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Figure 1: A representative block diagram of
a mixed-signal embedded system |
Mixed-signal design is ubiquitous these days, with hybrids of digital and analog circuitry turning up everywhere. A typical mixed-signal designer may be a hardware or software engineer with specific needs. They may be working with 4-bit, 8-bit, 16-bit, and 32-bit microcontrollers in a single embedded controller or across several embedded systems. They need to capture a host of different signal types and serial-data protocols and understand timing relationships between them. Then there's all the different sensor signals, power-supply signals, and PWM control signals to guarantee embedded system performance and reliability.
