CSC405A

Real Time & Embedded Systems

GIMPA, SCHOOL OF TECHNOLOGY
Lecture Two
Introduction To Embedded Systems
 Introduction
▪ One of the ideas behind the creation of the personal computer was to build “computers for
the rest of us.” The idea was to enable people who were not computer experts—like artists,
educators, and children—to take advantage of the power of computing.

▪ Now we need to make “computers for the rest of you.” We need computers that respond to
the rest of your body and the rest of your world.

▪ We need to think about computers that sense more of our bodies, serve us in more places,
and convey physical expression in addition to information

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 Introduction
▪ In order to fully explore the possibilities of computing, you have to get away from that stereotype
of computers. You have to think about computing rather than computers.

▪ Computers should take whatever physical form suits our needs for computing.

▪ We need to think about computers that sense more of our bodies, serve us in more places, and
convey physical expression in addition to information

▪ How we think of computers is reflected by its input and output devices. In the case of most
desktop computers, this means a mouse, a keyboard, a monitor, and speakers.

▪ How would computers look like if we could design them to capture the full range of expressions
humans are capable of? Or if we could design them to converse with the physical world?

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 Introduction
▪ Such computing devices (designed to converse with the world) are often enclosed (embedded)
into other products that enable information processing in the physical world.

▪ “Embedded systems are information processing systems embedded into enclosing

products”.

▪ “Loosely defined, they are devices that include a programmable computer but are not
themselves intended to be general-purpose computers”

▪ Generally, the job of the embedded systems designer is to find and learn how to use transducers
to convert physical energy into electrical energy and vice versa.

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 Introduction
▪ One of the major ways in which embedded computers differ from general purpose computers is
in how we interact with them.

▪ The process of interaction i.e. sending input and receiving output differ significantly.

▪ General purpose computers often use a keyboard for input, and some sort of screen for output.

▪ On the other hand, sending input to an embedded system could be enabled by the use of
sensors and output can be provided using actuators.

▪ Also, embedded systems receive and provide output in both digital and analog forms.

▪ Digital input or output exists in two discrete states whiles analog input or output exists as a
continuous range of multiple states

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 Applications Of Embedded Systems

▪ Transportation & Mobility – Automotive electronics, Avionics, Railways, Ships and

maritime systems

▪ Factory Automation

▪ Health Monitoring Systems – Smart devices, Patient Monitoring Systems

▪ Smart Buildings – Access Control, Energy Management

▪ Robotics

▪ Public Safety & Governance – Identification / Authentication Of People. etc

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 Applications Of Embedded Systems

▪ Agriculture - Animal Tracking, Soil Condition Monitoring

▪ Consumer Electronics – Game Consoles, Smart TVs

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 Components Of Embedded Systems
▪ Circuits
▪ Microcontrollers / Microprocessors
▪ Software

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 Circuits

▪ The conversion of energy from one form to another (transduction) is an important

part of embedded systems.

▪ In one direction, you could be transforming sound energy to electrical energy so

the computer can sense it (input) or you could be transforming electrical energy to
light energy (output).

▪ It is thus necessary to understand how electricity works in order to make things

happen.

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 Circuits

▪ All electrical and electronic devices exploit the fact that electrons have a
tendency to go from a point of greater electrical energy to a point of lesser
electrical energy.

▪ You provide a positive connection (greater energy, or power), a negative

connection (lower energy, or ground), and a conductor through which the
electrons flow. Along the way, you insert various electrical devices to divert the
electrons to do your bidding.

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 Circuits

▪ Electrical energy always follows the path of least resistance to ground

▪ The simplest way to transform human action into electrical energy is by using a
switch.

▪ A switch is a break in the circuit that stops the electrons from flowing. By closing
the switch, you close the break in the circuit and allow the electrons to flow again.

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 Circuits

▪ There are three basic electrical characteristics that come into play in every circuit

1. The relative level of electrical energy between any two points in the circuit is
called the voltage which is measured in volts

2. The amount of electrical energy passing through any point in the circuit is the
current measured in amperes.

3. The extent to which any component in the circuit resists the flow of current i.e.
resistance which is measured in ohms.

