Book Image

Embedded Systems Architecture

By : Daniele Lacamera
Book Image

Embedded Systems Architecture

By: Daniele Lacamera

Overview of this book

Embedded systems are self-contained devices with a dedicated purpose. We come across a variety of fields of applications for embedded systems in industries such as automotive, telecommunications, healthcare and consumer electronics, just to name a few. Embedded Systems Architecture begins with a bird's eye view of embedded development and how it differs from the other systems that you may be familiar with. You will first be guided to set up an optimal development environment, then move on to software tools and methodologies to improve the work flow. You will explore the boot-up mechanisms and the memory management strategies typical of a real-time embedded system. Through the analysis of the programming interface of the reference microcontroller, you'll look at the implementation of the features and the device drivers. Next, you'll learn about the techniques used to reduce power consumption. Then you will be introduced to the technologies, protocols and security aspects related to integrating the system into IoT solutions. By the end of the book, you will have explored various aspects of embedded architecture, including task synchronization in a multi-threading environment, and the safety models adopted by modern real-time operating systems.
Table of Contents (18 chapters)
Title Page
Copyright and Credits
Packt Upsell
Contributors
Preface
Index

Chapter 4. The Boot-Up Procedure

Now that mechanisms, tools, and methodologies are in place, it is finally time to start looking at the procedures required to run the software on the target. Booting up an embedded system is a process that often requires knowledge of the specific system, and the mechanisms in play. Depending on the target, there are a few indications we need to look for in the manual to find out what the system expects from the developer to successfully boot executables from the flash memory. This chapter focuses on the description of the boot process, with emphasis on the case of the Cortex-M microcontroller, which we decided to use as a reference platform. In particular, it covers:

  • The interrupt vector table
  • Memory layout
  • Building and running the boot code
  • Multiple boot stages