Ethernet :--

How a local area network using Ethernet might be connected

Ethernet is a way of connecting computers together in a local area network or LAN. It has been
the most widely used method of linking computers together in LANs since the 1990s. The basic
idea of its design is that multiple computers have access to it and can send data at any time. This
is comparatively easy to engineer.
If two computers send data at the same time, a collision will occur. When this happens, the data
sent is not usable. In general, both computers will stop sending, and wait a random amount of time,
before they try again. A special protocol was developed to deal with such problems. It is
called Carrier sense multiple access with collision detection or CSMA/CD.

Different cable types:--

There are different Ethernet standards. Today, Ethernet cables look like thick telephone cables.
They connect to boxes called hubs or switches. Each cable runs from a computer's network
interface card (NIC) to such a box. This cable is called 10BaseT or 100BaseT, or 1000BaseT
Cable.
All cable types:

 10Base2 and 10Base5: These coaxial cables are like those used in television, but thinner. They
are also called "thinnet" or "coax". Each computer has a "T" plugged into it, and cables plug
into each side of the "T". Sometimes, instead of a "T", a vampire tap is used. It supports
 10MBits per second transfer speed. It was the first to be adopted, and became rare during the
21st century.
 10BaseT: Cables look like thick phone cables, but with 8 copper wires instead of 2 or 4, and
they go from each computer' to a Hub or a Switch. Supported speed is 10 MBit/second.
 10BaseF: Same as 10BaseT, but cables transmit light pulses, instead of electrical signals.
 100BaseT: Cables look the same as 10BaseT, but can run at up to 100 MBits per second
 1000BaseT: Cables look the same as 10BaseT, but can run at up to 1GBit (1000MBit) per
second.
Today, the cables for 10BaseT, 100BaseT, and 1000BaseT are the same. Their transmission
medium is unshielded twisted pair for Category 5 (UTP-Cat5) or 5e. Shielded cable (STP-Cat5 or
Cat5e) can be used when there is a lot of electrical noise, and Category 6 (UTP-Cat6 or STP-Cat6)
works better with faster signals such as 1GBit or 10GBit.

Definition - What does Universal Serial Bus (USB) mean?

A Universal Serial Bus (USB) is a common interface that enables communication between devices
and a host controller such as a personal computer (PC). It connects peripheral devices such as
digital cameras, mice, keyboards, printers, scanners, media devices, external hard drives and flash
drives. Because of its wide variety of uses, including support for electrical power, the USB has
replaced a wide range of interfaces like the parallel and serial port.
A USB is intended to enhance plug-and-play and allow hot swapping. Plug-and-play enables the
operating system (OS) to spontaneously configure and discover a new peripheral device without
having to restart the computer. As well, hot swapping allows removal and replacement of a new
peripheral without having to reboot.
Although there are several types of USB connectors, the majority of USB cables are one of two
types, type A and type B. The USB 2.0 standard is type A; it has a flat rectangle interface that
inserts into a hub or USB host which transmits data and supplies power. A keyboard or mouse are
common examples of a type A USB connector. A type B USB connector is square with slanted
exterior corners. It is connected to an upstream port that uses a removable cable such as a printer.
The type B connector also transmits data and supplies power. Some type B connectors do not have
a data connection and are used only as a power connection.
The USB was co-invented and established by Ajay Bhatt, a computer architect who had been
working for Intel. In 1994 seven companies that included Intel, Compaq, Microsoft, IBM, Digital
Equipment Corporation (DEC), Nortel and NEC Corporation started the development of the USB.
Their objective was to make it easier to connect peripheral devices to a PC and eliminate the mass
amount of connectors. Factors involved included: creating larger bandwidths, streamlining
software configurations and solving utilization problems for current interfaces.
The USB design is standardized by the USB Implementers Forum (USBIF) that is comprised of a
group of companies supporting and promoting the USB. The USBIF not only markets the USB
but maintains the specifications and upholds the compliance program. Specifications for the USB
were created in 2005 with the 2.0 version. The standards were introduced by the USBIF in 2001;
these included the older versions of 0.9, 1.0 and 1.1, which are backward compatible.
Universal Serial Bus (USB)
A Universal Serial Bus (USB) is basically a newer port that is used as a common interface to
connect several different types of devices such as keyboards, printers, media devices, cameras,
scanners, and mice. It is designed for easy installation, faster transfer rates, higher quality cabling
and hot swapping. It has conclusively replaced the bulkier and slower serial and parallel ports.
One of the greatest features of the USB is hot swapping. This feature allows a device to be removed
or replaced without the past prerequisite of rebooting and interrupting the system. Older ports
required that a PC be restarted when adding or removing a new device. Rebooting allowed the
device to be reconfigured and prevented electrostatic discharge (ESD), an unwanted electrical
current capable of causing serious damage to sensitive electronic equipment such as integrated
circuits. Hot swapping is fault tolerant, i.e. able to continue operating despite a hardware failure.
However, care should be taken when hot swapping certain devices such as a camera; damage can
occur to the port, camera or other devices if a single pin is accidently shorted.
Another USB feature is the use of direct current (DC). In fact, several devises use a USB power
line to connect to DC current and do not transfer data. Example devices using a USB connector
only for DC current include a set of speakers, an audio jack and power devices like a miniature
refrigerator, coffee cup warmer or keyboard lamp.
USB Version 1 allowed for two speeds: 1.5 Mb/s (megabits per second) and 12 Mb/s, which work
well for slow I/O devices. USB Version 2 allows up to 480 Mb/s and is backward compatible with
slower USB devices. USB supports three.

