Introduction to

EMBEDDED SYSTEM
(2nd Edition)

SHIBU K V

Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering

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Department of Computer Engineering and Information Technology

2 Agenda
2.1 Core of the Embedded System 17
2.2 Memory 28
2.3 Sensors and Actuators 35
2.4 Communication Interface 45
2.5 Embedded Firmware 59
2.6 Other System Components 60
2.7 PCB and Passive Components 64
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3 Learning Objectives

 Learn the building blocks of a typical Embedded System

 Learn about General Purpose Processors (GPPs), Application

Specific Instruction Set Processors (ASIPs), Microprocessors,
Microcontrollers, Digital Signal Processors, RISC & CISC
processors, Harvad and Von-Neumann Processor Architecture, Big-
endian v/s Little endian processors, Load Store operation and
Instruction pipelining

 Learn about different PLDs like Complex Programmable Logic

Devices (CPLDs), Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), etc.
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4 Cont’d
 Learn about the different memory technologies and memory types used in
embedded system development

 Learn about Masked ROM (MROM), PROM, OTP, EPROM, EEPROM, and
FLASH memory for embedded firmware storage

 Learn about Serial Access Memory (SAM), Static Random Access Memory
(SRAM), Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM) and Nonvolatile
SRAM (NVRAM)

 Understand the different factors to be considered in the selection of memory

for embedded systems

 Understand the role of sensors, actuators and their interfacing with the I/O
subsystems of an embedded system
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5 Cont’d
 Learn about the interfacing of LEDs, 7-segment LED Displays, Piezo Buzzer,
Stepper Motor, Relays, Optocouplers, Matrix keyboard, Push button switches,
Programmable Peripheral Interface Device (e.g. 8255 PPI), etc. with the I/O
subsystem of the embedded system

 Learn about the different communication interfaces of an embedded system

 Understand the various chip level communication interfaces like I2C, SPI,
UART, 1-wire, parallel bus, etc

 Understand the different wired and wireless external communication interfaces

like RS-232C, RS-485, Parallel Port, USB, IEEE1394, Infrared (IrDA),
Bluetooth, Wifi, ZigBee, GPRS, etc.

 Know what embedded firmware is and its role in embedded systems

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6 Cont’d

 Understand the different system components like Reset Circuit,

Brown-out protection circuit, Oscillator Unit, Real-Time Clock
(RTC) and Watchdog Timer unit

 Understand the role of PCB in embedded systems

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7 Typical Embedded System

 A typical embedded system contains a single chip controller, which acts as

the master brain of the system.

 The controller can be a Microprocessor or a microcontroller or a Field

Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) device or a Digital Signal Processor
(DSP) or an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC)/ Application
Specific Standard Product (ASSP).

 Embedded hardware/software systems are basically designed to regulate a

physical variable or to manipulate the state of some devices by sending
some control signals to the Actuators or devices connected to the o/p ports
of the system, in response to the input signals provided by the end users or
Sensors which are connected to the input ports.
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8
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9 Cont’d

 Keyboards, push button switches, etc. are examples for common

user interface input devices whereas LEDs, liquid crystal displays,
piezoelectric buzzers, etc. are examples for common user interface
output devices for a typical embedded system.

 For example, if the embedded system is designed for any handheld

application, such as a mobile handset application, then the system
should contain user interfaces like a keyboard for performing input
operations and display unit for providing users the status of various
activities in progress.
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10 Elements of an Embedded System

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11 2.1 Core of Embedded Systems

 The core of the embedded system falls into any of the following
categories:

1. General Purpose and Domain Specific Processors

i. Microprocessors

ii. Microcontrollers

iii. Digital Signal Processors

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12 Cont’d

2. Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs)

3. Programmable Logic Devices (PLDs)

4. Commercial off-the-shelf Components (COTS)

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Merits, Drawbacks and Application Areas of

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Microcontrollers and Microprocessors
 Microcontrollers are designed to perform specific tasks. However,
Microprocessors are designed to perform unspecific tasks like developing
software, games, website, photo editing, creating documents, etc.

 Depending on the input, some processing for microcontroller needs to be done

and output is defined. However, the relationship between input and output for
microprocessor is not defined.

 Since the applications of microcontroller are very specific, they need small
resources like RAM, ROM, I/O ports etc. and hence can be embedded on a
single chip. Microprocessors need high amount of resources like RAM,
ROM, I/O ports etc.

 The clock speed of Microprocessor is quite high as compared to the

microcontroller. Whereas the microcontrollers operate from a few MHz (from
30 to 50 MHz), today’s microprocessor operate above 1 GHz as they perform
complex tasks.
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Cont’d
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 Microprocessor cannot be used stand alone. They need other peripherals

like RAM, ROM, buffer, I/O ports etc and hence a system designed around a
microprocessor is quite costly.

 Application areas of microcontroller: Mobile phones, CD/DVD players,

Washing machines, Cameras, Security alarms, microwave oven, etc.

 Application areas of microprocessor: Calculators, Accounting Systems,

Games Machine, Complex Industrial Controllers, Data Acquisition Systems,
Military applications, Communication systems, etc.
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16
Digital Signal Processors
 DSPs are powerful special purpose 8/16/32 bit microprocessors designed specifically
to meet the computational demands and power constraints of today’s embedded audio,
video, and communications applications.
 Digital signal processors are 2 to 3 times faster than the general purpose
microprocessors in signal processing applications.
 A typical digital signal processor incorporates the following key units:
i. Program Memory : Memory for storing the program required by DSP to
process the data.
ii. Data Memory : Working memory for storing temporary variables/information
and data/signal to be processed.
iii. Computational Engine : Performs the signal/math processing , accessing the
program from the Program Memory and the data from the Data Memory.
iv. I/O Unit : Acts as an interface
between the outside world and DSP.
It is responsible for capturing signals
to be processed and delivering
the processed signals.
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17 Cont’d
 Application areas : Audio video signal processing, telecommunication and
multimedia applications.

