18CS44

MICROCONTROLLER AND
EMBEDDED SYSTEMS

MODULE 5
RTOS AND IDE FOR
EMBEDDED
SYSTEM
» The super loop based task execution model for firmware executes the tasks
sequentially in order in which the tasks are listed within the loop. Here every
task is repeated at regular intervals and the task execution is non-real time.

» But, certain applications demand time critical response to tasks/ events and
delay in the response may be catastrophic.
» Examples: Flight control systems, Air bag control,
Anti-lock Brake Systems (ABS) for vehicles, Nuclear monitoring devices, etc.

» In embedded systems, the time critical response for tasks/ events may be
addressed by –
» Assigning priority to tasks and execute the high priority task.

» Dynamically change the priorities of tasks, if required on a need basis.

» The introduction of operating system based firmware execution in embedded

devices can address these needs to a greater extent.
3
 OPERATING SYSTEM BASICS
» The Operating System (OS) acts as a bridge between the user applications/ tasks
and the underlying system resources through a set of system functionalities and
services.

» The primary functions of an operating systems are –

» Make the system convenient to use

» Organize and manage the system resources efficiently and correctly.

4
» The following Figure gives an insight into the
basic components of an operating system and their
interfaces with rest of the world.
User
Applications Application
Programming
Memory Interface (API)

Kernel Services
Management
Process
Management
Time
Management
File System
Management
I/O System
Management Device
Driver
Underlying Interface
Hardware
5
» The Kernel:

» The kernel is the core of the operating system. It is responsible for managing
the system resources and the communication among the hardware and other
system services.

» Kernel acts as the abstraction layer between system resources and user
applications.

» Kernel contains a set of system libraries and services.

» For a general purpose OS, the kernel contains different services like memory
management, process management, time management, file system
management, I/O system management.

6
» Process Management: deals with managing the process/
tasks.

» Process management includes –

» setting up a memory for the process

» loading process code into memory

» allocating system resources

» scheduling and managing the execution of the

process

» setting up and managing Process Control Block

(PCB)

» inter process communication and synchronization

» process termination/ deletion, etc.

7
» Primary Memory Management: refers to a volatile memory (RAM), where
processes are loaded and variables and shared data are stored.

» The Memory Management Unit (MMU) of the kernel is responsible for –

» Keeping a track of which part of the memory area is currently used by

which process

» Allocating and De-allocating memory space on a need basis.

8
» File System Management: File is a collection of related information. A file
could be a program (source code or executable), text files, image files, word
documents, audio/ video files, etc.

» A file system management service of kernel is responsible for –

» The creation, deletion and alteration of files

» Creation, deletion, and alteration of directories

» Saving of files in the secondary storage memory

» Providing automatic allocation of file space based on the amount of

free running space available

» Providing flexible naming conversion for the files.

9
» I/O System (Device) Management: Kernel is responsible for routing the I/O
requests coming from different user applications to the appropriate I/O
devices of the system.

» In a well structured OS, direct access to I/O devices is not allowed; access to
them is establish through Application Programming Interface (API).

» The kernel maintains list of all the I/O devices of the system.

» „Device Manager‟ of the kernel is responsible for handling all I/O related
operations.

» The Device Manager is responsible for –

» Loading and unloading of device drivers

» Exchanging information and the system specific control signals to and

from the device.

10
» Secondary Storage Management: deals with managing the secondary
storage
memory devices (if any) connected to the system.

» Secondary memory is used as backup medium for programs and data, as main
memory is volatile.

» In most of the systems secondary storage is kept in disks (hard disks).

» The secondary storage management service of kernel deals with –

» Disk storage allocation

» Disk scheduling

» Free disk space management

11
» Protection Systems: Modern operating systems are designed in such way to
support multiple users with different levels of access permissions.

» The protection deals with implementing the security policies to restrict the
access of system resources and particular user by different application or
processes and different user.

» Interrupt Handler: Kernel provides interrupt handler mechanism for all

external/ internal interrupt generated by the system.

12
» The important services offered by the kernel of an OS:

» Kernel Space and User Space: The program code corresponding to the kernel
applications/ services are kept in a contiguous area of primary (working)
memory and is protected from the un-authorized access by user programs/
applications.
 The memory space at which the kernel code is located is known as „Kernel
Space‟. All user applications are loaded to a specific area of primary
memory and this memory area is referred as „User Space‟.
 The partitioning of memory into kernel and user space is purely Operating
System dependent.
 Most of the operating systems keep the kernel application code in main
memory and it is not swapped out into the secondary memory.

13
» Monolithic Kernel and Microkernel: Kernel forms the heart of OS. Different
approaches are adopted for building an operating system kernel. Based on the
kernel design, kernels can be classified into „Monolithic‟ and „Micro‟.
» Monolithic Kernel: In monolithic kernel
architecture, all kernel services run in the
kernel space. All kernel modules run
within the same memory space under a single
kernel thread.
» The major drawback of monolithic kernel is
that any error or failure in any one of the
kernel modules leads to the crashing of
the entire kernel application.
 LINUX, SOLARIS, MS-DOS kernels
14
» Microkernel: The microkernel design incorporates only essential set of
operating system services into the kernel. The rest of the operating systems
services are implemented in program known as „Servers‟ which runs in user
space. The memory management, timer systems and interrupt handlers are the
essential services, which forms the part of the microkernel.

» The benefits of micro kernel based designs are –

 Robustness: If a problem is encountered in any of the services, which runs
as a server can be reconfigured and restarted without the restarting the
entire OS. Here chances of corruption of kernel services are ideally zero.
 Configurability: Any services, which runs as a server application can be
changed without the need to restart the whole system. This makes the
system dynamically configurable.

15
 TYPES OF OPERATING SYSTEMS
» Depending on the type of kernel and kernel services, purpose and type of
computing system, Operating Systems are classified into different types.

» General Purpose Operating System (GPOS):

» The operating systems, which are deployed in general computing systems,

are
referred as GPOS. The GPOSs are often quite non-deterministic in behavior.

» Windows 10/8.x/XP/MS-DOS, etc., are examples of GPIOs.

16
» Real Time Operating System (RTOS):

» Real Time implies deterministic in timing behavior.

» RTOS services consumes only known and expected amounts of time

regardless the number of services.

» RTOS implements policies and rules concerning time-critical allocation of a

systems resources.

» RTOS decides which applications should run in which order and how much
time needs to be allocated for each application.
 Windows Embedded Compact, QNX, VxWorks MicroC/OS-II, etc., are
examples of RTOSs.

17
» The Real-Time kernel: The kernel of a Real-Time OS is referred as Real-
Time kernel.

» The Real-Time kernel is highly specialized and it contains only the minimal
set of services required for running user applications/ tasks.

» The basic functions of a Real-Time kernel are listed below:

» Task/ Process management

» Task/ Process scheduling

» Task/ Process synchronization

» Error/ Exception handling

» Memory management

» Interrupt handling

» Time management.

18
» Task/ Process Management: Deals with setting up the memory space for the
tasks, loading the task‟s code into the memory space, allocating system
resources and setting up a Task Control Block (TCB) for the task and
task/process termination/deletion.
 A Task Control Block (TCB) is used for holding the information
corresponding to a task. TCB usually contains the following set of
information:
 Task ID: Task Identification Number
 Task State: The current state of the task. (E.g. State = „Ready‟ for a
task which is ready to execute)
 Task Type: Task type. Indicates what is the type for this task. The task
can be a hard real time or soft real time or background task.

19
  Task Priority: Task priority (E.g. Task priority = 1 for
task with priority = 1)
 Task Context Pointer: Context pointer. Pointer for context saving
 Task Memory Pointers: Pointers to the code memory, data memory
and stack memory for the task
 Task System Resource Pointers: Pointers to system
resources (semaphores, mutex, etc.) used by the task
 Task Pointers: Pointers to other TCBs (TCBs for preceding, next and
waiting tasks)
 Other Parameters: Other relevant task parameters.