Keypad in embedded System:-

Keypad is an analog switching device which is generally available in matrix structure. It is used in
many embedded system application for allowing the user to perform a necessary task.

Consider the block diagram representation of interfacing keypad with microcontroller is:-

A matrix keypad is consists of an arrangement of switches connected in matrix format in rows and
columns. The rows and columns are connected with a microcontroller such that the rows of
switches are connected to one pin and the columns of switches are connected to another pin of a
microcontroller.

Each embedded systems offer different capabilities for providing user input. Handheld computers
are provided with either full-fledged QWERTY keyboard or a form of handwriting recognition.
Depending on the needs they can vary from few keys to a ful-fledged keyboard.

Telecommunication:-
An embedded system is a controller with a dedicated function within a larger mechanical or
electrical system, often with real-time computing constraints.[1][2] It is embedded as part of a
complete device often including hardware and mechanical parts. Embedded systems control many
devices in common use today.[3] Ninety-eight percent of all microprocessors manufactured are
used in embedded systems.[4]
Modern embedded systems are often based on microcontrollers (i.e. microprocessors with
integrated memory and peripheral interfaces), but ordinary microprocessors (using external chips
for memory and peripheral interface circuits) are also common, especially in more complex
systems. In either case, the processor(s) used may be types ranging from general purpose to those
specialized in certain class of computations or even custom designed for the application at hand.
A common standard class of dedicated processors is the digital signal processor (DSP).
Since the embedded system is dedicated to specific tasks, design engineers can optimize it to
reduce the size and cost of the product and increase the reliability and performance. Some
embedded systems are mass-produced, benefiting from economies of scale.
Embedded systems range from portable devices such as digital watches and MP3 players, to large
stationary installations like traffic light controllers, programmable logic controllers, and large
complex systems like hybrid vehicles, medical imaging systems, and avionics. Complexity varies
from low, with a single microcontroller chip, to very high with multiple units, peripherals and
networks mounted inside a large equipment rack.
Telecommunication is the transmission of signs, signals, messages, words, writings, images and
sounds or information of any nature by wire, radio, optical or
[1][2]
other electromagnetic systems. Telecommunication occurs when the exchange
of information between communication participants includes the use of technology. It is
transmitted through a transmission media, such as over physical media, for example,
over electrical cable, or via electromagnetic radiation through space such as radio or
light.[3][4][5][6][7][8] Such transmission paths are often divided into communication channels which
afford the advantages of multiplexing. Since the Latin term communication is considered the
social process of information exchange, the term telecommunications is often used in its plural
form because it involves many different technologies.[9]
Early means of communicating over a distance included visual signals, such as beacons, smoke
signals, semaphore telegraphs, signal flags and optical heliographs.[10] Other examples of pre-
modern long-distance communication included audio messages such as coded drumbeats, lung-
blown horns, and loud whistles. 20th- and 21st-century technologies for long-distance
communication usually involve electrical and electromagnetic technologies, such
as telegraph, telephone, and teleprinter, networks, radio, microwave transmission, fiber optics,
and communications satellites.
A revolution in wireless communication began in the first decade of the 20th century with the
pioneering developments in radio communications by Guglielmo Marconi, who won the Nobel
Prize in Physics in 1909, and other notable pioneering inventors and developers in the field of
electrical and electronic telecommunications. These included Charles Wheatstone and Samuel
Morse (inventors of the telegraph), Alexander Graham Bell (inventor of the telephone), Edwin
Armstrong and Lee de Forest (inventors of radio), as well as Vladimir K. Zworykin, John Logie
Baird and Philo Farnsworth (some of the inventors of television).
Digital Signal Processor (DSP):-

