Microcontroller

A microcontroller (MCU for microcontroller unit, also MC, UC, or μC) is a small computer on a single VLSI integrated circuit (IC) chip. A microcontroller contains one or more CPUs (processor cores) along with memory and programmable input/output peripherals. Program memory in the form of ferroelectric RAM, NOR flash or OTP ROM is also often included on chip, as well as a small amount of RAM. Microcontrollers are designed for embedded applications, in contrast to the microprocessors used in personal computers or other general purpose applications consisting of various discrete chips. In modern terminology, a microcontroller is similar to, but less sophisticated than, a system on a chip (SoC). An SoC may include a microcontroller as one of its components, but usually integrates it with advanced peripherals like a graphics processing unit (GPU), a Wi-Fi module, or one or more coprocessors. Microcontrollers are used in automatically controlled products and devices, such as automobile

About this result

This page is automatically generated and may contain information that is not correct, complete, up-to-date, or relevant to your search query. The same applies to every other page on this website. Please make sure to verify the information with EPFL's official sources.

Related publications (37)

Related publications

Related people (5)

Related people

Related units (8)

Related units

Related concepts (155)

Related concepts

Related courses (30)

Related courses

Related lectures (46)

Related lectures

SARHA – Development of a Sensor-Augmented GPS/EGNOS/Galileo Receiver for Urban and Indoor Environments

Phillip Tomé, Okan Yalak

The main objective of the project ‘SARHA - Sensor-Augmented EGNOS/Galileo Receiver for Handheld Applications in Urban and Indoor Environments’ is the development of a modern satellite navigation receiver with autonomous sensor augmentation. Additionally, the hybrid navigation system will be enhanced by a transponder capable of receiving absolute position updates from transmitters installed inside buildings. The transponder will allow the SARHA system to significantly increase reliability and accuracy of the positioning solutions indoors. The hybrid navigation software is split up into two parts. The first one will be implemented directly on the GPS receiver, whereas the second part will run on a microcontroller. Thus, a small, low-performance microcontroller can be used, representing the first step towards the reduction of size, weight and power consumption of the mobile system. This paper provides an overview on personal mobility and typical applications related to the system, describes the system architecture and the hybrid navigation software in detail. Furthermore, emphasis is laid on a comparison of different step detection algorithms, showing their advantages and disadvantages. Based on the Galileo signal definition, additional analysis set up to explore the signal characteristics in comparison to the GPS signals, are provided. Improvements due to the Galileo signal availability in urban and indoor environments are assessed and will later ensure seamless integration of enhanced technologies into the continuous developments.

2007

Sensor-Augmented EGNOS/Galileo Receiver for Handheld Applications in Urban and Indoor Environments - SARHA

Phillip Tomé, Okan Yalak

In pedestrian user environments, like dense urban canyons or indoors, the GNSS positioning performance regarding accuracy and availability reaches well-known technological limits. These limitations can be overcome by adding additional sources of information to the system. The main objective of the project ‘SARHA - Sensor-Augmented EGNOS/Galileo Receiver for Handheld Applications in Urban and Indoor Environments’ is the combination of a modern satellite navigation receiver with augmentation and autonomous sensors. Additionally, the hybrid navigation system will be enhanced by a transponder receiver, which communicates with transmitters installed inside buildings, to provide absolute position updates. The transponder will allow the SARHA system to significantly increase reliability and accuracy of the positioning solutions indoors. The hybrid navigation software is split up into two parts. The first one will be implemented directly on the GPS receiver, whereas the second part will run on a microcontroller. In this way a small, low-performance microcontroller can be used, what represents the first step to reduce dimension, weight and energy consumption of the mobile system. The project aims at meeting the requirements of fire fighters, rescue services, police, special task forces, solitary, and lone workers for handheld applications acting in environments with unfavourable satellite signal conditions, using hybrid navigation system architecture. Based on the Galileo signal definitions, analyses are set up to explore the signal characteristics in comparison to the GPS signals. Improvements due to Galileo signal availability in urban and indoor environments are assessed and will later ensure seamless integration of enhanced technologies into continuous developments.

2006

Pattern Recognition in Non-uniformly sampled electrocardiogram signal for wearable sensors

Silvio Zanoli

In this thesis, we explore 3 main topics: non-uniform (in time) sub-sampling, QRS detection in an event-based sub-sampled ECG (electrocardiogram) and implementation on a low-power MCU (Micro Controller Unit). The main idea behind this work is to reduce the energy consumption of a QRS detection algorithm by adapting the sampling frequency using the local frequency of the signal while maintaining the overall performance on the QRS detection without degradation. In particular, we will focus on the compréhension and re-adaptation of 2 popular algorithms for QRS detection: the Pan-Tompkins and the gQRS. This choice was guided by some constraints given by the event-based sub-sampling. The re-adaptation, in particular, was performed in 2 parts: the first step was to change the behavior of the algorithms in order to be able to work in an event-based sampled domain. The results achieved from the first step led to the selection of gQRS as the designed algorithm to undergo step 2: parallelization and optimization for the chosen low-power device. The results achieved are comparable to the results achieved by the original version in the classical uniform-sampled domain. The selected low-power device is the PULP platform, an MCU composed of a single core, low power CPU and a cluster composed of other 8 smaller cores.

2019

Microprocessor

A microprocessor is a computer processor where the data processing logic and control is included on a single integrated circuit (IC), or a small number of ICs. The microprocessor contains the ar

Embedded system

An embedded system is a computer system—a combination of a computer processor, computer memory, and input/output peripheral devices—that has a dedicated function within a larger mechanic

ARM architecture family

ARM (stylised in lowercase as arm, formerly an acronym for Advanced RISC Machines and originally Acorn RISC Machine) is a family of reduced instruction set computer (RISC) instruction set archi

EE-208: Microcontrollers and digital systems

Microcontrôleurs et conception de systèmes numériques couvre le fonctionnement interne d'un microcontrôleur, des notions de base d'architecture de processeur et de système informatique ainsi que les interfaces de microcontrôleurs, et protocoles de communication série.

EE-110: Logic systems (for MT)

Ce cours couvre les fondements des systèmes numériques. Sur la base d'algèbre Booléenne et de circuitscombinatoires et séquentiels incluant les machines d'états finis, les methodes d'analyse et de synthèse de systèmelogiques sont étudiées et appliquée

EE-594: Smart sensors for IoT

This lecture provides insights in the design and technologies of Internet-of-Things sensor nodes, with focus on low power technologies. The lectures alternate every two weeks between sensing technologies of various kinds (prof. Ionescu) and their integrated circuit readouts (prof. Enz).