MICROPROCESSOR APPLICATIONS:

MICROPROCESSOR APPLICATIONS:

When microprocessors appeared, they were first used in computer systems for a negative reason. In the early 1970’s there were few support chips and microprocessors were programmed to perform functions that are now done by a wide variety of hardware chips. For this reason assembling a complete microprocessor-based system required both hardware and software expertise. Only five years later in 1976 companies realized thatmicroprocessors could be used to build inexpensive personal computers. It then took several more years to manufacture computers that were adequate for business and professional purposes. Yet the technology had been there all along. (Naturally with time costs have diminished and integrated circuits have been improved). Many of the early microprocessor applications found markets by accident rather than by design. New product development had generally been a direct result of the dissemination of technical information.

In the early 1970s the necessary combination of hardware and software expertise was rarely found outside the computer manufacturing industry. This was not perceived as a problem, because when microprocessors were introduced, the computer establishment saw them only as low-cost processors for simple control applications. In fact, the first 8-bit microprocessor, the Intel 8008, was designed for direct control of a CRT display. Microprocessors are now used for controlling virtually every computer peripheral that does not require bipolar speeds. Initially, such applications were limited by the relatively low speed of earlymicroprocessors. But now, with the faster microprocessors coupled with specialized peripheral controller chips, such as CRT and floppy disk controllers, it is possible to control fast devices such as CRT’s and disks.

With microprocessors, we have now entered the era of distributed systems. In distributed systems, intercommunication between a number ofprocessors is reduced to a minimum because they do not interact in real-time but exchange data words or block. Each processor is then a direct process controller that completely controls a process. Such network may involve multiple microprocessors. Traditionally, a multiprocessor system is one inwhich several processors interact with each other in real-time for control purposes. Most systems involving networks of microprocessors do not interact so closely and therefore do not qualify as “ multimicroprocessor systems.”