The digital signal processor (DSP) is a special designed processor to handle signals,
rather than data. Processing signals (whether audio or video) is much more complex
than processing digital signals. To process audio and video signals, the
hardware/software needs to perform an operation called filtering, in which unwanted
frequencies are removed. In signal processing, another important task is to convert
the signal in frequency domain. Analyzing a signal in frequency domain requires
intensive mathematical computation, which general-purpose processors take a lot of
time to carry out. The DSP carries out such mathematical computations quickly
using a special module called the Multiplier and Accumulator. DSPs are available
with various clock frequencies and word-lengths, with each catering
to different market segments (such as speech processing, high-fidelity music
processing, image compression, video processing, etc).

Digital Signal Processors (DSPs) are microprocessors with the following

characteristics:
a) Real-time digital signal processing capabilities. DSPs typically have to process
data in real
time, i.e., the correctness of the operation depends heavily on the time when the data
processing is completed.
b) High throughput. DSPs can sustain processing of high-speed streaming data, such
as audio
and multimedia data processing.
c) Deterministic operation. The execution time of DSP programs can be foreseen
accurately,
thus guaranteeing a repeatable, desired performance.
d) Re-programmability by software. Different system behavior might be obtained by
re-coding the algorithm executed by the DSP instead of by hardware modifications.

Application-specific control:-
Since we are dealing with embedded systems which can be application specific so
such circuitry is needed which can handle specific applications. Devices which needed
includes sensor and transducers (to obtain real-world from external sources), relays(to
control external circuitry) and various input devices, such as keyboards, functional keypads
etc. To control all these devices on needs circuitry to interface them with the processor.

Display units :-

Embedded Systems that require user interactions must have display units, which can be either
Liquid Crystal Display (LCD): The come in various forms. Such as 2-line displays with eight
characters per line, four line display with 12 characters per line. Another kind is a touch screen
like that of automatic teller machine, which is more user friendly. These can
be integrated either the embedded systems with a special software (LCD Driver) for displaying the
data on LCD units
Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) indicators: Some of embedded systems use LED indicators to
provide status information, such as power on, or whether or not a specific parameter
being measured is within the prescribed limit. They come in different colors (red, green, yellow)
to provide such status information.

LATCHES AND BUFFERS:-

• Processor based systems need to derive external devices such as LEDs,

displays, relays, etc.
• The processor does not directly interface with these devices.
• Flip-flop logic chips are used to drive external drivers.
• These chips hold the processor output data to be send to the external devices.

PCI Bus :--

• coupling of the processor and expansion bus by means of a bridge,
• 32-bit standard bus width with a maximum transfer rate of 133
Mbytes/s,
• expansion to 64 bits with a maximum transfer rate of 266 Mbytes/s,
– PCI-64/66 532 Mbytes/s,PCI-X 64/133 1064 Mbytes/s
• supporting of multi-processor systems,
• burst transfers with arbitrary length,
• supporting of 5 V and 3.3 V power supplies,
• write posting and read prefetching,
• multimaster capabilities,
• operating frequencies from 0 MHz to a maximum of 33 MHz,
– PCI-66 3.3V only, PCI-X 100MHz-133MHz
• multiplexing of address and data bus reducing the number of pins,
• supporting of ISA/EISA/MCA,
• configuration through software and registers,
• processor independent specification

Communication Interfaces :--

Embedded Systems need to interface with the external devices, thus they need communication
interfaces. Most processors provide a serial interface to send and receive data in serial form.
Networked embedded systems are provided with Ethernet interface. Mobile phones and handheld
computers are provided with a number of communication interfaces as such as serial, parallel,
infrared, bluetooth, and USB(Universal Serial Bus).