Unit– 2

The Typical Embedded

System

Vikas Kumar Tiwari

Assistant Professor – ECE
Vignan Institute of Technology & Sciences
Email: [email protected]
Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/vikas-tiwari-9a5b7843
The Typical Embedded System
• An Embedded System is a combination of 3
things - Hardware, Software (Firmware) and
Electro-Mechanical Components and it is
supposed to do one specific task only.

• A typical embedded system contains a single

chip controller, which acts as the master
brain of the system. Diagrammatically an
embedded system can be represented as
follows:
The Typical Embedded System
 Core of the Embedded system
• Embedded systems are domain and application
specific and are built around a central core. The
core of the embedded system falls into any one of
the following categories.
 
• General Purpose and Domain Specific Processors
– Microprocessors
• General Purpose
• Application-Specific Instruction set Processor (ASIP)
– Microcontrollers
– Digital Signal Processors
• Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs)
• Programmable Logic Devices (PLDs)
• Commercial off-the-shelf Components (COTS)
 Core of the Embedded system
General Purpose and Domain Specific Processor

• Almost 80% of the embedded systems are

processor/ controller based.

• The processor may be microprocessor or a

microcontroller or digital signal processor,
depending on the domain and application.

• Examples: Microprocessors, Microcontrollers, GPP,

ASIP, DSP, RISC, CISC, Harvard and Von-Neumann
Processor/Controller Architectures, Big-endian V/s
Little-endian processors,
 Core of the Embedded system
Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC):

• A microchip designed to perform a specific or unique

application. It is used as replacement to
conventional general purpose logic chips.

• ASIC integrates several functions into a single chip

and thereby reduces the system development cost

• Most of the ASICs are proprietary products. As a

single chip, ASIC consumes very small area in the
total system and thereby helps in the design of
smaller systems with high capabilities/functionalities.
 Core of the Embedded system
Programmable Logic Devices (PLDs):

• Logic devices provide specific functions, including

device-to-device interfacing, data communication,
signal processing, data display, timing and control
operations, and almost every other function a
system must perform.

• Logic devices can be classified into two broad

categories - Fixed and Programmable. The circuits
in a fixed logic device are permanent, they perform
one function or set of functions - once
manufactured, they cannot be changed.
 Core of the Embedded system
Commercial off the Shelf Component (COTS):

• A Commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) product is one

which is used “as-is”

• COTS products are designed in such a way to provide easy

integration and interoperability with existing system
components

• Typical examples for the COTS hardware unit are Remote

Controlled Toy Car control unit including the RF Circuitry part,
High performance, high frequency microwave electronics (2 to
200 GHz), High bandwidth analog-to-digital converters,
Devices and components for operation at very high
temperatures, Electro-optic IR imaging arrays, UV/IR
Detectors etc.
 Memory
• Memory is an important part of an embedded
system. The memory used in embedded
system can be either Program Storage
Memory (ROM) or Data memory (RAM)
• Certain Embedded processors/controllers
contain built in program memory and data
memory and this memory is known as on-chip
memory
• Certain Embedded processors/controllers do
not contain sufficient memory inside the chip
and requires external memory called off-chip
memory or external memory.
 Memory
Program Storage Memory (ROM)
• Stores the program instructions.
• Retains its contents even after the power to
it is turned off. It is generally known as Non
volatile storage memory.
• Depending on the fabrication, erasing and
programming techniques they are classified
into.
 Memory
Memory – Program Storage Memory (ROM)
 Memory
Data Storage - Read-Write
Memory/Random Access Memory (RAM)
• RAM is the data memory or working memory
of the controller/processor.
• RAM is volatile, meaning when the power is
turned off, all the contents are destroyed.
• RAM is a direct access memory, meaning
we can access the desired memory location
directly without the need for traversing
through the entire memory locations to reach
the desired memory position (i.e. Random
Access of memory location)
 Memory
Data Storage - Read-Write
Memory/Random Access Memory (RAM)
 Memory
Memory Shadowing
• Code Memory shadowing is the process of
copying the code from nonvolatile memory to
volatile memory for execution. Code shadowing is
required when the nonvolatile memory associated
with the processor does not support random access
to the code for execute-in-place or insufficient
nonvolatile random access memory exists
 Memory
Memory selection for Embedded Systems:
• Selection of suitable memory is very much essential step in high
performance applications, because the challenges and limitations of
the system performance are often decided upon the type of memory
architecture.
• Systems memory requirement depend primarily on the nature of the
application that is planned to run on the system.
• Memory performance and capacity requirement for low cost systems
are small, whereas memory throughput can be the most critical
requirement in a complex, high performance system.
• Following are the factors that are to be considered while selecting the
memory devices:
– Type of interface
– Speed
– Data storage size and capacity
– Bus width
– Power consumption
– Cost
 Sensors and Actuators
Sensor:
• A transducer device which converts energy from one
form to another for any measurement or control
purpose. Sensors act as input device.
• Example: IR, humidity, PIR (passive infra red),
ultrasonic, piezoelectric, smoke sensors
 
