Embedded System Architecture and Hardware Design

Embedded Systems are Ubiquitous. Three Design Cases Discussed in This BookEmbedded systems have revolutionized our society into a digital world due to the fact that they are microcontroller-based, compact in sizes, reliable in performance, and cheaper in cost. Almost each and every electronic gadget around us is an embedded system, for example: Smart phone, palmtop, digital watch, digital camera, printer, scanner, washer machine control panel, home security system, microwave oven control panel, digital thermal controller, smart connected vehicle, digital weight scale, and many more. The last three items of previous list shall be discussed in this book. This BookThis book will assist you to learn about embedded system architecture and hardware by presenting hardware/software architectures, building blocks (CPU, memories, I/Os, sensors, displays, and power circuits), physical ICs and discrete components. The content description is a top-down approach.Embedded System Basics, Development Process, Hardware Design FlowThis book begins by defining what an embedded system is. Chapter 1 present classification and aspect of embedded systems, describes embedded systems’ hardware and software characteristics. Then it is continued by chapter 2 to describe the “Embedded System Design and Development Process” and Chapter 3 “Embedded System Hardware Design Flow”.Embedded System Definitions, Concepts, Principles and ConsiderationsHardware definitions and concepts for embedded systems are described in Chapter 4. Chapter 5 discusses hardware design principles and considerations. Embedded System Architecture and Hardware Design: Building blocks, Circuits, Components, and MoreThree architecture design cases, Digital Thermal Controller (DTC), Digital Weight Scale (DWS), and Smart Connected Vehicle (SCV), are presented in Chapter 6. The first design case, Digital Thermal Controller (DTC) device, employs the Microchip PIC32MX675F256 microcontroller plus a LAN8740A Ethernet PHY transceiver IC. The second design case, Digital Weight Scale (DWS) project, adopts Texas Instrument’s CC2541F256 Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) SoC as the machine-to-machine (M2M) core. The third design case, Smart Connected Vehicle (SCV) design, use Sierra Wireless CDMA module SL3010T (plus CC2541F256 BLE) as the central processing unit (CPU). Each design case start from technology background descriptions, then function requirement is followed. Hardware and software architectures are derived and presented, protocol layers are described, and major components are listed. Finally, application software flow and operation are charted and paragraphed.The individual building blocks, schematics circuits, discrete components, and operational theories for these design cases are presented and discussed in Chapter 7. Section 7.1.2 discuss the “Steps to select a CPU”, and use design case No. 1 (DTC) as an example. Generalized discrete components (resistors, capacitors, inductors, diodes, BJT, and MOSFET) are discussed in section 7.8. Hardware communication channels, e.g. SPI, I2C, UART, and USB are discussed in section 7.9.Integrated Development and Development ToolsChapter 8 describes embedded system hardware/software Integrated Development and Design Verification. Appendixes provide hardware, software development tools, and Microchip’s MPLAB IDE introduction.AudienceThis book is intentionally written for following audience. A basic understanding of computer concepts may be required: -Managers and team leaders who need to manage and guide embedded system hardware project effectively.-Engineers and designers who want to speed up and optimize embedded system hardware architecture and design.-New graduates and students who want to study and practice embedded system hardware architecture and design.-Interested readers who want to learn and explore embedded system hardware architecture and design.