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Recent Trends in Embedded Systems

The embedded systems industry was born with the invention of microcontrollers and since then ithas evolved into various forms, from primarily being designed for machine control applications

to various other new verticals with the convergence of communications.

Various classes of embedded systems such as home media systems, portable players, smartphones, embedded medical devices and sensors, automotive embedded systems have surrounded

us and with continued convergence of communications and computing functions within these

devices, embedded systems are transforming themselves into really complex systems, thuscreating newer opportunities and challenges to develop and market more powerful, energy

efficient processors, peripherals and other accessories.

An embedded system is more than the electronics as most people perceive it. It has electronics

both digital and analog, special purpose sensors and actuators, software, mechanical items etc.,

and with design challenges of space, weight, cost and power consumption. Its important

characteristics are low-power, real-time responsiveness, low thermal dissipation, small physical

form factor/footprint, low radiation/emission, ruggedness in design and impervious to externalradiations etc.

In order to achieve key requirements, generally embedded systems are restricted to limited

resources in terms of computing, memory, display size etc. With continued convergence of other

technologies a lot more functionalities are being pushed into embedded devices which were once

part of traditional computing platforms. This further adds a major decision challenge forarchitects and product managers on selection of processors, operating systems, standards of

usage etc., as demands on functionality increase with time to market decreases.

Patterns insight from the applications of embedded systems in real lifeEmbedded systems are more than part of human life. For instance, one cannot imagine life

without mobile phones for personal communication. Its presence is virtually unavoidable in

almost all facets of human endeavor. While we search on patterns in each of these applicationspaces, we can clearly identify the trend as to where the future of embedded systems is heading.

Multicore in embeddedWith a lot functionalities being added, the need for high performance in embedded systems has

become inevitable and so developers are increasingly leaning towards multicore processors in

their systems design decision. While this range of new applications also demands low thermalsin small form factor setting, the mechanicals and packaging is also becoming a sub specialization

of its own.

Conventionally, chip manufacturers developed faster single core processors to meet the everincreasing performance requirements but soon they realized that increasing frequency, though

offered certain benefits had drawbacks too such as:

It drove to higher power consumption and so the higher thermals;

Overall cost increased as the peripherals surrounding also needed to operate at matching

speed, which was truly not practical in all cases, there by driving the costs.

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This paradigm is a serious drawback for embedded computing requirements, so semiconductor

manufacturers have recognized that the way forward is to build processors that run at lowerfrequency and voltages but include parallel cores onto single chip. The overall performance

increases because multicores can perform more than one task at given point of time.

Today most of the gaming consoles are multicore and so are smartphones, which are indeedgetting 'smarter'. While this multicore paradigm offers benefits, there is also ample opportunity

for the engineers to realign/relearn on this new design space on architecture, design,

programming, debugging and testing so that they are well informed and are aware about theoptimal use of new power that a multicore offers.

If the benefits are not harnessed by developers then the purpose gets defeated. The eco-systemfor usage of multicore is still emerging and it depends on how fast or rapidly designers are opting

for change and standardization. IDE companies have already taken lead in this regard by making

necessary changes and adding support for the new multicores and this will clearly be one of the

key factors of success of usage of multicores in embedded systems.

Another recent development is that the chip suppliers are now making and marketing new chipsaiming at specific markets. For instance, Intel launched an embedded processor aiming at the

Point of sale terminal and other retail computing applications. Intel's Celeron CPU is extensively

being applied to new IP STB designs. Intel is also developing chips for home media systems and

portable media players.

Companies like Transmeta, Philips semiconductor, Netsilicon etc., are all aiming at embedded

apps. Philips is all set to introduce its LPC2000 series MCU based on ARM7 kernel, which hasflash memory, RAM, ADC, CAN and PWM channel and can be applied to automotive

electronics, industry control and medical equipment, Netsilicon as another example has

NET+ARM series processors, among which NS9775 is a 32bit, 200MHz microprocessor

including four independent video channels, TI too, is planning new in its most successful OMAParchitecture series. Transmeta has Crusoe TM5700 and TM9500 and both offers better

performance and form factor is halved compared to its last generation products.

