INTRODUCTION TO ELECTRONICS (BESCK104C/204C) MODULE 4

Module-4
Embedded Systems – Definition, Embedded systems vs general computing systems, Classification of
Embedded Systems, Major application areas of Embedded Systems, Elements of an Embedded
System, Core of the Embedded System, Microprocessor vs Microcontroller, RISC vs CISC Sensors
and Interfacing – Instrumentation and control systems, Transducers, Sensors, Actuators, LED, 7-
Segment LED Display.

Dept. of ECE, GCE Muzammil Ahmed, Asst Professor 1

INTRODUCTION TO ELECTRONICS (BESCK104C/204C) MODULE 4

EMBEDDED SYSTEMS
An embedded system is a combination of computer hardware and software (firmware) designed
for a specific function.

GENERAL COMPUTING SYSTEMS VS EMBEDDED SYSTEMS

GENERAL COMPUTING SYSTEMS EMBEDDED SYSTEMS

Combination of generic hardware and a Combination of special purpose hardware

general-purpose operating system. and an embedded operating system.
Executes variety of applications. Executes specific set of applications.
Contains general-purpose operating system May or may not contain an operating system
(GPOS) for functioning.
Upgrading and altering of programs can be For upgrading and altering of programs you
done by the end user. have to go to the manufacturer.
Performance is the deciding factor for the Application-specific requirements like
selection of system. performance, power requirements, memory
usage etc are the deciding factor for the
selection of system.
Response time requirement are not critical. Response time requirement are highly
critical.
Need not to be deterministic in execution Execution behaviour is deterministic.
behaviour.

CLASSIFICATION OF EMBEDDED SYSTEMS

Embedded systems are classified based on different criteria like

(1) Based on generation

(2) Complexity and performance requirements
(3) Based on deterministic behaviour
(4) Based on triggering.

(1) Classification based on Generation

The classification of embedded systems is based on the generation in which they are
evolved from its initial version to the latest version.

(i) First Generation: The earlier first-generation embedded systems were built
around 8-bit microprocessors and 4-bit microcontrollers. Such embedded
system possesses simple hardware and firmware developed using assembly
code.
Example: Digital telephone keypads, stepper motor control units

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INTRODUCTION TO ELECTRONICS (BESCK104C/204C) MODULE 4

(ii) Second Generation: After the evolution of the second-generation embedded

systems, the 8-bit processor and 4-bit controllers are replaced by 16-bit
microprocessors and 8-bit microcontrollers. They are more powerful and
complex compared to previous generation processors.

Examples: Data acquisition systems, SCADA systems

(iii) Third Generation: During this period, domain-specific processors/controllers

like Digital Signal Processors (DSP), Application-Specific Integrated Circuits
(ASICs) and the concept of instruction pipelining, embedded real-time
operating system evolved into the embedded system industry.

The embedded system of this period has powerful 32-bit microprocessors and
16-bit microcontrollers. Hence, its operation has become much more powerful
and complex than the second generation.

Robotics, industrial process control, embedded networking are examples of the

third-generation embedded system.

(iv) Fourth Generation: The recent development of microprocessors and

microcontrollers has evolved during these modern days. New concepts like
System-on-Chip(SOC), reconfigurable processors, multicore processors,
coprocessors also emerged into the embedded market to add more powerful
performance in the embedded system.

These systems also make use of the high-performance real-time operating

system for their operation. Smart devices, digital cameras, etc are examples of
fourth-generation embedded systems.

(2) Based on complexity

The embedded systems are classified into three types based on the complexity of the systems.

(i) Small Scale Embedded Systems: Small Scale Embedded Systems are built with a
single 8 or 16-bit microprocessor or controller. The main programming tools used
are an editor, assembler, cross assembler and integrated development environment
(IDE). The hardware and software complexities in small-scale embedded system
are very low. It may or may not contain an operating system for its functioning. An
electronic toy is an example for a small-scale embedded system.

(ii) Medium Scale Embedded Systems: The Embedded system with medium
performance 16-bit or 32-bit microprocessor or controller, ASICs or DSPs fall
under the medium scale embedded systems. They have both hardware and software

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INTRODUCTION TO ELECTRONICS (BESCK104C/204C) MODULE 4

complexities. The main programming tools used are C, C++, JAVA, Visual C++,
RTOS, debugger, source code engineering tool, simulator and IDE.

