by Erwin Schoitsch and Amund Skavhaug

Embedded Systems are a key if Europe is to remain in the forefront of digital technology and as such they have been classified as an important research area for the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme - the main financial tool through which the EU supports research and development activities. The IST/FET (Future and Emerging Technologies) programme 'Beyond the Horizon', coordinated by ERCIM, points out that Embedded Systems, in combination with pervasive - or ubiquitous - computing, (cognitive) intelligence and software-intensive systems, which in fact means 'embedded intelligence', or 'smart systems' in the broader context of 'smart environments', are the most important challenge for strategic, long-term research, with a huge impact on society and the economy. The ITEA2 Roadmap (Information Technology for European Advancement) reaches the same conclusion - that Embedded Systems are a crucial technology for European competitiveness.

Illustration by Pertti Jarla.

by Erwin Schoitsch and Wilfried Kubinger

Embedded systems are everywhere today and will be even more prevalent in the future. Most of them perform simple control and support tasks on command in a pre-programmed manner, but that's not the end of the line. Increasingly, they are designed to carry out autonomous tasks including "intelligence" (smart systems). They are also designed to be able to decide, based on complex inputs and situation awareness, what to do under circumstances defined by an unreliable environment. Autonomous vehicles are the next step in this direction.