Embedded

Systems
Definiti
on
• A combination of hardware and software which
together form a component of a larger
machine.
• An example of an embedded system is a
microprocessor that
controls an automobile engine.
• An embedded system is designed to run on its own
without human intervention, and may be required to
respond to events in real time.
• An application specific electronic sub-system which is
completely encapsulated by the main system it
belongs to.
• Designed for some specific tasks
• Subjected to real time performance constraints that
must be met
• Feature tightly integrated combinations of
hardware and software
 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 4
A “short list” of embedded
systems
Anti-lock brakes
Auto-focus cameras
Automatic teller machines
Modems
MPEG decoders
Network cards
Automatic toll systems Network 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 stations Printers
Cordless phones Satellite phones
Cruise control Scanners
Curbside check-in systems Smart ovens/dishwashers
Digital cameras Speech recognizers
Disk drives Stereo systems
Electronic card readers Teleconferencing systems
Electronic instruments Televisions
Electronic toys/games Temperature controllers
Factory control Theft tracking systems
Fax machines TV set-top boxes
Fingerprint identifiers VCR’s, DVD players
Home security systems Video game consoles And the list goes on and on
Life-support systems Video phones
M5 edical testing Washers and dryers
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

6
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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Embedded System Design
Constraints
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

9
Embedded systems are classified into four categories based on their performance and functional
requirements:
• Stand alone embedded systems
• Real time embedded systems
• Networked embedded systems
• Mobile embedded systems
Embedded Systems are classified into three types based on the performance of the
microcontroller such as
• Small scale embedded systems
• Medium scale embedded systems
• Sophisticated embedded systems
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
System
• 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 traffi
c
• signal does not change to red before the train arrives, an accident could
result.

14
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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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

• Embedded System Components (More specifcally)

• Programmable processors (controllers & DSP)
• Standard and custom hardware
• Concurrent Software
• OS Components:
• Schedulers, Timers, Watchdogs,
• IPC primitives
• Interface components
• External, HW and SW interface

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Typical embedded software components:

Embedded Application Code

Device Drivers

A Real-Time Operating System (RTOS)

Hardware abstraction layer(s)

System initialization routines

18
of
Stand Alone Embedded
Systems
• Stand alone embedded systems do not require a host system like a
computer, it works by itself.
• It takes the input from the input ports either analog or digital and
processes, calculates and converts the data and gives the resulting
data through the connected device-Which either controls, drives
and displays the connected devices.
• Examples for the stand alone embedded systems are
• mp3 players,
• digital cameras,
• video game consoles,
• microwave ovens and
• temperature measurement systems.
Real Time Embedded
Systems
• A real time embedded system is defined as, a system which gives a
required o/p in a particular time.
• These types of embedded systems follow the time deadlines for
completion of a task.
• Real time embedded systems are classified into two types such
as
• soft and
• hard real time systems.
Networked Embedded
• These types of embedded systems are related to a network to access
Systems
the resources.
• The connected network can be LAN, WAN or the internet.
• The connection can be any wired or wireless.
• This type of embedded system is the fastest growing area in
embedded system applications.
• The embedded web server is a type of system wherein all embedded
devices are connected to a web server and accessed and controlled
by a web browser.
• Example for the LAN networked embedded system is a home security
system wherein all sensors are connected and run on the protocol
TCP/IP
Mobile Embedded
Systems
• Mobile embedded systems are used in portable embedded devices
like cell phones, mobiles, digital cameras, mp3 players and
personal digital assistants, etc.
• The basic limitation of these devices is the other resources and
limitation of memory.
Small Scale Embedded Systems
• These types of embedded systems are designed with a single 8 or 16-
bit microcontroller, that may even be activated by a battery.
• For developing embedded software for small scale embedded
systems, the main programming tools are an editor, assembler,
cross
assembler and integrated development environment (IDE).
Medium Scale Embedded
• These types of embedded systems design with a single or 16 or 32 bit
Systems
microcontroller, RISCs or DSPs.
• These types of embedded systems have both hardware and software
complexities.
• For developing embedded software for medium scale embedded
systems, the main programming tools are C, C++, JAVA, Visual C+
+, RTOS, debugger, source code engineering tool, simulator
and IDE.
Sophisticated Embedded Systems
• These types of embedded systems have enormous hardware and
software complexities, that may need ASIPs, IPs, PLAs, scalable
or configurable processors.
• They are used for cutting-edge applications that need hardware and
software Co-design and components which have to assemble in
the final system.
Development/Design Challenges
Embedded Systems are quite 3. Concurrent systems
complex • System and environment run
concurrently
1. Correct functioning is • multi-functional
crucial 4. Real-time systems
• not only rt. outputs but at rt. time
• safety-critical applications • imagine a delay of few minutes in
• damage to life, economy pacemaker system
can result 5. Stringent resource constraints
• compact systems
2. They are Reactive Systems • simple processors
• Once started run forever. • limited memory
• Termination is a bad • quick response
• good throughput
behavior. • low power
• Compare conventional • Time-to-market
computing
27
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
•Common metrics
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
• Expertise with both software and hardware is needed to optimize design metrics
• Not just a hardware or software expert, as is common
• A designer must be comfortable with various technologies in order
to choose the best for a given application and constraints

