21CS43:

MICROCONTROLLER AND
EMBEDDED SYSTEMS
MODULE 4
 Syllabus- Module 4 2

 Embedded System Components:  Core of an Embedded System

o Embedded Vs General computing system o Types of processor/controller,

o Memory
o History of embedded systems
o Sensors,
o Classification of Embedded systems
o Actuators

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o Major applications areas of embedded o LED, 7 segment LED display
systems o Stepper motor, Keyboard, Push button switch,
o Purpose of embedded systems. o Communication Interface (onboard and external types),

o Embedded firmware,

o Other system components.

The Typical Embedded System 3

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The Typical Embedded System 4

 A typical embedded system contains

o A single chip controller, which acts as the master brain of the
system.

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• Microprocessor

• microcontroller

• Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) device

• Digital Signal Processor ( DSP)

• Application Specifi c Integrated Circuit (ASIC)/ Application Specifi c Standard Product (ASSP)
The Typical Embedded System 5

 Embedded hardware/software systems are basically designed to regulate a

physical variable or to manipulate the state of some devices by sending some
control signals to the Actuators or devices connected to the O/p ports of the
system, in response to the input signals provided by the end users or Sensors

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which are connected to the input ports.
 Hence an embedded system can be viewed as a reactive system.
o The control is achieved by processing the information coming from the sensors and
user interfaces, and controlling some actuators that regulate the physical variable.
The Typical Embedded System 6

Key boards, push button switches, etc. are examples for common user

interface input devices

Whereas LEDs, liquid crystal displays, piezoelectric buzzers, etc. are examples

for common user interface output devices for a typical embedded system.

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• It is not necessary that all embedded systems should incorporate these I/O user

interfaces. It solely depends on the type of the application for which the embedded system
is designed.


The Typical Embedded System 7

The Memory of the system is responsible for holding the control algorithm and other important

configuration details.
For most of embedded systems, the memory for storing the algorithm or configuration data is of
fixed type, which is a kind of Read Only Memory (ROM) and it is not available for the end user
for modifications.

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• The most common types of memories used in embedded systems for control algorithm storage are OTP, PROM,

UVEPROM, EEPROM and FLASH.

Sometimes the system requires temporary memory for performing arithmetic operations or

control algorithm execution and this type of memory is known as “working memory”.
o Random Access Memory (RAM) is used in most of the systems as the working memory.

o Various types of RAM like SRAM, DRAM, and NVRAM are used for this purpose.
Core of an Embedded System 8

 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:

1. General Purpose and Domain Specific Processors

1. Microprocessors

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2. Microcontrollers

3. Digital Signal Processors

2. Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs)

3. Programmable Logic Devices (PLDs)

4. Commercial off-the-shelf Components (COTS)

General Purpose and Domain Specific Processors 9

 Almost 80% of the embedded systems are processor/controller based.

 The processor may be a microprocessor or a microcontroller or a digital signal

processor, depending on the domain and application.

 Most of the embedded systems in the industrial control and monitoring applications

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make use of the commonly available microprocessors or microcontrollers whereas
 Domains which require signal processing such as speech coding, speech
recognition, etc. make use of special kind of digital signal processors supplied by
manufacturers like, Analog Devices, Texas Instruments, etc.
Microprocessors 10

 A Microprocessor is a silicon chip representing a central processing unit (CPU), which is capable of
performing arithmetic as well as logical operations according to a pre-defined set of instructions.
 CPU contains the Arithmetic and Logic Unit (ALU), control unit and working registers.
o A microprocessor is a dependent unit and it requires the combination of other hardware like memory, timer
unit, and interrupt controller, etc. for proper functioning.

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 Harvard and Von-Neumann are the two common system architectures for processor design.

o Processors based on Harvard architecture contains separate buses for program memory and data memory,
whereas processors based on Von-Neumann architecture shares a single system bus for program and data
memory.

 Reduced Instruction Set Computing (RISC) and Complex Instruction Set Computing (CISC) are the
two common Instruction Set Architectures (ISA) available for processor design.
General Purpose Processor (GPP) vs. Application- 11

Specific Instruction Set Processor (ASIP)

 A General Purpose Processor or GPP is a processor designed for general computational tasks.

o A typical general purpose processor contains an Arithmetic and Logic Unit (ALU) and Control Unit (CU).

 Application Specific Instruction Set Processors ( ASIPs) are processors with architecture and instruction

set optimised to specific-domain/application requirements like network processing, automotive, telecom,

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media applications, digital signal processing, control applications, etc.
o ASIPs fill the architectural spectrum between general purpose processors and Application Specific Integrated Circuits
( ASICs). The need for an ASIP arises when the traditional general purpose processor are unable to meet the increasing
application needs.

 Most of the embedded systems are built around application specific instruction set processors.

 ASIPs incorporate a processor and on-chip peripherals, demanded by the application requirement,

program and data memory.

Microcontrollers 12

 A Microcontroller is a highly integrated chip that contains a

o CPU
o scratch pad RAM
o special and general purpose register arrays
o on chip ROM/FLASH memory for program storage

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o timer and interrupt control units and
o dedicated I/O ports.

 Microcontrollers can be considered as a super set of microprocessors.

o Since a microcontroller contains all the necessary functional blocks for independent working, they found
greater place in the embedded domain in place of microprocessors.
o They are cheap, cost effective and are readily available in the market.
Microprocessor vs Microcontroller 13

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Digital Signal Processors 14

 Digital Signal Processors ( DSPs) are powerful special purpose 8/16/32 bit microprocessors

designed specifically to meet the computational demands and power constraints of today’s
embedded audio, video, and communications applications.
 Digital signal processors are 2 to 3 times faster than the general purpose microprocessors in

signal processing applications.

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 DSPs implement algorithms in hardware which speeds up the execution whereas

o general purpose processors implement the algorithm in firmware and the speed of execution depends
primarily on the clock for the processors.

 In general, DSP can be viewed as a microchip designed for performing high speed

computational operations for ‘addition’, ‘subtraction’, ‘multiplication’ and ‘division’.

Digital Signal Processors 15

 A typical digital signal processor incorporates the following key units:

o Program Memory :Memory for storing the program required by DSP to process the data.
o Data Memory: Working memory for storing temporary variables and data/signal to be
processed.

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o Computational Engine: Performs the signal processing in accordance with the stored
program memory. Computational Engine incorporates many specialized arithmetic units and
each of them operates simultaneously to increase the execution speed. It also incorporates
multiple hardware shifters for shifting operands and thereby saves execution time.
o I/O Unit: Acts as an interface between the outside world and DSP. It is responsible for
capturing signals to be processed and delivering the processed signals.
RISC vs. CISC Processors/Controllers 16

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Harvard vs. Von-Neumann Processor/Controller Architecture
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