(iii) Large scale Embedded Systems: The embedded systems have highly complex
hardware and software, built around 32-bit or 64-bit processors/controllers, RISC
processors, SoC, scalable and configurable processors. They are also called
sophisticated embedded systems.

They are used for cutting-edge applications that need hardware and software Co-
design, where components have to be assembled into the final system. They also
contain a high-performance real-time operating system for task scheduling,
prioritization and management.

(3) Based on deterministic behavior: It is applicable for Real Time systems. The
application/task execution behavior for an embedded system can be either deterministic or
non-deterministic
These are classified in to two types
(i) Soft Real time Systems: Missing a deadline may not be critical and can be tolerated to
a certain degree

(ii) Hard Real time systems: Missing a program/task execution time deadline can have
catastrophic consequences (financial, human loss of life, etc.)

(4) Classification Based on Triggering:

These are classified into two types

(i) Event Triggered: Activities within the system (e.g., task run-times) are dynamic
and depend upon occurrence of different events.

(ii) Time triggered: Activities within the system follow a statically computed schedule (i.e.,
they are allocated time slots during which they can take place) and thus by nature are
predictable.

MAJOR APPLICATION AREAS OF EMBEDDED SYSTEMS

The following table gives the various applications of embedded systems.

EMBEDDED APPLICATION
SYSTEM
Home Appliances Dishwasher, washing machine, microwave, security system, DVD etc.
Office Automation Fax, copy machine, smart phone system, modern scanner, printers.
Security Face recognition, finger recognition, eye recognition, building
security system, airport security system, alarm system.

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INTRODUCTION TO ELECTRONICS (BESCK104C/204C) MODULE 4

Academia Smart board, smart room, calculator

Instrumentation Signal generator, signal processor, power supplier.
Telecommunication cellular phone, web camera.
Automobile Fuel injection controller, anti-locking brake system, air-bag system,
GPS.
Entertainment video games
Aerospace Navigation system, automatic landing system.
Industrial data collection system, monitoring systems on pressure, voltage,
automation current, temperature.
Personal iPhone, palmtop.
Medical CT scanner, ECG, EEG, MRI, Glucose monitor, blood pressure
monitor.
Banking & Finance ATM.
Miscellaneous: Elevators, tread mill, smart card, security door etc.

ELEMENTS OF AN EMBEDDED SYSTEM

An embedded system is a combination of 3 things, Hardware, Software and Mechanical
Components and it is supposed to do one specific task only. Diagrammatically an embedded
system can be represented as follows:

Fig(): Elements of an embedded systems

System Core: A typical embedded system contains a single chip controller which acts as the
master brain of the system.

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INTRODUCTION TO ELECTRONICS (BESCK104C/204C) MODULE 4

Embedded systems are basically designed to regulate a physical variable (such Microwave
Oven) or to manipulate the state of some devices by sending some signals to the actuators or
devices connected to the output port system (such as temperature in Air Conditioner), in
response to the input signal provided by the end users or sensors which are connected to the
input ports.
Input and Output Ports: Keyboards, push button, switches, etc. are examples of common
user interface input devices (sensors) and LEDs, LCDs, Piezoelectric buzzers, etc examples for
common user interface output devices (actuators) for a typical embedded system.
Memory: The memory of the system is responsible for holding the code (control algorithm
and other important configuration details.
There are two types of memories
(i) Random Access Memory (RAM): It is a temporary memory and can be changed
as per the user requirements. Various types of RAM are SRAM, DRAM etc.
(ii) Read Only Memory (ROM): Fixed memory (ROM) is used for storing code or
program. The user cannot change the firmware in this type of memory. The most
common types of ROM are PROM, EEPROM and FLASH.
Communication Interface: It is used for communicating with various subsystems of the
embedded system with the external world. Some of the communicating interface units are
UART, Infrared, Bluetooth, WIFI etc.

THE CORE OF THE EMBEDDED SYSTEMS

The core of the embedded system falls into any one of the following categories.
 General Purpose and Domain Specific Processors

 Microprocessors

 Microcontrollers

 Digital Signal Processors

 Programmable Logic Devices (PLDs)

 Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs)

 Commercial off the shelf Components (COTS).

