在以提昇產業競爭力為目標的研發與創新過程中，嵌入式系統(Embedded system)的被應用，實扮演著極為重要的關鍵性角色。主要在於嵌入式系統的功能為提高產品的穩定性、可攜性、降低產品的成本與及增加特定功能等目的。因此，對於嵌入式系統而言其設計理念為：對一般標準系統進行修改以符合特殊的需求。此種內嵌式的做法在硬體方面靠的主要就是被稱為系統單晶片(SOC–System On a Chip)[1]的半導體整合技術，而內嵌式作業系統核心(kernel)則是軟體方面的技術核心。 嵌入式軟體設計在某方面來說是要打破傳統的硬體與軟體的邊界和限制，對某一個特定的功能，可以選擇用硬體設計來完成，或是在一般處理器上以軟體撰寫來實現，或是結合特定的硬體與軟體整合實作。不同的選擇在於成本、耗電量、大小與執行效能上會有不同的考量。所以根據這個考量，對於一個好的嵌入式系統設計者，不能只偏頗在硬體或軟體任何一方，應該要對整個系統設計有寬廣的分析能力。由於內嵌式作業系統應用範圍廣泛，為因應不同目的其作業系統更區分明確，本論文僅就以網路設備產品利用嵌入式系統為開發核心，並搭配其特殊設計之硬體系統單晶片，設計開發出“可管理堆疊式交換機”。 For the object about improve the competition in the market during designed and created. The Embedded system has become a very important rule to embed in the target device. The main features about embedded system: improve product’s reliability, portably, reduce the cost and increase the specific functions. The method mixes hardware and software. On the H/W presented by “System On a Chip (SOC)”; and on the S/W the embedded operation system constructed the platform. On the other hand, the embedded system is to break the boundary and constraint about the traditional H/W and S/W. For some specific function, designer can use only H/W or pure S/W or bind the H/W and S/W to accomplish. Different choice must consider the cost, size and performance. For that matter, it’s important for designer that own analyst capability about whole system designing. In this paper, we use the embedded system as kernel to design the network product. Meanwhile we also use the special system on the chip (SOC), for our networking product “Management Stackable Switch”.
