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Technology Stocks : TAVA Research - No Discussion
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To: C.K. Houston who wrote (109)9/21/1997 10:59:00 AM
From: C.K. Houston   of 810
 
WHAT IS AN EMBEDDED SYSTEM?
A general purpose definition of embedded systems is that they are devices used to control, monitor or assist the operation of equipment, machinery or plant. "Embedded" reflects the fact that they are an integral part of the system. In many cases their embeddedness may be such that their presence is far from obvious to the casual observer and even the more technically skilled might need to examine the operation of a piece of equipment for some time before being able to conclude that an embedded control device was involved in its functioning. At the other extreme a general purpose computer may be used to control the operation of a large complex processing plant, and its presence will be obvious.

EMBEDDED SYSTEMS COMPARED WITH COMMERCIAL SYSTEMS
The Year2000 problem in embedded systems differs from the problem in commercial / database / transaction processing systems (often referred to as IT, IS or MIS systems) in a number of ways.

Firstly the user's problem may much lie much deeper than packages or applications software. It may lie in and be inseparable from systems and operating software and from hardware, i.e. in the platform on which the application software is based. When users of IT systems have hardware or operating software problems they can and should be made the concern of the computer supplier: typically, this is not the case with microprocessors and devices based on them.

Secondly in embedded systems the concern is often with intervals rather than with specific dates: the need may be for an event to occur at 100-day intervals rather than on the 5th day of each month. This has the implication that Year2000 problems may reveal themselves both before and for some time after 1 January 2000 and not at all on the date itself. On the other hand there is a possibility that devices with cycles which are measured in hours, and minutes (or even seconds) may be affected by the problem because year numbers are the basis of time calculations. In such systems the effect may not be evident on (as it were) the stroke of midnight but will arise sometime during the following twenty-four hours.

MORE ... Well worth reading.
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