» The parameters and implementation of the TCB is kernel dependent. The TCB
parameters vary across different kernels based on the task management
implementation.
20
» Task/ Process Scheduling: Deals with sharing the CPU among various tasks/
processes. A kernel application called „Scheduler‟ handles the task
scheduling. Scheduler is an algorithm implementation, which performs the
efficient and optimal scheduling of tasks to provide a deterministic behavior.

» Task/ Process Synchronization: Deals with synchronizing the concurrent

access of a resource, which is shared across multiple tasks and the
communication between various tasks.

21
» Error/ Exception Handling: Deals with registering and handling the errors
occurred/ exceptions rose during the execution of tasks.
 Insufficient memory, timeouts, deadlocks, deadline missing, bus error,
divide by zero, unknown instruction execution etc, are examples of
errors/exceptions.
 Errors/ Exceptions can happen at the kernel level services or at task level.

o Deadlock is an example for kernel level exception, whereas timeout is

an example for a task level exception.

22
» Memory Management: The memory management function of an RTOS kernel
is slightly different compared to the General Purpose Operating Systems.
 In general, the memory allocation time increases depending on the size of
the block of memory need to be allocated and the state of the allocated
memory block. RTOS achieves predictable timing and deterministic
behavior, by compromising the effectiveness of memory allocation.
 RTOS generally uses „block‟ based memory allocation technique, instead
of the usual dynamic memory allocation techniques used by the GPOS.
RTOS kernel uses blocks of fixed size of dynamic memory and the block
is allocated for a task on a need basis. The blocks are stored in a „Free
buffer Queue‟.

23
  Most of the RTOS kernels allow tasks to access any of the memory blocks
without any memory protection to achieve predictable timing and avoid
the timing overheads.
 Some commercial RTOS kernels allow memory protection as optional and
the kernel enters a fail-safe mode when an illegal memory access occurs.

24
» Interrupt Handling: Deals with the handling of various interrupts. Interrupts
inform the processor that an external device or an associated task requires
immediate attention of the CPU.
 Interrupts can be either Synchronous or Asynchronous.
 Interrupts which occurs in sync with the currently executing task is
known as Synchronous interrupts. Usually the software interrupts fall
under the Synchronous Interrupt category.
 Divide by zero, memory segmentation error etc are examples of
Synchronous interrupts.
 For synchronous interrupts, the interrupt handler runs in the same
context of the interrupting task.
 Interrupts which occurs at any point of execution of any task, and are
not in sync with the currently executing task are Asynchronous 25
  Interrupts which occurs at any point of execution of any task, and are
not in sync with the currently executing task are Asynchronous
interrupts.
 Timer overflow interrupts, serial data reception/ transmission
interrupts etc., are examples for asynchronous interrupts.
 For asynchronous interrupts, the interrupt handler is usually written as
separate task (depends on OS Kernel implementation) and it runs in a
different context. Hence, a context switch happens while handling the
asynchronous interrupts.

» Priority levels can be assigned to the interrupts and each interrupts can be
enabled or disabled individually.
» Time Management:
Accurate time management is essential for providing precise time reference
for all applications. The time reference to kernel is provided by a high-
resolution Real Time Clock (RTC) hardware chip (hardware timer).
 The hardware timer is programmed to interrupt the processor/ controller at
a fixed rate. This timer interrupt is referred as „Timer tick‟. The „Timer
tick‟ is taken as the timing reference by the kernel.
 The „Timer tick‟ interval may vary depending on the hardware timer.
 Usually, the „Timer tick‟ varies in the microseconds range.
 The time parameters for tasks are expressed as the multiples of the „Timer
tick‟.
 The System time is updated based on the „Timer tick‟.
 If the System time register is 32 bits wide and the „Timer tick‟ interval is 1
microsecond, the System time register will reset in;

232 * 10–6 / (24 * 60 * 60) = ~ 0.0497 Days = 1.19 Hours

 If the „Timer tick‟ interval is 1 millisecond, the System time register will
reset in

232 * 10–3 / (24 * 60 * 60) = 49.7 Days = ~ 50 Days

 The „Timer tick‟ interrupt is handled by the „Timer Interrupt‟ handler of

kernel.
» The „Timer tick‟ interrupt can be utilized for implementing the following
actions:
 Save the current context (Context of the currently executing task)
 Increment the System time register by one.
 Update the timers implemented in kernel
 Activate the periodic tasks, which are in the idle state
 Invoke the scheduler and schedule the tasks again based on the
scheduling algorithm
 Delete all the terminated tasks and their associated data structures
(TCBs)
 Load the context for the first task in the ready queue.
» Hard Real-Time: A Real Time Operating Systems which strictly adheres to the
timing constraints for a task is referred as hard real-time systems.

» A Hard Real Time system must meet the deadlines for a task without any
slippage. Missing any deadline may produce catastrophic results for Hard
Real Time Systems, including permanent data lose and irrecoverable damages
to the system/users.
 Hard real-time systems emphasize on the principle „A late answer is a
wrong answer‟.
 For example, Air bag control systems and Anti-lock Brake Systems
(ABS) of vehicles are typical examples of Hard Real Time Systems.
 Most of the Hard Real Time Systems are automatic.
» Soft Real-Time: Real Time Operating Systems that does not guarantee meeting
deadlines, but, offer the best effort to meet the deadline are referred as soft
real-time systems.

» Missing deadlines for tasks are acceptable if the frequency of deadline

missing is within the compliance limit of the Quality of Service (QoS).
 Soft real-time system emphasizes on the principle „A late answer is an
acceptable answer, but it could have done bit faster‟.
 Automatic Teller Machine (ATM) is a typical example of Soft Real Time
System. If the ATM takes a few seconds more than the ideal operation
time, nothing fatal happens.
 TASKS, PROCESS AND THREADS
» The term „task‟ refers to something that needs to be done.
 In the Operating System context, a task is defined as the program in execution
and the related information maintained by the Operating system for the
program.
 Task is also known as „Job‟ in the operating system context.

» A program or part of it in execution is also called a „Process‟.

» The terms “Task” , “Job” and “Process”refer to the same entity in the Operating
System context and most often they are used interchangeably.
» Process:

» A „Process‟ is a program, or part of it, in execution.

Process is also known as an instance of a program in execution.

» A process requires various system resources like CPU for executing the
process, memory for storing the code corresponding to the process and
associated variables, I/O devices for information exchange etc.

» Structure of a Processes: The concept of „Process‟ leads to concurrent

execution of tasks and thereby, efficient utilization of the CPU and other
system resources. Concurrent execution is achieved through the sharing of
CPU among the processes.
» A process mimics a processor in properties and holds a set of registers, process
status, a Program Counter (PC) to point to the next executable instruction of
the process, a stack for holding the local variables associated with the process
and the code corresponding to the process.

» This can be visualized as shown in the following Figure.

 A process which inherits all the properties of the CPU. When the process
gets its turn, its registers and Program Counter register becomes mapped
to the physical registers of the CPU.
 The memory occupied by the process is segregated into three regions
namely; Stack memory, Data memory and Code memory
 The „Stack‟ memory holds all temporary data such as variables local to
the process.
 The „Data‟ memory holds all global data for the process.
 The „Code‟ memory contains the program code
(instructions)
corresponding to the process.
 On loading a process into the main memory, a specific area of memory is
allocated for the process. The stack memory usually starts at the highest
memory address from the memory area allocated for the process.
» Process States & State Transition: The creation of a process to its
termination is not a single step operation.

» The process traverses through a series of states during its transition from the
newly created state to the terminated state.
 The cycle through which a process changes its state from „newly created‟
to „execution completed‟ is known as „Process Life Cycle‟.
 The various states through which a process traverses through during a
Process Life Cycle indicates the current status of the process with respect
to time and also provides information about what it is allowed to do next.
» The transition of a
process from one state
to another is known as
„State transition‟.

» The Process states and

state transition
representation are
shown in the following
Figure.
» Created State: The state at which a process is being created is referred as
„Created State‟. The Operating System recognizes a process in the „Created
State‟ but no resources are allocated to the process.

» Ready State: The state, where a process is incepted into the memory and
awaiting the processor time for execution, is known as „Ready State‟. At this
stage, the process is placed in the „Ready list‟ queue maintained by the OS.