 DSP employs a large amount of real-time calculations, Sum of products (SOP)

calculation, convolution, fast Fourier transform (FFT), discrete Fourier
transform (DFT), etc. are some of the operations performed by digital signal
processors.
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18 RISC vs CISC Processors/Controllers

RISC CISC

Lesser number of instructions Greater number of Instructions

Instruction pipelining and increased Generally no instruction pipelining

execution speed feature
Orthogonal instruction set Non-orthogonal instruction set

Operations are performed on registers only, Operations are performed on registers or

the only memory operations are load and memory depending on the instruction.
store.
A large number of registers are available. Limited number of general purpose
registers.
Programmer needs to write more code to Instructions are like macros in C language.
execute a task since the instructions are A programmer can achieve the desired
simpler ones. functionality with a single instruction which
in turn provides the effect of using more
simpler single instructions in RISC.
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19 Cont’d
RISC CISC

Single, fixed length instructions Variable length instructions

Less silicon usage and pin count More silicon usage since more additional
decoder logic is required to implement the
complex instruction decoding.

With Harvard Architecture Can be Harvard or Von-Neumann

Architecture
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20 Big-Endian vs. Little-Endian Processors/Controllers

 Endianness specifies the order in which a sequence of bytes are stored

in computer memory.

 Little-endian is an order in which the “little end”/ the lower-order byte

of the data (least significant value in the sequence) is stored in memory
at the lowest address. (The little end comes first.)

 For example, a 4 byte long integer Byte3, Byte2, Byte1, Byte0 will be
stored in the memory as shown below:
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21 Cont’d

Base Address+0 Byte 0 Byte 0 0x20000 (Base Address)

Base Address+1 Byte 1 Byte 1 0x20001 (Base Address+1)

Base Address+2 Byte 2 Byte 2 0x20002 (Base Address+2)

Byte 3
Base Address+3 Byte 3 0x20003 (Base Address+3)

Example : 90AB12CD (Hexadecimal)

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22 Cont’d

 Big-endian is an order in which the “big end” / the higher-order byte of

the data (most significant value in sequence) is stored in memory at the
lowest address. (The big end comes first.)

 For example, a 4 byte long integer Byte3, Byte2, Byte1, Byte0 will be
stored in the memory as shown below:
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23 Cont’d

Base Address+0 Byte 3 Byte 3 0x20000 (Base Address)

Base Address+1 Byte 2 Byte 2 0x20001 (Base Address+1)

Base Address+2 Byte 1 Byte 1 0x20002 (Base Address+2)

Byte 0
Base Address+3 Byte 0 0x20003 (Base Address+3)

Example : 90AB12CD (Hexadecimal)

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24 Understanding Test Questions II

1. Embedded hardware/software systems are basically designed to
(a) Regulate a physical variable (b) Change the state of some devices
(c) Measure/Read the state of a variable/device (d) Any/All of these
2. Little Endian processors
(a) Store the lower-order byte of the data at the lowest address and the
higher-order byte of the data at the highest address of memory
(b) Store the higher-order byte of the data at the lowest address and the
lower-order byte of the data at the highest address of memory
(c) Store both higher order and lower order byte of the data at the same
address of memory
(d) None of these
3. The instruction set of RISC processor is
(a) Simple and lesser in number (b) Complex and lesser in number
(c) Simple and larger in number (d) Complex and larger in number
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Cont’d

4. Which of the following is true about CISC processors?

(a) The instruction set is non-orthogonal
(b) The number of general purpose registers is limited.
(c) Instructions are like macros in C language
(d) Variable length instructions
(e) All of these (f) None of these
5. Which of the following processor architecture supports easier instruction
pipelining?
(a) Harvard (b) Von Neumann (c ) Both of them (d) None of these
6. An integer variable with value 255 is stored in memory location at 0x8000.
The processor word length is 8 bits and the processor is a big endian processor.
The size of integer is considered as 4 bytes in the system. What is the value
held by the memory location 0x8000?
(a) 0 x FF (b) 0 x 00 (c ) 0 x 01 (d) None of these
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Reviewed Questions II
1. Explain the components of a typical embedded system in detail.

2. Which are the components used as the core of an embedded system?

Explain the merits, drawbacks, if any, and the applications/domains
where they are commonly used.

3. What is the difference between microprocessor and microcontroller?

Explain the role of microprocessors and controllers in embedded
system design?

4. What is Digital Signal Processor (DSP)? Explain the role of DSP in

embedded system design?

5. What is the difference between RISC and CISC processors? Give an

example for each.

6. What is the difference between big-endian and little-endian processors?

Give an example of each.
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27 Assignment II

What are the components used as the core of an embedded

system? Among them, explain the merits, drawbacks, if
any, and the applications/ domains of Application Specific
Integrated Circuits (ASICs), Programmable Logic Devices
and Commercial Off-the-Shelf Components (COTS) where
they are commonly used.

Remark: for all groups

Deadline : 26.12.17 (Coming Tuesday)
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 Only Original Owner has full rights reserved for copied images.

 This PPT is only for fair academic use.

 Coming soon for chapter 2 (2nd portion)

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