INTRODUCTION TO

EMBEDDED SYSTEMS
MODULE -3

B.S.BALAJI,
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR, DEPT. ECE,
BGS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
B G NAGARA.
 AGENDA
• LEARNING OBJECTIVES
• WHAT IS AN EMBEDDED SYSTEM?
• EMBEDDED SYSTEMS vs. GENERAL PURPOSE
COMPUTING SYSTEMS
• HISTORY OF EMBEDDED SYSTEMS
• CLASSIFICATION OF EMBEDDED SYSTEMS
• MAJOR APPLICATION AREAS OF EMBEDDED
SYSTEMS
• PURPOSE OF EMBEDDED SYSTEMS
• SESSION ASSIGNMENT
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 LEARNING OBJECTIVES
• Know what an embedded system is
• Differentiate between Embedded and General computing
systems
• Underline the history of Embedded systems
• Explain the domains and areas of applications of embedded
systems
• Identify the different purposes of embedded systems
• Analyze a real life example on the bonding of embedded
technology with human life

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 WHAT IS AN EMBEDDED SYSTEM?
• An embedded system is an electronic/electro-mechanical system
designed to perform a specific function and is a combination of both
hardware and firmware (software).

• Every ES is Unique and hardware as well as the firmware is highly

specialized to the application domain
• ES are becoming an inevitable part of any product or equipment in all
fields including household appliances, telecommunications, medical
equipment, industrial control, consumer products, etc.
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 EMBEDDED SYSTEMS vs. GENERAL PURPOSE COMPUTING SYSTEMS
Criteria General Purpose Computer
Contents A system which is a combination of a
generic hardware and a General
Purpose Operating System for
executing a variety of applications.
Operating System It contains a General Purpose
Operating System (GPOS).
Alterations Applications are alterable by the
user.
Key factor Performance is the key factor.
Power Consumption More
Response Time Not critical
Execution Need not be deterministic
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Embedded System
A system which is a combination of
special purpose hardware and
embedded OS/firmware for
executing a specific set of
applications.
It may or not contain an operating
system for functioning.
Applications are not-alterable by the
user.
Application are not alterable by the
user.
Less
Critical for some applications.
Deterministic for certain types of ES
like ‘Hard Real Time’ systems.
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 HISTORY OF EMBEDDED SYSTEMS

• In olden days, ES were built around the old vacuum tube

and transistor technologies and algorithms developed in
low level languages.
• It is existed even before the IT revolution.
• The miniature of ES development was initiated – advances
in semiconductor and nano-technology and IT revolution.
• Examples – 1961 Minuteman-I missile guidance computer
- first mass produced embedded system, 1963 Autonetics
D-17 guidance computer, 1966 Apollo guidance computer,
Minuteman-II intercontinental ballistic missile.

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 NASA’s - Apollo Guidance Computer
• It was developed by MIT instrumentation Laboratory for Lunar (Moon)
Expedition.
• Inertial guidance system has Command Module and Lunar Excursion Module.
• Command module – to encircle the moon.
• Lunar module – to land the crew on the moon safely.
• Lunar module technical specifications –
 Total 18 engines – 16 reaction control thrusters, a descent engine and an ascent
engine.
 36K words of fixed memory (ROM) and 2K words of erasable memory
(RAM).
 Clock frequency – 1.024 MHz.
 Computing unit has 11 instructions and 16 bit word logic.
 It was built around 5000 IC’s (3-input NOR gates, RTL logic)
 User Interface – DSKY (Display/Keyboard) – a calculator like keypad with an
array of numerals.
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The DSKEY input module (right) shown alongside the
Apollo Guidance Computer's main casing (left).
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 CLASSIFICATION OF EMBEDDED
SYSTEMS
• Based on generation
• Complexity and Performance requirements
• Based on deterministic behavior
• Based on triggering

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 Classification based on generation
• First generation – 8 bit MPU / 4 bit MCU
Digital telephone keypads, stepper motor control units.
• Second generation – 16 bit MPU / 8 bit MCU
Data acquisition systems, SCADA systems.
• Third generation – 32 bit MPU / 16 bit MCU
Robotics, media, industrial process control, networking.
• Fourth generation – 64 bit MPU / 32 bit MCU
Smart phones, mobile internet devices (MIDs) based on
SoC.
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 Classification based on Complexity and
Performance requirements
• Small-scale
• Simple applications where the performance requirements are not time critical.
• Built around low performance and low cost 8 or 16 MPU/MCU.

