Biomedical instrumentation is one application where embedded processing is increasingly important. In this article, we explore the relationship between embedded processing and the more familiar desktop computer architectures. Computer architectures describe the framework for instruments and computers just as an architecture defines the structure of an organism, skyscraper or bridge.
Different architectures possess different utilities as well as limitations.
The computer architecture that is best for desktop word processing and financial analysis in general will not be optimal for mathematical simulation, data communication or process control. Desktop personal computers have become so ubiquitous that they have tended to eclipse other types of computers in the public consciousness. This is true of a laboratory PCR, spectrometer, x-ray or MRI instrument. The computers that run these instruments are based on architectures that differ from the personal computer in that they emphasize signal processing, rather than word processing. Originally, the desktop computer architecture was constructed to communicate, store and process language as represented by typed alphanumeric characters.