Building an Embedded Systems By VIJAYANAND Email: vijay.alternate.mail@gmail.com

What is a Embedded Systems -- Hard to define. Nearly any computing system other than a desktop computer -- A portable applications of Computer Science Field, Electronics & Electrical Field, Communications, Mechanical and much more.

Characteristics of Embedded Systems Single-functioned -- Executes a single program, repeatedly Tightly-constrained -- Low cost, low power, small, fast, etc. Reactive and real-time -- Continually reacts to changes in the system’s environment -- Must compute certain results in real-time without delay

Examples of Embedded Systems

A Closer Look

Design challenge Obvious design goal: -- Construct an implementation with desired functionality Key design challenge: -- Simultaneously optimize numerous design metrics Design metric -- A measurable feature of a system’s implementation -- Optimizing design metrics is a key challenge

Design challenge – cont. Common metrics Unit cost: the monetary cost of manufacturing each copy of the system, excluding NRE cost NRE cost (Non-Recurring Engineering cost): The one-time monetary cost of designing the system Size: the physical space required by the system Performance: the execution time or throughput of the system Power: the amount of power consumed by the system Flexibility: the ability to change the functionality of the system without incurring heavy NRE cost

Design challenge – cont. Time-to-prototype: the time needed to build a working version of the system Time-to-market: the time required to develop a system to the point that it can be released and sold to customers Maintainability: the ability to modify the system after its initial release Correctness, safety, many more

Design metric competition

Design metric competition Expertise with both software and hardware is needed to optimize design metrics Not just a hardware or software expert, as is common A designer must be comfortable with various technologies in order to choose the best for a given application and constraints

Time-to-market: a demanding design metric

Losses due to delayed market entry

Losses due to delayed market entry (cont.)

NRE and unit cost metrics Costs: Unit cost: the monetary cost of manufacturing each copy of the system, excluding NRE cost NRE cost (Non-Recurring Engineering cost): The one-time monetary cost of designing the system Fixed Cost: The cost that does not depends on no. of units. Variable Cost: The cost which varies with the no. of units. Fixed and Variable cost groups to the Unit cost. Total Cost = NRE Cost + Unit Cost Unit Cost = Total cost/ No. of Units.

Cost Metrics

Product Life Cycle (PLC)

Product Life Cycle (PLC) Crossing the Chasm

New Product Development Cycle

Conclusion To follow to New Product Development cycle. To understand the Product Life Cycle. To get an awareness of Embedded System design.