EE453 Lecture 07: Embedded Control systems’ generalities Fall 2014

7 Generalities about Embedded Control systems

Embedded systems An embedded system is µP system that is used in another piece of technol-
ogy, however the µP-based system by itself is not intended to be a general-purpose computer
as opposed to general purpose computers, which can be used for any computation

Examples:

• watch:

• phone

• Camera

• ...

Embedded Control systems Its an embedded system designed for control systems applications.

Examples:

• Microwave: the processor control oven temperature, receive and show temperature.

• Car’s Anti-locking brake system (ABS): compute/distribute the amount of braking to avoid
wheel locking which can lead to uncontrollable car.

• Car’s Engine fuel injection system.

7.1 ECS components:

1. µProcessor

2. Memory

3. Clocks/timers

4. General purpose IO (GPIO)

5. communications interfaces (USB, I2 C, UART, SPI,...)

6. Sensors/Actuators

7. Analog Interfacing elements (ADCs, DACs, PWMs..)

7.2 Characteristics of ECS

1. Performance/cost constrained These are the main driving elements behind ES, and are
usually Contradictory, for low cost ES, Performance is usually limited. On the other hand,
critical embedded system have high performance/cost.

2. Application specific cannot be used (programmed) for application other than for which
they where initially intended.

3. Programmable: Contain a at least one programmable digital system (Processor, DSP,

FPGA..)

4. Real-time operation: Embedded system are almost always real-time systems, particularly
Control ones:

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EE453 Lecture 07: Embedded Control systems’ generalities Fall 2014

Real-time systems A real-time system is one that need to react to a stimulus within a
finite time-lapse (or before a deadline). They can be classified as:

(a) Hard: Missing a deadline results in the failure of the whole system
(b) Soft: Missing a deadline does not lead to system failure but the systems operations
degrades.

5. Power contained: Many Embedded systems power constraints due to the mobility or size
(for instance

6. Reliability: many ECS are designed to operate conterminously for several years and/or for
critical applications, thus, they must have high reliability. This latter is insured by employing
Many techniques:

(a) Watchdog timers: it is an independent timer that must be periodically reinitialized,

otherwise the system is reset.
(b) Redundancy: some system parts are redundant in case any fails unexpectedly.
(c) program of software is simplified and tested extensively.
(d) Using hardware with built-in error detection like ECC Memory.
(e) ...

7.3 Skills required to design ECS

ECS is a multidisciplinary field, The following are the major skills required to Design ECS.

• Computer Programming: This is a key skill when designing ES. Given the limited computing
resources (Memory, CPU instructions set, CPU speed) ES are usually programmed using
efficient languages like assembly. An alternative to assembly is the C language; it is the
closest language to the low-levels of the architecture while still being a high level language.
C usually can be optimized to reach 80% of the efficiency of machines assembly language,
while being much more user friendly.

• Computer hardware: µP architecture, performance, Memory types and addressing , I/O

access and programming ...

• Electronics/instrumentation: Sensors, Signal conditioning, signal transmission, power ampli-

fication.

• Control systems: the Ability to model, analyze and design Digital control system to achieve
the desired specifications.

• Algorithms: Algorithms running time/space complexity, algorithm design paradigms..

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