Actuator:
• A form of transducer device (mechanical or
electrical) which converts signals to corresponding
physical action (motion). Actuator acts as an output
device.
• Example: Servo Motors, Stepper Motors, 7 –
Segment LED display, LCD Display, Buzzer
 Sensors and Actuators
The I/O Subsystem:
• The I/O subsystem of the embedded system
facilitates the interaction of the embedded system
with external world.
• The interaction happens through the sensors and
actuators connected to the Input and output ports
respectively of the embedded system.
• The sensors may not be directly interfaced to the
Input ports, instead they may be interfaced through
signal conditioning and translating systems like
ADC, Optocouplers etc.
• Examples: LED, Push Button, Buzzer, Motor, Relay,
Keyboard, Programmable Peripheral Interface (PPI),
etc.
 Communication Interface
• Communication interface is essential
for communicating with various
subsystems of the embedded system
and with the external world
• The communication interface can be
viewed in two different perspectives;
namely as follows:
1. Device/board level communication interface (Onboard
Communication Interface)
2. Product level communication interface (External
Communication Interface)
 Communication Interface
Device/board level communication
interface (Onboard Communication
Interface)

• The communication channel which interconnects the

various components within an embedded product is
referred as Device/board level communication
interface (Onboard Communication Interface)

• Examples: Serial interfaces like I2C, SPI, UART, 1-

Wire etc and Parallel bus interface.
 Communication Interface
• Product level communication interface
(External Communication Interface)
• The “Product level communication interface” (External
Communication Interface) is responsible for data
transfer between the embedded system and other
devices or modules. The external communication
interface can be either wired media or wireless media
and it can be a serial or parallel interface.
• Examples for wireless communication interface:
Infrared (IR), Bluetooth (BT), Wireless LAN (Wi-Fi),
Radio Frequency waves (RF), GPRS etc.
• Examples for wired interfaces: RS-232C/RS-422/RS
485, USB, Ethernet (TCP-IP), IEEE 1394 port, Parallel
port etc.
 Embedded Firmware
The control algorithm (Program instructions) and or
the configuration settings that an embedded system
developer dumps into the code (Program) memory
of the embedded system. It is an un-avoidable part
of an embedded system.
 
The embedded firmware can be developed in various methods like :
– Write the program in high level languages like Embedded
C/C++ using an Integrated Development Environment (The
IDE will contain an editor, compiler, linker, debugger,
simulator etc. IDEs are different for different family of
processors/controllers.
– Write the program in Assembly Language using the
Instructions Supported by your application’s target
processor/controller.
 Other System Components
The following are some of the essential
System Components of Embedded
Systems:

• Reset Circuit
• Brown-out Protection Circuit
• Oscillator Unit
• Real-Time Clock (RTC)
• Watchdog Timer
 Reset Circuit
The RESET Circuit is essential that to
ensure that the device is not operating at a
voltage level where the device is not
guaranteed to operate.
 Brown-out Protection Circuit
Brown-out
Protection Circuit
prevents the
processor/controller
from unexpected
program execution
behavior when the
supply voltage to the
core falls below a
specified voltage.
 Oscillator Unit
A core of embedded system is a digital device made
up of digital combinational and sequential circuits. The
instruction execution of a microprocessor / controller
occurs in sync with a clock signal. Oscillator unit in
embedded system is responsible for generation of the
precise clock signal for processor.
 Real-Time Clock (RTC)
Real-Time Clock (RTC) is a system
component responsible for keeping
track of the time. RTC holds
information like current time (in hours,
minutes and seconds) in 12 hrs/ 24hrs
format, date, month, year and day of
the week etc.
 Watchdog Timer
Watchdog timers are used to monitor the firmware execution
and reset the system core in the system hangs up. It is a
watchdog increments or decrements the free running counter
which counts the firmware instruction execution. It generates
the RESET signal whenever the free running counter for
watchdog completes its count.