Building Embedded Systems

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Building Embedded Systems

Chapter 1: Introduction

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Fachbereich Informatik

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Agenda

• About

• Embedded Systems (ES)

• Embedded Hardware Platforms

• Development of ES

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In-Car Multimedia Labs

!

Hochschule Darmstadt

www.h-da.de _{IN-CAR MULTIMEDIA LABS, Andreas Knirsch | Building Embedded Systems}

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Building Embedded Systems

Chapter 1: Introduction, System Startup & Linux

About

What to expect and

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About me

• Andreas Knirsch

 

BSc | MSc @ h_da & JCU (AU)

 

several years professional experience (full-time)

• Affiliation

 

Research Assistant at ICM labs (since 2009)

• Topics

 

Emb. Systems, Multi-Core, SW Integration

• Contact

 

[email protected]

 

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IN-CAR MULTIMEDIA LABS, Andreas Knirsch | Building Embedded Systems

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Hochschule Darmstadt www.h-da.de

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Targets

Learn how to

setup

and

use

a

build-system

to

create

and

maintain

 

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Targets in detail

• Setup a x-compile toolchain, apply tools and

techniques for deployment and debugging.

• Configure, build and install an embedded

operating system.

• Create a target root filesystem.

• Use available tools (toolchain builder,

system-libraries, etc.).

• Apply best practice development processes.

Some "targets" might be new, but

we will go into all those in a minute!

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Significance

... or: "Why is embedded

know-how important?"

• Salary

 

SE*1.1=ESE

 

• Optimization

 

is only possible with sufficient knowledge about

domain, subject and processes.

 

• Complexity

 

increases continously

"... premature optimization

is the root of all evil ..."

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Our Target Hardware Platform:

Intel/ALTERA DE2i-150 FPGA Dev Kit

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Building Embedded Systems

Chapter 1: Introduction, System Startup & Linux

Embedded Systems (ES)

What makes a system

 

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How do you define an ES?

makeitgreat (flickr.com)

... or:

 

"What embedded

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Examples !?

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Embedded

System

Domain

Embedded

System

Hard

ware

CPU

Memory

Display

Touchpad

GPS Receiver

...

Domain

What makes a system embedded?

Embedded

System

So

ftwa

re

Hard

ware

CPU

Memory

Display

Touchpad

GPS Receiver

...

Domain

Bootloader

OS Kernel

Libraries

System Init

Embedded

System

B

ui

ld

So

ftwa

re

Hard

ware

CPU

Memory

Display

Touchpad

GPS Receiver

...

Compiler

Sources

(app + lib)

Debugger

Editor

Transfer Tools

...

Domain

Bootloader

OS Kernel

Libraries

System Init

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Usual characteristics of an ES

• Customized to a

specific task

 

(brew coffee, take photos, provide route guidance, etc.)

• Cope with

resource constraints

 

(limited power supply and computational power, etc.)

• Operated within a

rough environment

 

(climate conditions, shock-resistance, etc.)

• Provide a certain grade of

dependability

 

(climate conditions, shock-resistance, etc.)

• Fulfill

real-time

requirements

 

(adhere to a predefined temporal behaviour)

 

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crosstool-ng

GNU/Linux

ant, make, ..

qemu

eclipse

IDE

operating system

cross-compiler

build utilities

virtual machine

ecosystem

kernel-image

root filesystem

How to develop an embedded SW system?

Howto setup, maintain

and "use" the ecosystem?

"meta system"

_{"target system"}

... "use" means to

create, maintain and

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„Embedded == Customized for Purpose“

• Create

optimized SW

for special purpose.

• Requires full

control of the build process

.

• Requires

knowledge on process and tools

.

!

• May require

optimization of the build system

.

 

(i.e. the meta-system)

• This requires

knowledge how to build tools

.

 

(… that build the system).

!

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Building Embedded Systems

Chapter 1: Introduction, System Startup & Linux

Embedded Hardware Platforms

What is so special for

embedded hardware?

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Embedded HW …

• is small.

• is light.

• is low powered.

• can cope various climate conditions.

• is shock-resistant.

A subset, all or none of the above given

characteristics may apply to a particular

embedded HW.

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Nowadays, Embedded HW provide …

• computational performance …

• graphic acceleration/power …

• connectivity …

!

comparable to desktop HW,

or even beyond the capabilities of desktop HW.

…. it still depends!

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We use …

It does not provide cutting edge performance,

but reflects current state-of-the-art very well.

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Comparable alternatives may include …

• TI OMAP

based boards

 

(e.g. Beagle, Panda, IGEP, etc.)

• Renesas R-Car H2

based boards

• Samsung Exynos

based boards

• Nvidia Tegra

based boards

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Building Embedded Systems

Chapter 1: Introduction, System Startup & Linux

Embedded System Development

What does cross-platform

development mean?

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xPlatform-Dev

Workstation

Target

• edit code

• compile

• deploy

• execute

• remote debug

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Using xPlatform-DevEnv …

• obviates

on-target compilation.

• keeps target

software-system small

.

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Building Embedded Systems

Chapter 1: Introduction

Recap

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What we have done today

• Motivation to learn about building ES.

• Clarify what ES are.

• The characteristics of embedded Apps.

• The characteristics of embedded OSs.

• The importance of starting ESs.

• Characteristics of embedded HW platforms.

• What xPlatform development is about.

... or:

 

we rather scratched the surface of several topics :-)

 

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Building Embedded Systems

Chapter 1: Introduction

References

[Lee, 2006]

Lee, E. A.: The future of embedded software. ARTEMIS

Conference, Graz, 2006.

[Lee, 2007]

Lee, E. A.: Computing foundations and practice for

cyber-physical systems: A preliminary report. Tech. Report, Berkeley, USA, 2007.

[Marwedel, 2003]

Marwedel, P.: Embedded System Design. Kluwer

Academic Publishers, 2003.

[Marwedel, 2011]

Marwedel, P.: Embedded System Design. 2nd Edition,

Springer, 2011.

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Building Embedded Systems

Chapter 1: Introduction