Microprocessors and Microcontrollers

1. What is an embedded system ?

Embedded system is a very commonly used term which is hard to define. Nearly any
computing system other than a desktop computer can be termed as an embedded system.
In general it is an electronic/ electro-mechanical system designed to perform a specific
function with the help of both hardware and Software components .

An embedded system is designed to run on its own without human intervention, and may be
required to respond to events in real time. Usually such systems contain sensors and actuators
(and its control loop) and embedded as part of another larger system.
Examples.. Mobile phone, Printer, Modem, Printer, Pager, TV remote, pace maker, patient
monitoring systems, injection systems, intensive care units, …

2. Give one example of a typical embedded system . Draw the block diagram and discuss
the function of the various blocks. What type of embedded processor they use?
Example: A handheld Global Positioning System Receiver
 A GPS receiver receives signals from a constellation of at least four out of a total of 24
satellites. Based on the timing and other information signals sent by these satellites the digital
signal processor calculates the position using triangulation.
The major block diagram shown in figure is divided into

(1) Active Antenna System (2)RF/IF front end (3) The Digital Signal Processor(DSP)

The Active Antenna System houses the antenna, a band pass filter and a low noise amplifier
(LNA) The RF/IF front end houses another band pass filter, the RF amplifier and the
demodulator and A/D converter.

The DSP accepts the digital data and decodes the signal to retrieve the information sent by the
GPS satellites.
3. Applications areas of embedded systems
Embedded systems have a vast variety of application domains that varies from low cost to
high, consumer electronics to industrial equipments, entertainment devices to academic
equipments and medical instruments to weapons and aerospace control systems. The lsit
below shows some of the important embedded products.
Medical Systems
a. pace maker, patient monitoring systems, injection systems, intensive care units, …
Office Equipment
b. printer, copier, fax, …
Tools
multimeter, oscilloscope, line tester, GPS, …
Banking
c. ATMs, statement printers, …
Transportation
d. (Planes/Trains/[Automobiles] and Boats)
e. radar, traffic lights, signalling systems, …
Automobiles
f. engine management, trip computer, cruise control, immobilizer, car alarm,
g. airbag, ABS, ESP, …
Building Systems
h. elevator, heater, air conditioning, lighting, key card entries, locks, alarm systems, …
Agriculture
i. feeding systems, milking systems, …
Space
j. satellite systems, …
4. What are the Features/common Characteristics of Embedded systems
o Single-functioned/specific set of functions
▪ Executes a single/set of defined programs, repeatedly
o Tightly-constrained
▪ Low cost, low power, small, fast, etc.
o Reactive and real-time
▪ Continually reacts to changes in the system’s environment –sensors are
connected
▪ Must compute certain results in real-time without delay i.e results must be
produced within defined time limits
o System Must be dependable
 • Reliability: probability of system working correctly
• Maintainability: M(d) = probability of system working correctly d time
units after error occurred.
• Safety: no harm to be caused
• Security: confidential and authentic communication
5. Differentiate between embedded system and general purpose computing system

Embedded System General Computing System

Few applications that are known at For executing variety of Applications

design-time.- Specific purpose

Low power consumption is a design Low power consumption good idea but that is
criteria not guiding principle in design

Fixed amount of RAM Rom IO ports Any amount of memory and peripherals can
and timers etc. be added

Application are not alterable by the Application are alterable by the end user.
end user.

Real Time – Time critical response Needs to be faster for better performance,, but
normally there is no time criticality involved
Normally part of larger system Not part of other systems

Must be reliable PC needs to be reliable but since not part of

critical systems occasional failures are
affordable

6. What are the design objectives of embedded system

• Low Power dissipation – many embedded products are battery powered so low
power dissipations is an important figure of merit. Even In cases where embedded
system is a part of larger system, it is important to keep power dissipation low to
avoid excess heating
• Small Code Size – The application code is to be embedded into ROM of MCU, so
size should be small since on chip memory is limited and expensive. Adding external
memory makes system design bulkier and expensive
• Small Physical Size- Most devices are hand held devices or part of larger system ..
So small physical size is desirable
• High speed of Response

