Introduction to

Embedded Systems

Gaurav Sharma
C-DAC HYD
 AGENDA
• Embedded Systems
• µP vs µC

• Processor Architecture

• Memories

• I/O

• BUSES
 Why Learn ES
– Lot of hype

–Everybody else is doing it

–My friends got a job in ES,hence....

–Desktop would die soon

–My brother in US told me to learn it ....

 Embedded Systems Defined ?

• No formal definition
• Generally accepted to be a type of computer designed to
solve a specific problem or task
• A combination of hardware and software, and perhaps
additional mechanical or other parts, designed to
perform a dedicated function.
• In some cases, embedded systems are part of a larger
system or product
 EMBEDDED SYSTEM
➢ An embedded system is some combination of computer hardware
and software, either fixed in capability or programmable, that is
designed for a specific function or for specific functions.

➢ A type of computer designed to solve a specific problem or task.

➢ A System that is dedicated for a particular Task.

App1 App2 App3

OS App1 App2 App3

HARDWARE HARDWARE

Typical embedded
General purpose system
computer System
Embedded Market

vivekn@cdac.in
Design Consideration

Power & Size

Cost Memory
Requirement

Embedded
System

S/W Performance
Reliability & flexibility

Development
Time
 General Framework
• Embedded systems typically use a processor combined
with other hardware and software to solve a specific
computing problem.
• The processors range from simple (by today’s standards)
8-bit microprocessor/microcontrollers to the worlds
fastest and most sophisticated 64-bit microcontrollers.
• Embedded system software ranges from a small
executive to a large real-time operating system (RTOS)
with a graphical user interface (GUI).
• Embedded systems range from large computers such as
an air traffic control system to small computers.
Embedded System looks like . .

Memory
CPU chips
Serial
Digital I/O
Analog I/O
LAN
I/O controller chips
 CPUs
• CPUs can be
– Microprocessors or Micro controllers

• Any CPU can be studied by knowing following features

of CPU
– Clock speed, Address bus size, Data bus size, Register size
– Register set, Instruction set, Address spaces, Endian type
– Interrupt support, DMA support
– Instruction and Data cache
– Memory management
– Protection features (user/supervisor modes)
 Micro Processors

• Micro Processor is the Integration of a number of useful

function in a single IC Package

• These functions are

– Execute the stored set of instructions to carry out user
defined task
– Ability to access external memory chips for both read
and write data from and to the memory
 Microprocessor Vs Microcontroller
• Contains ALU, GP Registers, In addition to processor, it has in-
SP, PC, Clock timing circuit built ROM, RAM, IO devices,
and interrupts Timers

• Requires more H/W, increase Requires less H/W, reduces PCB

in PCB size size & increases reliability
 Microcontroller Defined

• Very similar to a Microprocessor

• It typically includes a CPU, memory, and other

peripherals.
 Classification of Microcontrollers
• μc are classified into :
– 8 bit μc e.g.: AVR 8515, Intel 8051, Motorola HC05
– 16 bit μc e.g.: Siemens 80167, Intel 80C196
– 32 bit μc e.g.: ARM Cortex ,MCF5272, Power PC 8xxx
– 64 bit μc e.g.: ARM Texas 64xxx series

• The number of bits indicate the internal Data Bus of a

μc.
• It shows how many bits of data the μc can process
simultaneously.
 Processor Architecture

Princeton Harvard
• Contains 2 separate memory
• Single Main Memory holding spaces- code & data
both program and Data

• Simple memory structure • Complex memory Structure

CPU Code and Data code CPU data

 RISC vs CISC – Architecture
RISC CISC

Fixed width instructions Variable length instruction

Few formats of instructions Several formats of

instructions

Load/Store Architecture Memory values can be used

as operands in instructions

Large Register bank Small Register Bank

Instructions are pipelinable Cannot pipeline instructions

 RISC vs CISC - Organization

RISC CISC

Hardwired instruction decode Microcode ROMS instruction

decoder

Single cycle execution of Multi cycle execution on

instruction instruction
 RISC CISC
Feature Low Power RISC PC/Desktop CISC

Power A few hundreds of milliwatts Many watts

Compute Speed 200-520 Mega Hz 2-5 Giga Hz

Memory Management

Cost Dollars Tens to hundreds of Dollars

Environmental High Temp, Low EM Needs Fans, FCC/CE

Emissions approval an issue
 Life cycle of an instruction
• As the instruction moves through the processor it goes
through the following stages.
– Fetch : Instruction fetched from the address stored in the
program counter.
– Decode : Instruction decoded and registers read
– Execute : in the ALU
– Write back : Results written back to registers or memory.
• Note : each stage takes one clock cycle
• The Instruction execution requires 4 clock cycles

