• Investment World
• eWorld
• Brand Line
• Mentor
• Life
• Canvas
• Praxis
• Urban Pulse
• Brand Quest
• The New Manager

Stocks

• Quotes
• SE Diary
• Scoreboard
• Open-End Mutual Fund

Cross Currency

• Rates
  
  

Shipping

• Ports
  
  

Archives

• Yesterday
• Datewise
• Resources
• In Focus
• In Depth

Group Sites

• The Hindu
• The Hindu ePaper
• Business Line
• Business Line ePaper
• Sportstar
• Frontline
• The Hindu eBooks
• The Hindu Images

An embedded system is a special-purpose computer system designed to perform one or a few dedicated functions. It is usually embedded as part of a complete device, including hardware and mechanical parts. In contrast, a general-purpose computer, such as a personal computer, can do many different tasks depending on programming.

The first recognisably modern embedded system was the Apollo Guidance computer, developed by Charles Stark Draper at the MIT Instrumentation Laboratory. Since these early applications in the 1960s, embedded systems have come down in price. There has also been an enormous rise in processing power and functionality.

The software written for embedded systems is often called firmware, and is stored in read-only memory or Flash memory chips rather than a disk drive. It often runs with limited computer hardware resources: small or no keyboard, screen, and little memory.

(Extracted from Wikipedia)

More Stories on : Hardware | Insight | Software

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
Igniting IT with embedded systems

Copyright © 2007, The Hindu Business Line. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu Business Line