• Medium-scale
• Slightly complex in hardware and firmware requirement.
• Built around medium performance and low cost 16 or 32 bit MPU/MCU.

• Large-scale
• Highly complex hardware & firmware.
• Built around 32 or 64 bit RISC MPU/MCU or PLDs or SoC or Multi core
processors.

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 MAJOR APPLICATION AREAS OF EMBEDDED SYSTEMS

• Consumer electronics - Camcorders, cameras, etc.

• Household appliances - Television, DVD players, washing
machine, fridge, microwave oven, etc.
• Home automation and security systems - Air conditioners,
sprinklers, intruder detection alarms, closed circuit television
cameras, fire alarms, etc.
• Automotive industry - Anti-lock breaking systems (ABS),
engine control, ignition systems, automatic navigation systems,
etc.
• Telecom - Cellular telephones, telephone switches, handset
multimedia applications, etc.

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Continued..
• Computer peripherals - Printers, scanners, fax machines, etc
• Computer networking systems - Network routers, switches, hubs,
firewalls, etc.
• Healthcare - Different kinds of BP monitoring, RBS monitoring, scanners,
EEG, ECG machines etc.
• Measurement & Instrumentation - Digital multi meters, digital CROs,
logic analyzers PLC systems, etc.
• Banking & Retail - Automatic teller machines (ATM) and currency
counters, point of sales (POS).
• Card Readers - Barcode, smart card readers, hand held devices, etc.
• Wearable Devices – Smart watch.
• Cloud Computing and Internet of Things (IoT)

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 PURPOSE OF EMBEDDED SYSTEMS

1.Data collection/Storage/Representation
2.Data communication
3.Data (signal) processing
4.Monitoring
5.Control
6.Application specific user interface

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 Data collection/Storage/Representation
• Embedded systems designed for the purpose of data collection
performs acquisition of data from the external world.
• Data collection is usually done for storage, analysis,
manipulation and transmission.
• Data can be either analog (continuous) or digital (discrete).
• Embedded systems with analog data capturing techniques
collect data directly in the form of analog signal whereas
embedded systems with digital data collection mechanism
converts the analog signal to the digital signal using analog
to digital (A/D) converters and then collects the
binary equivalent of the analog data.

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 Data collection/Storage/Representation
• If the data is digital, it can be directly captured without any
additional interface by digital embedded systems.

• A digital camera is a typical example of an embedded

system with data collection/storage/representation of data.

• Images are captured and the captured image may be

stored within the memory of the camera. The captured
image can also be presented to the user through a graphic
LCD unit.

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 Data communication
• Embedded data communication systems are deployed in
applications from complex satellite communication systems to
simple home networking systems.
• The transmission is achieved either by a wire-line medium or by
a wire-less medium.
• Data can either be transmitted by analog means or by digital
means.
• The data collecting embedded terminal itself can incorporate
data communication units like Wireless modules (Bluetooth,
ZigBee, Wi-Fi, EDGE, GPRS, etc.) or wire-line modules (RS-
232C, USB, TCP/IP, PS2,etc).
• Network hubs, routers, switches, etc. are typical examples of
dedicated data transmission embedded systems.
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 Data (signal) processing
• Embedded systems with signal processing
functionalities are employed in applications
demanding signal processing like speech
coding, synthesis, audio video codec,
transmission applications, etc.
• A digital hearing aid is a typical example of an
embedded system employing data processing.
• Digital hearing aid improves the hearing
capacity of hearing impaired persons.
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 Monitoring
• Almost all embedded products coming under the
medical domain are with monitoring functions
only.
• Electro cardiogram machine (ECG) is intended
to do the monitoring of the heartbeat of a patient
but it cannot impose control over the heartbeat.
• Other examples with monitoring function are
digital CRO, digital multi-meters, and logic
analyzers.
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 Control
• A system with control functionality contains both sensors and
actuators.
• Sensors are connected to the input port for capturing the
changes in environmental variable or measuring variable.
• The actuators connected to the output port are controlled
according to the changes in the input variable.
• Air conditioner system used in our home to control the room
temperature to a specified limit is a typical example for ES for
CONTROL purpose.

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 Application specific user interface
• Buttons, switches, keypad, lights, speakers,
display units, etc. are application-specific user
interfaces.
• Mobile phone is an example of application
specific user interface.
• In mobile phone the user interface is provided
through the keypad, Graphic LCD module,
system speaker, vibration alert, etc.

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 WEARABLE DEVICES

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 SESSION-1 ASSIGNMENT
• Refer material for session-1
• Multiple Choice Questions
• Assessment Questions

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 THANK YOU

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