QUESTIONS

SUBJECT: EMBEDDED SYSTEM

1) How embedded system are different from other computing system describe.
Ans:

General Purpose Computing System Embedded System

1. It is a combination of a generic hardware and a 1. A system which is a combination of special purpose

General Purpose Operating System for executing a hardware and embedded OS for executing a specific set
variety of applications. Ex: desktop PC or a laptop of applications. Ex: DVD player ,Printer, Washing
PC or a tablet PC etc. machine etc.
2.May or may not contain an operating system for
2.Contains a General Purpose Operating System functioning
(GPOS). (Windows, Linux, Mac OS ) 3.The firmware of the embedded system is pre-
programmed and it is non- alterable by the end-user
3.Applications are alterable programmable) by the
(There may be exceptions for systems supporting OS
user (It is possible for the end user to re-install the
kernel image flashing through special hardware
operating system, and also add or remove user
settings)
applications)
4.Application-specific requirements (like performance,
4.Performance is the key deciding factor in the power requirements, memory usage, etc.) are the key
selection of the system. Always, ‘Faster is Better’. deciding factors.
5.Highly tailored to take advantage of the power saving
5.Less/not at all tailored towards reduced operating modes supported by the hardware and the operating
power requirements, options for different levels of system.
power management. 6.For certain category of embedded systems like
pacemaker, the response time requirement is highly
6.Response requirements are not time-critical.
critical.
7.Need not be deterministic in execution behavior. 7. Execution behavior is deterministic for certain types
of embedded systems like ‘Hard Real Time’ systems

2) Describe the computational model in embedded system design

Ans:-A mathematical description that has a syntax and rules for computation of the
behavior described by the syntax (semantics). Used to specify the semantics of
computation and concurrency.
Characteristics: compact description, fidelity to design style, synthesize and optimize
behavior to an implementation.
Computational models evolve over time, as abstractions are introduced to eliminate
unnecessary details and clarify the important designpoints of the systems being modeled.
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In the early days of computer science, the data aspects of a computational model were
thought of in low-level terms, such as bit strings or integers. Such low-level abstractions
were often tied to particular machine architectures, which used data words of different
sizes, and they were difficult to use in different environments or to reason about. This led
initially to the notion of simple data types (for example, 8-bit bytes and byte streams) and
ultimately to the introduction of the higher-level data abstractions that are used today,
such as abstract data types or objects.
Data Flow Graph/Diagram (DFG) Model
• Control Data Flow Graph/Diagram (CDFG)Model
• State Machine Model
• Sequential Program Model
• Concurrent/Communicating Process Model
• Object Oriented Model
Data Flow Graph/Diagram (DFG)Model
•It translates the data processing requirements into a dataflow graph.It is data driven
model in which program execution isdetermined by data.It emphasizes on data and
operation on data whichtransform the input data to output data.It is visual model in which
operation on data(Process) isrepresented using a block(Circle) and data flow is
represented by arrows(inward arrow =>i/p to processand outward arrow=> o/p of
process) Embedded application which are computational intensive &data driven are
modeled using DFG Eg.: DSP
• For example suppose computation x = a + b & y = x - c needsto be carried out, then

• Acyclic DFG: doesn’t containmultiple values for i/p variablesand multiple values for
o/pvariables.

Control Data Flow Graph (CDFG)Model:-Is used for applications involving control
program execution. Contains both data operation and controloperation.
Data nodes-> elements
control nodes-> decision makers

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• For example, if Flag=1, x=a+b else y=a-b. Thisrequires decision making

State Machine Model: Used for modeling reactive or event-driven embedded

systems, whose behavior are dependent on statetransistions.State machine model
describes the system behaviorwith ‘State’, ‘Event’, ‘Action’ & ‘Transistion’.
State -> representation of current situation.
Event ->i/p to state, acts as stimuli for state transistion.
Action ->activity to be performed by state machine.
Transistion -> movement from one state to another.

Example-1: SEAT BELT WARNING SYSTEM

Requirements:
1. When vehicle ignition is turned ON & seat belt isnot fastened within 10 secs of
Ignition ON, thesystem generates an alarm signal for 5 secs.
2. The alarm is turned OFF when the seat belt isfastened / alarm time expires / the
ignition isoff== whichever happens first.

