This document discusses recent trends and advances in embedded systems. It outlines seven key areas: 1) Increased processor power from various vendors, 2) Declining memory costs, 3) Variety of available operating systems like Linux and real-time OSs, 4) Low-cost networking capabilities through interfaces like Ethernet, 5) Use of high-level languages like C and C++ for development, 6) Robust development tools like MATLAB and cross-compilers, and 7) Programmable hardware like FPGAs that integrate processors and peripherals into a single chip. These trends have made embedded software development faster and easier.

1. RECENT TRENDS or ADVANCES IN
EMBEDDED SYSTEMS
Dr.D.Binu
Associate Professor/ECE
SRI RAMAKRISHNA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, COIMBATORE-10
An Autonomous Institution
(Approved by AICTE, New Delhi – Affiliated to Anna University, Chennai)

2. RECENT TRENDS or ADVANCES IN
EMBEDDED SYSTEMS
 Olden days- E.S was confined to a very few specialist.
 Most of the embedded software was written only in
assembly language.
 Writing, debugging and maintaining the code were difficult
and time consuming.
 Availability of powerful processors and advanced development
tools, embedded software development is no longer ‘rocket
science’.
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3. RECENT TRENDS or ADVANCES IN EMBEDDED
SYSTEMS ARE:
1) PROCESSOR POWER
2) MEMORY
3) OPERATING SYSTEM
4) COMMUNICATION UNTERFACES AND
NETWORKING CAPABILITY
5) PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES
6) DEVELOPMENT TOOLS
7) PROGRAMMABLE HARDWARE
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4. 1.PROCESSOR POWER
 Growing importance of E. S can be Gauged by the
availability of processors.
 About 150 varieties of processors are available from around
50 semiconductor vendors.
 Powerful 8-bit,16-bit,32-bit and 64 bit MP and MC are
available to cater to the different market segments.
 Clock speed and memory addressing capability of these
processors are also increasing.
 Very powerful DSP are also available for real time analysis
of audio and video signals.
 As a result, the power of desktop computers is now
available in palmtops.
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5. 2.MEMORY
 Cost of memory chips is reducing day by day.
 E.S can be made functionally rich by incorporating
additional features such as networking protocols and
even graphical user interfaces.
 The cost of memory chips used to discourage
developers from porting an O.S on to the target
hardware.
 As the memory chips are becoming cheaper, porting
an O.S is no longer an issue.
 Now, wristwatches with embedded Linux operating
system are available.
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6. 3.OPERATING SYSTEM
 Desktops-O.S are limited(Predominantly, Windows).
 E.S uses variety of O.S.
 Main advantage of embedding an O.S is that the software
development will be very fast and maintaining the code is
very easy.
 Software can be developed in high level language such as C.
 So time to market the system gets reduced.
 If real time performance is required, RTOS is used.
 Many open source RTOS also available other than
commercial RTOS.
 Attraction of open source software is that it is completely
free and the complete source code is available to customize
the software as per your application needs.
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7. 4.COMMUNICATION UNTERFACES
AND NETWORKING CAPABILITY
 With the availability of low cost chips, E.S can be provided
networking capability through communication interfaces
such as Ethernet,802.11 wireless LAN and Infrared.
 Network enabled E.S has many advantages:
 It can be accessed over a network for remote control or
monitoring.
 Upgrading the embedded software is very easy as the new
version can be uploaded through the network interface.
 Due to enhanced memory capacities of the E.S, TCP/IP
protocol stack and HTTP server software can be ported onto
the system and such systems can be accessed over the
Internet from anywhere on the earth.
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8. 5.PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES
 Development of embedded software was done mostly in assembly
languages.
 Due to the availability of cross compilers, most of the development is
now done in high level languages such as C.
 Object oriented languages like C++ and Java are used.
 Main attraction of Java is its platform independence.
 The development of Java programming language was initiated
mainly to address the embedded system market.
 Many exciting applications are possible by having a Java Virtual
Machine in an E.S. To enable the system download Java applets from
a server and execute them.
 Microsoft's embedded visual tools can be used for development of
embedded software applications. People with experience in
Microsoft Visual Studio can become embedded software developer
with very little training.
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9. 6.DEVELOPMENT TOOLS
 Availability of number of tools for development, debugging
,testing as well as modelling of an E.S are used for fast
development of robust and reliable system.
 Development tools:
•Matlab and Simulink – to model an E.S and to
generate code to reduce development time.
•BREW(Binary Runtime Environment for Wireless) ,
J2ME(Java 2 Micro Edition and Wireless Application
Protocol(WAP) –facilitate easy development of
applications for mobile devices.
•The entire application can be developed and tested
on desktop computers and then deployed in the
field.
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10. 7.PROGRAMMABLE HARDWARE
 PLDs and FPGAs – pave the way for reducing the
components on an E.S , leading small, low cost
systems.
 After developing the prototype of an E.S, for mass
production, an FPGA can be developed which will
have all the functionality of the Processor, peripherals
as well as the application specific circuitry.
 System On Chip(SoC) is the catchword that reflects
the current developments in programmable hardware-
a single chip is the E.S.
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