1. Microcontroller Systems: Motivation
Credits:
Some of the slides are taken from:
A. Sangiovanni-Vincentelli
T. Givargis
F. Vahid
D. Gaijksi

2. Microcontroller systems
Nearly any computing system other than a general purpose computer
Microcontroller systems are often called embedded systems
A computing system, embedded within a larger system, and repeatedly performing a specific task (“the application”)
URL: Ubiquitous

3. Embedded Systems Environment Sensors Information Processing Actuators
Environment to Environment
Sensors + Information Processing + Actuators

4. An Example
More than 30% of a car cost is in Electronics

5. Embedded systems Applications
Anti-lock brakes
Auto-focus cameras
Automatic teller machines
Automatic toll systems
Automatic transmission
Avionic systems
Battery chargers
Camcorders
Cell phones
Cell-phone base stations
Cordless phones
Cruise control
Curbside check-in systems
Digital cameras
Disk drives
Electronic card readers
Electronic instruments
Electronic toys/games
Factory control
Fax machines
Fingerprint identifiers
Home security systems
Life-support systems
Medical testing systems
Modems
MPEG decoders
Network cards
Network switches/routers
On-board navigation
Pagers
Photocopiers
Point-of-sale systems
Portable video games
Printers
Satellite phones
Scanners
Smart ovens/dishwashers
Speech recognizers
Stereo systems
Teleconferencing systems
Televisions
Temperature controllers
Theft tracking systems
TV set-top boxes
VCR’s, DVD players
Video game consoles
Video phones
Washers and dryers
And the list goes on and on …

6. The Computer Market

7. Moore’s Law
In 1965 Intel co-founder Gordon Moore predicted that IC transistor capacity would double every 18 months
The main driving force behind the popularity of Embedded Systems is essentially Moore Law.
[Source:
[Moore’s law is the driving force behind a tremendous body of research both in academia and industry:
microelectronics, EDA
Internet
Ubiquitous computing …]

8. Design Productivity Gap
The main driving force behind the popularity of embedded Systems is Moore law.
(There is a gap between manufacturing capability and design capability)
[Source: The International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors: 1999]

9. Traditional Design Flow
Specification are often incomplete and written in non-formal languages
HW-SW partitioning is decided a priori based on HW/SW engineers “gut feelings”
The final verification is usually only on the Integration rather than the entire system

10. Problems with the Traditional Design Flow
Lack of a unified hardware-software Framework
Hard to verify the entire system
Incompatibilities at the HW/SW boundary
“Prejudiced” definition of the partitions
Sub-optimal design
Any change in the partitioning may require considerable redesign efforts (negative impact on the time-to-market)
Source: L.Lavagno, ASV

11. Sub-optimal vs. optimal Architecture
Inspired by ASV EE249 slides: picture from ASV
The consequence of sub-optimal vs. optimal can be quite relevant

12. Levels of Abstraction RTL RT Level RTL SW System Level Abstraction
Gate Level
Transistor Level
Source: ASV
IP Block level = Platform Level
1970
1980
1990
2000+

13. Embedded System Design Challenge
Simultaneous optimization of competing design metrics
Hardware “vs.” Software
Two very interesting challenges are from the design point of view optimization of competing design metrics, and the emphasizes on a unified representation of Hardware and Software.
{There are a lot of university both in Europe and US that are currently trying to build “embedded System Curricula” and one interesting point the focus on is the need of the new figure of Engineer the so called “Renaissance engineer” – that must be proficient in both HW and SW}
[Source: from F.Vahid, T.Givargis]
Hardware/Software Co-design =

14. Typical Embedded System
Interplay between application and SOC. Not only the architecture and the kind of application affect the power consumption,
but also the way the application is written (software).