EMBEDDED COMPUTING Getting hands-on with embedded hardware
Single board computers (SBCs), typically credit-card sized or smaller, are now a familiar part of the computing scene, thanks in no small part to the Raspberry Pi family of products. The Pi has spawned lookalikes from several companies, which have also attracted their supporters, but perhaps less well-known are those SBCs intended exclusively for embedded applications. Our aim here is to introduce this category of SBCs, and to illustrate how you could put them to work using a starter kit that you can pick up for just a few pounds.
To start, though, just in case this is a new concept to you let’s describe what we mean by an embedded application. This is one that works in the background in such a way that the user might not even be aware that they’re using a computer, in the broadest sense of the word. So, for example, household appliances such as microwave ovens or washing machines are generally controlled by embedded software.
If you’ve delved into the Raspberry Pi, you’ll no doubte be aware that it has several GPIO (General Purpose Input Output) pins. These can be used to interface to external components such as pushbuttons, LEDs, motors, sensors and such like, so they could be used to control a robot or a whole range of other real-world devices. In this sense the Pi could be considered as a platform for embedded computing, but it’s quite different from those SBCs that are intended exclusively for embedded use.
The Pi is a general-purpose SBC; in fact many people use it to learn to code, and completely ignore its interfacing capabilities. This dual nature has one important consequence: Raspberry Pi computers
