Characteristics of embedded system
1, embedded system is the product of combining advanced computer technology, semiconductor technology and electronic technology with the specific application of various industries, which determines that it must be a technology-intensive, capital-intensive, highly decentralized, innovative knowledge integration system. In the general computer industry, the personal computer industry, which accounts for 90% of the entire computer industry, mostly adopts Intel’s x86 architecture, while chip manufacturers are concentrated in Intel, AMD, Cyrix and other companies, and the operating system is occupied by Microsoft’s monopoly position. But this does not happen in the field of embedded systems. This is a fragmented industry full of competition, opportunity and innovation, and no one company’s operating system and processor can monopolize the market.
2, embedded systems are usually user-oriented, product-oriented, application-specific. The biggest difference between cpus in embedded systems and general-purpose cpus is that the former mostly work in systems designed for specific user groups. Generally, the embedded system CPU has the characteristics of low power consumption, small size and high integration, and can integrate many tasks completed by the board in the general CPU inside the chip, which is conducive to the miniaturization of the whole system design. When designing the hardware and software of embedded system, we must pay attention to the efficiency, remove the redundancy, and rationally configure the system according to the specific needs of users in order to achieve the ideal performance. At the same time, the system design is also affected by market supply and demand. The development of embedded processors also reflects stability, and a system generally exists for 8 to 10 years. An architecture and related on-chip peripherals, development tools, library functions and embedded application products can be combined to form a complex knowledge system.
3, embedded systems and specific applications are organically combined together, and their upgrading is also synchronized with specific products. Therefore, once embedded system products enter the market, they have a long life cycle.
4, in order to improve the execution speed and system reliability, the software in the embedded system is generally solidified in the memory chip or MCU, rather than stored in the disk and other carriers. Because the computing speed and storage capacity of embedded systems are still limited to a certain extent, in addition, most embedded systems must have high real-time performance, so the quality of the program, especially the reliability, has a high requirement.
5, embedded system itself does not have the ability to carry out further development on it. After the design is completed, if the user needs to modify the program function, it must also rely on a set of development tools and environment.
6, general purpose computer developers are usually computer science or computer engineering professionals, while embedded system developers are often experts in various application fields, which requires that the development tools supported by embedded systems are easy to learn, easy to use, reliable and efficient.