Embedded System Design

Embedded Systems Design & its background

An embedded system ideally refers to the notion of a programmed operating system, exclusively dedicated to performing a particular function, found within a larger, precisely controlled, electrical and/or mechanical system. The functionality of such an embedded system design can then be controlled and updated majorly by the Firmware, that is, the software that resides within.

These systems are ideally compact in size, low cost per unit and relatively entail lower power consumption. However, this makes managing, programming and interacting with the system much more complex. Modern Embedded systems have, nevertheless, taken over the industrial realm as the underlying concept enables control, maintenance and most importantly, modification to the entire network by just updating the Firmware of the design. This helps reserve the great amount of time, cost and resources which would incur if we were to modify the hardware/mechanical design systems instead.

The applications of embedded systems can vary from the use in everyday consumer devices, to more complex installations and the largely compounded systems spread over countries. Most life critical systems are embedded systems as these are lesser prone to being hacked. We, at TronicsZone realize the significance of this concern and hence project our products to thorough research and a detailed phase dedicated to testing and debugging prior to its prototype launch. The use of embedded systems can be found largely widespread amongst all industries, most of which incur real time performance constraints:

• Daily consumer electronics in the form of video gaming consoles, mobile phones, MP3 players, digital watches, digital cameras, Global Positioning System (GPS) receivers, printers and other everyday devices;
• Telecommunication systems in the form of networks for mobile phones and switches for the networks to these mobile phones;
• Computer networking as per the routers and extensive network bridges continuously routing data;
• Automation of household appliances that provide flexibility of control over refrigerators, microwave ovens, washing machines, dishwasher and other such appliances.
• Monitor and Control over security and surveillance cameras, light switches, door-lock systems and others with additional use of Internet of Thing (IoT) sensors and wireless networking;
• Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) Systems have  advanced to automate indoor temperature accurately according to the season, time, day and night;
• Transportation systems heavily make use of embedded systems in the form of automobiles and recent avionics embedded with GPS functionality which requires considerable safety and monitoring. Electric vehicles and Hybrid Vehicles employ embedded design to minimize power consumption and production of pollution. Electric Motors such as DC Motors, Induced DC and brushless DC motors also make use of embedded systems. Some other transportation safety systems include Electronic Stability Control (ESC/ESP), Anti-Lock Braking System (ABS) and Traction Systems (TS).
• Medical industries employ embedded systems in various forms such as in medical imaging techniques namely Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), Computed Tomography (CT) scans, Positron Emission tomography (PET) scans and Single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) scans.

TronicsZone personnel benefits from over 17 years worth of significant experience in both hardware and firmware, software. We specialize in working on embedded system designs using various 8, 16, 32-bit microcontrollers, FPGA and DSP and maintain significant experience on ARM/MIPS/X86 based platforms.

Our key goal is to incorporate the functionalities of these microprocessors and microcontrollers best along with secondary analog and digital circuited hardware, such that, we may be able to quickly and efficiently migrate from one processor /microcontroller to another in case our clients have a change of preference for their esteemed products/services.

TronicsZone enables its customers to realize the vision of their product with state-of-the-art design modules that cut down cost per manufactured module. Our packages include complete succession of embedded systems development and design, including firmware and middleware development, system-level drivers and applications, performance oriented services, in-depth testing and failure analysis. Additionally we offer PCB designing and rapid electronic prototyping.

The following characteristics of embedded system development are to name a few of those that we master (but are not limited to):

IoT and Embedded System Design

TronicsZone lies amongst the leading embedded systems unit in the market. Our strong expertise in electronics, hardware and firmware make us an esteemed part of the embedded ecosystems all over India and beyond. For systems running on limited power and others, we ensure minimal usage of resources with lowest production costs possible for the software embedded in physical devices.

FPGA Based Design

A field-programmable gate array (FPGA) happens to be an integrated circuit, which as the name suggests, is reliant on being configured by the designer as per the client preferences and needs. This is usually done using Hardware Description Language. These Arrays comprise of programmable logic blocks in an order that can modified. Hence these blocks can be wired into different configurations, from complex functions to simple AND, OR functions; their hierarchy can be re-configured as well.
TronicsZone works with all the major vendors in the nation in providing prime FPGA based systems, as a fragment of our embedded design services.

BSP Development

The crucial software layer, Broad support package (BSP) comprises of all the hardware-specific drivers and routines that enable an operating system to perform in a given hardware environment. This is integrated with real time operating system, RTOS, and third party partners intending on supporting a RTOS must create a BPS layer first, as the platform on which the RTOS may run. At TronicsZone, we offer support by developing efficient BSPs; our services help system engineers build a more stable system for other relevant engineers to then work with, and ramp up their deployments.

OTA Firmware update

Over The Air, OTA, firmware update refers to wireless update of software or data. The idea had been limited to mobile phone device whereby original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) used OTA firmware to configure the cell phones to their network and establish updates. However, with the emerging trend of IoT amongst the industries worldwide, manufacturers now use OTA firmware update to deploy upgrades and configure operating systems on all IoT devices. TronicsZone is amongst these manufacturers.

IoT network security

With the pace that IoT based infrastructure are currently expanding, this massive scope technology is projected to grow and take over the ecosystem, as data from IoT sensors a cloud computing converge.
Being wirelessly connected via all our devices imposes the biggest cyber threat ever; hence the major concern of network security regarding IoT implementation. TronicsZone’s debugging phase comprises of all the precautionary checks which thoroughly go through each network, application, device, thread and operation residing within the ecosystem to guarantee security of your data.

IoT sensors and actuators

IoT sensors are the indispensable enablers of the reality of Internet of Things. These sensors are what act as the primary input to the IoT based infrastructures as they continually detect and monitor, generating data in the form of electric signals to the respective cloud server where they may be analyzed and processed. The use of the right IoT sensors in accurate workflows is critical to the entire concept of the wireless ecosystem. At our platforms, you will find highly methodical set ups manufactured keenly to support efficiency with accuracy, which ensure tangible connections to your devices and thus give you the ultimate control.

Product Prototyping

A prototype empowers clearer vision for both the client and the developers; developers understand the complexity of the system better and hence can work on ways to make it more efficient; customers gain confidence in their investment by having a visual look at the progress and are able to infer initial costs. Ideas documented or discussed verbally hold much less value than having hands-on experience on a working prototype. This can save up modification time and costs drastically as well as create better communication between the investors and the developers.

Electronic prototyping helps build up detailed cost distribution that the manufacturing phase will incur. Costs are thus factored in advance and help in predicting the feasibility of the production of the product. Additionally, it offers an upfront feedback which facilitates early target achievement.
At TronicsZone we offer rapid prototyping by enveloping your software into prototype hardware in order to meet your esteemed expectations.

Boot Loaders

Boot Loaders are an integral part of a Board Support Package (BSP), which starts up and runs the initial silicon chips of an embedded Microcontroller Unit or System on a Chip. These boot loaders are highly processor specific and board specific. They are programmed to communicate with the host and/or read files sent in by the host, using whatever communication protocols that may be needed. For example: I2C, SPI, Ethernet and/or UART. Additionally they are meant to follow through with the memory map of the respective Microcontroller.