Hawassa University, Institute of Technology School of

Electrical and Computer Engineering

Embedded Systems (ECEg-5702)

Lecture 1: Introduction

By Muluneh H 6 March 2020 1

Outline of the Lecture
What is Embedded System?

Where are Embedded Systems?

Embedded Systems Examples

Embedded Systems Characteristics

Design challenge of Embedded Systems

Basic Structure of an Embedded System

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What is Embedded System?
• Computing systems are everywhere
• Most of us think of “desktop” computers as the only
computing system
PC’s
Laptops
Mainframes
Servers
• But there’s another type of computing system
Embedded computing systems
 Computing systems embedded within electronic devices
 Hard to define.
 Nearly any computing system other than a desktop computer

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What is Embedded System?
• Precisely defining Embedded System is difficult.
• The following definitions may, in combination, do the job.
An embedded system is a special-purpose computer system
designed to perform one or a few dedicated functions, sometimes
with real-time computing constraints
Specialized computer system hardware that is used in larger
systems or machines to control devices such as automobiles, home
appliances, and office equipment .
Any electronic system that uses a CPU chip, but that is not a
general-purpose, workstation, desktop or laptop computer. Such
systems generally use microprocessors, or they may use custom-
designed chips or both.
An embedded system is some combination of computer hardware
and software, either fixed in capability or programmable, that is
specifically designed for a particular kind of application device.
An embedded system is a combination of computer circuitry and
software that is built into a product for purposes such as control,
monitoring and communication without human intervention.
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Embedded Systems Definition
• IEEE defines Embedded Systems as:
“the devices used to control, monitor or assist the
operation of equipment, machinery or plant.”
“Embedded” reflects the fact that they are an integral part
of the system.

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Where are Embedded Systems?
Embedded computing systems are becoming pervasive in our society (more than
Billions of units produced yearly, versus millions of desktop units ):

 Robotics

 Airplane Flight Control

Systems

 Plant control

 Automotive

 Consumer electronics

 Multimedia systems

 Sensor/Actor Networks

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Why is it difficult to identify Embedded Systems as a computing
device or information processing system?
• Most embedded systems use a dedicated user-interface
consisting of push-buttons, steering wheels, pedals etc.
Because of this, the user hardly recognizes that
information processing is involved.
• Many embedded systems are hybrid systems in the sense
that they include analog and digital parts.
• They are apart of a big system or devices and the system or
devices called by the name of its specific function.

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Where are Embedded System?
• Even though often nearly invisible, embedded systems are
ubiquitous.
• Every day, people throughout the world use embedded
systems without even knowing it.
• Remarkably adaptable and versatile, embedded systems
can be found at home, at work, Indeed, it is difficult to
find a segment of daily life that does not involve
embedded systems in some way.

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A “short list” of embedded systems
 Anti-lock brakes  Modems
 Auto-focus cameras  MPEG decoders
 Automatic teller machines  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
 Life-support systems  Video phones
 Medical testing systems  Washers and dryers

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Embedded systems Examples
• Automotive electronics: Modern cars can be sold only if they
contain a significant amount of electronics. These include air bag
control systems, engine control systems, anti-braking systems
(ABS), air-conditioning, GPS systems, safety features, and many
more.
• Aircraft electronics: A significant amount of the total value of
airplanes is due to the information processing equipment,
including flight control systems, anti-collision systems, pilot
information systems, and others. Dependability is of utmost
importance.
• Trains: Again, safety features contribute significantly to the total
value of trains, and dependability is extremely important.
• Medical systems: There is a huge potential for improving the
medical service by taking advantage of information processing
taking place within medical equipment.
• Military applications: Information processing has been used in
military equipment for many years. In fact, some of the very first
computers analyzed military radar signals.

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Embedded systems Examples
• Authentication systems: Embedded systems can be used for
authentication purposes.
• Fabrication equipment: Fabrication equipment is a very
traditional area in which embedded systems have been
employed for decades. Safety is very important for such systems,
the energy consumption is less a problem.
• Smart buildings: Information processing can be used to increase
the comfort level in buildings, can reduce the energy
consumption within buildings, and can improve safety and
security.
• Robotics: Robotics is also a traditional area in which embedded
systems have been used. Mechanical aspects are very important
for robots.

