Introduction to Embedded Systems

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 Outline
What is an embedded system
Characteristics and Classification of Embedded
Systems
Systems-on-a-Chip
Distributed Systems
Internet-of-Things
Embedded Systems Design Challenges
Real-Time Embedded Systems

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 Microprocessors for Embedded systems
Computing systems are everywhere
Most of us think of “desktop” computers
PC’s
Laptops
Mainframes
Servers
But there’s another type of computing system
Far more common...

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 Embedded systems overview
Embedded computing systems
Computing systems embedded within
Computers are in here...
electronic devices
Hard to define. Nearly any computing and here...

system other than a desktop computer

Billions of units produced yearly, versus and even here...

millions of desktop units

Perhaps 50 per household and per
automobile
A lot more programming is done for
embedded systems than desktop computers
or servers Lots more of these,
though they cost a lot
less each.

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 A “short list” of embedded systems
Anti-lock brakes Modems
Auto-focus cameras MPEG decoders
Automatic teller Network cards
machines Network
Automatic toll systems switches/routers
Automatic transmission On-board navigation
Avionic systems Pagers
Battery chargers Photocopiers
Camcorders Point-of-sale systems
Cell phones Portable video games
Cell-phone base Printers
stations Satellite phones
Cordless phones Scanners
Cruise control Smart
Curbside check-in ovens/dishwashers
systems Speech recognizers
Digital cameras Stereo systems
Disk drives Teleconferencing
Electronic card readers systems
Electronic instruments Televisions
Electronic toys/games Temperature
Factory control controllers
Fax machines Theft tracking systems And the list goes on and on
Fingerprint identifiers TV set-top boxes
Home security systems VCR’s, DVD players
Life-support systems Video game consoles
MedicalJaydeep
testing systems
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Washers and dryers
 Definitions
Broad definition:
Any computer system that is not a general-purpose computer
 That would include robots, and all portable devices

Narrow definition:
A computer system (software and hardware) that interacts
with its physical environment, mainly without human
intervention
 That would exclude printers, modems, portable devices such as dvd
and mp3 players, etc.

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 Some common characteristics of embedded
systems
Single-functioned
Executes a single program, repeatedly
Tightly-constrained
Low cost, low power, small, fast, etc.
Reactive and real-time
Continually reacts to changes in the system’s
environment
Must compute certain results in real-time without delay

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Considerations in embedded system design
An embedded system receives input from its
environment through sensors, processes this input and
acts upon its environment through actuators
Besides the usual software and hardware design issues
the embedded system designer must consider the
properties of the sensors and actuators and the
environment itself
The ultimate test of an embedded systems are the laws of
physics

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 Classification of Embedded Systems
Centralized vs distributed
Real-time vs non real-time
Hard deadline
 Failsafe
 Fail-operational
Soft deadline
Firm deadline
Battery powered vs mains powered
System-on-Chip vs discrete element

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 What is real-time? Is there any other
kind?
A real-time computer system is a computer system
where the correctness of the system behavior depends
not only on the logical results of the computations, but
also on the physical time when these results are
produced.
By system behavior we mean the sequence of outputs
in time of a system.

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 Real-time means reactive
 A real-time computer system must react to stimuli from its
environment
 The instant when a result must be produced is called a
deadline.
 If a result has utility even after the deadline has passed, the
deadline is classified as soft, otherwise it is firm.
 If severe consequences could result if a firm deadline is
missed, the deadline is called hard.
 Example: Consider a traffic signal at a road before a
railway crossing. If the traffic signal does not change to
red before the train arrives, an accident could result.

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 Fail-Safe hard-deadline RT systems
 If a safe state can be identified and quickly reached upon
the occurrence of a failure, then we call the system fail-
safe.
 Failsafeness is a characteristic of the controlled object,
not the computer system.
 In case a failure is detected in a railway signaling system, it is
possible to set all signals to red and thus stop all the trains in order
to bring the system to a safe state.
 In failsafe applications the computer system must have a
high error-detection coverage.
 Often a watchdog, is required to monitor the operation of
the computer system and put it in safe state.

