.
6. Power Concerns
 It is desirable that the power utilization and heat dissipation

of any embedded system be low.

 If more heat is dissipated then additional units like heat sinks
or cooling fans need to be added to the circuit.
 Ex. The production of high amount of heat demands cooling
requirements like cooling fans which in turn occupies
additional space and make the system bulky. Nowadays ultra
low power components are available in the market.
 Select the design according to the low power components like
low dropout regulators, and controllers/processors with
power saving modes.
 Also power management is a critical constraint in battery
operated application.
 The more the power consumption the less is the battery life.
 1.8 Quality Attributes of Embedded Systems

 Quality attributes are the non-functional requirements that need to be

documented properly in any system design.

 If the quality attributes are more concrete and measurable, it will give a
positive impact on the system development process and the end
product.

 The various quality attributes that needs to be addressed in any

embedded system development are broadly classified into two, namely

i. Operational Quality Attributes

ii. Non-Operational Quality Attributes

Operational Quality Attributes:
13
The operational quality attributes represent the relevant quality attributes
related to the embedded system when it is in the operational mode or
‘online’ mode. The important quality attributes coming under this
category are listed below:

i. Response

ii. Throughput

iii. Reliability

iv. Maintainability

v. Security

vi. Safety
 15
RESPONSE:
 Response is a measure of quickness of the system.
 It gives you an idea about how fast your system is tracking the input
variables.
 Most of the embedded system demand fast response which should be
real-time.
 Ex.An embedded system deployed in flight control
application
should respond in a Real Time manner.
 Any response delay in the system will create potential damages to the
safety of the flight as well as the passengers.
 It is not necessary that all embedded systems should be Real Time in
response.
 For example, the response time requirement for an electronic toy is not
at all time-critical.
 16
THROUGHPUT:
 Throughput deals with the efficiency of system.
 It can be defined as rate of production or process of a defined
process over a stated period of time.
 The rates can be expressed in terms of units of products, batches
produced, or any other meaningful measurements.
 In case of card reader like the ones used in buses, throughput
means how much transactions the Reader can perform in a
minute or hour or day.
 Throughput is generally measured in terms of ‘Benchmark’. A
‘Benchmark’ is a reference point by which something can be
measured.
 Benchmark can be a set of performance criteria that a product is
expected to meet or a standard product that can be used for
comparing other products of the same product line.
 17
RELIABILITY:
 Reliability is a measure of how much percentage you rely upon the
proper functioning of the system or what is the % susceptibility of the
system to failure.

 Mean Time Between Failures (MTBF) and Mean Time To Repair

(MTTR) are the terms used in defining system reliability.

 MTBF gives the frequency of failures in hours/weeks/months.

 MTTR specifies how long the system is allowed to be out of order

following a failure.

 For an embedded system with critical application need, it should be of

the order of minutes.
 MAINTAINABILITY:
 Maintainability deals with support and maintenance to the end user or client in case of
technical issues and product failures or on the basis of a routine system checkup.
 Reliability and maintainability are considered as two complementary disciplines. A more
reliable system means a system with less corrective maintainability requirements and
vice versa.
 Maintainability can be classified into two types:
1. Scheduled or Periodic Maintenance (Preventive Maintenance)
An inkjet printer uses ink cartridges, which are consumable components and as per the
printer manufacturer the end use should replace the cartridge after each ‘n’ number of
printouts to get quality prints.
2. Maintenance to Unexpected Failures (Corrective Maintenance)
If the paper feeding part of the printer fails the printer fails to print and it requires
immediate
repairs to rectify this problem.
Hence it is obvious that maintainability is simply an indication of the availability of the
product for use. In any embedded system design, the ideal value for availability is
expressed as 𝑨𝒊 = 𝑴𝑻𝑩𝑭/(𝑴𝑻𝑩𝑭 + 𝑴𝑻𝑻𝑹)

Where Ai=Availability in the ideal condition, MTBF=Mean Time Between Failures, and
MTTR= Mean Time To Repair
 SECURITY:

 ‘Confidentially’, ‘Integrity’, and ‘Availability’ are three major measures of

information security.
 ‘Confidentially’ deals with the protection of data and application
from
unauthorized disclosure.
‘Integrity’ deals with the protection of data and application
unauthorized
from modification.
 ‘Availability’ deals with protection of data and application from unauthorized
users.
 Certain embedded systems have to make sure they conform to the security
measures.
 Ex. An electronic safety Deposit Locker can be used only with a pin number
like a password.
 20
SAFETY:
 Safety deals with the possible damages that can happen to the operators,
public and the environment due to the breakdown of an embedded system or
due to the emission of radioactive or hazardous materials from the
embedded products.

 The breakdown of an embedded system may occur due to a hardware failure

or a firmware failure.

 Safety analysis is a must in product engineering to evaluate the anticipated

damages and determine the best course of action to bring down the
consequences of the damages to an acceptable level.
 21

 The quality attributes that needs to be addressed for the product ‘not’ on the
basic of operational aspects are grouped under this category. The important
quality attributes coming under this category are listed below:

i. Testability & Debug-ability

ii. Evolvability

iii. Portability

iv. Time to prototype and market

v. Per unit and total cost

 22

 Testability deals with how easily one can test his/her design, application and
by which means he/she can test it.
 For an embedded product, testability is applicable to both the embedded
hardware and firmware.
 Debug-ability is a means of debugging the product as such for figuring out
the probable sources that create unexpected behavior in the total system.
 Debug-ability has two aspects in the embedded system development context,
namely, hardware level debugging and firmware level debugging.
 Hardware debugging is used for figuring out the issues created by hardware
problems whereas firmware debugging is employed to figure out the probable
errors that appear as a result of flaws in the firmware.
 23

 Evolvability is a term which is closely related to Biology.

 Evolvability is referred as the non-heritable variation.
 For an embedded system, the quality attribute ‘Evolvability’ refers to
the ease with which the embedded product (including firmware and
hardware) can be modified to take advantage of new firmware or
hardware technologies.
 24

 Portability is a measure of ‘system independence’.

 An embedded product can be called portable if it is capable of
functioning in various environments, target processors/controllers and
embedded operating systems.
 A standard embedded product should always be flexible and portable.
 Time-to-market is the time elapsed between the conceptualization of a
product and the time at which the product is ready for selling (for
commercial product) or use (for non-commercial products).
 The commercial embedded product market is highly competitive
and time to market the product is a critical factor in the success of a
commercial embedded product.
 Product prototyping helps a lot in reducing time-to-market.
 26

 Cost is a factor which is closely monitored by both end user (those

who buy the product) and product manufacturer (those who build the
product).
 Cost is a highly sensitive factor for commercial products.
 Proper market study and cost benefit analysis should be carried out
before taking decision on the per unit cost of the embedded product.
 When the product is introduced in the market, for the initial period
the sales and revenue will be low.
 There won’t be much competition when the product sales and
revenue increase.
 During the maturing phase, the growth will be steady and revenue
reaches highest point and at retirement time there will be a drop in
sales volume.
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Product life cycle (PLC) curve