CHAPTER TWO
A P P L I C AT I O N A R E A A N D P U R P O S E O F
EMBEDDED SYSTEM
APPLICATION AREA OF EMBEDDED
SYSTEM
Consumer Electronics:
Camcorders is portable electronic recording device capable of
recording live motion video and audio for last playback
digital Cameras is a camera that captures photographs in
digital memory.
Household Appliances: Television, DVD players, washing
machine, Fridge, Microwave Oven etc.
Home Automation and Security Systems: smart doorbells,
Air conditioners, sprinklers, smart smoke alarms, Closed
Circuit Television Cameras, etc.
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Automotive Industry: Anti-lock breaking systems (ABS),
Engine Control, Ignition Systems, Automatic Navigation
Systems etc.
Telecom: Cellular Telephones, Telephone switches, Handset
Multimedia Applications etc.
Computer Peripheral: Printers, Scanners, Fax machines etc.
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Computer Networking Systems: Network Routers, Switches,
etc.
Health Care: Different Kinds of Scanners, Electro cardio
gram (ECG) Machines etc.
Measurement & Instrumentation: Digital multi meters,
Logic Analyzers PLC systems etc.
Banking: Automatic Teller Machines (ATM) and Currency
counters, Point of Sales (POS)
Card Readers: Barcode, Smart Card Readers, Hand held
Devices etc.
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PURPOSE OF EMBEDDED SYSTEMS
Data Collection/Storage/Representation
Data Communication
Data (Signal) Processing
Monitoring
Control
Application Specific User Interface
DATA
COLLECTION/STORAGE/REPRESENTATION
Performs acquisition or gets of data from the external
world.
The collected data can be either analog or digital.
Data collection is usually done for storage, analysis,
manipulation and transmission.
The collected data may be stored directly in the system
or may be transmitted to some other systems,
It may be processed by the system or it may be deleted
instantly after giving a meaningful representation.
[Link] COMMUNICATION SYSTEM
These systems are deployed in applications ranging from
complex satellite communication systems to simple home
networking systems
Embedded Data communication systems are dedicated for
data communication
The data communication can happen through a wired interface
(like Ethernet, RS-232C/USB) or wireless interface (like Wi-
Fi, GSM,/GPRS, Bluetooth, ZigBee etc)
Network hubs, Routers, switches, Modems typical examples
for data transmission embedded system
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Examples of data communication
[Link] (SIGNAL) PROCESSING
Functionalities are employed in applications
demanding signal processing like Speech coding,
audio video codes, transmission applications etc
Examples of data processing
[Link]
Embedded systems coming under this category are specifically
designed for monitoring purpose.
They are used for determining the state of some variables using input
sensors.
They cannot impose control over variables.
Electro Cardiogram (ECG) machine for monitoring the heart beat of
a patient.
The sensors used in ECG are the different Electrodes connected to
the patient's body
Instruments like Digital Multi meter, Logic Analyzer etc used in
Control & Instrumentation applications are also examples of
embedded systems for monitoring purpose.
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(ECG): Example of Monitoring
[Link]
Embedded systems with control functionalities are used for
imposing control over some variables according to the changes
in input variables.
It 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 input variable to put an impact on
the controlling variable to bring the controlled variable to the
specified range.
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Air conditioner (AC) for controlling room temperature is
a typical example for embedded system with „Control‟
functionality.
AC contains a room temperature sensing element
(sensor) which may be a thermistor and a handheld unit
for setting up the desired temperature.
The air compressor unit acts as the actuator.
The compressor is controlled according to the current
room temperature and the desired temperature set by the
end user.
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Air conditioner
[Link] SPECIFIC USER
INTERFACE
Embedded systems which are designed for a specific
application
Contains Application Specific User interface (rather
than general standard User interface) like key board,
Display units etc
Aimed at a specific target group of users
Mobile handsets, Control units in industrial
applications etc are examples
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Example
QUALITY ATTRIBUTES OF EMBEDDED
SYSTEM
Quality attributes are the non-functional requirements
that need to be documented properly in any system
design
Quality attributes can be classified as:
Operational quality attributes: represent the relevant
quality attributes related to the embedded system when
it is in the operational mode or online mode.