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 Fail-Operational hard-deadline RT
systems
In fail-operational applications, threre is no safe state
a flight control system aboard an airplane.
The computer system must remain operational and
provide a minimal level of service even in the case of a
failure to avoid a catastrophe

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 Are the following embedded systems? If yes, classify
them. Which characteristics of an embedded system do
they have or do not have?
Printer
DVD player
Mobile phone
Tablet
Netbook/laptop

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 Typical Embedded System Components
Sensors: Allow the system to “read” the environment
Processing Elements: Control of the embedded system
Actuators: Allow the system to act on its environment
Network Connection: Local or internet, allowing
exchange of information

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 An embedded system example –
Digital camera
Digital camera chip
CCD

CCD preprocessor Pixel coprocessor D2A

A2D

lens

JPEG codec Microcontroller Multiplier/Accum

DMA controller Display ctrl

Memory controller ISA bus interface UART LCD ctrl

• Single-functioned -- always a digital camera

• Tightly-constrained -- Low cost, low power, small, fast
• Reactive and real-time -- only to a small extent
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 Embedded Software Development Requires as
Much/More Design Effort Than Hardware

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 A System-on-a-Chip: Example

Courtesy: Philips

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 Design at a crossroad
System-on-a-Chip

Multi- 500 k Gates FPGA • Embedded applications

Analog
Spectral + 1 Gbit DRAM
RAM
where cost, performance,
Imager Preprocessing and energy are the real
64 SIMD Processor issues!
C
Array + SRAM system • DSP and control intensive
+2 Gbit • Mixed-mode
Image Conditioning DRAM
Recog- • Combines programmable
100 GOPS
nition and application-specific
modules
• Software plays crucial role
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 The Future of Embedded Systems
In the past an embedded system was more or less
isolated
In the past decade Wireless Sensor Networks have
changed that
Today embedded systems + internet connection =
Internet of Things !
Near future: Embedded systems + internet + mobile
devices + cloud computing + artificial intelligence + ?
= smart environment

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 IoT forecasts
Global Internet of Things (IoT) market reached USD
598.2 Billion in 2015
is expected to reach USD 724.2 Billion by 2023
the market is projected to register a CAGR of 13.2%
The number of connected IoT (Internet of Things)
devices, sensors and actuators will reach over 46
billion in 2021

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 IoT
Embedded system with internet connection
Not quite as simple as it sounds
Increased need for security
Safety issues
Direct machine to machine (M2M) communication

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 Case studies of distributed embedded
systems
Dr. Konstantinos Tatas

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 Outline
Case study 1: RFID
Case study 2: Wireless sensor networks
Case study 3: Internet of things

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 RFID Tags
Developed to automate the process of object
identification
electronic tags (called RFID tags) can be read from a
small distance by an RFID reader
An RFID reader does not require a direct line-of-sight to
the RFID tag.
The RFID tag stores the unique Electronic Product Code
(EPC) of the attached object.

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 RFID Tag dimensions
Since an RFID tag has to be attached
to every object, the cost of an RFID
tag is a major issue.
RFID tags come in various shapes
and sizes and continue to decrease in
size
RFID tags are implantable and
implants have been approved in
humans as well as animals.

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 RFID Reader
The RFID reader can act as a gateway to the
Internet and transmit the object identity, together
with the read-time and the object location (i.e., the
location of the reader) to a remote computer
system that manages a large database.
It is thus possible to track objects in real-time
Applications: toll gates, hospitals and large
organizations, public transportation systems,
tracking of animals, libraries

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 Electronic product code
 A typical EPC has a length of 96 bits and contains the following fields:
 Header (8 bits): defines the type and the length of all subsequent fields.
 EPC Manager (28 bits): specifies the entity (most often the manufacturer)
that assigns the object class and serial number in the remaining two fields.
 Object Class (24 bits): specifies a class of objects (similar to the optical bar
code).
 Object Identification Number (36 bits): contains the serial number within
theobject class.
 The EPC is unique product identification, but does not reveal anything
about the properties of the product.
 Two things that have the same properties, but are designed by two
different manufacturers, will have completely different EPCs.

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 Passive RFID tags
 Passive RFID Tags. No power supply. They get the power
needed for their operation from energy harvested out of the
electric field that is beamed on them by the RFID reader. The
energy required to operate a passive tag of the latest generation
is below 30 mW and the cost of such a tag is below 5 ¢.
 Due to the low level of the available power and the cost
pressure on the production of RFID tags, the communication
protocols of passive RFID tags do not conform to the standard
Internet protocols. Specially designed communication
protocols between the RFID tag and the RFID reader that
consider the constraints of passive RFID tags have been
standardized by the ISO (e.g., ISO 18000-6C also known as the
EPC global Gen 2) and are supported by a number of
manufacturers.

