Embedded systems

Thousands of items that traditionally had nothing to do with computers are now equipped with microprocessors. They include large and small household appliances, cars (and their accessory equipment), car keys, tools, test instruments and many more devices that we all use in our daily lives.

Increasingly stringent pollution-control standards effectively require automobile manufacturers to use microprocessor engine-management systems to ensure optimum control of emissions under widely varying operating conditions. Non-programmable controls would entail complex, bulky, or costly implementation to achieve the results possible with a microprocessor. The result: embedded software as control programs for microprocessors tailored to the product line's specific needs. Many more microprocessors are part of embedded systems, providing digital control over a myriad of objects—from appliances to automobiles and cellular phones—and industrial process control.