The document discusses modern trends in embedded systems. It provides an overview of embedded system categories such as stand-alone, real-time, networked information appliances, and mobile devices. It also discusses recent trends like increased processor power, open source software, communication interfaces, programming languages, and development tools. Embedded systems have wide applications in areas like consumer appliances, office automation, industrial automation, medical electronics, computer networking, wireless technologies, instrumentation, security, and finance. The document outlines the typical architecture of an embedded system and highlights performance, power consumption, and flexibility as special considerations in embedded system design. Future trends are focused on system-on-chip and network-on-chip technologies.

1. A
Paper Presentation
On
“Embedded System”
Submitted for
ANTRATECH – 2012 A National Technical Symposium
Sant Gadge Baba Amravati University, Amravati
Submitted By
Mr. Ansari Shahabuddin Sarfuddin
Mr. Tasleem Khan Nazim Khan
Department of Computer Engineering &
Electronics and Telecommunication
Dr. Bhausaheb Nandurkar College of Engineering
& Technology
Yavatmal-445001(M.S.)
2011-12
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2. MODERN TRENDS IN EMBEDDED SYSTEM
TASLEEM NAZIM KHAN SHAHABUDDIN SARFUDDIN ANSARI
COMPUTER ENGINEERING
SANT GADGE BABA AMRAVATI UNIVERSITY, AMRAVATI
Dr. Bhausaheb Nandurkar College of Engineering and Technology Yavatmal-445001 (MAHARASHTRA)
tasleemk77@gmail.com (+918421909869)
ansarishahabuddin126@gmail.com (+919370405995)
ABSTRACT: INTRODUCTION:
An embedded system can be defined as the computing An embedded system can be defined as the computing
device that has computer hardware with software embedded in it device that has computer hardware with software embedded in it
as one of its most important component. It may be either an as one of its most important component. It may be either an
independent system or a part of a larger system. The emergence independent system or a part of a larger system. As its software
of embedded systems is a recent development. As a scientific usually embeds in ROM (Read only Memory}, it does not need
discipline it resembles the state of microelectronics (and VLSI secondary memories as in a computer. Nearly 99% of the
design, in particular) around 1980. Today's challenge is similar processors manufactured end up in embedded systems.
to back then, except that the stakes are probably higher. Embedded systems find applications in every industrial
Embedded systems will appear in virtually all devices, and segment. Embedded systems can be categorized as stand-alone
intelligent devices have the tendency to oust their "stupid" systems, real-time systems, networked information appliances
counterparts from the market place, just like CD players have and mobile devices. Just in the 10 years, such changes have
ousted gramophone players. Thanks to developments in occurred more rapidly that they see more revolutionaries than
microelectronics, the computing power of the desktop evolutionary. As these systems have brought about radical
computers is now becoming available on the palmtops. changes in Electronics and Computer, they have also begun to
Embedded systems are heterogeneous. Since they are mixtures impact other human activities.
of hardware and software, trade-off are important design This paper presents an overview of existing modes of
decisions: do we realize a function in hardware or in software? Embedded Systems, architecture and their application. A look
But embedded systems are more heterogeneous than just has also been given to future deployment of Embedded Systems.
combining computer science and digital electronics.
This paper presents an overview of existing modes of CATEGORIES OF EMBEDDED SYSTEMS:
Embedded Systems, architecture and their application. A look
Stand-alone Embedded Systems:
has also been given to future deployment of Embedded Systems.
As the name implies, stand-alone systems work in
stand-alone mode. They take inputs, process them and produce
the desired output. The input can be electrical signal from
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3. transducers or commands from a human being such as pressing Networked Information Appliances:
of a button. The output can be electrical signals to drive another Embedded systems that are provided with network
system, an LED or LCD display for displaying of information to interfaces and accessed by networks such as Local Area
the users. Embedded Systems used in process control, Network or the Internet are called networked information
automobiles, consumer electronic items etc. fall into this appliances. Such embedded systems are connected to a network,
category in a process control system, the inputs are from sensors typically a network running TCP/IP (Transmission Control
that convert a physical entity such as temperature or pressure Protocol/Internet protocol) protocol suite, such as the Internet or
into its equivalent electrical signal. These electrical signals are the Company’s Intranet. These systems have emerged in recent
processed by the system and the appropriate electrical signals years.
are produced. Few Embedded Systems used at home are shown
WEATHER
in fig: MONITORI
INTERNET NG
SYSTEM
Digital Camera CD player COLOUR Fig: NETWORKED INFORMATION APPLIANCE
TELEVISION
Here are some examples of such systems:
 A networked process control system consists of a
number of embedded systems connected as a LAN.