Power

Performance Size

NRE cost

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Three key embedded system
•Technology
technologies
•A manner of accomplishing a task, especially
using technical processes, methods, or knowledge
•Three key technologies for embedded systems
•Processor technology - General Purpose,
Application Specific, Single Purpose
•IC technology- VLSI, ASIC, PLD
•Design technology: Compilation/synthesis, libraries/IP,
test/verification

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Processor technology
• The architecture of the computation engine used to implement a system’s
desired functionality
• Processor does not have to be programmable
• “Processor” not equal to general-purpose processor

Controller Datapath
Controller Datapath Controller Datapath
Control Register
logic and Control Registers Control index
file logic
State logic and
State total
register
register Custom State
General ALU register +
ALU
IR PC
IR PC
Data Data
memory memory
Program Data
memory memory Program
Assembly code memory
Assembly code for:
for:
total = 0
total = 0
for i =1 to …
for i =1 to …

General-purpose (“software”) Single-purpose (“hardware”)

Application-specific

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General-purpose processors
• Programmable device used in a variety of
applications
• Also known as “microprocessor” Controller Datapath

• Features Control
logic and
Register
file
• Program memory State
register
• General datapath with large register file and general
General
ALU IR PC
ALU

• User benefits
• Low time-to-market and NRE costs Program Data
memory memory
• High flexibility
Assembly code
• “Pentium” the most well-known, but there are for:

hundreds of others total = 0

for i =1 to …

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Single-purpose processors
• Digital circuit designed to execute exactly one
program
• a.k.a. coprocessor, accelerator or peripheral Controller Datapath
Control index
• Features logic
total
• Contains only the components needed to execute a single State
program register +
• No program memory
• Benefits Data
memory
• Fast
• Low power
• Small size

35
Application-specific processors
• Programmable processor optimized for a particular
class of applications having common Controller Datapath

characteristics Control
logic and
Registers
• Compromise between general-purpose and single- State
register
purpose processors Custom
ALU
• Features IR PC
• Program memory Data
• Optimized datapath Program memory
memory
• Special functional units
Assembly code
• Benefits for:

• Some flexibility, good performance, size and power total = 0

for i =1 to …

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IC technology
• The manner in which a digital (gate-level) implementation is
mapped onto an IC
• IC: Integrated circuit, or “chip”
• IC technologies differ in their customization to a design
• IC’s consist of numerous layers (perhaps 10 or more)
• IC technologies differ with respect to who builds each layer and when

gate
IC package IC oxide
source ch
an Silicon substrate
nel
dra
in

37
IC technology
• Three types of IC technologies
• Full-custom/VLSI
• Semi-custom ASIC (gate array and standard cell)
• PLD (Programmable Logic Device)

38
Full-custom/VLSI
• All layers are optimized for an embedded system’s particular
digital implementation
• Placing transistors
• Sizing transistors
• Routing wires
• Benefits
• Excellent performance, small size, low power
• Drawbacks
• High NRE cost (e.g., $300k), long time-to-market

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Semi-custom
• Lower layers are fully or partially built
• Designers are left with routing of wires and maybe placing some blocks
• Benefits
• Good performance, good size, less NRE cost than a full-custom
implementation (perhaps $10k to $100k)
• Drawbacks
• Still require weeks to months to develop