Although the demand for processing is ever increasing for new embedded applications,

traditional applications are still in mainstream and they are now offering ultra low cost and

power requirements and increased onchip memory (both RAM and Flash) with new interfacesare key differentiators companies like Atmel Corp., Microchip Technology Inc., Infineon

Technologies AG, RDC Semiconductor Co. Ltd, Epson and other companies are featuring their

respective MCU products in these space.

Embedded operating systemsTraditionally embedded systems did away with an operating system (OS), it had lightweight

control program/monitor to offer limited I/O and memory services, however, as the systems

became complex, it was inevitable to have OS which offered low latency real-time response, lowfoot print both in time and space and give all traditional functionality such as memory protection,

error checking/report and transparent interprocess communication, which can be applied to

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communications, consumer electronics, industry controls, automotive electronics and

aerospace/national defense.

Emerging multicore also needs multimission, multithread, multiprocess, multiprocessor,

multiboard debugging and has to operate on open source tool chains such as eclipse etc., most of

the new designs today are moving away from proprietary OS and tool chains and are more andmore opting for opensource platforms both of development and deployment as the key market

differentiator for them is cost.

Royalty free licensing deployment is the key for reducing the end user costs so OS like Linux

embedded and new OS such as Android are making inroads into places where traditionally

Windows CE/Vxworks etc., used to play. Today many new handhelds and smart phones areembracing Andriod.

Even Wind River (acquired by Intel has embraced Linux and now offers it in its portfolio of

products. Eclipse, the open source project for building development platforms offers an

environment that crosses over RTOS boundaries. It comprises extensible frameworks, tools andruntimes for building, deploying and managing software throughout its lifecycle.

Embedded digital security and surveillanceIn the ever increasing interconnected world, Digital embedded security is no more an option but

a necessity as it is very critical for more transactions happening over embedded devices as frontends. Due to constrained resources on systems, embedded systems have challenges in

implementation on full fledged security systems therefore the concept of 'embedded security'

offers a new differentiator for embedded product marketing.

Digital security and surveillance is currently in the host of new applications in the embedded

arena which is benefiting from multicore phenomenon. Older systems needed more human

intervention, but new systems offer intelligent systems to operate multisite, integrated and netcentric systems that optimizes the resources needed to complete the job. The applications based

on computer vision and tracking offers multiple benefits in capturing, post processing and

identification and alerting of security video in realtime.

Convergence embedded systems and applicationsThe retail segment is one of the fastest growing segments in emerging markets and the trend inretail markets is moving towards improving the user experience, which is most certainly setting

trend towards increased performance, connectivity and rich graphics.

A point-of-sale terminal (PoS) is a great example of this - the latest PoS devices incorporatedual-display for advertising, complex accounting applications and are increasingly connected to

a central server for remote management. Back end integration with web/online stores from these

embedded devices offers to bring in latest offers onto their connected mobiles instantly if they

are planning to buy certain item. The location based marketing applications and convergence ofBluetooth based retail communication marketing space is offering new paradigms of sales and

marketing which is beneficial for both sellers and buyers.

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an efficient and cost-effective fabric to transmit audio, video, data and control information

between devices attached even to the harsh environment of an automobile.

Entertainment

While we have seen mobiles, handhelds, ipods etc., have changed the landscape of the personal

entertainment in the world in the recent past, the emerging trend is adding more intelligence in

the personal entertainment, communication devices by converging the social networks, cityinformation, location based services and choices and profile of the users.

All these are going to be delivered through the continuous gathering of intelligence, choices andusers and recent transactions. The devices are becoming multimodal, iPod and other new

androids offer gesture recognition and also the new devices are offering augmented reality

applications that are going to be future killer applications for smart phonesintegration of real

physical world with the virtual computing worldthis drives the camera, display, MEMS based

position and other tracking device technology to advance in the smart phone/tablets.

Localization and internationalization

For all these devices to be sold in world-wide markets, they need to be supported both locally

and internationally. The access to global markets can happen only withlocalization/personalization of features in the device with multi-language support and also

backend support offices that offer customized localized services. The usage of different font

technologies & adapting newer ones are the key for embedded systems that are human centric tosurvive and thrive in the market so more and more device manufacturers are working with local

partners to ensure that their embedded devices and support systems are localized and offer multi-

language local culture flavor in definitive terms. -

Lastly, the future of embedded lies in how faster people adapt to the changes offered by

convergencecommunications, nano, manufacturing and develop super applications that

advance the society and human needs, lets hope that our future is also embedded into it.