Each embedded system can send real-time data to a
central location from where entire process control
MICROWAVE OVEN
system can be monitored. The monitoring can be done
using a web browser such as the Internet Explorer.
Real-time Systems:  The door-lock of your home can be a small-embedded
system with TCP/IP and HTTP server software running
Embedded Systems in which some specific work has to
on it. When your children stand in front of the door-
be done in specific time period are called real-time systems. For
lock after they return from school, the web camera in
example- Consider a system that has to open a valve within 30
the door-lock will send an alert to your desktop over
milliseconds when the humidity crosses a particular threshold. If
the Internet and then you can open the door-lock just
the valve is not opened within 30 milliseconds, a catastrophe
by clicking the mouse.
may occur. Such systems with strict deadlines are called hard
real-time systems. On the other hand, if we consider a DVD
Mobile Devices:
player and we give some command from a remote control, and
Mobile devices such as mobile phones, Personal
there is a delay of a milliseconds in executing the command, but
Digital Assistants, smart phones etc. are a special category of an
this delay won’t lead to a serious implication. Such systems are
embedded system. Though the PDA do many general-purpose
called as soft real-time systems.
tasks, they need to be designed just like the ‘conventional
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4. embedded systems. The limitations of the mobile devices- attraction of open source software is that it is free and also the
memory constraints, small size, display etc. are same as those complete source code is available to customize the software as
found in the embedded systems. Hence mobile devices are per your application needs.
considered as embedded systems. Communication Interfaces and Networking Capability:
With the availability of low-cost chips, embedded systems can
RECENT TRENDS IN EMBEDDED SYSTEMS: be provided networking capability through communication
In old good days, developing embedded systems was interfaces such as Ethernet, 802.11b wireless LAN and infrared.
confined to very specialists. Most of the embedded systems are Network enabling of an embedded system has many advantages:
written only in assembly language and hence writing, debugging it can be accessed over a network for remote control or
and maintaining the code were very difficult and time monitoring.
consuming. With the availability of powerful processors and Programming Languages: Development of embedded
advanced development tools, embedded software development system was done mostly in assembly languages. However, due
is no longer ‘rocket science’. to the availability of cross-compilers, most of the development
Processor Power: The growing importance of is now done in high-level languages such as C. the object-
embedded systems can be gauged by the availability of oriented languages like C++ and Java are now catching up.
processors about 150 varieties of processors are available from Development Tools: Availability of a number of tools for
around 50 semiconductor vendors. Powerful 8-bit, 16-bit, 32-bit development, debugging and testing as well as for modeling the
and 64-bit micro controllers, and microprocessors are available embedded systems is now paving way for the fast development
to cater to the different market segments the clock speed and of robust and reliable systems. Development tools such as
memory addressing capability of these processors are also BREW (Binary Routine Environment for wireless), Wireless
increasing. Very powerful digital signal processors are also Application Protocol (WAP) development tools facilitate easy
available for real time analyses of audio and video signals. As a development of applications for mobile devices.
result, the power of desktop computers is now available on palm Programmable Hardware: Programmable Logic
tops. Devices and Field Gate Arrays pave the way for reducing the
Operating Systems: Unlike the desktop on which the options components on an embedded system, leading to small, low-cost
for an operating system are limited, a very of operating systems systems. After developing the prototype of an embedded system,
are available which can be ported on to the embedded system. for mass production, an FPGA can be developed which will
The advantage of embedding an operating system is that the have all the functionality of the processors, peripherals and
software development will be very fast and marinating the code application-specific circuitry.