» Running State: The state where in the source code instructions corresponding
to the process is being executed is called „Running State‟. Running state is the
state at which the process execution happens.
» Blocked State/ Wait State: Refers to a state where a running process is
temporarily suspended from execution and does not have immediate access to
resources. The blocked state might have invoked by various conditions like-
the process enters a wait state for an event to occur (E.g. Waiting for user
inputs such as keyboard input) or waiting for getting access to a shared
resource like semaphore, mutex etc.

» Completed State: A state where the process completes its execution.

»
Threads:
» A thread is the primitive that can execute code. A thread is a single sequential
flow of control within a process. A thread is also known as lightweight
process.

» A process can have many threads of execution.

» Different threads, which are part of a process, share the same address space;
meaning they share the data memory, code memory and heap memory area.

» Threads maintain their own thread status (CPU register values), Program
Counter (PC) and stack.

» The memory model for a process and its associated threads are given in the
following figure.

4
1
» The Concept of Multithreading: The process is split into multiple threads,
which executes a portion of the process; there will be a main thread and rest
of the threads will be created within the main thread.
 The multithreaded architecture of a process can be visualized with the
thread-process diagram, shown below.

MP, CSE, 42
VCET
 Use of multiple threads to execute a process brings the following
advantage:
 Better memory utilization: Multiple threads of the same process share
the address space for data memory. This also reduces the complexity of
inter thread communication since variables can be shared across the
threads.
 Since the process is split into different threads, when one thread enters
a wait state, the CPU can be utilized by other threads of the process
that do not require the event, which the other thread is waiting, for
processing. This speeds up the execution of the process.
 Efficient CPU utilization. The CPU is engaged all time.
» Thread Pre-emption: is the act of pre-empting the currently running thread
(stopping temporarily). It is dependent on the Operating System.

» It is performed for sharing the CPU time among all the threads.

» The execution switching among threads are known as „Thread

context
switching‟. Threads falls into one of the following types:
 User Level Thread: User level threads do not have kernel/ Operating
System support and they exist only in the running process.
 A process may have multiple user level threads; but the OS threats it as
single thread and will not switch the execution among the different
threads of it.
 It is the responsibility of the process to schedule each thread as and
when required.
 Kernel Level/ System Level Thread: Kernel level threads are individual
units of execution, which the OS treats as separate threads.
 The OS interrupts the execution of the currently running kernel thread and
switches the execution to another kernel thread based on the scheduling
policies implemented by the OS.

47
» Thread versus Process:
Thread Process
Thread is a single unit of execution and is part of Process is a program in execution and contains one or
process. more threads.
A thread does not have its own data memory and Process has its own code memory, data memory, and
heap memory. stack memory.
A thread cannot live independently; it lives within the
A process contains at least one thread.
process.
There can be multiple threads in a process; the first Threads within a process share the code, data and
(main) thread calls the main function and occupies heap memory; each thread holds separate memory
the start of the stack memory of the process. area for stack.
Processes are very expensive to create; involves
Threads are very inexpensive to create.
many OS overhead.
Context switching is complex and involves lots of
Context switching is inexpensive and fast.
OS overhead and comparatively slow.
If a process dies, the resource allocated to it are
If a thread expires, its stack is reclaimed by the
reclaimed by the OS and all associated threads of the
process.
, process also dies. 48
 MULTIPROCESSING AND
MULTITASKING
» The ability to execute multiple processes simultaneously is referred as
multiprocessing. Systems which are capable of performing multiprocessing are
known as multiprocessor systems.

» Multiprocessor systems possess multiple CPUs and can execute multiple

processes simultaneously.

» The ability of the Operating System to have multiple programs in memory,

which are ready for execution, is referred as multiprogramming.

» In a uni-processor system, it is not possible to execute multiple

processes
simultaneously.
49
» Multitasking refers to the ability of an operating system to hold multiple
processes in memory and switch the processor (CPU) from executing one
process to another process.

» Multitasking involves „Context switching‟ (see the following Figure),

„Context saving‟ and „Context retrieval‟.

MP, CSE, 50
VCET
 The act of switching CPU among the processes or changing the current
execution context is known as „Context switching‟.
 The act of saving the current context (details like Register details, Memory
details, System Resource Usage details, Execution details, etc.) for the
currently running processes at the time of CPU switching is known as
„Context saving‟.
 The process of retrieving the saved context details for a process, which is
going to be executed due to CPU switching, is known as „Context
retrieval‟.
» Types of Multitasking:

» Depending on how the task/ process execution switching act is

implemented,
multitasking can is classified into –

» Co-operative Multitasking: Co-operative multitasking is the most primitive

form of multitasking in which a task/ process gets a chance to execute
only when the currently executing task/ process voluntarily relinquishes
the CPU.

» In this method, any task/ process can avail the CPU as much time as it
wants. Since this type of implementation involves the mercy of the tasks
each other for getting the CPU time for execution, it is known as co-
operative multitasking. If the currently executing task is non-cooperative,
the other tasks may have to wait for a long time to get the CPU.
» Preemptive Multitasking: Preemptive multitasking ensures that every
task/ process gets a chance to execute.

» When and how much time a process gets is dependent on the

implementation of the preemptive scheduling.

» As the name indicates, in preemptive multitasking, the currently running

task/process is preempted to give a chance to other tasks/process to
execute.

» The preemption of task may be based on time slots or task/ process

priority.
» Non-preemptive Multitasking: The process/ task, which is currently given
the CPU time, is allowed to execute until it terminates (enters the
„Completed‟ state) or enters the „Blocked/ Wait‟ state, waiting for an I/O.

» The co-operative and non-preemptive multitasking differs in their behavior

when they are in the „Blocked/Wait‟ state.

» In co-operative multitasking, the currently executing process/task need

not relinquish the CPU when it enters the „Blocked/ Wait‟ sate, waiting
for an I/O, or a shared resource access or an event to occur whereas in
non-preemptive multitasking the currently executing task relinquishes
the CPU when it waits for an I/O.
 TASK COMMUNICATION
» In a multitasking system, multiple tasks/ processes run concurrently (in pseudo
parallelism) and each process may or may not interact between.
 Based on the degree of interaction, the processes/ tasks running on an OS are
classified as –
 Co-operating Processes: In the co-operating interaction model, one process
requires the inputs from other processes to complete its execution.
 Competing Processes: The competing processes do not share anything among
themselves but they share the system resources. The competing processes
compete for the system resources such as file, display device, etc.
  The co-operating processes exchanges information and
communicate through the following methods:
 Co-operation through sharing: Exchange data through
some shared resources.
 Co-operation through Communication: No data is shared between the
processes. But they communicate for execution synchronization.

» The mechanism through which tasks/ processes communicate each other

is
known as Inter Process/ Task Communication (IPC).

» IPC is essential for process co-ordination. The various types of IPC

mechanisms adopted by process are kernel (Operating System) dependent.
They are explained below.
» IPC Mechanism - Shared Memory: Processes share some area of the memory
to communicate among them (see the following Figure).

» Information to be communicated by the process is written to the shared

memory area. Processes which require this information can read the same
from the shared memory area.

» The implementation of shared memory is kernel dependent.

» Different mechanisms are adopted by different kernels for implementing this,

a few among are s follows:

» Pipes

» Memory Mapped Objects

» 1. Pipes: „Pipe‟ is a section of the shared memory used by processes for
communicating. Pipes follow the client-server architecture.

» A process which creates a pipe is known as pipe server and a process which
connects to a pipe is known as pipe client.

» A pipe can be considered as a medium for information flow and has two
conceptual ends. It can be unidirectional, allowing information flow in one
direction or bidirectional allowing bi-directional information flow.

» A unidirectional pipe allows the process connecting at one end of the pipe to
write to the pipe and the process connected at the other end of the pipe to read
the data, whereas a bi-directional pipe allows both reading and writing at one
end.

» The unidirectional pip e can be visualized as

» The implementation of „Pipes‟ is OS
dependent.
» Microsoft® Windows Desktop Operating Systems support two types of
„Pipes‟ for Inter Process Communication. Namely;
» Anonymous Pipes: The anonymous pipes are unnamed, unidirectional pipes
used
for data transfer between two processes.