Sequential Program Model: -The functions or processing requirements are executed in

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 sequence.Program instructions are iterated and executedconditionally and data gets
transformed through a series ofoperations.FSMs are good choice for sequential Program
modeling.Flow charts are also good tool for modeling sequentialprogram.

FSMs represents States, events, transistions and actionsFlow charts model the execution
flow

Concurrent/Communicating ProcessModel:-Models concurrently executing

tasks/processes. Sequential models leads to poor utilization ofprocessor, when the tasks
waits for I/O Sleeping.here a task is subdivided into multiple sub tasks &CPU is
effectively used. but requires additional overhead like task
scheduling, task synchronization &communication
Object Oriented Model :-Complex overall program/software requirement isdivided into
simple well defined pieces calledobjects.A class is abstract description of a set of objects
&can be considered as blueprint of objects.State of object=member variable. Object
behavior= member functionPrivate, Public orProtected
Private= ->accessible only within the class
Public-> accessible within as well as outside the class
Protected-> external access is prohibited

3) Explain the relationship between operating system, computer hardware, system software
in an embedded system with the help of a schematic diagram.
Ans:-Operating System, as name suggests, is simply a system software runs on computer
that manages all application programs in computer and provide interface among user and
hardware. Computer Hardware consists of physical parts of computer. Operating System
is a translator between computer user and hardware.
1. Hardware :

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 Electronics Hardware for programmable and switching , as name suggest, are simply
physical components or machinery or equipment’s ,that are hard, tangible as well as
considered main constitute of computing device without which computing cannot
function.

2. Operating System :
Operating System, as name suggests, is simply a system software runs on computer that
manages all application programs in computer and provide interface among user and
hardware.
3. Application software is a type of computer:-program that performs a specific
personal,educational, business and other functions in differentareas of human
endeavor. Each program with the helpof OS and hardware support is designed to
assist theuser with a particular process, which may be related toproductivity,
creativity, and/or communication

4) What you understand on following write in details

a) Electronic design automation

Ans:

Early embedded products were built around the old transistor and vacuumtube technologies,
where the designers built the PCB with their hands,oil paper, pencil, pen, ruler and copper plates.
The process of building aPCB was a tedious and time consuming process in ancient times where
thedesigners sketch the required connections using pen, pencil and ruler on papers and the
finished sketch was used for etching the connections on acopper plate and it took weeks and
months time to finish a PCB. The morethe inter connections involved in the hardware, the more
difficult was the process. The accuracy and finishingof the PCB was highly dependent on the
artistic skills of the designer. Today the scenario is totally changed.Advances in computer
technology and IT brought out highly sophisticated and automated tools for PCBdesign and
fabrication. The process of manual sketching the PCB has given way to software packages
thatgives an automatic routing and layout for your product in a few seconds. These software
packages are widelyknown as Electronic Design Automation (EDA) tools and various
manufactures offer these tools for differentoperating systems (Windows, UNIX, Linux etc.).
EDA tool is a set of Computer Aided Design/Manufacturing(CAD/CAM) software packages
which helps in designing and manufacturing the electronic hardware likeintegrated circuits,
printed circuit board, etc. The key players of the EDA tool industry are Cadence, Protel,Altium,
Cadsoft, Zuken, Mentor, etc. OrCAD, Cadstar, Protel, Eagle, etc. are the popular EDA tool
packagesavailable in the market for PCB design. Of these, I feel Cadence OrCAD as the most
flexible and user friendly tool. The reference tool used for hardware design throughout this book
is OrCAD
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 b) RISC Vs CISC architecture

Ans:

RISC CISC

1Lesser no. of instructions 1.Greater no. of Instructions

2.Instruction Pipelining and increased 2.Generally no instruction pipelining feature.
execution speed.
3. Orthogonal Instruction Set (Allows each 3.Non Orthogonal Instruction Set (All
instruction to operate on any register and use instructions are not allowed to operate on any
any addressing mode). register and use any addressing mode. It is
instruction specific).
4.Operations are performed on registers only, 4.Operations are performed on registers or
the only memory operations are load and store. memory depending on the instruction.
5. Large number of registers are available. 5. Limited no. of general purpose registers.
6.Programmer needs to write more code to 6. Instructions are like macros in C language.
execute a task since the instructions are A programmer can achieve the desired
simpler ones. functionality with a single instruction which in
turn provides the effect of using more simpler
single instructions inRISC.
7.Single, Fixed length Instructions. 7. Variable length Instructions.
8. Less Silicon usage and pin count. 8. More silicon usage since more additional
decoder logic is required to implement the
complex instruction decoding.

