Inside the World of Computing

5Technology Building Blocks

It is important to understand the main technological trends that allow us to build the services we have today and that profoundly change our daily lives. We will detail some applications and uses in Chapter 6, as they often combine several of these technologies.

5.1. Embedded systems

The explosion of the Internet of Things (IoT) gave a special importance to the technology of embedded systems, which are autonomous electronic and computer systems dedicated to a specific task, often in real time, with a limited size and low energy consumption. They are called embedded systems because they are generally not seen. It is therefore not a traditional computer that can be used for many applications.

It is often a component of a larger system. It interacts with the external environment by retrieving information via sensors and acting on this environment via actuators to produce an action. We are in a scheme of “information ↔ reaction”. Embedded systems are numerous in transportation (automotive, aviation, etc.), electrical and electronic products (digital watches, telephony, television, washing machines, home automation, etc.), telecommunications, medical equipment, process control (production lines, etc.), smart cards, consumer toys, etc.

The characteristics of an embedded system can be summarized as follows:

• – it is generally built to perform a single task or function, although more generalized embedded systems are developing;
• – it must comply with certain ...