is very easy. The software can be developed in a high level
language such as “C”. So time to market the system gets
APPLICATION AREAS:
reduced. If real time performance is require a real time operating
Nearly 99%of the processors manufactured end up in
system can be used. In addition too many commercial embedded
embedded systems. The embedded system market is one of the
operating system open source software campaigned let to
highest growth areas as these systems are used in very market
development of many open source operating system. The
segment- consumer electronics, electronics, office automation,
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5. biomedical engineering, wireless communication, data Instrumentation: Testing and measurement are the
communication, military and so on. fundamental requirements in all scientific and engineering
Consumer appliances: At home we use a number of activities. The measuring equipment we use in laboratories to
embedded systems that include digital camera, digital diary, measure parameters such as weight, temperature, voltage,
DVD player, electronic toy, microwave oven, remote controls current etc. are all embedded systems. Test equipment such as
for TV and air conditioner etc. Today’s high-tech car has about oscilloscope, logic analyzer, protocol analyzer, radio
20 embedded systems for transmission control, spark control, communication test set etc, are embedded systems built around
navigation etc. Even wristwatches are now becoming embedded powerful processors.
systems. Security: Security of persons and information has always been
Office automation: The office automation products using a major issue. We need to project our homes and offices, and
embedded systems are copying machine, fax machine, key also the information we transmit and store. Developing
telephone, modem, printer, scanner etc. embedded systems for security applications is one of the most
Industrial automation: Today a lot of industries use lucrative businesses nowadays.
embedded systems for process control. These include Finance: Financial dealing through cash and cheques are now
pharmaceutical, cement, sugar, oil exploration, nuclear energy, slowly paving way for transactions using smart cards and ATM
electricity generation and transmission. The embedded systems (Automatic Teller Machine, also expanded as Any Time
for industrial use are designed to carry out the specific task such Money) machine. Smart card, of the size of a credit card, has a
as monitoring the temperature, pressure, humidity, voltage, small micro-controller and memory; and it interacts with the
current etc. and then take appropriate action based on monitored smart card reader / ATM machine and acts as an electronic
levels to control other devices. wallet.
Medical electronics: Almost every medical equipment in the
hospital is an embedded system. These equipment’s include OVERVIEW OF EMBEDDED SYSTEM
diagnostic aids such as ECG, EEG, blood pressure measuring ARCHITECTURE:
devices, X-ray scanners etc.
Computer Networking: Computer networking products such Every embedded system consists of custom –built hardware
as bridges, routers, Integrated Services Digital Networks built around a Central Processing Unit (CPU). This hardware
(ISDN), Asynchronous Transfer Mode and relay switches are also contains memory chips onto which software is loaded. The
the embedded systems that implement the necessary data software residing on the memory chip is called the firmware.
communication protocols. The embedded system architecture can be represented as a
Wireless technologies: Advances in mobile communications layered architecture as shown in figure. The operating system
are paving way for many interesting applications using runs above the hardware and the application software run above
embedded systems. The mobile phone is one of the marvels of the operating system. It is not compulsory to have an operating
th
the last decade of the 20 century. It is very powerful embedded system in every embedded system. For small appliances such as
system that provides voice communication while we are on the remote control units, air conditioner, toys etc., there is no need
move. for an operating system. For applications involving complex
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6. processing, it is advisable to have an operating system. In such a Input devices: Unlike the desktops, the input devices to an
case, you need to integrate the application software with the embedded system have very limited capability. There will be
operating system and then transfer entire software into a keyboard or a mouse, and hence interacting with the embedded
memory chip. Once the software is transferred to the memory system is no easy task. Many embedded systems will have a
chip, the software will continue to run for a long time and you small keypad- you press one key to give a specific command. A
don’t need to reload the new software. keypad may be used to input only the digits. Many embedded
APPLICATIO system uses in process control do not have any input device for
OPERATING
N SOFTWARE SOFTWARE user interaction; they take inputs from sensors or transducers
and produce electrical signals.
Read-Only Memory Random Access
Memory
Output
Central Processing Unit (CPU) Devices
HARDWARE Application Communication
Input Devices Specific Interfaces
Circuitry
Fig: LAYERED ARCHITECTURE OF AN EMBEDDED
SYSTEM Fig: Simplified hardware Architecture of an embedded system
Output devices: The output devices of the embedded systems
Building Block of hardware of an Embedded System:
also have very limited capability. Some embedded systems will
Central Processing Unit (CPU): The Central Processing have a few Light Emitting Diodes to indicate the health status of
Unit can be of the following: micro-controller, microprocessor the system modules. A small Liquid Crystal Display may also
or Digital Signal Processor (DSP). A micro-controller is a low- be used to display some important parameters.
cost processor. Its main attraction is that on the chip itself, there
Communication interfaces: The embedded systems may
will be many other components such as memory, analog-to-
need to interact with other embedded systems or they may have
digital controller etc. on the other hand, microprocessors are
to transmit data to a desktop.
more powerful, but you need to use many eternal computers
Application-specific circuitry: Sensors, transducers, special
with them. DSP is mainly used for applications in which signal
processing and control circuitry may be required for an
processing is involved.
embedded system, depending on its application. The circuitry
Memory: The memory is categorized as Random Access
interacts with the processor to carry out the necessary work.
