ECE 6371 Fundamental Fun am nta Hardware Har war Design D gn

Embedded Systems - Forward d (Part ( II) )

Yuhua Chen Sept 1st, 2009

University of Houston

Outline

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Real-Time System

Real-Time System the system must respond to designated external or internal events within a specified time interval. Soft Real-Time System if failure to meet the time constraint results only in degraded p performance. Hard Real-Time System If a time constraint is not met, the system is said to have failed. Catastrophic: It can result in considerable risk to people, to the environment, or to a system being monitored or controlled. Firm Real-Time System Falls in between with a mix of the two kinds of tasks.

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Embedded Design and Development Process

Not

wrapped some registers, logic, and busses around the microprocessor. wrote a few lines of assembly language code debugged d b d it it, and nd shipp shipped d it. it
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too many years ago

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Good Old Days

Such

an approach worked great when all we had to concerns was

Contemporary

embedded appl applications cat ons tend to fall into two groups
Simple ones: run a toaster, microwave oven etc. Sophisticated h d ones: control l a jet aircraft, f manage an entertainment system, or help to control a nuclear reactor.

Microprocessor A handful of inputs and outputs A f few sm small-scale/medium-scale ll s l /m dium s l integrated int t d gates t s Firmware that fits into a couple of PROMs

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University of Houston

Todays Embedded System

Today,

delivering robust, reliable and welldesigned embedded applications is not quite that easy. The systems in the second group are orders of magnitude more complex than any of those we used to build.
Designing by hand is no longer feasible. We cant simply wire a few parts together, hack out a bit of software, software and spend days or weeks trying to debug the collection. We need tools; we need formal methods.

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Design Tools Needed

Need

to model our designs to perform simulations to simplify p y and interactively y optimize p the hardware, software, and firmware. to synthesize portions of that design either as a programmable logic device or a VLSI circuit. circuit

tools

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University of Houston

Embedded System Development Life Cycle

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Embedded System Development Life Cycle (cont)

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Embedded System Development Life Cycle

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Hardware and Software Design

Hardware

Software

the design, development, and test of the physical system t architecture hit t Packaging Printed circuit boards And the individual components. Entails E il the h tasks k or algorithmic l i h i portion i of f the h application. M May y be written wr n in n a highg level language, ngu g , assembler, m r, or a mixture of the two. Work in assembly requires detailed knowledge of the microprocessor architecture and its register structure.
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Design involves

Design

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Traditional Design Approach

Design

the hardware components Design Desi n the software components Bring the two together Spend time testing and debugging the system

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Contemporary Methodologies
Contemporary

methodologies favor the combined and simultaneous design of both the hardware and the software components. components The objective is to meeting system-level requirements through trade- offs between these two. Process P Ensuring a sound hardware and software specification p and input p to the process p Formulating the architecture for the system to be designed Partitioning the hardware and software Providing an iterative approach to the design of hardware and software
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Development Considerations

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Important Steps in Developing an Embedded System

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Interfacing to Outside World

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Debugging Skills
Debugging

skills are essential, especially with the complexity of today todays s system. system All too often, magic replaces critical problem analysis skills. skills

This circuit only operates properly in the afternoon when the sun is out and I work on this b bench h . . . by b the th window. i d Gee, why? on t know, now, it t just does o s . . . I tr tried oth other rp places ac s I dont or times and it never works. Could it be the warmer temperature thats affecting your systems system s behavior behavior, or shall we stay with magic as the answer?
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17 - Yuhua Chen

Summary
Our

goal in designing embedded systems is to help to solve problems for people. people Our designs can affect peoples lives. Always do your best to make your designs as safe and as reliable as you can for each application. pp Finally, remember that our responsibility for a design does not end with design release. Good luck and have fun.

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University of Houston

Review Questions

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Review Questions (cont)

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Review Questions (cont)

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University of Houston