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 Active RFID tags
 Active RFID Tags
 have their own on-board power supply
 The lifetime of an active tag is limited by the lifetime of the battery
 typically in the order of a year.
 Active tags can transmit and receive over a longer distance
 typically in the order of hundreds of meters,
 can have sensors to monitor their environment
 sometimes support standard Internet communication protocols.
 An active RFID tag resembles a small embedded system
 More expensive

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 WSN
A set of sensor nodes that
each contains
a sensor
a microcontroller
a wireless communication
controller

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 WSN node
A sensor node can acquire a variety of physical,
chemical, or biological signals to measure properties
of its environment.

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 WSN node constraints
Sensor nodes are resource constrained.
They are powered either by a small battery or by energy
harvested from its environment,
have limited computational power, a small memory, and
constrained communication capabilities.

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 WSN deployment and operation
a number (from few tens to millions) of sensor
nodes are deployed, either systematically or
randomly, in a sensor field to form an ad hoc self-
organizing network
The WSN collects data about the targeted
phenomenon and transmits the data via an ad-hoc
multi-hop communication channel to one or more
base stations that can be connected to the Internet.

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 WSN function
 Phase 1: detect neighbors and establish communication
 Phase 2: learn about
 the arrangement in which the nodes are connected to each other,
 the topology of nodes
 build up ad-hoc multi-hop communication channels to a base station
 In case of the failure of an active node, it must reconfigure the network
 Applications:
 remote environment monitoring,
 surveillance,
 medical applications,
 ambient intelligence,
 military
 The utility of a wireless sensor network is in the collective emergent
intelligence of all active sensor nodes, not the contribution of any particular
node.

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 Primary concern for WSN: energy
 A WSN is operational as long as a minimum number of nodes
is active and the connectivity of the active nodes to one of the
base stations is maintained.
 In battery-powered sensor networks, the lifetime of the
network depends on the energy capacity of the batteries and the
power-consumption of a node.
 When a sensor node has depleted its energy supply, it will
cease to function and cannot forward messages to its neighbors
any more.
 The design of the nodes, the communication protocols, and the
design of the system and application software for sensor
networks are primarily determined by this quest for energy
efficiency and low cost.
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 WSN + RFID = the future?
RFID infrastructure for the interconnection of
autonomous low-cost RFID-based sensor nodes
has been proposed
nodes operate without a battery and harvest the
energy either from the environment or the
electromagnetic radiation emitted by the RFID
reader.
Potential for long-lasting, low-cost ubiquitous
sensor nodes that may revolutionize many
embedded applications.

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 IoT component: Smart object
A smart object is a cyber-physical system or an
embedded system, consisting of a thing (the physical
entity) and a component (the computer) that processes
the sensor data and supports a wireless communication
link to the Internet.
Example: smart refrigerator keeps track of the
availability and expiry date of food items and places
orders

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 IoT issues
 The novelty of the IoT is not in the functional capability of
a smart object
 Novelty exists in the expected size of billions or even
trillions of smart objects that bring about novel technical
and societal issues that are related to size.
 issues are:
 authentic identification of a smart object,
 autonomic management and self-organization of networks of smart
objects,
 diagnostics and maintenance,
 intrusion of privacy
 Safety issues
 Autonomous mobile robots and self-driving cars

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 Key technologies for IoT
low-power wireless communication: no need of a physical
connection.
GPS: makes a smart object location- and time-aware

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 Smart object categories
Goal: an autonomic smart object that
has access to a domain specific knowledge base
is empowered with reasoning capabilities to orient itself
in the selected application domain.
Based on the capability level of a smart object it
can be
activity aware
policy aware
process aware

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 Ultimate vision: smart planet
everyday things around us with an identity in
cyberspace capable of acquiring information and
intelligence
the world economy and support systems will
operate more smoothly and efficiently

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 Social and legal issues in IoT
But the life of the average citizen will also be affected
by changing the relation of power between those that
have access to the acquired information and can
control the information and those that do not.
IoT devices can be hacked with significant dangers to
safety and property

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 IoT drivers
The IoT should extend the interoperability of the
internet to the universe of heterogeneous smart objects.
Iot must establish a uniform access pattern to things in
the physical world.