Memory (RAM) and Read Only Memory (ROM). The contents
of RAM will be erased if power is switched off. So, the
firmware is stored in the ROM. When the power is switched on,
the CPU reads the ROM, the program is transferred to RAM and
program is executed.
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7. SPECIALITIES OF EMBEDDED SYSTEMS: duration of the call from time to time, the telecom operator will
While designing the embedded systems, developers have to change the algorithm for the calculation of the bill amount.. This
keep the below specialties in mind: - is very cumbersome, considering that a memory chip will have
Performance: Many embedded systems have time constraints. to replace in thousands of PCO.
For instance, in a process control system, a constraint can be: “if
the temperature exceeds 40 degrees, open a valve within 10 FUTURE TRENDS:
milliseconds.” The system meets such deadlines. If the deadlines The landscape of embedded system technology is changing
are missed, it may result in a catastrophe. You can imagine the rapidly. Developments in microelectronics are paving way for
damage that can be done if such deadlines are not met in a miniaturized powerful computing devices. And, these devices
safety system of a nuclear plant. can be used for a variety of applications bringing in
Power Consumption: Most of the embedded systems operate revolutionary changes in all walks of human life. The future of
through a battery. To reduce the battery drain and avoid frequent embedded systems mainly lies on System-on chip and Network-
recharging of the battery, the power consumption of an on chip to minimize the design cycle time. Researchers are
embedded system has to be very low. working on these two basic implementation strategies. This is
Cost: For an embedded system used in safety applications of a advancement of microelectronics, which has led to integrate
microprocessor, ASIC, and memory components all on a single
nuclear plant or in a spacecraft, cost may not be a very
integrated circuit to constitute a system-on chip. Further scope
important factor. However, for an embedded system used in
of work remains wide open in design for Internet infrastructure,
consumer electronics or office automation, the cost is of utmost
broadband and wireless network, and consumer electronic
importance. Suppose you have designed a toy in which the
products.
electronics will cost US$20. By a careful analysis design, if you
can find a way to reduce the cost to US$19, it will be a great
job. Conclusions:
Size: Size is certainly a factor for many embedded systems. We The requirement of high performance intelligent subsystems to
do not like a mobile phone that has to be carried on our backs. realize control, monitoring and signal processing functions for a
The size and the weight are the important parameters in wide variety of applications ranging from home appliances to
embedded systems used in aircraft, missiles etc. because in such real-time satellite control has highly influence the design and
cases, every inch and every grain matters. development of embedded system. The popularity of embedded
Software Up gradation capability: Embedded systems are systems is growing at a fast rate along with growing
applications, advancement in hardware, software and other
meant for a very specific task. So, once the software is
related technology. Thanks to developments in microelectronics,
transferred to the embedded system, the same software will run
the computing power of the desktop computers is now becoming
throughout its life. However, in some cases, it may be necessary
available on the palmtops. This handheld computing technology,
its upgrade the software. Consider the example of a Public Call
in conjunction with wireless communication, is leading
Office (PCO). At the PCO, an embedded system is used which
anywhere-anytime multimedia communication. These
displays the amount to be paid by a telephone user. The amount
is calculated by a firmware, based on the calling number and the
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8. developments are in turn paving way for making the dream of
‘global village’ a reality.
References:
1. Embedded Systems –Architecture and Design by “Raj
Kamal”.
2. Real time Embedded Systems by “K.V.K.K. Prasad”
3. Journal of the CSI- Embedded System Design by “ Dr
Pramod Kumar Meher”.
4. P. Koopman, “Embedded System Design Issues – The rest
of the story”.
5. www.google.com
6. www.encyclopedia.com/embedded_system
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