The real development of embedded computer is after the appearance of microprocessor. 197 1 year1month, Intel successfully integrated the arithmetic unit and controller circuit, and introduced the first microprocessor Intel 4004. Since then, many 8-bit and 16-bit microprocessors have been introduced by various manufacturers, including Intel Z8000/8085 and 8086. The system based on these microprocessors is widely used in instruments, medical equipment, robots, household appliances and other fields. The wide application of microprocessors has formed a broad embedded application market. Computer manufacturers began to provide OEM products to users in the form of a large number of plug-ins, and then users chose a set of suitable CPU boards, memory boards and various I/O plug-in boards according to their own needs, thus forming a special embedded computer system and embedding it into their own system equipment.
For flexibility and compatibility, serialized and modular single board computers have emerged. Popular single-board computers are iSBC series of Intel company and MCB of Zilog company. Later, people can design a special embedded computer without choosing chips, but they can build a special computer system by choosing functional modules. Both users and developers want to buy the most suitable OEM products from different manufacturers and insert them into the outsourced or self-made chassis to form a new system, so they hope that the plug-ins can be compatible with each other, which leads to the birth of industrial control microcomputer system bus. 1976, Intel introduced Multibus, 1983, and expanded it to MultiBus II with a bandwidth of 40 MB/s ... The simple STD bus designed by Prolog in 1978 is widely used in small embedded systems.
The 1980s can be said to be an era in which various buses emerge one after another. With the improvement of microelectronics technology, integrated circuit manufacturers begin to integrate all components needed for embedded applications, such as microprocessor, I/O interface, A/D, D/A conversion, serial interface, RAM, ROM and so on. , into VLSI, so as to create a microcontroller for I/O design, also known as single chip microcomputer, and become a new talent of embedded computer system. Later, DSP products further improved the technical level of embedded computer system, and quickly penetrated into consumer electronics, medical electronics, intelligent control, communication electronics, instrumentation, transportation and other fields.
In 1990s, the development of embedded system was further accelerated under the traction of huge demands such as distributed control, flexible manufacturing, digital communication and information appliances. DSP products oriented to real-time signal processing algorithms are developing towards high speed, high precision and low power consumption. The third generation DSP chip TMS320C30 introduced by Texas Instruments leads the microcontroller to develop into 32-bit high-speed intelligence. In application, PDA, PDA and set-top box technology are relatively mature and developing rapidly. Especially PDA, 1997 has only four or five brands of PDA in the American market, but by the end of 1998, all kinds of PDA have mushroomed. In addition, Nokia launched smart phones, Siemens launched set-top boxes, Wyse launched smart terminals, and ns launched WebPAD. The small computer loaded on the car can not only control all kinds of equipment (such as stereo, etc.). ) In the car, you should also connect the GPS automatic control car. 2 1 century is undoubtedly a network era, and the application of embedded computer system to various networks is also an important direction of embedded system development. Among the "information appliances" with great development potential, the IP telephone that people pay great attention to is a representative. The equipment can be as simple as an ordinary telephone, but the two parties can talk through the internet, so you can make long-distance calls with the money of local calls!