ProgPtr

An embedded system is a microprocessor-based computer hardware system with software that is designed to perform a dedicated function, either as an independent system or as a part of a large system. At the core is an integrated circuit designed to carry out computation for real-time operations.

Complexities range from a single microcontroller to a suite of processors with connected peripherals and networks; from no user interface to complex graphical user interfaces. The complexity of an embedded system varies significantly depending on the task for which it is designed.

Microcontroller is a small computer on a single metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) integrated circuit (IC) chip. A microcontroller contains one or more CPUs (processor cores) along with memory and programmable input/output peripherals.

Microcontrollers are designed for embedded applications, in contrast to the microprocessors used in personal computers or other general-purpose applications consisting of various discrete chips.

A real-time operating system (RTOS) is an operating system intended to serve real-time applications that process data as it comes in, mostly without buffer delay. The full form of RTOS is a Real-time operating system.

In an RTOS, Processing time requirements are calculated in tenths of seconds increments of time. It is a time-bound system that can be defined as fixed time constraints. In this type of system, processing must be done inside the specified constraints. Otherwise, the system will fail.