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Embedded Computing Basics - Microcontrollers - System-On-Chips

Microcontrollers are small, low-power integrated circuits that are used in many Internet of Things devices to control functions. They combine a processor, memory, and storage onto a single chip. While microcontrollers are limited in their capabilities with only kilobytes of RAM and storage, they are inexpensive and easy to integrate into custom designs. System-on-chips provide more processing power with megabytes of RAM and external storage, requiring an operating system to manage their greater resources. Both microcontrollers and system-on-chips are driving innovations in IoT by enabling the development of smaller, low-cost smart devices.

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86 views

Embedded Computing Basics - Microcontrollers - System-On-Chips

Microcontrollers are small, low-power integrated circuits that are used in many Internet of Things devices to control functions. They combine a processor, memory, and storage onto a single chip. While microcontrollers are limited in their capabilities with only kilobytes of RAM and storage, they are inexpensive and easy to integrate into custom designs. System-on-chips provide more processing power with megabytes of RAM and external storage, requiring an operating system to manage their greater resources. Both microcontrollers and system-on-chips are driving innovations in IoT by enabling the development of smaller, low-cost smart devices.

Uploaded by

rajeswarikannan
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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EMBEDDED COMPUTING

BASICS
Embedded Computing Basics – Microcontrollers - System-on-chips
MICROCONTROLLERS
• Internet of Things devices take advantage of more tightly integrated and miniaturized solutions—
from the most basic level of microcontrollers to more powerful system-on-chip (SoC) modules .
• These systems combine the processor, RAM, and storage onto a single chip, which means they
are much more specialized, smaller than their PC equivalents, and also easier to build into a
custom design.
• These microcontrollers are the engines of countless sensors and automated factory machinery.
• They are the last bastions of 8-bit computing in a world that’s long since moved to 32-bit and
beyond.
• Microcontrollers are very limited in their capabilities—which is why 8-bit microcontrollers are still
in use.
• They offer RAM capabilities measured in kilobytes and storage in the tens of kilobytes.
• The 8-bit microcontrollers have the same sort of internal workings and similar levels of memory
to work with.
• Desktop computer processors, which is dominated by two manufacturers - Intel and AMD.

• Lots of microcontroller manufacturers Atmel, Microchip, NXP, Texas Instruments etc, each with a
range of chips for different applications.

• The ubiquitous Arduino platform is based around Atmel’s AVR Atmega family of microcontroller
chips.

• The on-board inclusion of an assortment of GPIO pins and ADC circuitry means that
microcontrollers are easy to wire up to all manner of sensors, lights, and motors.

• Because the devices using them are focused on performing one task, they can dispense with most
of what we would term an operating system, resulting in a simpler and much slimmer code
footprint than that of a SoC or PC solution.

• In these systems, functions which require greater resource levels are usually provided by
additional single-purpose chips which at times are more powerful than their controlling
microcontroller

• For example, the WizNet Ethernet chip used by the Arduino Ethernet has eight times more RAM
than the Arduino itself.
SYSTEM-ON-CHIPS
• In between the low-end microcontroller and a full-blown PC sits the SoC (for example, the
BeagleBone or the Raspberry Pi).
• Like the microcontroller, these SoCs combine a processor and a number of peripherals onto
a single chip but usually have more capabilities.
• The processors usually range from a few hundred megahertz, nudging into the gigahertz for
top-end solutions, and include RAM measured in megabytes rather than kilobytes.
• Storage for SoC modules tends not to be included on the chip, with SD cards being a
popular solution.
• The greater capabilities of SoC mean that they need some sort of operating system to
marshal their resources.
• A wide selection of embedded operating systems, both closed and open source, is available
and from both specialized embedded providers and the big OS players, such as Microsoft
and Linux.
• Again, as the price falls for increased computing power, the popularity and familiarity of
options such as Linux are driving its wider adoption .

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