5) List and explain hard ware unit that must be present in the embedded system.
Ans:- The hardware’s are present in the embedded system are follows
System core:-A typical embedded system contains a single chip controller, which acts as
the master brain of the system.The controller can be a Microprocessor (e.g. Intel 8085) or
a microcontroller (e.g. Atmel AT89C51)or a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA)
device (e.g. Xilinx Spartan) or a Digital Signal Processor ( DSP)(e.g. Blackfi n®
Processors from Analog Devices) or an Application Specifi c Integrated Circuit (ASIC)/
Application Specifi c Standard Product (ASSP) (e.g. ADE7760 Single Phase Energy
Metreing IC from)Analog Devices for energy metering applications).
Memory:-Memory is an important part of a processor/controller based embedded
systems.Some of the processors/controllers contain built in memory and this memory
isreferred as on-chip memory. Others do not contain any memory inside the chipand
requires external memory to be connected with the controller/processor tostore the
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control algorithm. It is called off-chip memory. Also some workingmemory is required
for holding data temporarily during certain operations. Thissection deals with the
different types of memory used in embedded systemapplications.
Firmware:-
Sensors :- A sensor is a transducer device that converts energy from one form to another
for any measurement or controlpurpose.an embeddedsystem is in constant interaction
with the Real world and the controlling/monitoring functions executed by the embedded
system is achieved inaccordance with the changes happening to the Real world. The
changes insystem environment or variables are detected by the sensors connected to
theinput port of the embedded system. Looking back to the ‘Wearable devices’ example
given at the end of Chapter 1, we can identify that thesensor which counts steps for
pedometer functionality is an Accelerometer sensor and the sensor used insome of the
smartwatch devices to measure the light intensity is an Ambient Light Sensor (ALS)

Actuators:-Actuator is a form of transducer device (mechanical or electrical) which

converts signals to correspondingphysical action (motion). Actuator acts as an output
device.Looking back to the ‘Wearable devices’ we can see that certainsmartwatches use
Ambient Light Sensor to detect the surrounding light intensity and uses an
electrical/electronic actuator circuit to adjust the screen brightness for better readability.
Communication interfaces:-Communication interface is essential for communicating with
various subsystemsof the embedded system and with the external world. For an
embedded product,the communication interface can be viewed in two different
perspectives; namely;Device/board level communication interface (Onboard
Communication Interface)and Product level communication interface (External
Communication Interface).Embedded product is a combination of different types of
components (chips/devices) arranged on a printed circuit board (PCB). The
communication channel which interconnects thevarious components within an embedded
product is referred as device/board level communication interface(onboard
communication interface). Serial interfaces like I2C, SPI, UART, 1-Wire, etc and parallel
businterface are examples of ‘Onboard Communication Interface.
Other supporting Integrated Circuits &subsystems: -The other system components refer
to the components/circuits/ICs whichare necessary for the proper functioning of the
embedded system. Some ofthese circuits may be essential for the proper functioning of
the processor/ controller and firmware execution. Watchdog timer, Reset IC (or
passivecircuit), brown-out protection IC (or passive circuit), etc. are examples
ofcircuits/ICs which are essential for the proper functioning of the processor/controllers.
Some of the controllers or SoCs integrate these componentswithin a single IC and doesn’t
require such components externallyconnected to the chip for proper functioning.
Depending on the systemrequirement, the embedded system may include other integrated

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 circuits for performing specific functions,level translator ICs for interfacing circuits with
different logic levels, etc. The following section explains theessential circuits for the
proper functioning of the processor/controller of the embedded system.
6) Explain the various forms of memories present in an embedded system.
Ans:The memory used in embedded system can be either Program Storage Memory
(ROM) or Data memory (RAM). Certain Embedded processors/controllers contain built
in program memory and data memory and this memory is known as on-chip memory.

