1. History of Embedded Systems
Discussion 0.1

2. The First Point-Contact Transistor 1947
Bell Labs Museum
The First Point-Contact Transistor 1947

3. The First Junction Transistor 1951
Bell Labs
The First Junction Transistor 1951
M1752
Outside the Lab
Lab model

4. Texas Instrument’s First IC -- 1958
Jack Kilby
Robert Noyce
Fairchild
Intel

5. A single-purpose, programmable, digital system
Embedded System
A single-purpose, programmable, digital system

6. 1961 – Unimate Robot at GM

7. 1965: PDP-8 first mass-produced Mini

8. Electronics, Volume 38, Number 8, April 19, 1965

11. Moore’s law
Wow
This growth rate is hard to imagine, most people underestimate
How many ancestors do you have from 20 generations ago
i.e., roughly how many people alive in the 1500’s did it take to make you?
220 = more than 1 million people

12. Graphical illustration of Moore’s law
1981
1984
1987
1990
1993
1996
1999
2002
10,000
transistors
150,000,000
transistors
Leading edge
chip in 1981
Leading edge
chip in 2002
Something that doubles frequently grows more quickly than most people realize!
A 2002 chip can hold about 15, chips inside itself

13. 1968 – Apollo Guidance Computer

14. Intel 4004
source: Computer Museum

15. January 1975 cover of Popular Electronics

16. 1978 – Industrial Holographics

17. Time's Man of the Year (1982)

18. 1985 – Motorola introduces the 68HC11 microcontroller

19. 1997 – Motorola introduces the 68HC12/HCS12 microcontroller
Additional PWM and CAN interfaces

20. Develops WHYP –
a subroutine-threaded Forth for the 68HC12

21. Chuck Moore,
the inventor of
Forth, reading
Haskell’s
WHYP book

22. 1975 –
Signetics invents
the FPLA

23. 1978 – MMI
introduces the PAL

24. 1983 –
AMD introduces
the 22V10
1984 – Lattice
introduces the GAL
– an electrically erasable PAL

25. 1985 – Xilinx introduces the LCA (Logic Cell Array)
The Xilinx XC3000 CLB (configurable logic block).

26. 1991 – Xilinx introduces the XC4000 Architecture
Programmable
Interconnect
I/O Blocks (IOBs)
XC4003 contained 440,000 transistors
0.7-micron process
Configurable
Logic Blocks (CLBs)

27. XC4000E/X Configurable Logic BlocksD Q SD RD EC
S/R
Control 1 F' G' H'
DIN H
Func.
Gen. G F G4 G3 G2 G1 F4 F3 F2 F1 C4 C1 C2 C3 K YQ Y XQ X
H1 DIN S/R EC
2 Four-input function generators (Look Up Tables)
- 16x1 RAM or
Logic function
2 Registers
- Each can be
configured as Flip
Flop or Latch
- Independent
clock polarity
- Synchronous and
asynchronous
Set/Reset

28. Look Up Tables
Combinatorial Logic is stored in 16x1 SRAM Look Up Tables (LUTs) in a CLB
Example:
Look Up Table
4-bit address
Combinatorial Logic A B C D Z
A B C D Z 4
(2 ) 2
= 64K !
Capacity is limited by number of inputs, not complexity
Choose to use each function generator as 4 input logic (LUT) or as high speed sync.dual port RAM G
Func.
Gen. G4 G3 G2 G1 WE

29. 1998 – Xilinx introduces the Virtex®™ FPGA family
0.25-micron process

30. 2003 – Xilinx introduces the Spartan®™-3 family of products
This very low-cost product is the world's first 90nm FPGA
2003 – Xilinx introduces the Spartan®™-3 family of products
Very low cost
World’s first
90 nm FPGA

32. Xilinx will release the world’s first
one-billion transistor device this year x

33. Logic Implementations
Fixed (ASICs) -- $12 billion market
Programmable (PLDs) -- $3.5 billion market
CPLDs
FPGAs

34. Advantages of ASICs Lower costs for very large volumes
Highest performance capabilities

35. Advantages of PLDs Flexibility during design cycle
Available – no long lead times
No NRE costs
Low inventory
Can be modified after delivery

36. PLD and ASIC cost cross-over point
Nick Tredennick
Gilder Technology Report

37. PLD and ASIC cost cross-over points (dots) with time
Nick Tredennick
Gilder Technology Report