Everyone one of us has been using an embedded system device for everyday activity. Having these embedded system devices side by side has become a convenient and comfortable practice for everyone.
Embedded system devices are nothing but our smartphones, home automation devices, washing machines and coffee machines, etc. How much do we know about these devices and their development? Let us find out
Let us get under the hood of these Embedded system devices and what drives them.
What Is an Embedded System?
An embedded system is an electronic or electromagnetic device that is used to perform a specific function. It is a combination of hardware and firmware.
These systems are not
like the traditional general-purpose systems such as a PC or laptops which
generally have a screen and a keyboard.
It has a Real-Time Operating system (RTOS) that supervises the
application software and provides a mechanism to let the processor run a
process as per schedule by following a plan to control the latencies. RTOS
defines the way the system works. It sets the rules during the execution of the
application program. A small-scale embedded system may not have RTOS.
Basic
Structure of An Embedded System
Embedded
Software:
The software layer may contain various components depending on the device’s complexity and purpose.
- Application layer: where the user writes the specific
application based on his/her project needs.
- Operating system layer: This is the layer where we can include any
specific operating system like RTOS where we can use software for setting
rules and controlling system resources. It includes device drivers that
provide API for upper software components
and make them communicate with hardware parts.
- Device drivers: these are the specific programs that are
responsible for I/O control and peripheral control.
Hardware Layer:
The hardware layer is built around a central processing unit (CPU) that serves as the main system controller. A CPU can be represented by:
- Microprocessor: which contains only a CPU and has
minimal power to perform one simple operation.
- Microcontroller: which is the integration of a CPU, I/O ports, RAM/ROM memory on one chip and can perform several tasks.
Other essential embedded hardware elements include:
- Memory: These are
used for data storage
- I/O: input and
output operations
- Address and data buses: for transferring data
between hardware components
- Sensors: for
converting physical data into analog/digital electrical signals
- Analog-to-digital converters (ADC): for converting analog electrical
signals into digital ones.
- Digital-to-analog converters (DAC): for converting digital signals
into analog electrical ones.
- Actuators: An actuator is a
component of a machine that is responsible for moving and controlling a
mechanism or system, for example by opening a valve. In simple terms, it
is a "mover".
- Peripherals: SPI, I2C,
CAN, USB, SD CARD, etc.
Types of Embedded Systems
There are several classifications of embedded systems depending on the type of function and the microcontroller used
- Standalone systems: perform only a
specific task independently. Examples are an electronic thermometer,
ultrasonic sensor. These standalone systems generally use 8-bit, 16-bit
microcontrollers for their operation.
- Internet-enabled devices: These devices have a
wired or wireless sharing hardware incorporated in the hardware. Examples
are smart home systems or IoT devices and the hardware used for such
application is esp32.
- Mobile: The smartest and the
highly used embedded system device is the smartphone and it has a lot of
devices embedded into it. Examples are digital cameras, fingerprint
sensors, proximity sensors.
- These devices generally have
an application processor of 32-bit or 64-bit to do higher levels of
computations.
- Real–time: must perform tasks
within determined time limits, if they do not perform in the specified
time boundary then it can lead to catastrophic failures. An example is
military defense systems. These contain real-time controllers whose
periodicity is deterministic in nature.
Applications of Embedded
Systems
Let us now look into what are the applications of these embedded system devices.
- Smart Cities: A smart city is an
urban area that uses different types of electronic methods and sensors to
collect data. Insights gained from that data are used to manage assets,
resources, and services efficiently; in return, that data is used to
improve the operations across the city. Embedded technology forms the
basis for smart parking, surveillance systems, traffic control systems,
pollution monitoring solutions, and various community services.
- Medicine: Nowadays, the use
of embedded systems in healthcare is ubiquitous. A variety of
wearable devices and diagnostic systems allow for monitoring patient
health, as well as collecting, storing, and analyzing data. From a simple
electronic thermometer to the more complicated ECG and MRI machines,
anywhere in medical equipment, you can find specific built-in programs working
for the benefit of doctors and patients.
- Automotive Industry: A modern car is literally
packed with embedded systems onboard. Here are some examples: Anti-lock
braking systems, automatic transmission, blind spot detection, cruise
control, Fuel control systems, monitor fuel consumption, Heated seats,
climate control, in-vehicle infotainment systems
- Manufacturing: One of the biggest
industries in the world, manufacturing, has been highly affected by the
introduction of technological innovations including embedded software for
quite some time now. Today, we can call it smart manufacturing due to the
active implementation of robotics, IoT, AI, and Big Data into production
processes.
- Aerospace and
Military: The
need for high-performance sensors, navigation, and communication solutions
is critical in aviation, the space industry, and military
activities. Embedded and IoT solutions are
the essentials in this industry because they are the ones
responsible for planes taking off and landing and satellites circling the
Earth while sending and receiving signals and data.
Programming Languages Used in Embedded Systems
These are the widely used programming languages for embedded system programming.
- Assembly
language: This is the language of the Hardware devices, widely used for low-resource
systems as it directly translates code into machine code,
which hardware can easily interpret. The language is fast
and memory-efficient.
- C and C++
languages: have been traditionally popular for developing firmware for
these embedded devices. Their core benefits are it is a compiled language
and does not require any run time environment, speed, the ability to
access low-level system components such as I/O devices and access memory
through pointers, and little memory consumed by the compiled programs.
- C#: is
derived from the C family as a combination of object-oriented and
structured programming. It is also a good option for embedded and
IoT solutions.
Benefits of Embedded Systems
- Easily Customizable: Embedded devices are built
for specific tasks and can be easily customized.
- Strong
performance: Since the software is written for handling a single task on a
certain device, its performance is usually close to perfect, which is
crucial for end-users
- Low cost: You pay
only for what is required to work so the cost of such devices will usually
cost low.
- Low power
consumption: Most devices require little power for operations, which means
that they can be applied in various locations and work in complicated
circumstances; it also means resource usage optimization.
Challenges of Embedded Software Development
Now that we know that an
embedded system is used to perform a specific application and think about the
systems used in the military such as the anti-missile systems. If these systems
fail then there will be a loss of human life.
That’s why developers should address certain challenges while creating built-in solutions in order to provide their irreproachable performance.
- Stability: As the name indicates
that a Real-time system should be stable in all kinds of challenging
environments, otherwise there can be a loss of data and at worst we can
lose our life in the case of military equipment.
- Design Constraints: Each application can have
its own hardware design as each application differs. But as these
applications become complex and require more computing power, it becomes
really challenging to pack more computing capabilities into a smaller
piece of hardware.
- Security: In the digital world where
any object connected to the internet can be exposed to cyberattacks, the
security of personal data has become a hot issue. Embedded
security is among the greatest challenges for developers as more
strict requirements are imposed regarding the QA and testing expertise, as
well as the security mechanisms for protecting built-in solutions.
Future Trends in Embedded Systems
The industry for embedded systems is expected to continue growing rapidly, driven by the continued development of Artificial Intelligence (AI), Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR), machine learning, deep learning, and the Internet of Things (IoT).
The cognitive embedded system will be at the heart of such trends as reduced
energy consumption, improved security for embedded devices, cloud connectivity
and mesh networking, deep learning applications, and visualization tools with
real-time data.
Conclusion
As discussed, embedded system devices are the devices that are
designed to do a specific task and they are smaller in size but not in
performance. There is hardware as well as software involved in the development
process.
There are real-time systems whose timing plays a crucial role in
addressing the data such as ABS, anti-missile rockets. we also discussed the advantages and disadvantages of these systems and also the programming
language involved in the development process.
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