Non-operational quality attributes: That needs to be
addressed for the product not on the basis of operational
aspects are grouped under this category.
OPERATIONAL QUALITY ATTRIBUTES
Response
It is the measure of quickness of the system.
It tells how fast the system is tracking the changes in
input variables.
Most of the E.S demands fast response which should
be almost real time. Ex –Flight control application.
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Throughput
It deals with the efficiency of a system.
It can be defined as the rate of production or operation of a defined
process over a stated period of time.
The rates can be expressed in terms of products, batches produced or
any other meaningful measurements.
Ex – In case of card reader throughput means how many transactions
the reader can perform in a minute or in an hour or in a day.
Throughput is generally measured in terms of “Benchmark”.
A Benchmark is a reference point by which something can be
measured.
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Reliability
It is a measure of how much we can rely upon the proper
functioning of the system.
Mean Time Between Failure (MTBF) and Mean Time To Repair
(MTTR) are the terms used in determining system reliability.
MTBF gives the frequency of failures in hours/weeks/months.
MTTR specifies how long the system is allowed to be out of
order following a failure.
For embedded system with critical application need, it should be
of the order of minutes.
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Maintainability
It deals with support and maintenance to the end user or client
in case of technical issues and product failure or on the basis of
a routine system checkup.
Reliability and maintainability are complementary to each other.
A more reliable system means a system with less corrective
maintainability requirements and vice versa.
Maintainability can be broadly classified into two categories
1. Scheduled or Periodic maintenance (Preventive maintenance)
2. Corrective maintenance to unexpected failures
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Security
Confidentiality, Integrity and availability are the
three major measures of information security.
Confidentiality deals with protection of data and
application from unauthorized disclosure.
Integrity deals with the protection of data and
application from unauthorized modification.
Availability deals with protection of data and
application from unauthorized users.
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Safety
Safety deals with the possible damages that can
happen to the operator, public and the environment
due to the breakdown of an Embedded System.
The breakdown of an embedded system may occur
due to a hardware failure or a firmware failure.
Safety analysis is a must in product engineering to
evaluate the anticipated damages and determine the
best course of action to bring down the consequences
of damage to an acceptable level.
NON-OPERATIONAL QUALITY ATTRIBUTES
Testability and Debug-ability
Testability deals with how easily one can test the
design, application and by which means it can be done.
For an E.S testability is applicable to both the
embedded hardware and firmware.
Embedded hardware testing ensures that the peripherals
and total hardware functions in the desired manner,
whereas firmware testing ensures that the firmware is
functioning in the expected way.
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Debug-ability is a means of debugging the product
from unexpected behavior in the system
Debug-ability is two level process
1. Hardware level :It is used for finding the issues
created by hardware
2. Software level :It is employed for finding the errors
created by the flaws in the software.
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Evolvability
It is a term which is closely related to Biology.
It is referred as the non-heritable variation.
For an embedded system Evolvability refers to the
ease with which the embedded product can be
modified to take advantage of new firmware or
hardware technologies.
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Portability
It is the measure of system independence.
An embedded product is said to be portable if the
product is capable of functioning in various
environments, target processors and embedded
operating systems.
„Porting‟ represents the migration of embedded
firmware written for one target processor to a
different target processor.
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Time-to-Prototype and Market
It is the time elapsed between the conceptualization of a
product and the time at which the product is ready for
selling.
The commercial embedded product market is highly
competitive and time to market the product is critical
factor in the success of commercial embedded product.
There may be multiple players in embedded industry
who develop products of the same category (like mobile
phone).
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Per Unit Cost and Revenue
Cost is a factor which is closely monitored by both end user and
product manufacturer.
Cost is highly sensitive factor for commercial products
Any failure to position the cost of a commercial product at a nominal
rate may lead to the failure of the product in the market.
Proper market study and cost benefit analysis should be carried out
before taking a decision on the per-unit cost of the embedded
product.
The ultimate aim of the product is to generate marginal profit so the
budget and total cost should be properly balanced to provide a
marginal profit.
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