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

UART-based asynchronous serial bus


Historically used for many different purposes, thanks to the simplicity of its asynchronous nature, UART dates back to the origins of computing, and it is still a very popular circuit used in many contexts. Personal computers up to the early 2000s included at least one RS-232 serial port, realized with a UART controller and the transceivers allowing to operate at higher voltages. Nowadays, USB has replaced serial communication on personal computers, but host computers can still access TTL serial buses using USB-UART peripherals. Microcontrollers have one or more pairs of pins that can be associated with an internal UART controller, and connected to a serial bus to configure a bidirectional, asynchronous, full-duplex communication channel toward a device connected to the same bus.

Protocol description

As previously mentioned, asynchronous serial communications rely on implicit synchronization of the bit rate between the transmitter and the receiver in order...