FLASH Code Memory NVRAM

(ROM)

PROM Masked ROM

EPROM EEPROM
(OTP) (MROM)

Masked ROM:-One-time programmable memory. Uses hardwired technology for

storing data. The device is factory programmed by masking and metallization process
according to the data provided by the end user The primary advantage of MROM is low
cost for high volume production. They are the least expensive type of solid state memory.
Programmable Read Only Memory (PROM) / (OTP):-Unlike MROM it is not pre-
programmed by the manufacturerPROM/OTP has nichrome or polysilicon wires arranged
in a matrix, these wires can be functionally viewed as fusesIt is programmed by a PROM
programmer which selectively burns the fuses according to the bit pattern to be
storedFuses which are not blown/burned represents a logic “1” where as fuses which are
blown/burned represents a logic “0”.The default state is logic “1”.
Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory (EPROM):-Erasable Programmable
Read Only (EPROM) memory gives the flexibility to re-program the same chipEPROM
stores the bit information by charging the floating gate of an FETBit information is stored
by using an EPROM Programmer, which applies high voltage to charge the floating gate.
Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory (EEPROM):- Erasable
Programmable Read Only (EPROM) memory gives the flexibility to re-program the same
chip using electrical signalsThe information contained in the EEPROM memory can be
altered by using electrical signals at the register/Byte levelThey can be erased and
reprogrammed within the circuitThese chips include a chip erase mode and in this mode
they can be erased in a few milliseconds.

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 FLASH:- FLASH memory is a variation of EEPROM technologyIt combines the re-
programmability of EEPROM and the high capacity of standard ROMsFLASH memory
is organized as sectors (blocks) or pagesFLASH memory stores information in an array
of floating gate MOSFET transistorsThe erasing of memory can be done at sector level or
page level without affecting the other sectors or pagesEach sector/page should be erased
before re-programming.
Read-Write Memory/Random Access Memory (RAM):-Read-Write Memory/Random
Access Memory (RAM):- RAM is the data memory or working memory of the
controller/processor. RAM is volatile, meaning when the power is turned off, all the
contents are destroyed. RAM is a direct access memory, meaning we can access the
desired memory location directly without the need for traversing through the entire
memory locations to reach the desired memory position (i.e. Random Access of memory
location).

7) Describe serial bus communication protocols using I 2C bus.

Ans:-
Inter Integrated Circuit Bus (I2C - Pronounced ‘I square C’) is a synchronous bi-
directional half duplex (one-directional communication at a given point of time) two wire
serial interface busThe concept of I2C bus was developed by ‘Philips Semiconductors’ in
the early 1980’s. The original intention of I2C was to provide an easy way of connection
between a microprocessor/ microcontroller system and the peripheral chips in Television
setsThe I2C bus is comprised of two bus lines, namely; Serial Clock – SCL and Serial
Data – SDA. SCL line is responsible for generating synchronization clock pulses and
SDA is responsible for transmitting the serial data across devices.I2C bus is a shared bus
system to which many number of I2C devices can be connected. Devices connected to
the I2C bus can act as either ‘Master’ device or ‘Slave’ device .
SCL SDA Vcc
2.2K

SDA
2.2K
Port Pins SCL
Slave 1
SCL I2C Device
Master SDA (Eg: Serial
(Microprocessor/ EEPROM)
Controller)

SCL Slave 2
SDA I2C Device

I2C Bus

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 The ‘Master’ device is responsible for controlling the communication by
initiating/terminating data transfer, sending data and generating necessary
synchronization clock pulses‘Slave’ devices wait for the commands from the master and
respond upon receiving the commands‘Master’ and ‘Slave’ devices can act as either
transmitter or receiverRegardless whether a master is acting as transmitter or receiver, the
synchronization clock signal is generated by the ‘Master’ device onlyI2C supports multi
masters on the same busThe sequence of operation for communicating with an I2C slave
device is:
1. Master device pulls the clock line (SCL) of the bus to ‘HIGH’.
2. Master device pulls the data line (SDA) ‘LOW’, when the SCL line is at logic
‘HIGH’ (This is the ‘Start’ condition for data transfer).
3. Master sends the address (7 bit or 10 bit wide) of the ‘Slave’ device to which it wants
to communicate, over the SDA line. Clock pulses are generated at the SCL line for
synchronizing the bit reception by the slave device. The MSB of the data is always
transmitted first. The data in the bus is valid during the ‘HIGH’ period of the clock
signal.
4. Master sends the Read or Write bit (Bit value = 1 Read Operation; Bit value = 0
Write Operation) according to the requirement.
5. Master waits for the acknowledgement bit from the slave device whose address is
sent on the bus along with the Read/Write operation command. Slave devices
connected to the bus compares the address received with the address assigned to
them.
6. The Slave device with the address requested by the master device responds by
sending an acknowledge bit (Bit value =1) over the SDA line.
7. Upon receiving the acknowledge bit, master sends the 8bit data to the slave device
over SDA line, if the requested operation is ‘Write to device’. If the requested
operation is ‘Read from device’, the slave device sends data to the master over the
SDA line.
8. Master waits for the acknowledgement bit from the device upon byte transfer
complete for a write operation and sends an acknowledge bit to the slave device for a
read operation.
9. Master terminates the transfer by pulling the SDA line ‘HIGH’ when the clock line
SCL is at logic ‘HIGH’ (Indicating the ‘STOP’ condition).

