Chapter One

• Introduction to digital control

• Introduction to embedded
systems
 Introduction to Digital control
Continuous time signal
• A signal is called continuous time if it is
defined at every time t.
• A system is continuous time if it takes a
continuous time signal and outputs a
continuous time output signal.
 What is Analog controller?

• A controller that uses analog components

(analog integrator, analog filter, analog adder,
analog sensors) to control a given plant.
 Analog system example
Operational amplifier (OP-Amp)

• The output is a digital signal that stays at a high

voltage level when the positive input is greater
than the voltage at the negative input and
switches to a lower voltage level when the
positive input goes below the negative input.
Analog mechanical Accelerator
controller
Analog electronic control system for
energy
Analog electronic control for beam
symmetry
 Discrete Time signal

• A signal is called discrete time if it is only

defined for particular points in time
• A discrete time system takes discrete time
input signal and produces discrete time
output signal.
• Sampling and quantization are methods of
changing analog signal in to discrete signal.
 Cont.…
• Sampling Time - the time interval samples are
taken
• Discrete Signals – signals that has values at
regular intervals of sample.
 Quantization
• A signal is called quantized if it can only be at
certain values and cannot be at other values.
• Analogues example: integer values and theory
of quantum mechanics
• Sampled Data Systems - A system that has
both discrete and continuous signals. In other
words it is continuous time and quantized.
• Digital signal – signal that is both discrete and
quantized.
 What is Digital controller?

• Digital controller is a controller that uses digital

system (microcontrollers) to control a given
plant.
• Controllers are required
to
to ensure satisfactory transients and steady-state
behavior.
To guarantee satisfactory performance in the
presence of disturbance and model uncertainty,
most controllers in use today employ some form
of negative feedback.
• A sensor is needed to measure the controlled
variables and compare its behavior to a
reference signal. Control action is based on an
error signal defined as the difference between
the reference and the actual values.
 Cont.…
• The process of holding the actual value close
to the reference value is referred as
Regulation. A system that has good regulation
in the presence of disturbance signals is said
to have good disturbance rejection. A system
that has good regulation regardless of plant
parameters change is said to have low
sensitivity to these parameters. A system that
has both good disturbance rejection and low
sensitivity is called Robust.
 Why digital control

• Accuracy- digital systems are accurate as

compared with analog systems since digital
systems can avoid noise.
• Implementation errors - the processing of analog
signals is performed using components such as
resisters and capacitors with actual values that
vary significantly from the nominal design values.
The errors that result from digital representation
and arithmetic are negligible.
• Flexibility - An analog controller is difficult to
modify. A digital controller is implemented in
firmware or software and its modification is
possible without a complete replacement of
original controller.
• Speed – computation speed of
microcontrollers increases
• Cost- cost of microcontrollers decreases.
Drug regulation system
Simplified Turbo jet engine controller
• The control requires feedback of the engine
state
Speed, temperature and pressure.
• Air craft state
Speed, direction and pilot command
Robotic manipulator control system
 Cont…
• Rise time(tr) is the time it takes the system to
reach the vicinity of its new set point.
• Settling time(ts) is the time it takes the system
transients to decay.
• Overshoot (Mp) is the maximum amount that
the system overshoots its final value divided
by its final value.
5 KHz sampling frequency
1 KHz sampling frequency
What is embedded system
 Definitions of embedded systems
given in books published recently
• Todd D. Morton author of Embedded
Microcontrollers:

“Embedded Systems are electronic systems that

contain a microprocessor or microcontroller,
but we do not think of them as computers –
the computer is hidden or embedded in the
system.”
 Definitions of embedded systems
given in books published recently
• Wayne Wolf author of Computers as Components
– Principles of Embedded Computing System
Design:.

“What is an embedded computing system? Loosely

defined, it is any device that includes a
programmable computer but is not itself
intended to be a general-purpose computer” and
“a fax machine or a clock built from a
microprocessor is an embedded computing
system”.
 Definitions of embedded systems
given in books published recently
• David E. Simon author of An Embedded
Software Primer:

“People use the term embedded system to

mean any computer system hidden in any of
these products.”
• Tim Wilmshurst author of
“ An Introduction to the Design of Small Scale
Embedded System with examples from PIC,
80C51 and 68HC05/08 Microcontrollers”:

(1) “An embedded system is a system whose

principal function is not computational, but
which is controlled by a computer embedded
within it. The computer is likely to be a
microprocessor or microcontroller.
• The word embedded implies that it lies inside
the overall system, hidden from view, forming
an integral part of greater whole”.

(2) “An embedded system is a microcontroller-

based, software-driven, reliable, real time
control system, autonomous, or human- or
network-interactive, operating on diverse
physical variables and in diverse
environments, and sold into a competitive and
cost-conscious market”.
Sophisticated Embedded Systems:
 have enormous hardware and software
complexities and
 may need scalable processors or configurable
processors and programmable logic arrays.

• They are used for cutting edge applications that need

hardware and software co-design and integration in
the final system; however, they are constrained by
the processing speeds available in their hardware
units.
 Cont.….
• Certain software functions such as encryption
and decrypting algorithms, discrete cosine
transformation and inverse transformation
algorithms, TCP/IP protocol stacking and network
driver functions are implemented in the
hardware to obtain additional speeds by saving
time.
• Some of the functions of the hardware resources
in the system are also implemented by the
software.
 Definition
• An embedded system is a computer system
designed to perform one or a few dedicated
functions often with real-time computing
constraints.
• It is embedded as part of a complete device
often including hardware and mechanical
parts.
• Examples of Embedded System
Mobile
Microwave Oven
Smart Cooling Sensing Refrigerat
ors
AC
Satellite
Temperature Controllers etc.
 Difference Between Embedded and
non Embedded System
• Depending on how the computing machine is
used, we classify it as either embedded or
general purpose.
• An embedded system is a computing machine
that is generally a component of some larger
product and its purpose is narrowly focused
on supporting that product. In other words, it
is a computing machine dedicated to a specific
purpose.
 Non-Embedded system
• A non-Embedded system is another system which
perform many or multi task at instantaneous time
according to the user.
• A non-Embedded system is a product itself and,
as such, the end user directly interacts with it.
• A non-Embedded system has standardized inputs
and outputs.
• Example of non-Embedded stems are Computer,
Latest multi-tasking mobiles; etc.
 Characteristics of an Embedded
System
Following are the characteristics of Embedded
System.
• Size.
• Power Consumption.
• Reliability.
• Economic.
• ROM & RAM.
• Interactive System.
• Size --> An Embedded system should be as
small as possible.
• Power Consumption --> It is an obvious thing
that our system should consume less power so
as to get desired output for the dedicated
task, system designed in this way gets overall
efficiency increased.
• Reliability --> An Embedded system should be
much reliable in order to achieve better
performance for long duration of time during its
complete life cycle.

• Economic --> An Embedded system should be

more and more economic. this is directly
proportion to the components cost used for
designing the system.

• ROM & RAM --> In an Embedded system size of

ROM [Read Only Memory] is bigger than the size
of RAM [Random Access Memory].