40
PLD (Programmable Logic Device)
• All layers already exist
• Designers can purchase an IC
• Connections on the IC are either created or destroyed to implement desired
functionality
• Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) very popular
• Benefits
• Low NRE costs, almost instant IC availability
• Drawbacks
• Bigger, expensive (perhaps $30 per unit), power hungry, slower

41
Moore’s law
• The most important trend in embedded systems : Predicted in 1965 by
Intel co-founder Gordon Moore
• IC transistor capacity has doubled roughly every 18 months for the past
several decades

10,000

1,000

Logic transistors per 100

chip 10
(in millions)
1

Note: logarithmic scale 0.1

0.01

0.001

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Design Technology
• The manner in which we convert our concept of
desired system functionality into an implementation

Compilation/ Libraries/ Test/

Synthesis IP Verification

System System Hw/Sw/ Model simulat./

Compilation/Synthesis: specification synthesis OS checkers
Automates exploration and
insertion of implementation
details for lower level.
Behavioral Behavior Cores Hw-Sw
specification synthesis cosimulators
Libraries/IP: Incorporates pre-
designed implementation from
lower abstraction level into
higher level. RT RT RT HDL simulators
specification synthesis components

Test/Verification: Ensures correct

functionality at each level, thus
reducing costly iterations Logic Logic Gates/ Gate
between levels. specification synthesis Cells simulators

To final implementation

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The co-design ladder
•In the past:
Sequential program code (e.g., C, VHDL)

Behavioral synthesis
• Hardware and software Compilers
(1960's,1970's)
(1990's)

design technologies were Register transfers

very different Assembly instructions RT synthesis
• Recent maturation of Assemblers, linkers
(1980's, 1990's)

synthesis enables a (1950's, 1960's) Logic equations / FSM's

unified view of hardware Logic synthesis

and software Machine instructions

(1970's, 1980's)

•Hardware/software
Logic gates

“codesign” Implementation
Microprocessor plus program bits: VLSI, ASIC, or PLD implementation:
“software” “hardware”

The choice of hardware versus software for a particular function is simply a tradeoff among various design metrics, like
performance, power, size, NRE cost, and especially flexibility; there is no fundamental difference between what hardware or
software can implement.
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Embedded System
Software
System
• Decomposition of functionality
Development
• Architecture Selection: Choice of processors, standard hardware
• Mapping of functionality to HW and SW
• Development of Custom HW and software
• Communication protocol between HW and SW
• Prototyping, verification and validation

46
Design
Choices
• Choices in Components
• Processors, DSP chips, Std. Components
• Many different choices in mapping
• Fully HW solution
•More speed, cost, TTM (Time to market), less
robust
•Std. HW development
• Fully SW solution
•Slow, less TTM, cost, more flexible
•Std. Micro controller development

47
Reactive Systems
• Standard Software is a transformational system
• Embedded software is reactive

I O
T. S.

48
RS features
•Non-termination
•Ongoing continuous relationship with environment
•Concurrency (at least system and environment)
•Event driven
•Events at unpredictable times
•Environment is the master
•Timely response (hard and soft real time)
•Safety - Critical
•Conventional models inadequate

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Finite State
Machines
• One of the well-known models
• Intuitive and easy to understand
• Pictorial appeal
• Can be made rigorous
• Standard models for Protocols, Controllers, HW

50
Real-time
• programming the processes or instruction set with constraints of time
programming
for its response, process with latencies, and process with deadlines
• Procedure-oriented C and object-oriented programming C++ and Java
languages are used in most embedded systems programming.
• For some embedded system which has more no. of hardware and
memory management this type use RTOS for programming
Real-Time Operating
• An RTOS is an OS for response time-controlled and event controlled
System
processes. It is very essential for large scale embedded systems.
• RTOS occupy little space from 10 KB to 100KB
• The main task of a RTOS is to manage the resources of the computer
such that a particular operation executes in precisely the same
amount of time every time it occur.