8) Elucidate the selection of processor and memory for any one embedded application with
suitable diagram in details.
Ans:-

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 With numerous kinds of processors with various design philosophies available at our
disposal for using in our design, following considerations need to be factored during
processor selection for an embedded system.
1. Performance Considerations
2. Power considerations
3. Peripheral Set
4. Operating Voltage
5. Specialized Processing Units

Performance considerations:-The first and foremost consideration in selecting the

processor is its performance. The performance speed of a processor is dependent
primarily on its architecture and its silicon design. Evolution of fabrication techniques
helped packing more transistors in same area there by reducing the propagation delay.
Also presence of cache reduces instruction/data fetch timing. Pipelining and super-scalar
architectures further improves the performance of the processor. Branch prediction,
speculative execution etc are some other techniques used for improving the execution
rate. Multi-cores are the new direction in improving the performance.Rather than simply
stating the clock frequency of the processor which has limited significance to its
processing power, it makes more sense to describe the capability in a standard notation.
MIPS (Million Instructions Per Second) or MIPS/MHz was an earlier notation followed
by Dhrystones and latest EEMBC’s CoreMark. CoreMark is one of the best ways to
compare the performance of various processors.Processor architectures with support for
extra instruction can help improving performance for specific applications. For example,
SIMD (Single Instruction/Multiple Data) set and Jazelle – Java acceleration can help in
improving multimedia and JVM execution speeds.So size of cache, processor
architecture, instruction set etc has to be taken in to account when comparing the
performance.

Power Considerations:-Increasing the logic density and clock speed has adverse impact
on power requirement of the processor. A higher clock implies faster charge and
discharge cycles leading to more power consumption. More logic leads to higher power
density there by making the heat dissipation difficult. Further with more emphasis on
greener technologies and many systems becoming battery operated, it is important the
design is for optimal power usage.
Techniques like frequency scaling – reducing the clock frequency of the processor
depending on the load, voltage scaling – varying the voltage based on load can help in
achieving lower power usage. Further asymmetric multiprocessors, under near idle
conditions, can effectively power off the more powerful core and load the less powerful
core for performing the tasks. SoC comes with advanced power gating techniques that
can shut down clocks and power to unused modules.
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 Peripheral Set:-Every system design needs, apart from the processor, many other
peripherals for input and output operations. Since in an embedded system, almost all the
processors used are SoCs, it is better if the necessary peripherals are available in the chip
itself. This offers various benefits compared to peripherals in external IC’s such as
optimal power architecture, effective data communication using DMA, lower BoM etc.
So it is important to have peripheral set in consideration when selecting the processor.
Operating Voltages:-Each and every processor will have its own operating voltage
condition. The operating voltage maximum and minimum ratings will be provided in the
respective data sheet or user manual.While higher end processors typically operate with 2
to 5 voltages including 1.8V for Cores/Analogue domains, 3.3V for IO lines, needs
specialized PMIC devices, it is a deciding factor in low end micro-controllers based on
the input voltage. For example it is cheaper to work with a 5V micro-controller when the
input supply is 5V and a 3.3 micro-controllers when operated with Li-on batteries.
Specialized Processing:-Apart from the core, presence of various co-processors and
specialized processing units can help achieving necessary processing performance. Co-
processors execute the instructions fetched by the primary processor thereby reducing the
load on the primary. Some of the popular co-processors include. Floating Point Co-
processor:RISC cores supports primarily integer only instruction set. Hence presence of a
FP co-processor can be very helpful in application involving complex mathematical
operations including multimedia, imaging, codecs, signal processing etc.
Graphic Processing Unit:-GPU(Graphic Processing Unit) also called as Visual
processing unit is responsible for drawing images on the frame buffer memory to be
displayed. Since human visual perception needed at-least 16 Frames per second for a
smooth viewing, drawing for HD displays involves a lot of data bandwidth. Also with
increasing graphic requirements such as textures, lighting shadersetc, GPU’s have
become a mandatory requirements for mobile phones, gaming consoles etc.Various
GPU’s like ARM’s MALI, PowerVX, OpenGL etc are increasing available in higher end
processors. Choosing the right co-processor can enable smooth design of the embedded
application.

