Microprocessors and Their Applications.

The microprocessor miniaturized processor has recently become a viable proposition and promises a revolution in system design, flexibility, volume and cost in the data and signal processing areas of all types of avionics systems. Microprocessor hardware available on the market is rapidly evolving with the employment of alternative technologies such as Silicon on sapphire and Schottky Bipolar to enable operation at clock rates orders higher than the early capability. In addition, manufacturers are developing realistic hardware to enable rapid vectored interrupt handling which is often necessary in real-time applications. As usual, hardware is running ahead of software and although most applications are currently written in symbolic assembler code, there is increasing awareness of the advantages of efficient high-level compilers and effort is now being expended on the implementation of such languages. One of the problems with microprocessors is the necessity to design both hardware and software configurations for a particular problem. In two years time, the potentialities of the microprocessor will be fully established and that would to be the appropriate point at which to present the new technology to a wider Avionics audience in an AGARD Lecture Series. A bibliography of 146 items is included in the publication.