Real-time embedded systems is one major subclass of embedded

systems and
time is most important part for this type of system
When RTOS is necessary
• A common and effective way of handling of the hardware source calls
from the interrupts
• I/O management with devices, files, mailboxes becomes simple using
an RTOS
• Effectively scheduling and running and blocking of the tasks in cases
of many tasks and many more…..
Hard and Soft Real Time Systems
• Hard Real time system: Failure to meet such a deadline is considered
to be a fatal fault and will lead to disastrous consequences e.g.
Response of the break system of a speeding Train approaching a
Red Signal to the stop command must come before the train
crosses the Red signal.
• Soft Real time system : Failure to miss a Soft Deadline is undesirable
but a few misses does no serious harm like occasional delay in an
on line trading of stocks. However the system’s overall
performance
becomes poorer and poorer as more and more jobs starts missing
the
deadline.
Task
Scheduling
• Non Real -time systems usually use Non-preemptive Scheduling
•Once a task starts executing, it completes its full execution
• Most RTOS perform priority-based preemptive task scheduling.
• Basic rules for priority based preemptive task scheduling
• The Highest Priority Task that is Ready to Run, will be the Task that Must be
Running.
Dynamic Memory Allocation
in
• RTOS
RTOS does it by a mechanism known as Pools.
• Pools memory allocation mechanism allows application software to
allocate chunks of memory of 4 to 8 different buffer sizes per
pool.
• Pools avoid external memory fragmentation, by not permitting a
buffer that is returned to the pool to be broken into smaller buffers
in the future.
• When a buffer is returned the pool, it is put onto a free buffer list of
buffers of its own size that are available for future re-use at their
original buffer size
Device i/o and Time Management
• There is a need for a periodical interrupt to keep track of time delays
and timeout.
• Most RTOSs today offer both “relative timers” that work in units of
ticks, and “absolute timers” that work with calendar date and
time.
Peripheral devices and protocols
• Interfacing
• Serial/parallel ports, USB, I2C, PCMCIA, IDE
• Communication
• Serial, Ethernet, Low bandwidth radio, IrDA, 802.11b based devices
• User Interface
• LCD, Keyboard, Touch sensors, Sound, Digital pads, Webcams
• Sensors
• A variety of sensors using fire, temperature, pressure, water level, seismic,
sound, vision
Microcontroller and Embedded
System
• A microcontroller can be considered a self-contained system with a
processor, memory and peripherals and can be used as an
embedded system.
• The majority of microcontrollers in use today are embedded in other
machinery, such as automobiles, telephones, appliances, and
peripherals for computer systems.
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
• 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 number of connected IoT (Internet of Things) devices, sensors and actuators will reach
over 46 billion in 2021
• 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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Summary
•Embedded systems are everywhere
•Key challenge: optimization of design metrics
• Design metrics compete with one another
•A unified view of hardware and software is necessary to
improve productivity
•Three key technologies
• Processor: general-purpose, application-specific, single-
purpose
• IC: Full-custom, semi-custom, PLD
• Design: Compilation/synthesis, libraries/IP, test/verification

64
 2.Which of the following offers external chips for memory
1.Which one of the following offers CPUs as
and peripheral interface circuits?
integrated memory or peripheral interfaces?
a) Microcontroller
a) Microcontroller
b) Microprocessor
b) Microprocessor
c) Peripheral system
c) Embedded system
d) Embedded system
d) Memory system

7. An example of a system that may use a process pipeline is a

5.The times by which stimuli must be processed and
some response produced by the system is known as a) High-speed data acquisition system
a) Compile time b) Failure of a power supply in an embedded system
b) Frequency c)Both High-speed data acquisition system AND Failure of
c) Deadlines a power supply in an embedded system
d) Execution time d) None of the mentioned
An embedded system consists of Which one is the most promising characteristics of Embedded
a) Hardware Only System Design
b) Software Only a) They are Tightly-constrained
c) Software and Hardware both b) They are simple to design
d) All of the Above c) They are Reactive as well as Non Reactive
d) They are multifunctional
An embedded system includes
a) Sensors
b) Actuators Which one is the most promising characteristics of Hard Real-
c) Sensors and Actuators time (reactive) systems
d) None of the Above a) System Correctness is depends only on logical results of the
computations
b) System Correctness is depends on Timely logical results
c) Considers correct output even if some deadlines are missed
d) None of the Above
Which one is the Perfect Example of Hard Real time system
a) Anti-lock brakes,
b) Digital video streaming Which one is not a Example of Stand Alone Embedded
c) Live Trading of Share Market a) mp3 players,
d) Online Banking System b) digital cameras,
c) video game consoles
d) home security system wherein all sensors are connected
and run on the protocol TCP/IP