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 Logistics
 The first commercial application of
a forerunner of the IoT, the RFID is
in the area of logistics
 There are many quantitative
advantages in using RFID
technology in supply-chain
management:
 the movement of goods can be tracked in
real-time,
 shelf space can be managed more
effectively
 inventory control is improved
 the amount of human involvement in the
supply chain management is reduced
considerably.

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 Energy savings
 Already today, embedded systems contribute to energy savings in many
different sectors of our economy and our life.
 increased fuel efficiency of automotive engines,
 improved energy-efficiency of household appliances,
 reduced loss in energy conversion
 The future: of IoT devices opens many new opportunities for energy
savings:
 Smart buildings: individual climate and lighting control in residential buildings
 Smart grids: reduced energy loss in transmission by the installation of smart
grids,
 Smart meters: better coordination of energy supply and energy demand
 Other energy savings:
 Physical meetings replaced by virtual meetings
 delivery of information goods such as the daily paper, music, and videos by the
Internet

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 Security and safety
Automated IoT based access control systems to buildings
and homes
IoT-based surveillance of public places
Smart passports and IoT based identifications (e.g., a
smart key to access a hotel room or a smart ski lift ticket)
Car-to-car and car-to-infrastructure communication will
alert the driver of dangerous traffic scenarios

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 Industrial
 computerized observation and monitoring of industrial
equipment
 reduces maintenance cost
 improves the safety in the plant
 A smart object can monitor its own operation and call for
preventive or spontaneous maintenance in case a part wears
out or a physical fault is diagnosed
 Automated fault-diagnosis and simple maintenance are
absolutely essential prerequisites for the wide deployment
of the IoT technology in the domain of ambient
intelligence.

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 Medical
 The wide deployment of IoT technology in the medical
domain is anticipated.
 Health monitoring (heart rate, blood pressure, etc.)
 precise control of drug delivery by a smart implant
 Body area networks that are part of the clothing can
monitor the behavior of impaired persons and send out
alarm messages if an emergency is developing.
 Smart labels on drugs can help a patient to take the right
medication at the right time and enforce drug compliance.
 Example: A heart pacemaker can transmit important data
via a Bluetooth link to a mobile phone that is carried in the
shirt pocket. The mobile phone can analyze the data and
call a doctor in case an emergency develops.

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 Technical issues: internet integration
Guaranteeing the safety and information security of
IoT-based systems is considered to be a difficult task.
Many smart objects will be protected from general
Internet access by a tight firewall to avoid that an
adversary can acquire control of a smart object.

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 Naming and identification
 A well-thought-out naming architecture in order to be able
to identify a smart object and to establish an access path to
the object is essential.
 Isolated Objects. The following three different object
names have to be distinguished when we refer to the simple
case of an isolated object:
 Unique object identifier (UID) refers to the physical identity of a
specific object.
 The Electronic Product Code (EPC) of the RFID community is such
a UID.
 Object type name refers to a class of objects that ideally have the
same properties.
 Object role name. In a given use context, an object plays a specific
role that is denoted by the object role name.

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 Composite object naming
Composite Objects. Whenever a number of objects are
integrated to form a composite object, a new whole,
i.e., new object is created that has an emerging identity
that goes beyond the identities of the constituent
objects.
The composite object resembles a new concept (see
Sect. 2.2.1) that requires a new name.

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 IoT vs cloud computing
 Smart objects that have access to the Internet can take
advantage of services that are offered by the cloud
 The division of work between a smart object and the cloud
will be determined, to a considerable degree, by privacy
and energy considerations
 If the energy required to execute a task locally is larger
than the energy required to send the task parameters to a
server in the cloud, then the task is a candidate for remote
processing.
 However, there are other aspects that influence the decision
about work distribution: autonomy of the smart object,
response time, reliability, and security.

