Embedded system Design

Introduction to Embedded Systems Semicon Solutions... • Computing system embedded within electronic devices.. • Combination of computer hardware and software designed to performance a sp

Introduction to

Embedded Systems

Semicon Solutions

Computing Systems

• Desktop

– PC, Workstations, Laptops

• Servers

– Tier-0: network appliance

– Tier-1: webserver

– Tier-2: application/database server – File servers, Storage-area-network

• Embedded Systems

– PDA

– Cellphone

– Routers

– Microcontrollers

• Computing system embedded within

electronic devices

• Combination of computer hardware and software designed to performance a

specific function

• Any computing system that is not a

desktop computer nor a server

Area of Applications

• General purpose

– PDA

• Control systems

– Electronics, Automotive

• Signal processing

– Media player, Camera

• Communication

– Cellphone, switch

• Average household uses ~225 embedded processors; about 35 for automobile

• Estimated 5 billion embedded processors

in use

– 94% share of world market

– 6%: Pentium, PowerPC, etc.

[Source: World Semiconductor Trade Statistics Bluebook]

Key Issues User’s Point of View

• Single function/application

– Dedicated to specific type of tasks

• Tight constraints

– Size

– Power

– Cost

– Time-to-market

• Real-time

– Respond to environment in real time

• Safety/Reliability

– Failure can result in critical damages

Key Issues Developer’s Point of View

• Concurrent development of HW and SW, i.e H W/SW codesign

• Wide selection of uP’s.

• Wide selection of OS, mostly real time (RTOS)

• Few system resources

• Specialized development tools

• Debugging skills important

• Robust HW/SW

Example

Elements

• High level of integration

– System-on-chip (SoC)

– Multiprocessor System-on-Chip (MPSoC)

• HW/SW co-design

– Concurrent development

– Optimization

• Design flow

– Design tools

– Experiences

• Usually a simple uP plus p eripheral support devices in tegrated in a single packag e

• A uP plus peripheral su

pport devices integrate

d in a single chip

• E.g Intel StrongARM

• SoC vs uController?

SoC Design

• Intellectual Property (IP)

– Circuits or cores pre-deisgned/pre-verified for certain functions

– Implications:

• Lower design cost

• Fast time-to-market

• Functional

– Functions

– I/O

• Non-functional

– Performance

– Cost

– Power consumption – Size/weight

• How to implement the specifications

– Components

– System structure

– Hardware/software partitioning

• HW/SW work together to solve a problem

• Partitioning decided by

– Performance – Flexibility – Cost

Architecture Design

Designing An Embedded

System

• Understand the big picture

• Understand the details

• Design SW with

– Real time constraints

– Low power

– Small code size

• Domain-specific knowledge