» Named Pipes: Named pipe is a named, unidirectional or bi-directional pipe for

data exchange between processes.

» The process which creates the named pipe is known as pipe server.

» A process which connects to the named pipe is known as pipe client.

» With named pipes, any process can act as both client and server allowing
point-to-
point communication.

» Named pipes can be used for communicating between processes running on the
same machine or between processes running on different machines connected to a
» 2. Memory Mapped Objects: Memory mapped object is a shared memory
technique adopted by certain Real Time Operating Systems for allocating a
shared block of memory which can be accessed by multiple process
simultaneously.

» In this approach, a mapping object is created and physical storage for it is

reserved and committed.

» A process can map the entire committed physical area or a block of it to its
virtual address space.

» All read and write operation to this virtual address space by a process is
directed to its committed physical area.

» Any process which wants to share data with other processes can map the
physical memory area of the mapped object to its virtual memory space and
use it for sharing the data.
» The concept of memory mapped object is shown bellow.
» IPC Mechanism - Message Passing:

» Message passing is a/ an synchronous/ asynchronous information exchange

mechanism for Inter Process/ Thread Communication.
» The major difference between shared memory and message passing technique is

» Through shared memory lots of data can be shared whereas only limited amount of
info/ data is passed through message passing.

» Message passing is relatively fast and free from the synchronization overheads
compared to shared memory.

» Based on the message passing operation between the processes,

message passing is classified into –

» Message Queue

» Mailbox

» Signalling
» 1. Message Queues: Process which wants to talk to another process posts the
message to a First-In-First-Out (FIFO) queue called „Message queue‟, which
stores the messages temporarily in a system defined memory object, to pass it
to the desired process.

» Messages are sent and received through send (Name of the process to which
the message is to be sent, message) and receive (Name of the process from
which the message is to be received, message) methods.

» The messages are exchanged through

a message queue.

» The implementation of the message

queue, send and receive methods are
OS kernel dependent.
» 2. Mailbox: Mailbox is a special implementation of message queue.

» Usually used for one way communication, only a single message is exchanged
through mailbox whereas „message queue‟ can be used for exchanging
multiple messages.
»One task/process creates the mailbox
and other tasks/process can subscribe to
this mailbox for getting message
notification.
»The implementation of the mailbox is
OS kernel dependent.
» Signalling: Signals are used for an asynchronous notification mechanism.

» The signal mainly used for the execution synchronization of tasks process/
tasks.

» Signals do not carry any data and are not queued.

» The implementation of signals is OS kernel dependent.

» IPC Mechanism - Remote Procedure Call (IPC) and Sockets: Remote
Procedure Call is the Inter Process Communication (IPC) mechanism used by
a process, to call a procedure of another process running on the same CPU or
on a different CPU which is interconnected in a network.

» In the object oriented language terminology, RPC is also known as Remote

Invocation or Remote Method Invocation (RMI).

» The CPU/ process containing the procedure which needs to be invoked

remotely is known as server.

» The CPU/ process which initiates an RPC request is known as client.

» In order to make the RPC communication compatible across all platforms, it
should stick on to certain standard formats.

» Interface Definition Language (IDL) defines the interfaces for RPC.

» Microsoft Interface Definition

Language (MIDL) is the IDL
implementatio from
n Microsoft all Microsoft
for

» platforms.
The RPC communication can
be either Synchronou
(Blocking) or s
(Non- Asynchronou
blocking). s
» Sockets are used for RPC communication. Socket is a logical endpoint in a
two-way communication link between two applications running on a
network. A port number is associated with a socket so that the network layer
of the communication channel can deliver the data to the designated
application.

» Sockets are of different types namely; Internet sockets (INET), UNIX sockets,
etc.

» The INET Socket works on Internet Communication protocol. TCP/ IP, UDP,
etc., are the communication protocols used by INET sockets.

» INET sockets are classified into:

 Stream Sockets: are connection oriented and they use TCP to establish a
reliable connection.
 Datagram Sockets: rely on UDP for establishing a connection.
 TASK SYNCHRONIZATION
» In a multitasking environment, multiple processes run concurrently and share the
system resources.

» Also, each process may communicate with each other with different IPC
mechanisms.

» Hence, there may be situations that; two processes try to access a shared memory
area, where one process tries to write to the memory location when the other
process is trying to read from the same memory location. This will lead to
unexpected results.

» The solution is, make each process aware of access of a shared resource.
» The act of making the processes aware of the access of shared resources by
each process to avoid conflicts is known as “Task/ Process
Synchronization”.

» Task/ Process Synchronization is essential for –

1. Avoiding conflicts in resource access (racing, deadlock, etc.) in multitasking
environment.

2. Ensuring proper sequence of operation across processes.

3. Establish proper communication between processes.

» The code memory area which holds the program instructions (piece of code)
for accessing a shared resource is known as „Critical Section‟.

» In order to synchronize the access to shared resources, the access to the

critical section should be exclusive.
» Task Communication/ Synchronization Issues:

» Various synchronization issues may arise in a multitasking environment; if

processes are not synchronized properly in shared resource access, such as:

1. Racing: Look into the following piece of code:

» From a programmer perspective, the value of counter will be 10 at the end of
execution of processes A & B. But it need not be always.

» The program statement counter++; looks like a single statement from a high
level programming language (C Language) perspective.

» The low level implementation of this statement is dependent on

the
underlying processor instruction set and the (cross) compiler in use.

» The low level implementation of the high level program statement counter++;
under Windows XP operating system running on an Intel Centrino Duo
processor is given below.
» At the processor instruction level, the value of the variable counter is loaded to
the Accumulator register (EAX Register).

» The memory variable counter is represented using a pointer.

» The base pointer register (EBP Register) is used for pointing to the memory
variable counter.

» After loading the contents of the variable counter to the Accumulator, the
Accumulator content is incremented by one using the add instruction.

» Finally the content of Accumulator is loaded to the memory location which

represents the variable counter. Both the processes; Process A and Process B
contain the program statement counter++; Translating this into the machine
Process A
tion. Process B
instruc mov eax,dword ptr [ebp-4] mov eax, dword ptr [ebp-4]

add eax, 1 add eax, 1

mov dword ptr [e bp-4], eax mov dword ptr [ebp-4], eax
» Imagine a situation where a process switching (context switching) happens
from Process A to Process B when Process A is executing the counter++;
statement. Process A accomplishes the counter++; statement through three
different low level instructions.

» Now imagine that the process switching happened at the point, where Process
A executed the low level instruction mov eax, dword ptr [ebp-4] and is about
to execute the next instruction add eax, 1. The scenario is illustrated in the
following Figure.
» Process B increments the shared variable „counter‟ in the middle of the
operation where Process A tries to increment it. When Process A gets the
CPU time for execution, it starts from the point where it got interrupted
 Though the variable counter is incremented by Process B, Process A is
unaware of it and it increments the variable with the old value.
» 2. Deadlock: Deadlock is the condition in which a process is waiting for a
resource held by another process which is waiting for a resource held by the
first process; hence, none of the processes are able to make any progress in
their execution.

» Process A holds a resource „x‟ and it wants a resource „y‟ held by Process B.
Process B is currently holding resource „y‟ and it wants the resource „x‟
which is currently held by Process A. Both hold the respective resources and
they compete each other to get the resource held by the respective processes.