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 Processing Elements used in Embedded
 Systems
Microcontroller:
 Cheap
 Optimized for control applications
 Low processing power
 Low power consumption

 General-Purpose Processor:
 More expensive
 Medium processing power
 Suitable but not optimized for any application
 High power consumption

 Digital Signal Processor:

 Optimized for DSP applications (high-end audio, video and image processing)

 FPGA:
 Good processing power
 Longer development time
 Medium cost
 Low power consumption

 ASIC:
 High processing power
 Very low power consumption
 Expensive at low volume
 Optimized for specific application (hardware accelerators)
 Long development time

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 Design challenge – optimizing design
metrics
Obvious design goal:
Construct an implementation with desired
functionality
Key design challenge:
Simultaneously optimize numerous design metrics
Design metric
 A measurable feature of a system’s implementation
Optimizing design metrics is a key challenge

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 Design challenge – optimizing design
metrics
Common metrics
Unit cost: the monetary cost of manufacturing each copy of the
system, excluding NRE cost
NRE cost (Non-Recurring Engineering cost): The one-
time monetary cost of designing the system
Size: the physical space required by the system
Performance: the execution time or throughput of the system
Power: the amount of power consumed by the system
Flexibility: the ability to change the functionality of the system
without incurring heavy NRE cost

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 Design challenge – optimizing design
metrics
Common metrics (continued)
Time-to-prototype: the time needed to build a
working version of the system
Time-to-market: the time required to develop a
system to the point that it can be released and sold to
customers
Maintainability: the ability to modify the system
after its initial release
Correctness, safety, many more

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 Design metric competition -- improving one
may worsen others
Power  Expertise with both software
and hardware is needed to
optimize design metrics
Performance Size
 Not just a hardware or
software expert, as is common
 A designer must be
NRE cost
comfortable with various
technologies in order to
choose the best for a given
CCD
Digital camera chip application and constraints
CCD preprocessor Pixel coprocessor D2A
A2D
lens

JPEG codec Microcontroller Multiplier/Accum

DMA controller Display ctrl

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Memory Patil-AISSMS
controller IOIT Pune
ISA bus interface UART LCD ctrl
 Time-to-market: a demanding design
metric
 Time required to develop a
product to the point it can be
sold to customers
 Market window
Period during which the
Revenues ($)

product would have highest

sales
 Average time-to-market
constraint is about 8 months
Time (months)  Delays can be costly

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 Losses due to delayed market entry
 Simplified revenue model
Peak revenue
 Product life = 2W, peak at W
Revenues ($)

Peak revenue  Time of market entry defines a

from delayed
On-time entry
triangle, representing market
Market
penetration
Market
rise fall  Triangle area equals revenue
Delayed
 Loss
 The difference between the on-
D W 2W time and delayed triangle areas
On-time Delayed Time
entry entry

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 Losses due to delayed market entry (cont.)
 Area = 1/2 * base * height
 On-time = 1/2 * 2W * W
Peak revenue
 Delayed = 1/2 * (W-D+W)*(W-D)
Revenues ($)

Peak revenue  Percentage revenue loss =

from delayed
On-time entry
(D(3W-D)/2W2)*100%
Market Market  Try some examples
rise fall
Delayed

– Lifetime 2W=52 wks, delay D=4 wks

D W 2W
– (4*(3*26 –4)/2*26^2) = 22%
On-time Delayed Time
entry entry
– Lifetime 2W=52 wks, delay D=10 wks
– (10*(3*26 –10)/2*26^2) = 50%
– Delays are costly!
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 Real-time (reactive) systems
Systems that are bound by a real-time constraint
(“deadline”) in their operation
If the deadline is not met it is usually considered a
system failure, even if the output is eventually
correct
Deadlines are usually relative to an event
Hard deadlines: Anti-lock brakes,
Soft deadlines: Digital video
Not the same as high-performance systems,
because often running faster than real-time
requirement is not necessary or desired

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 Real-time constraints
te + to < tc
te: execution time
to: overhead time
tc: constraint time

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 Example
Assuming a real-time system that processes
samples at a f= 10 MHz sampling rate, and a to=
20 ns, select the most appropriate implementation
among the following:
A processor running at 500 MHz, requiring 100 cycles at
a cost of 50$
An FPGA running at 200 MHz, requiring 10 cycles at a
cost of 60$
A DSP running at 500 MHz, requiring 20 cycles at a cost
of 100$
An ASIC running at 2 GHz, requiring 20 cycles at a cost
of 500$

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