Fetch Decode Execute Writeback

Cycle 1 Cycle 2 Cycle 3 Cycle 4
 Non Pipelined Example

1ns 2ns 3ns 4ns 5ns 6ns 7ns 8ns

F1 D1 E1 W1

F2 D2 E2 W2

Instruction 1 Instruction 2
• 2 instructions take 4ns each
• A stage is used once every 4ns
• The resultant throughput is 4 cycles per instruction (CPI)
 Pipeline Example
• Each stage is 1ns 2ns 3ns 4ns 5ns 6ns 7ns 8ns
utilized at every F1 D1 E1 W1

clock cycle. F2 D2 E2 W2

F3 D3 E3 W3
• 5 Instructions F4 D4 E4 W4
are executed in
F5 D5 E5 W5
8ns
F6 D6 E6

• Resultant F7 D7

throughput is 1 F8

instruction per
Instruction 1
cycle
Instruction 2
Instruction 3
Instruction 4
Instruction 5
 Big Endian Little Endian
• Stores the most significant part Stores the least significant part
first
first e.g.: Intel
• e.g.: Motorola
e.g.: consider data 0x4567 at
location 0x5050

45
67
67
45
 Memory Mapped IO IO Mapped IO
• IO devices are treated as like • IO devices are separately
interfaced.
memory . • Separate instruction set
• Memory related instructions available .
should be used to access IO .

memory memory
Input
CPU
Input memory
CPU output
output
 Memory

RAM Hybrid ROM

DRAM SRAM Flash EPROM PROM Masked

NVRAM EEPROM
 General components of a Microcontroller
• CPU – Heart of the controller. Composed of registers,
ALU, instruction decoder and the control circuitry.
• On Chip Memory – Used to store information

Memory

RAM (Volatile)
ROM(Non Volatile)
1.SRAM
1.PROM
2.DRAM
2.UV-EPROM
3.NV-RAM
3.EEPROM
4.FLASH
 General components of a Microcontroller
• I/O Ports
– Used to interface with the peripheral devices and the
controller.
– Analog I/O and Digital I/O

• Timer/Counter
– For keeping Time and/or calculating the amount of
time between events
– For counting the events
– Baud rate generation
 FLASH MEMORY
• Flash is believed to be close to perfect memory

• Advantages
– Fast read speeds
– Long-term data retention at much lower cost

• Drawbacks
– Doesn’t allow random bytes to be updated on the fly
– Limitations on number of times it can be re-written
 Types of Flash Memory
NOR NAND
 NOR vs NAND
• The arrangement of these cells
• The parallel interconnection of is significantly more compact
than in NOR.
the memory cells helps account
• The select gates allow higher
programming and erase
for their fast random read
voltages to be used without
disturbing the charge stored in
accessibility.
unselected cells.
• fast programming and erase
times
• Poor random read
performance
 The winner is . . .
• NOR provides faster reads and allows random byte
access
• NAND writes and erases data faster, costs less per Mb
and uses less power than NOR.

• If the ROM (here flash) is rarely updated, then NOR is

obvious choice

• If data is being logged to a flash disk then NAND is the

right memory
DEVELOPMENT ENVIRONMENT
Keil uVision IDE
 Host - Target Development Environment
• The distinguishing feature of embedded software development is
host-target development environment.
• All the development tools like Editors, compilers and linkers are
available on the host machine.
• Typical host machines are Windows 7,8,10 and Unix workstations
where the above development tools are available
• Application programs will be written on the host, get compiled,
linked and get the executable file
• Target systems are the ones where compiled and linked code is
executed
• Target systems being a microprocessor based boards does not offer
any development environment themselves, so an host machine is
required
 Cross Compilers
• Another distinguishing feature of embedded software
development is cross compilers
• Cross compilers are the ones, which runs on a machine
based on one type of CPU and produces a machine
instructions for a different kind of CPU
 Downloading
• Downloading is the process of loading the executable
image prepared on the host system on to a target board
• There are various methods to download the code to a
target machine. They are:
– Serial ports
– EPROM/FLASH
– Floppy disks
– Ethernet
– Across a common Bus
 Debug Monitor
• Debug monitor is a software that resides in a ROM or EPROM of a
target board during the development process
• When a target board is powered on, the debug monitor program
runs and provides facilities for downloading and debugging the
application program
• In some cases both debug monitor and application program will
reside in the ROM. First control goes to debug monitor which will
pass control to the application program