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Some Common Characteristics of Embedded Systems
• Single-functioned
Executes a single program, repeatedly
For example: A pager always functions as a pager.
• Tightly constrained
All computing systems have constraints on design metrics, but those on an
embedded system can be especially tight.
Design metrics is a measure of an implementation's features such as its cost, size,
power, and performance.
o It must be of a size to fit on a single chip,
o must perform fast enough to process data in real time and
o consume minimum power to extend battery life.
• Reactive and Real time
Many embedded systems must continually react to changes in the system's
environment and
 must compute certain results in real time without any delay.
o Consider an example of a car cruise controller; it continually monitors and reacts to speed and
brake sensors. It must compute acceleration or de-accelerations repeatedly within a limited
time; a delayed computation can result in failure to control of the car.

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Some Common Characteristics of Embedded Systems
• Embedded systems have to be dependable (trusted).
 Many ES are safety-critical.

o Examples of safety critical systems are

 Nuclear power plants,

 airplanes,

 trains,

 cars,

 satellites etc.

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Dependability

 Dependability(trustable) encompasses the following aspects of

a system:
1. Reliability: Reliability is the probability that a system will not fail.
2. Maintainability: Maintainability is the probability that a failing system can
be repaired within a certain time-frame.
3. Availability: Availability is the probability that the system is available. Both
the reliability and the maintainability must be high in order to achieve a high
availability.
4. Safety: This term describes the property that a failing system will not cause
any harm.
5. Security: This term describes the property that confidential data remains
confidential and that authentic communication is guaranteed.

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Criticality

digital tv
QoS management High performance Safety critical

soft firm hard

Timing constraints

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Ethiopian Airlines Crash: Boeing Faces Safety Questions Over 737
Max 8 jets

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Safety-critical System

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Design challenge of Embedded Systems – optimizing design metrics
• Embedded systems have to be efficient.
• The following metrics can be used for evaluating the efficiency of
embedded systems:
1. Energy/power: Many embedded systems are mobile systems obtaining
their energy through batteries. Available electrical energy must be used
very efficiently.
2. Code-size: the code-size should be as small as possible for the intended
application.
3. Run-time efficiency: We should be able to meet time constraints using
the least amount of hardware resources and energy.
4. Weight: All portable systems must be of low weight. Low weight is
frequently an important argument for buying a certain system.
5. Cost: For high-volume embedded systems, especially in consumer
electronics, competitiveness on the market is an extremely crucial issue,
and efficient use of hardware components and the software development
budget are required.
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Design challenge of Embedded Systems – optimizing design metrics
• Design metric
 Optimizing design metrics is a key challenge

• 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.
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
Design metrics compete with one another

A unified view of hardware and software is necessary to improve productivity

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Basic Structure of an Embedded System
• Frequently, embedded systems are connected to the physical
environment through sensors collecting information about
that environment and actuators controlling that environment.
Sensor − measures the physical quantity and converts it to an electrical
signal.
A-D Converter −converts the analog signal sent by the sensor into a
digital signal.
Processor & ASICs −process the data to measure the output and store it
to the memory.
D-A Converter −converts the digital data fed by the processor to analog
data
Actuator −compares the output given by the D-A Converter to the actual
(expected) output stored in it and stores the approved output.

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Exercises
• Compare and contrast computer system and embedded
System.
• Briefly explain the dependability characteristics of embedded
system.
• Consider the following embedded systems: a smart phone, a
computer printer, and an automobile cruise controller. Create
a table with each example as a column, and each row one of
the following design metrics: unit cost, performance, size, and
power. For each table entry, explain whether the constraint on
the design metric is very tight. Indicate in the performance
entry whether the system is highly reactive or not.
• Consider the following embedded systems: a digital TV, robot
arm, and an automobile cruise controller. And compare and
contrast these device according to quality of system
management, performance, safety criticality and time
constraint.
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Exercises
• Consider the following embedded systems: smart phone, digital TV,
robot arm, and airplane flight controller. And compare and contrast
these device according to quality of system management,
performance, safety criticality, privacy and time constraint.

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