MP, CSE, 79
VCET
» Conditions Favoring
Deadlock:
 Mutual Exclusion: The criteria that only one process can hold a resource at a time.
Meaning processes should access shared resources with mutual exclusion.
 Hold & Wait: The condition in which a process holds a shared resource by
acquiring the lock controlling the shared access and waiting for additional
resources held by other processes.
 No Resource Preemption: The criteria that Operating System cannot take back a
resource from a process which is currently holding it and the resource can only be
released voluntarily by the process holding it.
 Circular Wait: A process is waiting for a resource which is currently held by
another process which in turn is waiting for a resource held by the first process. In
general there exists a set of waiting process P0, P1 …. Pn with P0 is waiting for a
resource held by P1 and P1 is waiting for a resource held by P0, ……,Pn is
waiting for a resource held by P0 and P0 is waiting for a resource held by Pn and

so on… This forms a circular wait queue 80

» Handling Deadlock: The OS may adopt any of the following techniques
to
detect and prevent deadlock conditions.
 Ignore Deadlocks: Always assume that the system design is deadlock free.
 This is acceptable for the reason the cost of removing a deadlock is
large compared to the chance of happening a deadlock.
 UNIX is an example for an OS following this principle.
 A life critical system cannot pretend that it is deadlock free for any
reason.

81
 Detect and Recover: This approach suggests the detection of a deadlock
situation and recovery from it.
 This is similar to the deadlock condition that may arise at a traffic junction. When the
vehicles from different directions compete to cross the junction, deadlock (traffic jam)
condition is resulted. Once a deadlock (traffic jam) is happened at the junction, the only
solution is to back up the vehicles from one direction and allow the vehicles from
opposite direction to cross the junction. If the traffic is too high, lots of vehicles may
have to be backed up to resolve the traffic jam. This technique is also known as „back up
cars‟ technique.

 Operating Systems keep a resource graph in their memory. The

resource graph is updated on each resource request and release.
 A deadlock condition can be detected by analyzing the resource
graph
by graph analyzer algorithms.

 Once a deadlock condition is detected, the system can terminate a

82
process or preempt the resMoP,uCrSc e, to break the deadlocking cycle.
» Avoid Deadlocks: Deadlock is avoided by the careful resource allocation
techniques by the Operating System. It is similar to the traffic light
mechanism at junctions to avoid the traffic jams.

» Prevent Deadlocks: Prevent the deadlock condition by negating one of the

four conditions favoring the deadlock situation (Mutual Exclusion, No
Resource Preemption, Circular Wait).

» Ensure that a process does not hold any other resources when it requests a
resource. This can be achieved by implementing the following set of rules/
guidelines in allocating resources to processes.
1. A process must request all its required resource and the resources should be
allocated before the process begins its execution.

2. Grant resource allocation requests from processes only if the process does not hold
a resource currently.
» Ensure that resource preemption (resource releasing) is possible at operating
system level. This can be achieved by implementing the following set of
rules/ guidelines in resources allocation and releasing:
1. Release all the resources currently held by a process if a request made by the
process for a new resource is not able to fulfill immediately.

2. Add the resources which are preempted (released) to a resource list describing the
resources which the process requires to complete its execution.

3. Reschedule the process for execution only when the process gets its old resources
and the new resource which is requested by the process.
» Task Synchronization Techniques:

» The technique used for task synchronization in a multitasking environment

is
mutual exclusion.

» Mutual exclusion blocks a process. Based on the behavior of blocked process,

mutual exclusion methods can be classified into two categories: Mutual
exclusion through busy waiting/ spin lock & Mutual exclusion through sleep
& wakeup.

» Semaphore: Semaphore is a sleep and wakeup based mutual exclusion

implementation for shared resource access.

» Semaphore is a system resource; and a process which wants to access the

shared resource can first acquire this system object to indicate the other
processes which wants the shared resource that the shared resource is
currently in use by it.
» The resources which are shared among a process can be either for exclusive
use by a process or for using by a number of processes at a time.

» The display device of an embedded system is a typical example of a shared

resource which needs exclusive access by a process.

» The Hard disk (secondary storage) of a system is a typical example

for
sharing the resource among a limited number of multiple processes.

» Based on the implementation, Semaphores can be classified into Binary

Semaphore and Counting Semaphore.
 Binary Semaphore: Implements exclusive access to shared resource by
allocating the resource to a single process at a time and not allowing the
other processes to access it when it is being used by a process.
 „Only one process/ thread‟ can own the binary semaphore at a time.
  The state of a „binary semaphore‟ object is set to signaled when it is not owned
by any process/ thread, and set to non-signaled when it is owned by any
process/ thread.

The implementation
of binary semaphore
is OS kernel
dependent. Under
certain OS kernel it
is referred as mutex.

MP, CSE, VCET 87

 Counting Semaphore: Maintains a count between zero and a maximum
value. It limits the usage of resource by a fixed number of processes/
threads.
 The count associated with a „Semaphore object‟ is decremented by one when a
process/ thread acquires it and the count is incremented by one when a
process/ thread releases the „Semaphore object‟.
 The state of the counting semaphore object is set to „signaled‟ when the count
of the object is greater than zero.
 The state of the „Semaphore object‟ is set to non-signaled when the semaphore
is acquired by the maximum number of processes/ threads that the semaphore
can support (i.e. when the count associated with the „Semaphore object‟
becomes zero).
 The creation and usage of „counting semaphore object‟ is OS kernel
dependent.
 HOW TO CHOOSE AN RTOS

» The decision of choosing an RTOS for an embedded design is very crucial.

» A lot of factors need to be analyzed carefully before making a decision on the

selection of an RTOS.

» These factors can be either functional or non-functional.

» Functional Requirements:
» Processor Support: It is not necessary that all RTOS‟s support all kinds of processor
architecture. It is essential to ensure the processor support by the RTOS.

» Memory Requirements: The OS requires ROM memory for holding the OS files and it is
normally stored in a non-volatile memory like FLASH. OS also requires working
memory RAM for loading the OS services. Since embedded systems are memory
constrained, it is essential to evaluate the minimal ROM and RAM requirements for
the OS under consideration.

» Real-time Capabilities: It is not mandatory that the operating system for all embedded
systems need to be Real-time and all embedded Operating systems-are 'Real-time' in
behavior. The task/ process scheduling policies play an important role in the 'Real-
time' behavior of an OS. Analyze the real-time capabilities of the OS under
consideration and the standards met by the operating system for real-time capabilities.
» Kernel and Interrupt Latency: The kernel of the OS may disable interrupts
while executing certain services and it may lead to interrupt latency. For an
embedded system whose response requirements are high, this latency should
be minimal.

» Inter Process Communication and Task Synchronization: The implementation

of Inter Process Communication and Synchronization is OS kernel
dependent. Certain kernels may provide a bunch of options whereas others
provide very limited options.

» Modularization Support: Most of the operating systems provide a bunch of

features. At times it may not be necessary for an embedded product for its
functioning. It is very useful if the OS supports modularisation where in
which the developer can choose the essential modules and re-compile the
OSimage for functioning.
» Support for Networking and Communication: The OS kernel may provide
stack implementation and driver support for a bunch of communication
interfaces and networking. Ensure that the OS under consideration provides
support for all the interfaces required by the embedded product.

» Development Language Support: Certain operating systems include the run

time libraries required for running applications written in languages like Java
and C#. A Java Virtual Machine (JVM) customized for the Operating System
is essential for running java applications. Similarly the .NET Compact
Framework (.NETCF) is required for running Microsoft .NET applications
on top of the Operating System. The OS may include these components as
built-in component, if not; check the availability of the same from a third
party vendor or the OS under consideration.
» Non-functional Requirements:
» Custom Developed or Off the Shelf: Depending on the OS requirement, it is possible to
go for the complete development of an operating system suiting the embedded system
needs or use an off the shelf, readily available operating system, which is either a
commercial product or an Open Source product, which is in close match with the
system requirements. Sometimes it may be possible to build the required features by
customizing an Open source OS. The decision on which to select is purely dependent
on the development cost, licensing fees for the OS, development time and availability
of skilled resources.

» Cost: The total cost for developing or buying the OS and maintaining it in terms of
commercial product and custom build needs to be evaluated before taking a decision
on the selection of OS.
» Development and Debugging Tools Availability: The availability of
development and debugging tools is a critical decision making factor in the
selection of an OS for embedded design. Certain Operating Systems may be
superior in performance, but the availability of tools for supporting the
development may be limited. Explore the different tools available for the OS
under consideration.

» Ease of Use: How easy it is to use a commercial RTOS is another important

feature that needs to be considered in the RTOS selection.

