Embedded System

An embedded system is a combination of computer hardware and software, either fixed in capability or programmable, designed for a specific function or functions within a larger system. Industrial machines, agricultural and process industry devices, automobiles, medical equipment, cameras, household appliances, airplanes, vending machines and toys, as well as mobile devices, are possible locations for an embedded system.

Embedded systems are computing systems, but they can range from having no user interface for example, on devices in which the system is designed to perform a single task -- to complex graphical user interfaces , such as in mobile devices. User interfaces can include buttons, LEDs, touchscreen sensing and more. Some systems use remote user interfaces as well.

History of embedded systems

Embedded systems date back to the 1960s. Charles Stark Draper developed an integrated circuitin 1961 to reduce the size and weight of the Apollo Guidance Computer, the digital system installed on the Apollo Command Module and Lunar Module. The first computer to use ICs, it helped astronauts collect real-time flight data.

In 1965, Autonetics, now a part of Boeing, developed the D-17B, the computer used in the Minuteman I missile guidance system. It is widely recognized as the first mass-produced embedded system. When the Minuteman II went into production in 1966, the D-17B was replaced with the NS-17 missile guidance system, known for its high-volume use of integrated circuits. In 1968, the first embedded system for a vehicle was released; the Volkswagen 1600 used a to control its electronic fuel injection system.

By the late 1960s and early 1970s, the price of integrated circuits dropped and usage surged. The first microcontroller was developed by Texas Instruments in 1971. The TMS 1000 series, which became commercially available in 1974, contained a 4-bit processor, read-only memory (ROM) and random-access memory (RAM), and cost around $2 apiece in bulk orders.

Also in 1971, Intel released what is widely recognized as the first commercially available processor, the 4004. The 4-bit microprocessor was designed for use in calculators and small electronics, though it required eternal memory and support chips. The 8-bit Intel 8008, released in 1972 had 16 KB of memory; the Intel 8080 followed in 1974 with 64 KB of memory. The 8080's successor, x86 series, was released in 1978 and is still largely in use today.

In 1987, the first embedded operating system, the real-time VxWorks, was released by Wind River, followed by Microsoft's Windows Embedded CE in 1996. By the late 1990s, the first embedded Linux products began to appear. Today, Linux is used in almost all embedded devices.

Embedded system hardware (microprocessor-based, microcontroller-based)

Embedded system hardware can be microprocessor- or microcontroller-based. In either case, an integrated circuit is at the heart of the product that is generally designed to carry out computation for real-time operations. Microprocessors are visually indistinguishable from microcontrollers, but while the microprocessor only implements a central processing unit (CPU) and, thus, requires the addition of other components such as memory chips, microcontrollers are designed as self-contained systems.

Microcontrollers include not only a CPU, but also memory and peripherals such as flash memory, RAM or serial communication ports. Because microcontrollers tend to implement full (if relatively low computer power) systems, they are frequently put to use on more complex tasks. For example, microcontrollers are used in the operations of vehicles, robots, medical devices and home appliances, among others. At the higher end of microcontroller capability, the term system on a chip (SoC) is often used, although there's no exact delineation in terms of RAM, clock speed and so on.

The embedded market was estimated to be in excess of $140 billion in 2013, with many analysts projecting a market larger than $20 billion by 2020. Manufacturers of chips for embedded systems include many mainstays of the computer world, such as Apple, IBM, Intel and Texas Instruments, as well as numerous other companies less familiar to those outside the field. Arm has been a highly influential vendor in this space. The company began as an outgrowth of Acorn, a U.K. maker of early PCs. Arm chips, produced under license by other companies, are based on the reduced instruction set computer (RISC) architecture and are often used in mobile phones; they remain the most widely deployed SoC in the embedded world, with billions of units fielded.