An embedded motherboard is generally understood as a CPU board that is embedded inside a device for control and data processing, which is the “brain” of the device. When embedded inside the device, there will be relatively strict requirements for the size and power consumption of the motherboard (the heat dissipation problem of the embedded motherboard). Therefore, generally speaking, embedded motherboards will have characteristics such as small size, high integration, and low power consumption! The two common types of embedded motherboards are: X86-based embedded motherboards and RISC-based ARM embedded motherboards (produced under the authorization of ARM, each chip manufacturer has its own special functions). The ARM-based embedded boards usually have onboard CPUs, while motherboards based on X86 CPUs are not necessarily so.
There are two major systems in the standard embedded system architecture. Currently, the so-called RISC (Reduced Instruction Set Computer, Reduced Instruction Set Computer) processor is the dominant system. The RISC camp is very extensive, including ARM, MIPS, PowerPC, ARC, Tensilica, etc., all belonging to the RISC processor category. However, although these processors are also part of the RISC system, they have different designs and structures in instruction set and processing units, so they are completely incompatible with each other. Software developed on one platform cannot be directly used on another hardware platform without recompilation.
The second is the CISC (Complex Instruction Set Computer, Complex Instruction Set Computer) processor system. The Intel X86 processor we are familiar with belongs to the CISC system. The CISC system is actually a very inefficient system. Its instruction set structure bears too much burden and pursues completeness, resulting in a greatly increased complexity of the chip structure. The X86 processors used in embedded systems in the past were mostly products of the old generation, such as the Pentium 3 processors that had already exited the personal computer market several years ago. Due to the fact that the performance and power consumption ratio of this generation of products can be considered the sweet spot of the X86 system in the past, and it has been verified by the market for a long time, with high stability, it is often used in applications with low performance requirements but high stability requirements, such as industrial control equipment.