7. Design Challenges of embedded system

The important design constraints are

Power, Price and Performance

Performance needs to be improved keeping power dissipation and price as low as possible.
The factors performance and power dissipation directly conflict with each other, and keeping
price as low is an additional issue.
8. Current Trends
• Use of Multi core processors-To improve processor speed embedded processors now a
days uses more than one core. If more tha one core is used one may be a DSP core for
imaging applications and one may be general purpose core. The design of multi core
systems requires new design environments which are being developed at rapid rate.
• Emergence of new embedded operating systems - With the emergence of complex
applications , many new embedded operating systems are coming up. Linux and Android
introduced newer versions of Operating systems,
• Newer areas of deployment of embedded systems- Day by day newer areas are being
explored including health care, military and entertainment.

9. Typical Model of an embedded system

In its simplest and most general form , an embedded system consists of processor, memory ,
sensors and actuators. Embedded applications normally provide solutions to real world problems
which needs some input data . For this sensors are needed. This data is normally processed by a
processor and the result of which is given to some actuators which perform appropriate actions.
There are two types of processor units available. Microprocessors and microcontrollers.
Microcontroller chip is generally used for embedded design

Figure shows very simple model of an embedded system. The model can be explained with the
help of a very simple example – i.e a temperature control system. The MCU is the heart of the
embedded system which process the data and act as the controller. A sensor reads the temperature
and it is converted into digital form by ADC. This data is compared to reference temperature, and
if it is above the allowed value a cooling fan is operated or an alarm is activated. There can be
digital display to show the temperature too. Input is temperature and output is display, alarm and
motor which controls the cooling fan.
The program executed by MCU continuously monitors the temperature at the sensor with a delay
time T between the readings , the output display is also refreshed at the same rate. The program
runs continusouly . The circuitry is put on a PCB packed inside an enclosure and it becomes a
product.
10. What is a Micro controller ? Differentiate between microprocessor and microcontrollers.
A microcontroller is a functional computer system-on-a-chip.
It contains an integrated CPU, memory (a small amount of RAM, program memory, or both)
and peripherals capable of input and output.
 µP microprocessors Microcontroller

General-purpose Microcontroller has

microprocessorscontains CPU (microprocessor)
No RAM RAM
No ROM ROM
No I/O ports I/O ports
Timer ADC and other peripherals
It is dependant unit- Must add RAM ROM etc It is self contained unit,.. The fixed
externally which make the system bulkier and amount of on-chip ROM, RAM, and
much more expensive number of I/O ports makes them ideal for
But Flexible design possible - Have the many applications in which cost and
advantage of versatility on the amount of space are critical
RAM, ROM, and I/O ports

It is designed for general purpose It is designed for special purpose

Limited power saving options compared to µC. Includes lots of power saving features

11. What is meant by real time systems? Differentiate between hard soft real time systems

Real-time systems have been defined as: "those systems in which the correctness of the system
depends not only on the logical correctness of result of the computation, but also on the time at
which the results are produced";

⚫ Logical Correctness: Produces correct outputs.

⚫ Temporal Correctness: Produces outputs at the right time.
⚫ It is not enough to say that “brakes were applied”
⚫ You want to be able to say “brakes were applied at the right time”

Real-time systems often are comprised of a controlling system, controlled system and
environment. Controlling system: acquires information about environment using sensors and
controls the environment with actuators.

Real time system can be classified into hard or soft .

Hard real-time systems are systems where it is very important that that dead line must be met.
Failure to meet constraint causes a fatal fault. The deadline of a job is the instant of time by which
its execution is required to be completed

E.g. Flight control systems. Nuclear power plant..

Firm real-time- dead line must be met like hard real time.. If not met no fatal effect like hard
real time .. Eg.. Real time video streaming

Soft real-time — systems where deadlines are important but which will still function correctly if
deadlines are occasionally missed. Late completion is undesirable but generally not fatal.

E.g. Data acquisition system. multimedia applications. Figure shows different types of real time
systems. X axis contains time and Y axis value of output produced ..d is dead line limit.
More Reading … References

1. Embedded Systems: An Integrated Approach, Lyla B Das

2. The 8051 Microcontroller and Embedded Systems Using Assembly and C 2nd Edition
Muhammad Ali Mazidi
3. NPTEL