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 Circuits

▪ The combination of current and voltage is called electrical power, or wattage. It’s
measured in watts.

▪ The amount of wattage you supply to a circuit determines how much work it can
do. The more work you need done, the more power you need.

▪ Generally, input components of your circuits would need less power than output
components.

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 Circuits – Remember This!
▪ Electricity always favours the path of least resistance to ground.

▪ All the electrical energy in a circuit must be used. Any excess energy would be
converted to heat. Thus too much energy would damage your components.

▪ When components in a circuit are in series, the current is the same for each of
them, but the voltage decreases as each component uses some of it up.

▪ When components are in parallel, the current is split between them, depending on
their relative resistances. The more resistance a component has, the less current
goes through it. The voltage across them is the same, though.

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Series Circuits – Remember This!
▪ The sum of the voltages is equal to the total
applied voltage. i.e.:

▪ V = V1 + V2+ V3

▪ Also V1 = IR1, V2 = IR2, V3 =IR3

▪ Total R = R1 + R2 + R3

▪ Total I = total V / Total R

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 Parallel Circuits – Remember This!
▪The sum of the currents I = I1 + I2 + I3

▪ The value of the p.d is the same across

each of the resistors.

1 1 1 1
▪ = + +
𝑅𝑇 𝑅1 𝑅2 𝑅3

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 Circuits – Common Components

Capacitor Diode Light Emitting Diode Relay

Resistor Switch Transistor Variable Resistor

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 Microcontrollers / Microprocessors

▪ Microcontrollers are the brains of embedded systems.

▪ Using microcontrollers for designing digital systems have some advantages:

▪ When compared to logic gates, microcontrollers are reprogrammable.

▪ When compared to personal computers, microcontrollers allow for a smaller form

factor and better power and cost efficiency.

▪ Microcontrollers are usually more suited for developing real-time systems based
on their architectures
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 Microcontrollers / Microprocessors
▪ Programming Environment
▪ There are several features to
consider when picking which ▪ Number of input and output pins
microcontroller you plan to use.
▪ Speed of execution

▪ Price

▪ Amount of memory

▪ Power Consumption

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 Design Goals For Embedded Systems

▪ Designing embedded systems is non-trivial. Given the some of the critical applications we
have discussed, embedded systems must be dependable.

▪ A system is dependable if it provides its intended service with a high probability and does
not cause any harm.

▪ Embedded systems must have the following features to be considered dependable:

- Safety, Security, Confidentiality, Reliability, Reparability, Availability

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 Design Goals For Embedded Systems

▪ Secondly, embedded systems must be resource aware. The following resources have to
be considered:

▪ Energy

▪ Run-time

▪ Code-size

▪ Weight

▪ Cost
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 Challenges Of Embedded Systems Development

▪ The nature of embedded computing devices make designing them difficult.

▪ Complex Testing - We may have to run a real machine in order to generate the proper
data. We cannot separate the testing of an embedded computer from the machine in
which it is embedded.

▪ Limited observability and controllability: Embedded computing systems usually do not

come with keyboards and screens. This makes it more difficult to see what is going on and
to affect the system’s operation. We may be forced to watch the values of electrical signals
on the microprocessor bus, for example, to know what is going on inside the system.

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 Challenges Of Embedded Systems Development

▪ Restricted development environments: The development environments for embedded

systems (the tools used to develop software and hardware) are often much more limited
than those available for PCs and workstations. We generally compile code on one type of
machine, such as a PC, and download it onto the embedded system. To debug the code,
we must usually rely on programs that run on the PC or workstation and then look inside
the embedded system

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 Learning Activity

▪ Break out into groups & discuss the following questions.

▪ Differentiate between embedded systems, cyber physical systems and the

Internet of things (IoT)

▪ Are we in the pervasive / ubiquitous computing era? Explain

▪ What is the difference between a microprocessor and a microcontroller.

▪ Explain the principle behind the operation of transistors and relays

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End of Lecture

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