» After Sales: For a commercial embedded RTOS, after sales in the form of e-
mail, on-call services etc., for bug fixes, critical patch updates and support for
production issues, etc., should be analyzed thoroughly.
 18CS44
MICROCONTROLLER
AND EMBEDDED
SYSTEMS

MODULE 5
INTEGRATION AND
TESTING OF EMBEDDED
» Integration testing of the embedded hardware and firmware is the immediate
step following the embedded hardware and firmware development.

» The final embedded hardware constitute of a PCB with all necessary

components affixed to it as per the original schematic diagram.

» Embedded firmware represents the control algorithm and configuration data

necessary to implement the product requirements on the product. Embedded
firmware will be in a target processor/ controller understandable format called
machine language (sequence of ls and 0s-Binary).

» The target embedded hardware without embedding the firmware is a dumb

device and cannot function properly. If you power up the hardware without
embedding the firmware, the device may behave in an unpredicted manner.

96
» Both embedded hardware and firmware should be independently tested (Unit
Tested) to ensure their proper functioning.

» Functioning of individual hardware sections can be done by writing small

utilities which checks the operation of the specified part.

» The functionalities of embedded firmware can easily be checked by the

simulator environment provided by the embedded firmware development
tool's IDE.

97
 INTEGRATION OF
HARDWARE AND FIRMWARE
» Integration of hardware and firmware deals with the embedding of firmware
into the target hardware board. It is the process of 'Embedding Intelligence' to
the product.

» The embedded processors/ controllers used in the target board may or may not
have built in code memory.
• For non-operating system based embedded products, if the processor/ controller
contain internal memory and the total size of the firmware is fitting into the
code memory area, the code memory is downloaded into the target controller/
processor.

98
» If the processor/ controller does not support built in code memory or the size
of the firmware is exceeding the memory size supported by the target
processor/ controller, an external dedicated EPROM/ FLASH memory chip is
used for holding the firmware. This chip is interfaced to the processor/
controller.

» A variety of techniques are used for embedding the firmware into the target
board.
• The commonly used firmware embedding techniques for a non-OS based
embedded system are explained below.
• The non-OS based embedded systems store the firmware either in the on-chip
processor/ controller memory or off-chip memory (FLASHI/ NVRAM, etc.).

99
» Out-of-Circuit Programming:

» Out-of-circuit programming is performed outside the target board. The

processor or memory chip into which the firmware needs to be embedded is
taken out of the target board and it is programmed with the help of a
programming device.

» The programming device is a dedicated unit which contains the necessary

hardware circuit to generate the programming signals. Most of the
programming devices available in the market are capable of programming
different family of devices.

» The programming device will be under the control of a utility program running
on a PC. Usually the programming device is interfaced to the PC through RS-
232C/USB/Parallel Port Interface.

100
» The commands to control the device programmer are sent from the utility
program to the device programmer through the interface (see the following
Figure).

»The sequence of operations for embedding the firmware with a programmer is

listed below:
1. Connect the programming device to the specified port of PC (USB/COM
port/Parallel port)
101
2. Power up the device (Most of the programmers incorporate LED to indicate
Device power up. Ensure that the power indication LED is ON)

3. Execute the programming utility on the PC and ensure proper connectivity is

established between PC and programmer. In case of error turn off device
power and try connecting it again

4. Unlock the ZIF socket by turning the lock pin

5. Insert the device to be programmed into the open socket.

6. Lock the ZIF socket

7. Select the device name from the list of supported devices

8. Load the hex file which is to be embedded into the device

9. Program the device by 'Program' option of utility program

102
10. Wait till the completion of programming operation (Till busy LED of
programmer is off)

11. Ensure that programming is success by checking the status LED on the
programmer (Usually 'Green' for success and 'Red' for error condition) or by
noticing the feedback from the utility program

12. Unlock the ZIF socket and take the device out of programmer.

» The major drawback of out-of-circuit programming is the high development

time. Whenever the firmware is changed, the chip should be taken out of the
development board for re-programming. This is tedious and prone to chip
damages due to frequentlly taking out form target device.

» The out-of-system programming technique is used for firmware integration for

low end embedded products which runs without an operating system.
103
» In System Programming (ISP):

» With ISP, programming is done 'within the system', meaning the firmware is
embedded into the target device without removing it from the target board.
• It is the most flexible and easy way of firmware embedding.
• The only pre- requisite is that the target device must have an ISP support.
Apart from the target board, PC, ISP cable and ISP utility, no other additional
hardware is required for ISP.

» The target board can be interfaced to the utility program running on PC

through Serial Port/ Parallel Port/ USB. The communication between the
target device and ISP will be in a serial format.

104
» In System Programming with SPI Protocol: Devices with SPI (Serial
Peripheral Interface) ISP (In System Programming) support contains a built-
in SPI interface and the on-chip EEPROM or FLASH memory. The primary
I/O lines involved in SPI-In System Programming are listed below:
» MOSI – Master Out Slave In

» MISO – Master In Slave Out

» SCK – System Clock

» RST – Reset of Target Device

» GND – Ground of Target Device

» PC acts as the master and target device acts as the slave in ISP.

• The program data is sent to the MOSI pin of target device and the device
acknowledgement is originated from the MISO pin of the device. SCK pin acts as the
clock for data transfer. A utility program can be developed on the PC side to generate
the above signal lines.
105
» Standard SPI-ISP utilities are freely available on the internet and, there is no
need for going for writing own program. For ISP operations, the target device
needs to be powered up in a pre-defined sequence.

» The power up sequence for In System Programming for Atmel's AT89S

series microcontroller family is listed below:

1. Apply supply voltage between VCC and GND pins of target chip

2. Set RST pin to "HIGH" state

3. If a crystal is not connected across pins XTAL 1 and XTAL2, apply a 3

MHz to 24 MHz clock to XTALl pin and wait for at least 10 milliseconds

4. Enable serial programming by sending the Programming Enable serial

instruction to pin MOSI/ Pl.5. The frequency of the shift clock supplied at
pin SCK/ P1.7 needs to be less than the CPU clock at XTALl divided by 40

106
5. The Code or Data array is programmed one byte at a time by supplying the
address and data together with the appropriate Write instruction. The
selected memory location is first erased before the new data is written. The
write cycle is self-timed and typically takes less than 2.5 ms at 5V

6. Any memory location can be verified by using the Read instruction,

which
returns the content at the selected address at serial output MISO/ Pl.6

7. After successfully programming the device, set RST pin low or turn off the
chip power supply and turn it ON to commence the normal operation.

107
» The key player behind ISP is a factory programmed memory (ROM) called
'Boot ROM‟. The Boot ROM normally resides at the top end of code memory
space and it varies in the order of a few Kilo Bytes (For a controller with 64K
code memory space and lK Boot ROM, the Boot ROM resides at memory
location FC00H to FFFFH).

» It contains a set of Low-level Instruction APIs and these APIs allow the
processor/ controller to perform the FLASH memory programming, erasing
and Reading operations.

» The contents of the Boot ROM are provided by the chip manufacturer and the
same is masked into every device.

108
» In Application Programming (IAP):

» In Application Programming is a technique used by the firmware running on

the target device for modifying a selected portion of the code memory.

» It is not a technique for first time embedding of user written firmware. It

modifies the program code memory under the control of the embedded
application.

» Updating calibration data, look-up tables, etc., which are stored in code
memory, are typical examples of IAP.

109
» Use of Factory Programmed Chip:

» It is possible to embed the firmware into the target processor/ controller

memory at the time of chip fabrication itself. Such chips are known as
'Factory Programmed Chips'.
• Once the firmware design is over and the firmware achieved operational
stability, the firmware files can be sent to the chip fabricator to embed it into
the code memory.

» Factory programmed chips are convenient for mass production applications

and it greatly reduces the product development time.

» It is not recommended to use factory programmed chips for development

purpose where the firmware undergoes frequent changes.

» Factory programmed ICs are bit expensive.

110
» Firmware Loading for Operating System Based Devices:

» The OS based embedded systems are programmed using the In System

Programming (ISP) technique. OS based embedded systems contain a special
piece of code called 'Boot loader' program which takes control of the OS and
application firmware embedding and copying of the OS image to the RAM of
the system for execution.

