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

Multiple boot stages


Booting a target through a bootloader is useful in several cases. In a real-life scenario, being able to update the running software on devices in a remote location means that developers are able to fix bugs and introduce new features after the first version of the embedded system has been deployed.

This represents a huge advantage for maintenance when a bug is discovered in the field, or when the software has to be re-engineered to adapt to changes in requirements. Bootloaders may implement automatic remote upgrade and other useful features, such as:

  • Loading of the application image from an external storage
  • Verification of the integrity of the application image before boot
  • Failover mechanisms in case of corrupted application

Multiple bootloaders can be chained to perform a multiple-stage boot sequence. This allows you to have separate software images for the multiple boot stages, which can be uploaded to the flash independently. A first-stage boot, when present, is usually...