Embedded Controller Hardware Design (Embedded Technology Series) [Paperback]

Ken Arnold (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1878707523 | ISBN-13: 978-1878707529 | Publication Date: January 29, 2001 | Edition: 1

Ken Arnold is an experienced embedded systems designer and president of HiTech Equipment, Inc., an embedded systems design firm located in San Diego, California. He also teaches courses in embedded hardware and software design at the University of California-San Diego.

Gives the reader an integrated hardware/software approach to embedded controller design
Stresses a "worst case" design approach for the harsh environments in which embedded systems are often used
Includes design examples to make important concepts come alive

Editorial Reviews

Review

"The book... is a great introduction to low-end, controller design." ELECTRONIC DESIGN

Embedded Controller Hardware Design targets one of the most popular embedded controllers around, the 8051. The book, written by Ken Arnold for LLH Technology Publishing, is a great introduction to low-end, controller design, especially for developers fresh out of college or just off other projects that are used to 32-bit systems running Windows and Linux. Experienced 8-bit embedded designers will not find the book as useful unless they're unfamiliar with the 8051 and need to use it in a new project.

The coverage ranges from a novice level introduction of electronics that touches on resistors and tristate buffers to more advanced topics like bus current limitations and using 8-bit microcontrollers and PLDs (programmable logic devices). The bulk of the book concentrates on important detail like bus loading, timing, and the use of I/O, DMA, and interrupts.

The software aspects represent a key part of the book but they're not in the majority, so grab an 8051 programming book for software design. Still, there's enough software to touch on the aspects that will affect hardware designs, such as interrupt routine timing and synchronization.

The 8051 architecture is discussed in detail. It's suitable for consumption by novices and handy as a quick reference as well. Examples are sprinkled throughout. The book is designed to be used with 8031SDK, which is available online. A CD-ROM, included with the book, offers an eBook version of the text and software samples.

Bill Wong, Embedded Technologies/Software Editor, Electronic Design

About the Author

Ken Arnold is the Embedded Computer Engineering Program Coordinator and an instructor at UCSD Extension, as well as founding director of the On-Line University of California, where he manages, develops and teaches courses in engineering and embedded systems design. Ken has been developing commercial embedded systems and teaching others how for more than two decades. As the champion of the embedded program at UCSD, he lead the inception and growth of the program as well as introducing the world's first on-line embedded course well over a decade ago. Ken was also the founder and CEO of HiTech Equipment Corp., CTO of Wireless Innovation, and engineering chief at General Dynamics.

Product Details

• Paperback: 246 pages
• Publisher: Newnes; 1 edition (January 29, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1878707523
• ISBN-13: 978-1878707529
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6.9 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,273,998 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great intro book to embedded hardware, January 8, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Embedded Controller Hardware Design (Embedded Technology Series) (Paperback)

This was one of the best technical books I have read in years. Embedded Controller Hardware Design provides an excellent introduction to the world of embedded controller design. The author has a writing style that is very readable and he uses sufficient examples to illustrate to the reader how to apply what they have just read .

The book primarily deals with the hardware design aspect of controller design, and focuses on the 8051 microcontroller and its variants. Most of the book is spent developing a systematic method of making sure a design will work reliably, even under the unfavorable conditions of a "worst-case" scenario. The book would probably be most useful to electrical engineers, electronics technicians, and serious hobbyist who are just getting started in embedded systems and need some good background material. It could also be useful to programmers who are migrating from the desktop/PC environment to the embedded controller environment and want some information on the structure of embedded hardware.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars I have to disagree, it's a waste of money, April 29, 2006

By 

EmbeddedFlyer (Seattle, WA United States) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Embedded Controller Hardware Design (Embedded Technology Series) (Paperback)

I'm not sure about the glowing reviews here, but I fail to see how this book can be much help to current embedded designers? While the copyright is 2004, most of the book reads as if it was written in 1994 or even earlier. The book talks a lot about discrete logic, something that's rarely (or barely) used in modern embedded designs. Likewise, the author largely assumes external memory, which is also increasingly rare.

Most people, today, use SPI, I2C and/or CAN serial interfaces within (and even between) embedded devices and peripherals. The book doesn't provide useful coverage of any of these (or even mention some of them). It's as if the author's last real world embedded development work was with the 8051 a few decades ago? It's the only processor he goes into any detail on and not even the current System on a Chip versions.

The book does contain a useful primer to basic electronics and microcontroller theory. But like the rest of the book, much of it is out of date relatively to current embedded design and the same material is covered much better in other books.

The only reason to POSSIBLY buy this book, in my opinion, is the chapter on worst case timing and loading analysis. But even that section is showing its age. Signal levels, PC board design, bus/signal termination, impedance matching techniques, etc. are largely done differently today than what the author suggests. For example, do you know anyone using TTL discrete logic in their current embedded designs? Apparently both Ken Arnold and Newnes/Elsivier think someone does? You can have my copy back Amazon.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best book I've read on embedded systems, September 22, 2005

By 

A Reader (Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Embedded Controller Hardware Design (Embedded Technology Series) (Paperback)

This is the best book that I came across treating embedded systems. Most other embedded systems books treat the subject from the point of view of one microcontroller. And they focus a lot on assembly programming. You won't find that in this book. There are only a few pages discussing the 8051. The focus of this book is on the hardware design of microcontrollers and how to interface to them.