Book Image

Architecting High-Performance Embedded Systems

By : Jim Ledin
4 (1)
Book Image

Architecting High-Performance Embedded Systems

4 (1)
By: Jim Ledin

Overview of this book

Modern digital devices used in homes, cars, and wearables contain highly sophisticated computing capabilities composed of embedded systems that generate, receive, and process digital data streams at rates up to multiple gigabits per second. This book will show you how to use Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) and high-speed digital circuit design to create your own cutting-edge digital systems. Architecting High-Performance Embedded Systems takes you through the fundamental concepts of embedded systems, including real-time operation and the Internet of Things (IoT), and the architecture and capabilities of the latest generation of FPGAs. Using powerful free tools for FPGA design and electronic circuit design, you’ll learn how to design, build, test, and debug high-performance FPGA-based IoT devices. The book will also help you get up to speed with embedded system design, circuit design, hardware construction, firmware development, and debugging to produce a high-performance embedded device – a network-based digital oscilloscope. You’ll explore techniques such as designing four-layer printed circuit boards with high-speed differential signal pairs and assembling the board using surface-mount components. By the end of the book, you’ll have a solid understanding of the concepts underlying embedded systems and FPGAs and will be able to design and construct your own sophisticated digital devices.
Table of Contents (15 chapters)
1
Section 1: Fundamentals of High-Performance Embedded Systems
5
Section 2: Designing and Constructing High-Performance Embedded Systems
10
Section 3: Implementing and Testing Real-Time Firmware

Introducing passive, active, and smart sensors

As we discussed in Chapter 1, Architecting High-Performance Embedded Systems, the basic sequence of processing in a simple embedded system consists of reading inputs, computing outputs, writing outputs, and waiting until either it is time to start the next processing loop or the next triggering event occurs. This chapter will look in more depth at the first of these steps: reading inputs. The inputs used by a particular system depend, obviously, on what the system does. In embedded systems, the inputs generally consist of commands entered by a user, commands received from other sources such as a network server controlling the system, and sensor measurements. Our focus here is on inputs collected using sensors.

In the context of embedded systems, a sensor is an electrical or electronic component that is sensitive to some property of its environment and produces an output corresponding to the measured property. To make this abstract description...