» The 'Boot 1oader' for such embedded systems comes as pre-loaded or it can
be loaded to the memory using the various interface supported.

» The boot loader contains necessary driver initialization implementation for

initializing the supported interfaces like UART/ I2C, TCP/ IP, etc.

» Boot loader implements menu options for selecting the source for OS image to
load (Typical menu item examples are Load from FLASH ROM, Load from
Network, Load through UART, etc).
111
» Once a communication link is established between the host and target machine,
the OS image can be directly downloaded to the FLASH memory of the
target device.

112
 BOARD BRING UP
» Once the firmware is embedded into the target board using one of the
programming techniques, then power up the board.
• You may be expecting the device functioning exactly in a way as you designed.
But in real scenario it need not be and if the board functions well in the first
attempt itself you are very lucky.

» Sometimes the first power up may end up in a messy explosion leaving the smell
of burned components behind. It may happen due to various reasons, like
Proper care was not taken in applying the power and power applied in reverse
polarity (+ve of supply connected to –ve of the target board and vice versa),
components were not placed in the correct polarity order (E.g. a capacitor on
the target board is connected to the board with +ve terminal to –ve of the
and vice versa), etc ... etc ...
board 114
» The prototype/ evaluation/ production version must pass through a varied set
of tests to verify that embedded hardware and firmware functions as
expected. Bring up process includes –

» basic hardware spot checks/ validations to make sure that the individual
components and busses/ interconnects are operational – which involves
checking power, clocks, and basic functional connectivity;

» basic firmware verification to make sure that the processor is fetching the
code and the firmware execution is happening in the expected manner;

» running advanced validations such as memory validations, signal integrity

validation, etc.

115
 18CS44
MICROCONTROLLER AND
EMBEDDED SYSTEMS

MODULE 5
THE EMBEDDED SYSTEM
DEVELOPMENT
ENVIRONMENT
» The embedded system development environment consists of –

» Development Computer (PC) or Host heart of

the
– acts as the development
environment for
embedded
» Integrated
firmware Development
development Environment (IDE) Tool
and debugging
–
» Electronic Design Automation (IDA) Tool – for embedded
hardware
design

» An emulator hardware – for debugging the target board

» Signal sources (like CRO, Multimeter, Logic Analyzer, etc.)

» Target hardware.

116
 THE INTEGRATED DEVELOPMENT
ENVIRONMENT (IDE)

» In embedded system development context, Integrated Development Environment

(IDE) stands for an integrated environment for developing and debugging the
target processor specific embedded firmware.

118
» IDE is a software package which bundles
–
» a “Text Editor (Source Code Editor)”,

» “Cross-complier (for cross platform development and complier for same

platform
development)”,

» “Linker”, and

» a “Debugger”.

» Some IDEs may provide –

» interface to target board emulators,

» target processor‟s/ controller‟s Flash memory programmer, etc.

» IDE may be command line based or GUI based.

» NOTE: The Keil µVision IDE & An Overview of IDEs – test as an

exercise/
119
self study topic.
 DISASSEMBLER/ DECOMPLIER
» Disassembler is a utility program which converts machine codes into target
processor specific Assembly codes/ instructions.

» The process of converting machine codes into Assembly code is known as

'Disassembling'. In operation, disassembling is complementary to assembling/
cross-assembling.

» Decompiler is the utility program for translating machine codes into

corresponding high level language instructions.

» Decompiler performs the reverse operation of compiler/ cross-compiler.

» The disassemblers/ decompilers for different family of processors/ controllers

are different.

120
» Disassemblers/ Decompilers are deployed in reverse engineering.

» Reverse engineering is the process of revealing the technology behind the

working of a product. Reverse engineering in Embedded Product
development is employed to find out the secret behind the working of popular
proprietary products.

» Disassemblers/ Decompilers are powerful tools for analyzing the presence of

malicious codes (virus information) in an executable image.

» Disassemblers/ Decompilers are available as either freeware tools readily

available for free download from internet or as commercial tools.
» It is not possible for a disassembler/ decompiler to generate an exact replica of the
original assembly code/ high level source code in terms of the symbolic constants and
comments used. However disassemblers/ decompilers generate a source code which is
somewhat matching to the original source code from which the binary code is
generated.
 SIMULATORS,
EMULATORS AND DEBUGGING
» Simulators and emulators are two important tools used in embedded system
development.

» Simulator is a software tool use for simulating the various conditions for
checking the functionality of the application firmware.

» The Integrated Development Environment (IDE) itself will be providing

simulator support and they help in debugging the firmware for checking its
required functionality.

» In certain scenarios, simulator refers to a soft model (GUI model) of the

embedded product.

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  For example, if the product under development is a handheld device, to
test the functionalities of the various menu and user interfaces, a soft form
model of the product with all UI as given in the end product can be
developed in software.

» Emulator is hardware device which emulates the functionalities of the target

device and allows real time debugging of the embedded firmware in a
hardware environment.

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» Simulators:

» Simulators simulate the target hardware and the firmware execution can be
inspected using simulators.

» The features of simulator based debugging are listed below.

1. Purely software based

2. Doesn't require a real target system

3. Very primitive (Lack of I/O support. Everything is a

featured
simulated one)
4. Lack of Real-time behavior.

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» Advantages of Simulator Based Debugging: Simulator based debugging
techniques are simple and straightforward .The major advantages of simulator
based firmware debugging techniques are explained below.
» No Need for Original Target Board: User only needs to know about the memory map of
various devices within the target board; Real hardware is not required, hence,
firmware development can start well in advance – This saves development time.

» Simulate I/O Peripherals: Option to simulate various I/O peripherals; Can edit the
values for I/O registers – Eliminates the need for connecting I/O devices for
debugging the firmware.

» Simulates Abnormal Conditions: With simulator's simulation support you can input any
desired value for any parameter during debugging the firmware and can observe the
control flow of firmware.

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» Limitations of Simulator Based Debugging: Some of the limitations of
simulator-based debugging are explained below:

» Deviation from Real Behavior: Developer may not be able to debug the
firmware under all possible combinations of input; Under certain operating
conditions, we may get some particular result and it need not be the same
when the firmware runs in a production environment.

» Lack of Real Timeliness: The major limitation of simulator based debugging is

that it is not real-time in behavior. In a real application the I/O condition may
be varying or unpredictable.

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» Emulators and Debuggers:

» Debugging in embedded application is the process of diagnosing the firmware

execution, monitoring the target processor's registers and memory, while the
firmware is running and checking the signals from various buses of the
embedded hardware.
• Debugging process in embedded application is broadly classified into two,
namely; hardware debugging and firmware debugging.

» Hardware debugging deals with the monitoring of various bus signals and
checking the status lines of the target hardware.

» Firmware debugging deals with examining the firmware execution, execution

flow, changes to various CPU registers and status registers on execution of
the firmware to ensure that the firmware is running as per the design.

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» Firmware debugging is performed to figure out the bug or the error in the
firmware which creates the unexpected behavior.

» The following section describes the improvements over firmware debugging

starting from the most primitive type of debugging to the most sophisticated
On Chip Debugging (OCD):

» Incremental EEPROM Burning Technique: This is the most primitive type of

firmware debugging technique where the code is separated into different
functional code units. Instead of burning the entire code into the EEPROM
chip at once, the code is burned in incremental order, where the code
corresponding to all functionalities are separately coded, cross-compiled and
burned into the chip one by one.

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» Inline Breakpoint Based Firmware Debugging: Inline breakpoint based
debugging is another primitive method of firmware debugging. Within the
firmware where you want to ensure that firmware execution is reaching up to
a specified point, insert an inline debug code immediately after the point. The
debug code is a printf() function which prints a string given as per the
firmware.

» You can insert debug codes (printf()) commands at each point where you
want to ensure the firmware execution is covering that point. Cross-
compile the source code with the debug codes embedded within it. Burn
the corresponding hex file into the EEPROM.

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» Monitor Program Based Firmware Debugging: Monitor program based
firmware debugging is the first adopted invasive method for firmware
debugging (see the following Figure). In this approach a monitor program
which acts as a supervisor is developed.

