Essentially , the embedded part of an embedded system refers to the state of being embedded into a larger system. The system that has been embedded is a computer system of some description, which has one or more very specific functions in the overall system, rather than being a general-purpose component. This larger system can be digital, mechanical, or analog in nature, while the additional integrated digital circuitry tightly interacts with data from and to interfaces, sensors and memory to implement the actual system functionality.

In this chapter, we will look at the following topics:

• Different categories of embedded platforms
• Examples of each category
• Development challenges of each category