What are the different types of Interrupt Controller in an MCU?

 

An interrupt is a signal that is sent to the processor to temporarily halt the execution of the current task and handle a higher-priority task. Interrupts are an important aspect of real-time embedded systems, where it is essential to respond to events quickly and efficiently.

An interrupt controller is a hardware component that manages interrupts in an embedded system. There are many types of interrupt controllers depending upon the different configurations in the interrupt controller hardware.

Below are the most common types of interrupt controllers:

  • Generic Interrupt Controller (GIC): It is designed to be compatible with multiple processors or architectures. It provides a standard interface for handling interrupts, which allows it to be used with different types of processors without needing to modify the software. This makes it a flexible and cost-effective solution for embedded systems that use different processors or architectures.

  • Nested Vector Interrupt Controller (NVIC): It is a type of programmable interrupt controller that is commonly used in ARM Cortex-M microcontrollers. The NVIC provides a flexible and efficient mechanism for handling interrupts in real-time embedded systems.

  • Vector Interrupt Controller (VIC): It uses interrupt vectors to determine the appropriate interrupt handler for each interrupt source. This allows for faster and more efficient interrupt handling, reducing interrupt latency and improving system performance. The VIC is commonly used in microcontrollers and embedded systems that require fast and reliable interrupt handling.

  • Wake-up Interrupt Controller (WIC): It is a type of interrupt controller that is designed to trigger an interrupt and wake up a system from a low-power sleep mode. A wake-up interrupt controller is responsible for monitoring external events such as button presses or incoming data and triggering an interrupt to wake up the system.
For more details, please refer the link shared below:

https://embeddedwala.com/Blogs/embeddedsystem/TypesOfInterruptControllers


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