Memory selection:-Selection of suitable memory is very much essential step in high

performance applications, because the challenges and limitations of the system
performance are often decided upon the type of memory architecture.Systems memory
requirement depend primarily on the nature of the application that is planned to run on
the system. Memory performance and capacity requirement for low cost systems are
small, whereas memory throughput can be the most critical requirement in a complex,
high performance system.Following are the factors that are to be considered while
selecting the memory devices.
1.Speed

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 2.Data storage size and capacity
3.Bus width
4.Latency
5.Power consumption
6.Cost
SRAM’s have lower data storage and capacity hence they are suitable for lower end
systems where as SDRAM for higher end systems with complex requirements.Among the
high speed types of SDRAM, DDR2 memory modules can have memory capacities from
256MB to 4GB capacities. Most of the DDR2 memory chips come in FBGA (Fine Ball
Grid Array) package. The package allows higher memory densities in smaller space with
better electrical properties. DDR2 memory uses 1.8V for power, resulting in lower power
and cooler operation, whereas the DDR uses 2.5V.Further there are variations of DDR
available that are fine tuned for particular applications. For example, the Graphic DDR
(GDDR) memory is designed for higher performance than the standard DDR memory. To
achieve this, they operate at additional voltage of 2.0V. But the capacity of GDDR
memory devices in comparison to DDR tends to be reduced typically from 256Mb to
512Mb. This enables them to be used in resource intensive video cards. On the other end
of the spectrum, Mobile DDR (MDDR) memory devices are optimized for low power
applications such as battery operated and handheld devices. In deep power down (DPD)
mode of operation, their current can go as low as 10uA.The data rates are defined by the
RAM manufacturer and are based on various factors such as CAS latency, RAS-CAS
delay etc. Even a increase of 0.5 cycle, can impact a change of up to 10% of speed.Again,
these high speed varieties of SDRAM needs careful PCB layout with signal integrity
considerations including presence of suitable terminations.Obviously a 32-bit width
memory can fetch more data in a same cycle as a 16 bit memory. Thus more the data
width, better the transfer rate, provided the data line support is available.Another factor,
when going for non-volatile programmable storage, is deciding the programming model.
For example, it could be ISP (In-System Programming) that allows programming the
flash but needs the application to be stopped at that time. Or it could be IAP (In-
Application Programming) that will allow re-programming of the memory even when the
application firmware is running. This is determined by the memory architecture.
Nowadays many microcontrollers support both the options and ISP is used for
manufacturing and IAP is appropriate for field updates.Though nowadays the memory
controllers available in the SoC primarily dictate the selection of the memory devices, we
believe this blog provides a good insight about various memory technologies, their
application and selection. In the next blog, we will analyze about the power supply design
in an embedded system.
9) Explain the possible steps are involved in build process of embedded control systems.
Ans:-

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 Embedded System Design Process
Although different types of embedded systems will have a wide variety of specifics and
nuances (for example, not all systems will require separate PCB design), the general
design process of embedded systems can be encompassed in the following high-level
step.

