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

Attributes of a real-time embedded system

The hardware and software of a real-time embedded system must exhibit some specific characteristics to ensure the system reliably meets its performance goals of producing reliably correct and timely outputs. Most real-time embedded systems that perform functions of moderate to high complexity must divide the processing work into multiple tasks that execute in an apparently (to the user) simultaneous manner, including managing the operation of hardware such as an automobile engine while regularly updating information displayed to the driver.

At the finest-grained level of processor operation, most embedded systems rely on the use of interrupts to notify the processor when an operation is required by an I/O device. In a real-time application, the handling of interrupts can become a critical factor in ensuring proper system operation. At the simplest level, any time an interrupt is being processed, the code algorithm that was paused to handle...