Rapid development of reliable embedded systems

Overview

Use of embedded processors in passenger cars, mobile phones, medical medical equipment, aerospace systems and defence systems is widespread, and even everyday domestic appliances such as dish washers, televisions, washing machines and video recorders now include at least one such device. There is a large - and growing - international demand for programmers with ‘embedded’ skills, and many desktop developers are starting to move into this important area.

Because most embedded projects have severe cost constraints, they tend to use low-cost processors like the 8051 family of devices considered in this book. These popular chips have very limited resources available: most such devices have around 256 bytes (not megabytes!) of RAM, and the available processor power is around 1000 times less than that of a desktop processor. As a result, developing embedded software presents significant new challenges, even for experienced desktop programmers.

If you have some programming experience — in C, C++ or Java — then Embedded C and its accompanying CD will help you move into the embedded world as quickly and painlessly as possible. In addition, the techniques introduced in this book are explored in more detail in “Rapid Development of Reliable Embedded Systems”, giving you a clear “upgrade path” to extend your skills.

Key Features of Embedded C

• Covers key techniques required in all embedded systems in detail, including the control of port pins and the reading of switches.
• Presents a complete embedded operating system which uses less than 1% of the available processor power of an embedded 8051 microcontroller.
• Covers the microcontroller serial interface, which is widely used for debugging embedded systems, as well as for system maintenance and in data acquisition applications.
• Includes a substantial and realistic case study.
• Uses 100% C code: no knowledge of assembly language is needed. A C compiler is also included on the CD, along with copies of the source code from the book. Programmers with experience of Java, C++ or C on a desktop PC or workstation will therefore be able to get up and running very quickly.
• Includes a hardware simulator for the 8051 microcontroller on CD, so that you can try out all of the examples in the book — and create new examples of your own — without needing to purchase any hardware.
• Provides a perfect introduction to techniques which are explored in more detail in the RD-RES book project, giving you a clear “upgrade path” to extend your skills.

If you are about to write your first embedded program — or have been struggling to learn about this important area — this book will save you weeks of effort.

Instructors’ Guide

If you wish to use Embedded C in a university or college course, you will find some useful information (including lecture handouts) on the University of Leicester website.

A complete set of Powerpoint slides (10 files, zipped) is also available. These would be suitable for use in an introductory course on embedded systems. These files were created by Dr. Jimmy To, a faculty member at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University.

Embedded C for ARM?

The techniques which are introduced in Embedded C are explored in more detail in the RD-RES book project.

Errata

A full list of errata for Embedded C can be found in our discussion forum. Please note that known errata should be corrected in the next printing.