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INTRODUCTION TO ELECTRONICS (BESCK104C/204C) MODULE 4

MICROPROCESSOR VS MICROCONTROLLER

MICROPROCESSOR MICROCONTROLLER
A silicon chip representing a Central A microcontroller is a highly integrated chip
Processing Unit (CPU), which is capable of that contains a CPU, scratch pad RAM,
performing arithmetic as well as logical Special and General-purpose Register Arrays,
operations according to a pre-defined set of On Chip ROM/FLASH memory for program
Instructions. storage, Timer and Interrupt control units and
dedicated I/O ports.
It is a dependent unit. It requires the It is a self-contained unit and it doesn’t require
combination of other chips like Timers, external Interrupt Controller, Timer, UART
Program and data memory chips, Interrupt etc for its functioning.
controllers etc for functioning.
Most of the time general purpose in design Mostly application oriented or domain
and operation specific.
Doesn’t contains a built in I/O port. The I/O Most of the processors contain multiple built-
Port functionality needs to be implemented in I/O ports which can be operated as a single
with the help of external Programmable 8 or 16- or 32-bit Port or as individual port
Peripheral Interface Chips like 8255. pins
Targeted for high end market where Targeted for embedded market where
performance is important performance is not so critical (At present this
demarcation is invalid)
Limited power saving options compared to Includes lot of power saving features
microcontrollers

RISC (Reduced Instruction Set Computer) V/S CISC (Complex Instruction Set
Computer) PROCESSORS/CONTROLLERS.

RISC CISC
Lesser no. of instructions More no. of Instructions
Instruction Pipelining and increased execution Generally, no instruction pipelining feature
speed
Orthogonal Instruction Set (Allows each Non-Orthogonal Instruction Set (All
instruction to operate on any register and use instructions are not allowed to operate on any
any addressing mode) register and use any addressing mode. It is
instruction specific)
Operations are performed on registers only; the Operations are performed on registers or
only memory operations are load and store. memory depending on the instruction.

Large number of registers are available Limited no. of general-purpose registers

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INTRODUCTION TO ELECTRONICS (BESCK104C/204C) MODULE 4

Programmer needs to write more code to A programmer can achieve the desired
execute a task since the instructions are simpler functionality with a single instruction which in
ones. turn provides the effect of using more simpler
single instructions in RISC
Single, Fixed length Instructions Variable length Instructions
Less Silicon usage More silicon usage
With Harvard Architecture Can be Harvard or Von-Neumann Architecture

HARVARD V/S VON-NEUMANN PROCESSOR/CONTROLLER ARCHITECTURE

HARVARD ARCHITECTURE VON-NEUMANN ARCHITECTURE

Separate buses for Instruction and Data Single shared bus for Instruction and Data
fetching fetching
Easier to Pipeline, so high performance can Low performance Compared to Harvard
be achieved Architecture
Comparatively high cost Cheaper
No memory alignment problems Allows self-modifying codes
Since data memory and program memory Since data memory and program memory are
are stored physically in different locations, stored physically in same chip, chances for
no chances for accidental corruption of accidental corruption of program memory
program memory.

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INTRODUCTION TO ELECTRONICS (BESCK104C/204C) MODULE 4

INSTRUMENTATION AND CONTROL SYSTEMS

(Explain with a neat diagram instrumentation and control system)

Instrumentation:

 Fig. 15.1 shows the arrangement of an instrumentation system. The physical quantity to be
measured (e.g. temperature) acts upon a sensor that produces an electrical output signal.
 This signal is an electrical analogue of the physical input but note that there may not be a
linear relationship between the physical quantity and its electrical equivalent.
 the output produced by the sensor may be small or may suffer from the presence of noise
(i.e. unwanted signals) further signal conditioning will be required before the signal will be
at an acceptable level and in an acceptable form for signal processing, display and
recording.
 Furthermore, because the signal processing may use digital rather than analogue signals an
additional stage of analogue-to-analogue conversion may be required.

Control Systems:

 Fig. 15.1(b) shows the arrangement of a control system.

 This uses negative feedback in order to regulate and stabilize the output. It thus becomes
possible to set the input or demand (i.e. what we desire the output to be) and leave the
system to regulate itself by comparing it with a signal derived from the output (via a sensor
and appropriate signal conditioning).
 A comparator is used to sense the difference in these two signals and where any discrepancy
is detected the input to the power amplifier is adjusted accordingly.
 This signal is referred to as an error signal (it should be zero when the output exactly
matches the demand).
 The input (demand) is often derived from a simple potentiometer connected across a stable
d.c. voltage source while the controlled device can take many forms (e.g. a d.c. motor,
linear actuator, heater, etc.).

