I'm not an expert in designing embedded products, just trying to understand how products are designed.

As far as I know embedded products can be designed in two ways. The first way is to use a microcontroller in the product and the second way is to use a microprocessor in the product. As I found information on the internet , peripherals are inbuilt in the microcontroller, whereas if we have to design the products.with the processor, we need peripherals.

Anyway question if you are designing any product then how do you decide whether you need microcontroller or microprocessor?

If your answer is that it depends on the requirement then I would like to show a list of some embedded products. You can take the requirement of any product for example There are some embedded product like wi-fi router, set top box, tv remote, washing machine. I am sure it all comes under the category of embedded products. It is very difficult for me according to my ability to find out what they are used microcontroller or microprocessor.

I'm sorry if my question irritates you but this is first thing that comes to my mind when I think to design any product.

Warm regards
Pushkar

 

Anyway question if you are designing any product then how do you decide whether you need microcontroller or microprocessor?

If there is a microcontroller with the right peripherals, use it; and in most cases there is.

 

The choice depends on a number of variables, starting with component availability. If the parts are unavailable for some reason then production stops. So component availability has a big influence.
Another factor is the designer's skill set, and what devices they best know how to use . That affects development time and cost.
And cost is always a huge influence on which arrangement is selected. Often the main influence.

 

And cost is always a huge influence on which arrangement is selected. Often the main influence.

When you have added in the extra assembly costs, pcb size and pcb design time, the single-chip solution tends to win.

 

One way to estimate the cost of a design is by total pin count. This will be related to component acquisition cost. It will be related to PCB layout cost including board size and number of layers. It will be related to assembly cost for the pick and place machine and for the need to have components on both sides of the board.

 

Embedded product like wi-fi router, set top box, tv remote, washing machine.

Does anyone have any idea whether microcontroller is used or processor is used in the above product? May be someone has worked on such a project before or someone has information about such a product. I can only guess most microcontrollers should be used as microcontrollers have inbuilt peripherals

@Ian0 (Single chip solution) If microcontroller is better than processor why microcontroller is not used in computer. Why extra devices memory connected with processors in computer hardware?

 

Embedded product like wi-fi router, set top box, tv remote, washing machine.

Does anyone have any idea whether microcontroller is used or processor is used in the above product? May be someone has worked on such a project before or someone has information about such a product. I can only guess most microcontrollers should be used as microcontrollers have inbuilt peripherals

@Ian0 (Single chip solution) If microcontroller is better than processor why microcontroller is not used in computer. Why extra devices memory connected with processors in computer hardware?

RAM is the big difference. Most embedded applications can get by with orders of magnitude less RAM than a general purpose computer. Microcontrollers also have more limited options with mass storage.

 

I appreciate your help so much I think I don't need to go deeper. I would conclude that product design depends on many things like cost efficiency size and so many. There will be a team of expert people to design a large project. So the answer to my question would be that whatever is working, just use it, it should reliable, low cost, efficient and best suitable for clients.

 

Seriously! Part availability during a longer production run can be a show-stopping problem.