» The monitor program controls the downloading of user code into the code
memory, inspects and modifies register/ memory locations; allows single
stepping of source code, etc.

» The monitor program implements the debug functions as per a pre-defined

command set from the debug application interface.

» The monitor program always listens to the serial port of the target device and
according to the command received from the serial interface it performs
command specific actions like firmware downloading, memory inspection/
modification, firmware single stepping and sends the debug information .
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The monitor program contains the following set of minimal features:
1. Command set interace to establish communication with the debugging application
2. Firmware download option to code memory
3. Examine and modify processor registers and working memory (RAM)
4. Single step program execution
5. Set breakpoints in firmware execution
6. Send debug information to debug application running on host machine. 13
1
» In Emulator (ICE) Based Firmware Debugging: The
Circuit terms
'Simulator' and 'Emulator' are little bit confusing and sounds similar. Though
their basic functionality is the same-"Debug the target firmware", the way in
which they achieve this functionality is totally different. The simulator
'simulates' the target board CPU and the emulator 'emulates' the target board
CPU.
 'Simulator' is a software application that precisely duplicates (mimics) the
target CPU and simulates the various features and instructions supported
by the target CPU.
 'Emulator' is a self-contained hardware device which emulates the target
CPU. The emulator hardware contains necessary emulation logic and it is
hooked to the debugging application running on the development PC
on
one end.
other end and connects to the target board through some interface on
 The Emulator POD (see the following Figure) forms the heart of any
emulator system and it contains the following functional units.

 Emulation Device: is a replica of the target CPU which receives various

signals from the target board through a device adaptor connected to the
target board and performs the execution of firmware under the control of
debug commands from the debug applicat i on 13
3
 Emulation Memory: is the Random Access Memory (RAM) incorporated
in the Emulator device. It acts as a replacement to the target board's
EEPROM where the code is supposed to be downloaded after each
firmware modification. Hence the original EEPROM memory is emulated
by the RAM of emulator. This is known as 'ROM Emulation'. ROM
emulation eliminates the hassles of ROM burning and it offers the benefit
of infinite number of reprogramming.
 Emulator Control Logic: is the logic circuits used for implementing
complex hardware breakpoints, trace buffer trigger detection, trace buffer
control, etc. Emulator control logic circuits are also used for implementing
logic analyzer functions in advanced emulator devices. The 'Emulator
POD' is connected to the target board through a 'Device adaptor' and
signal cable.
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 Device Adaptors: act as an interface between the target board and
emulator POD. Device adaptors are normally pin-to-pin compatible
sockets which can be inserted/ plugged into the target board for routing the
various signals from pins assigned for the target processor. The device
adaptor is usually connected to the emulator POD using ribbon cables.

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» On Chip Firmware Debugging (OCD): Advances in semiconductor
technology has brought out new dimensions to target firmware debugging.
Today almost all processors/controllers incorporate built in debug modules
called On Chip Debug (OCD) support. Though OCD adds silicon complexity
and cost factor, from a developer perspective it is a very good feature
supporting fast and efficient firmware debugging. The On Chip Debug
facilities integrated to the processor/ controller are chip vendor dependent and
most of them are proprietary technologies like Background Debug Mode
(BDM), OnCE, etc.

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 TARGET HARDWARE DEBUGGING
» Even though the firmware is bug free and everything is intact in the board, your
embedded product need not function as per the expected behavior in the first
attempt for various hardware related reasons like dry soldering of components,
missing connections in the PCB due to any un-noticed errors in the PCB layout
design, misplaced components, signal corruption due to noise, etc. The only
way to sort out these issues and figure out the real problem creator is debugging
the target board.

» Hardware debugging is not similar to firmware debugging. Hardware debugging

involves the monitoring of various signals of the target board (address/ data
lines, port pins, etc.), checking the inter connection among various components,
circuit continuity checking, etc.

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» The various hardware debugging tools used in Embedded Product
Development are explained below.

» Magnifying Glass (Lens):

» Similar to a watch repairer, magnifying glass is the primary hardware

debugging tool for an embedded hardware debugging professional.

» A magnifying glass is a powerful visual inspection tool.

» With a magnifying glass (lens), the surface of the target board can be examined
thoroughly for dry soldering of components, missing components, improper
placement of components, improper soldering, track (PCB connection)
damage, short of tracks, etc. Nowadays high quality magnifying stations are
available for visual inspection.

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» Multimeter:

» A multimeter is used for measuring various electrical quantities like voltage

(Both AC and DC), current (DC as well as AC), resistance, capacitance,
continuity checking, transistor checking, cathode and anode identification of
diode, etc.

» Any multimeter will work over a specific range for each measurement. A
multimeter is the most valuable tool in the tool kit of an embedded hardware
developer. It is the primary debugging tool for physical contact based
hardware debugging and almost all developers start debugging the hardware
with it.

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» Digital CRO:

» Cathode Ray Oscilloscope (CRO) is a little more sophisticated tool compared

to a multimeter. CRO is used for waveform capturing and analysis,
measurement of signal strength, etc.

» CRO is a very good tool in analyzing interference noise in the power supply
line and other signal lines. Monitoring the crystal oscillator signal from the
target board is a typical example of the usage of CRO.

» CROs are available in both analog and digital versions.

» Various measurements like phase, amplitude, etc. are also possible with CROs.
Tektronix, Agilent, Philips, etc. are the manufacturers of high precision good
quality digital CROs.

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» Logic
Analyzer:
» A logic analyzer is the big brother of digital CRO. Logic analyzer is used for
capturing digital data (logic 1 and 0) from a digital circuitry whereas CRO is
employed in capturing all kinds of waves including logic signals.

» A logic analyzer contains special connectors and clips which can be attached to
the target board for capturing digital data. In target board debugging
applications, a logic analyzer captures the states of various port pins, address
bus and data bus of the target processor/ controller, etc.

» Logic analyzers give an exact reflect on of what happens when a particular line
of firmware is running. This is achieved by capturing the address line logic
and data line logic of target hardware. Most modem logic analyzers contain
provisions for storing captured data, selecting a desired region of the
captured waveform, zooming selected region of the captured waveform,
etc.
14
1
» Function Generator:

» Function generator is not a debugging tool. It is a input signal simulator tool. A

function generator is capable of producing various periodic waveforms like
sine wave, square wave, saw-tooth wave, etc. with different frequencies and
amplitude.

» Sometimes the target board may require some kind of periodic waveform with
a particular frequency as input to some part of the board. Thus, in a
debugging environment, the function generator serves the purpose of
generating and supplying required signals.

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 BOUNDARY SCAN
» As the complexity of the hardware increase, the number of chips present in the
board and the interconnection among them may also increase.

» The device packages used in the PCB become miniature to reduce the total board
space occupied by them and multiple layers may be required to route the
interconnections among the chips.

» With miniature device packages and multiple layers for the PCB it will be very
difficult to debug the hardware using magnifying glass, multimeter, etc. to
check the interconnection among the various chips.

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» Boundary scan is a technique used for testing the interconnection among
the
various chips.

» Chips which support boundary scan associate a boundary scan cell with each
pin of the device.

» A JTAG(Joint Test Action Group) port contains the five signal lines, namely,
TDI, TDO, TCK, TRST and TMS form the Test Access Port (TAP) for a JTAG
supported chip.

» Each device will have its own TAP.

» The PCB also contains a TAP for connecting the JTAG signal lines to the
external world.

» A boundary scan path is formed inside the board by interconnecting the

devices through JTAG signal lines.
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» The TDI pin of the TAP of the PCB is connected to the TDI pin of the first
device.

» The TDO pin of the first device is connected to the TDI pin of the
second
device.

» In this way all devices are interconnected and the TDO pin of the last
JTAG device is connected to the TDO pin of the TAP of the PCB.

» The clock line TCK and the Test Mode Select (TMS) line of the devices are
connected to the clock line and Test mode select line of the Test Access Port
of the PCB respectively. This forms a boundary scan path.

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» The following Figure illustrates the same.

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