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INTRODUCTION TO ELECTRONICS (BESCK104C/204C) MODULE 4

TRANSDUCERS

 Transducers are devices that convert energy in the form of sound, light, heat, etc., into an
equivalent electrical signal, or vice versa.
 A loudspeaker is a transducer that converts low-frequency electric current into audible
sounds. A microphone, on the other hand, is a transducer that performs the reverse function,
i.e., that of converting sound pressure variations into voltage or current.
 Loudspeakers and microphones can thus be considered as complementary transducers.
Transducers may be used both as inputs and outputs. Loudspeaker is an output transducer
and microphone are an input transducer.

SENSORS

 A sensor is a special kind of transducer that is used to generate an input signal to a

measurement, instrumentation or control system.
 The signal produced by a sensor is an electrical analogy of a physical quantity, such as
distance, velocity, acceleration, temperature, pressure, light level, etc.
 Sensors can be categorized as either active or passive. An active sensor generates a current
or voltage output. A passive transducer requires a source of current or voltage and it
modifies this in some way (e.g. by virtue of a change in the sensor’s resistance).
 Sensors can also be classed as either digital or analogue. The output of a digital sensor can
exist in only two discrete states, either ‘on’ or ‘off’, ‘low’ or ‘high’, ‘logic 1’ or ‘logic 0’,
etc. The output of an analogue sensor can take any one of an infinite number of voltage or
current levels. It is thus said to be continuously variable.

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INTRODUCTION TO ELECTRONICS (BESCK104C/204C) MODULE 4

SENSOR:

 A transducer device which converts energy from one form to another for any
measurement or control purpose. Sensors acts as input device
 Eg. Hall Effect Sensor which measures the distance between the cushion and magnet
in the Smart Running shoes from adidas
 Example: IR, humidity , PIR(passive infra red) , ultrasonic , piezoelectric , smoke
sensors.

ACTUATOR:
 A form of transducer device (mechanical or electrical) which converts signals to
corresponding physical action (motion). Actuator acts as an output device
 Eg. Micro motor actuator which adjusts the position of the cushioning element in the
Smart Running shoes from adidas.

LIGHT EMITTING DIODE (LED):

 Light Emitting Diode (LED) is an output device for visual indication in any embedded
system. LED can be used as an indicator for the status of various signals or situations.
 Typical examples are indicating the presence of power conditions GND like „Device
ON‟, „Battery low‟ or „Charging of battery‟ for a battery-operated handheld embedded
device
 LED is a p-n junction diode and it contains an anode and a cathode. For proper
functioning of the LED, the anode of it should be connected to +ve terminal of the
supply voltage and cathode to the –ve terminal of supply voltage
 The current flowing through the LED must limited to a value below the maximum
current that it can conduct.
 A resistor is used in series between the power supply and the resistor to limit the current
through the LED.

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INTRODUCTION TO ELECTRONICS (BESCK104C/204C) MODULE 4

7- SEGMENT LED DISPLAY

 The 7 – segment LED display is an output device for displaying alpha numeric
characters. It contains 8 light-emitting diode (LED) segments arranged in a special
form.
 Out of the 8 LED segments, 7 are used for displaying alpha numeric characters.
 The LED segments are named A to G and the decimal point LED segment is named as
DP.
 The LED Segments A to G and DP should be lit accordingly to display numbers and
characters.

 For example, to display 4, the segment F,G,B and C are lit and to display character C
A, F,E and D are lit.
 The 7 – segment LED displays are available in two different configurations, namely;
Common anode and Common cathode
 In the Common anode configuration, the anodes of the 8 segments are connected
commonly whereas in the Common cathode configuration, the 8 LED segments share
a common cathode line
 Based on the configuration of the 7 – segment LED unit, the LED segment anode or
cathode is connected to the Port of the processor/controller in the order „A‟ segment to
the Least significant port Pin and DP segment to the most significant Port Pin.
 The current flow through each of the LED segments should be limited to the maximum
value supported by the LED display unit.

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