Editor’s note: Consistent with VME’s changing role in the market and VITA’s focus, we recently renamed VMEbus Systems magazine to VME and Critical Systems.
During the 30 years I have been in this business, I have seen embedded systems defined in many different ways. Some definitions made sense to me, and some did not. The term embedded systems became so confusing to me over the years that I even made up my own definitions. A deeply embedded system would be the anti-locking brake system on a car. In my view, the user interface on a deeply embedded system is minimized and requires very little operator intervention, for example, putting your foot on the traditional brake pedal. Additionally, deeply embedded systems were hidden from the user to a great degree and required no specialized knowledge to make them work.
One the other hand, a shallow embedded system would be a radar screen on a warship. In a shallow embedded system, the operator interface would be very complex, for example, a keyboard, specific commands, and a screen for feedback that require a lot of operator interaction and specialized knowledge to make them work. A medium embedded system was somewhere in between, for example, a small touch screen on an industrial control system. These taxonomies helped me to perceive and understand different levels of embedded systems, and made me feel more comfortable with the applications and technologies used in embedded systems.
But alas, these days I am no longer comfortable with deeply, medium, and shallow embedded systems definitions. I need another perspective – and another set of taxonomies to better understand where and why embedded systems are being used in the 21st century. Consequently, I have conjured up another set of classifications that helps me perceive what is happening in this business and why.
The latest semiconductor market research reports have helped me create my new definitions of embedded systems. These figures of averages are from numerous articles I have read over the past years. Back in 2000, 40 percent of all semiconductor shipments went into telecommunication, 30 percent went to computers and PCs, and the remaining 30 percent into medical, industrial, automotive, MIL/COTS, transportation, and others.
The preliminary reports I have seen for 2006 indicate that 50 percent of all semiconductors shipped go into consumer products. The fact that the researchers moved cell phones out of telecommunication and put them into the consumer product basket did
not help me decode the trends any easier. We always thought of consumer products as being TVs, radios, stereos, cameras, and CD/DVD players. However, cell phones are more of a consumer product now than a telecommunication product, and it makes sense to move them into the consumer realm. The remaining 50 percent of semiconductor shipments go into the categories already mentioned, but I do not have the breakdowns just yet. Today, the percentage of semiconductors going into pure telecommunication can’t be more than 15 percent – not when you remove cell phones. I suspect that medical, industrial, MIL/COTS, automotive, and others are down a small amount, perhaps about 20 to 25 percent of total shipments. Since the semiconductor industry changed the way it looks at end markets, I have to change the way I look at the definition of embedded systems.
Consequently, I can only see two categories of embedded systems today that include commodity embedded systems and critical embedded systems. Cell phones, iPods, DVD players, MP3 players, digital cameras, and TVs are all commodity embedded systems. If they fail, no damage is done. Many segments of the industrial controls markets are commodity embedded systems, as are most of the telecommunication network. The same goes for some of the embedded systems used in transportation, such as freeway information signs. If those fail, you just wind up in a traffic jam that you could have avoided if the signs had been working properly.
But critical embedded systems are a different animal. We have worked at VITA to create a comprehensive definition of critical embedded systems that makes sense in the 21st century, and now I prose this definition to you:
Critical embedded systems are life-critical or safety-critical systems whose failure or malfunction may result in:
- Death or serious injury to people
- Loss or severe damage to expensive equipment
- Environmental harm
- Large, nonrecoverable financial losses
Additionally, our definition is even further restricted to high-performance, distributed computing systems that:
- Manage high-bandwidth I/O communications
- Involve real-time processing
- Are environmentally constrained in Space, Weight, and Power (SWAP) consumption/dissipation
When you look at all the products made by VITA member companies and the applications that use their products, it is
clear that an overwhelming majority of those applications fall under the critical embedded systems definition. The primary market for critical embedded systems is surely in the military segment. In transportation, the freeway information signs are operated by PCs (commodity embedded systems), but the train monitoring systems in Europe and other countries use VME. PCs are just not reliable enough to be used in many critical embedded systems.
If you look at the financial aspects, the differences between critical embedded systems and commodity embedded systems becomes even more apparent. Commodity embedded systems sell for very low margins, in high volumes. Critical embedded systems sell for very high margins, in low volumes. The primary value added in commodity embedded systems is manufacturing value, and the world rewards that with about 8 percent gross profit margin. Just look at the financial statements from the contract electronics manufacturers. The primary value added in critical embedded systems is intellectual value, which is rewarded with 50 to 70 percent gross profit margins. Just look at the financial statements of the military prime contractors and medical companies.
So, in 2007, you will see VITA concentrate on the technologies and the markets for critical embedded systems. That is where our standards, our members, and our technologies are targeted. After all, critical embedded systems are much more interesting than commodity embedded systems for a host of reasons.
For more information, contact Ray at [email protected].