Embedded

The uses of embedded systems are virtually limitless, because every day new products are introduced to the market that utilize embedded computers in novel ways. In recent years, hardware such as microprocessors, microcontrollers, and FPGA chips have become much cheaper. So when implementing a new form of control, it's wiser to just buy the generic chip and write your own custom software for it. Producing a custom-made chip to handle a particular task or set of tasks costs far more time and money. Many embedded computers even come with extensive libraries, so that "writing your own software" becomes a very trivial task indeed.

From an implementation viewpoint, there is a major difference between a computer and an embedded system. Embedded systems are often required to provide Real-Time response. A Real-Time system is defined as a system whose correctness depends on the timeliness of its response. Examples of such systems are flight control systems of an aircraft, sensor systems in nuclear reactors and power plants. For these systems, delay in response is a fatal error. A more relaxed version of Real-Time Systems, is the one where timely response with small delays is acceptable. Example of such a system would be the Scheduling Display System on the railway platforms. In technical terminology, Real-Time Systems can be classified as:
• Hard Real-Time Systems - systems with severe constraints on the timeliness of the response.
• Soft Real-Time Systems - systems which tolerate small variations in response times.
• Hybrid Real-Time Systems - systems which exhibit both hard and soft constraints on its performance.