- [Instructor] Embedded systems are devices
that have an integrated CPU and RAM
which can process information internally
without the need for a controlling system.
The embedded device is the evolution
of the terminal that really had
very little or no brain power,
very little or no CPU power.
And there's so many embedded systems out there,
you could lump just about everything
that is an individual device with a CPU
into the realm of the embedded system.
They're found everywhere.
Home appliances, for example washing machines.
Your DVD player, dishwashers,
your setup box for your TV.
Your security system at home.
Office automation,
an all-in-one multi-function printer
or a fax machine or a copy machine.
Thin client computers.
A thin client computer
can be considered an embedded system.
And we're talking about one
that takes the place of a PC,
has an embedded operating system,
its got a CPU, its got RAM,
its got that network connection and display
and USB connections for keyboard and mouse.
And the whole thing with that embedded system
is all the devices, the CPU and RAM,
they're all embedded on one card
and the operating system is embedded.
We used to have Windows embedded,
CE, we'd have other operating systems
that could be embedded into memory.
You've also got security systems.
For example, bio-metrics, or alarm systems.
You've got telecommunications.
Really, I mean, the internet of things.
Your routers, your switches, your cell phones,
your smartphones, even your tablet computers,
they could all be considered embedded systems.
You'll find them in automotive.
For example GPS, or cruise control in your car,
or your airbag system,
or your ABS, for brakes.
Or your fuel injection control.
And there's all kinds of stuff,
the more complex the car gets,
the more expensive and luxury the car gets,
the more embedded systems it may have
or the more complex, the embedded system.
You'll find it in medical.
EEG, ECG, different diagnostics,
blood pressure monitors, scanners.
You'll find it in assembly systems.
You'll find embedded systems in assembly lines,
where they're building things,
and possibly there's robotics involved.
Or perhaps you're developing printed circuit boards,
or PCBs, and there's some type
of controlling system for that.
It could just be something
that'll run a program,
stating how those PCB's have the copper wires
printed onto them, so to speak.
Many more applications.
Embedded systems can be found everywhere.
But again, that idea is that,
you have the integrated CPU and RAM,
and it can process information internally,
from an operating system that is embedded in memory,
without the need for an external controlling system.
That's not to say that there won't be one,
because in many cases there will be.
So one example of an environment
where you'll find embedded systems
is gonna be HVAC,
that's heating, ventilation and air conditioning,
at home or in the company.
And here's an example, we have the Nest Thermostat.
And this is something that you would control
from your mobile device wirelessly,
but this will then in turn control your air conditioning
and your heat.
So this is a very basic example.
If you get into larger buildings,
you're gonna need something more powerful.
Something like this that might mount to the wall,
with a QVGA screen, an ARM-based CPU.
Traditionally the typical embedded system
is associated with risk processors from the very beginning.
And so with these types of systems nowadays,
you'll see an ARM CPU, an ARM-based CPU.
And various connections available,
Serial connections, the old school.
Serial connections, Ethernet connections,
and USB, as well as wireless sometimes,
but that can be a security risk.
The bigger the environment
that you're trying to control,
the less often you'll find wireless.
Then you have SCADA systems, S-C-A-D-A.
Some people pronounce it SCADA, or SCADA.
Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition system.
This takes it to the next level.
You have much larger infrastructures
that you're trying to control.
For example, electrical power grids,
water treatment plants, gas and oil pipelines,
hydro-electric systems, sewage systems,
traffic systems, building controls,
dock systems and on and on and on.
Now here, we'll have multiple embedded systems
and at least one controlling computer,
and often special software to control that.
And here's an example, Siemens is a big player
when it comes to SCADA systems
and other industrial control systems.
And you could see here it's gonna come with software
that's run on a PC or a server,
and then you have devices which may be mounted to a wall,
or maybe rack-mounted.
And the whole thing is controlled
from a workstation by an administrator.
And this is an up and coming field
for the electronics slash electrical engineer,
that can harness the power and knowledge of hardware,
actual systems and programming
within C Language quite often.
So this is a big field up and coming,
but there's a lot of security issues with this.
You know, I mentioned wireless can be an issue.
Just access to these devices can be an issue in general.
So security is huge because they're used
in the infrastructure of your country,
electrical power grids, nuclear systems, water systems,
really everything that keeps our society going.
So it has to be secured effectively.
So you'll have engineers that program these,
and install them and then you'll have engineers
that secure them as well.
So those are two examples of embedded environments,
HVAC and SCADA systems.
You also have legacy devices.
The A Plus exams might ask you
about legacy devices.
These are older embedded systems.
And some examples, the old school PC-104 computer,
which run between 25 and 33 megahertz,
very basic, single-board with a very simple CPU and RAM.
Also DAQ controllers, older thin clients as well.
Give a couple quick examples of those.
Here are some single-board PC-104 embedded computers,
and the reason they still sell these is because,
your company's HVAC
or whatever system they're running might use a box
that controls these things.
And the boards can go bad over time.
It could be because of condensation,
or it could be
because the environment's very dirty and dusty,
or chips just fail over time.
So they sell boards that you can replace inside the box.
And you could see here, 33 megahertz,
16 megabytes of RAM,
one megabyte flash onboard storage,
and then your interfaces, the PC-104 interface,
two comports, an RS485, that's a serial port.
So you have this basic legacy board,
but again if you're gonna be using
a more advanced industrial control system,
you may want to phase these guys out.
Here's a multiple serial port box,
which can control a lot of those old devices.
It can connect them all to this box.
And then you have connectivity
through the Ethernet or USB,
so you can control it from a newer system.
But again it could be a security risk with that
if you are using older boxes.
So you gotta be careful with the legacy devices.
And you'll notice down here
that this is a part of the RoHS initiative,
RoHS initiative, which is the lead-free initiative.
That's a big deal in manufacturing
and has been for 10 to 15 years,
you wanna make sure that everything is lead-free,
especially the boards.
Any boards that you buy,
you wanna make sure that there is no lead
in the manufacturing process, in the PCB process.
And then here's an older thin client.
This one isn't too old,
but you can see some of the telltale signs
of an older thin client that a company might have used
as a replacement for a PC.
You can see an LPT port, that's a Parallel 25 pin.
You could see your serial comports,
you could see PS2, which actually have made a comeback
on some PC's as a combo-port, keyboard and mouse in one.
But you'll see a lot of these ports here,
those little legacy ports.
The older legacy thin clients also have security issues,
but the main problem with them
is they're usually not fast enough
to run the embedded operating systems
that are required for today.
So that a little bit about embedded systems.
Again, really any thing could be considered
an embedded system that has CPU and RAM
which can process information
with an embedded operating system of some sort.
It could be basic Linux,
it could be something that you wrote yourself
from Windows C, it could be Android,
it could be iOS,
but the idea is that it's a single device.
But traditionally, the embedded system
is something that deals with industrial,
HVAC systems,
or Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition systems
in larger infrastructures.
So that's a little bit about embedded systems,
so you wanna know just the basics about that,
and also your internet appliances for the exams,
your firewalls, yous IDS and IPS and your UTM solutions.
And the different type of servers
that are out there,
and the server roles that you might encounter.
And I'll see you at the next lesson.