Why embedded processors?
Overhead associated with building a general-purpose system
- loading programs
- operating system to store programs and data
- shared system resources (e.g., system bus, large memory)
- many parts
- communication through shared memory/bus
- each I/O device requires its own hardware
Optimization opportunities
- as much hardware as necessary for application
- cheaper, portable, lower-power systems
- as much software as necessary for application
- no complete OS requirement
- can integrate processor, memory, and I/O devices onto a single-chip