1. Analysis of Embedded System Requirements:-The first step in embedded systems

design is to collect and eloquently define the requirements for your future embedded
system. It’s necessary to produce a clear system plan and vision to be agreed upon
with all project stakeholders. Once preliminary engineering is over, it will be
necessary to move on to the next step.
2. Determine Detailed Technical Specifications:-This step is dedicated to advanced
embedded system engineering, which should result in technical specifications and
electronic maps that show the actual positions of micro-elements, circuits, and
functionalities. Depending on the type of your embedded system, it’s required to plan
all communication and data transition/processing channels, technologies, and nodes.
There are many factors to consider…
Processor options,Memory types to be used , Peripherals and ports ,Operating
voltages and powering options , Microcontroller specifications to be used, The cost of
the embedded system. Also, it’s imperative to make sure your system is secure and
hacker-proof, especially when it comes to data transition between separate nodes and
devices in more complicated system configurations that involve more than one
embedded system. There exist many software packages that can help you with
embedded system engineering tasks.
3. PCB Design:-Printed circuit boards (PCBs) are the basic elements of many modern
electronic solutions, including embedded systems. Once you have a diagram that
shows the required electronic components and how they are arranged and
interconnected in the PCB, you can create a virtual model that will help you test your
electronic schematics without using real electronics. When PCB design is approved
safe and efficient, you can choose from a number of newer technologies (like 3D–
printing) to create an actual PCB with all of its electronic components.
4. Prototyping:-This is one of the most important steps in the embedded system design
process. Prototyping means creating a device (MVP) with your embedded system(s)
to drive and test your product in real-life environments. Implementation of your
embedded system usually involves seamless integration with other embedded systems
in the device so they can cooperate smoothly.
5. Firmware & Software Development:- In this step of embedded system software
design, it’s necessary to design, develop, and implement code-driven
components:Firmware to drive embedded system functionalitySoftware to cooperate

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 with embedded system functionality Firmware is low-level code that is used to
immediately operate the embedded system (so-called embedded software), while any
software on higher levels (installable on computers or mobile devices) can be
integrated with firmware or embedded system components to receive data and
hardware abstractions. Firmware permanently resides in non-volatile memory blocks
(ROM, EPROM, EEPROM, and Flash.) An example of firmware that can be found in
embedded systems is a real-time operating system (RTOS) that generates a real-time,
highly deterministic response to external situations.
6. Test & Bug-fix:-Embedded system design, including viable prototypes and software
development, should undergo competent testing and bug-fixing before its introduction
to end users and serial manufacturing. Electronics should be well-tested under many
conditions, including operating near maximum limits.
7. Maintenance :-When a product with embedded systems is finally released to the
market, user feedback should be monitored and all necessary product maintenance
should be provided to end users, if required.
10) Classify and explain the various types of embedded system.

Ans:-

Some of the criteria used in the classification of embedded system:

(1) Based on generation
(2) Complexity and performance requirements
(3) Based on deterministic behavior
(4) Based on triggering

1.Classification Based on Generation:-First Generation, Second Generation, Third

Generation, Fourth Generation.
First Generation: The early embedded systems built around 8bit microprocessors like 8085
and Z80 and 4bit microcontrollers. Ex: Digital telephone keypads, stepper motor control
units.
Second Generation: Embedded Systems built around 16-bit microprocessors and 8 or 16bit
microcontrollers, following the first generation embedded systems. Ex: Data Acquisition
Systems, SCADA systems, etc.
Third Generation: Embedded Systems built around high performance 16/32 bit
Microprocessors/ controllers, Application Specific Instruction set processors like Digital
Signal Processors (DSPs), and Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs).Ex:
Robotics, industrial process control, networking.
Fourth Generation: Embedded Systems built around System on Chips (SoCs), Re-
configurable processors and multicore processors.

15 Manoj Kumar Sahoo

2. Classification Based on Complexity and Performance:-Small-Scale Embedded Systems,
Medium-Scale Embedded Systems, Large-Scale Embedded Systems/Complex Systems.
Small Scale: The early embedded systems built around 8bit microprocessors like 8085 and
Z80 and 4bit microcontrollers.
Medium Scale: Embedded Systems built around 16bit microprocessors and 8 or 16bit
microcontrollers, following the first generation embedded systems.

Large Scale/Complex: Embedded Systems built around high performance 16/32 bit
Microprocessors/controllers, Application Specific Instruction set processors like Digital
Signal Processors (DSPs), and Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs)

3. Based on deterministic behaviour:-

This classification is applicable for “Real Time” systems (patient monitoring ). The task
execution behavior for an embedded system may be deterministic or non-deterministic.
Based on execution behavior Real Time embedded systems are divided into Hard and Soft.
4. Based on triggering:- Embedded systems which are “Reactive” in nature can be based on
triggering. Reactive systems can be:

A. Event triggered

B. Time triggered

16 Manoj Kumar Sahoo