Embedded System Platforms: A Comprehensive Review of Development, Classification, and Trends

Abstract

With the development of IoT and AI, embedded systems have become an important foundation for modern electronic products and industrial equipment. Characterized by their high performance-to-power ratio, real-time processing capabilities, and compact architecture, these systems enable seamless integration of hardware and software in resource-constrained environments. To address the rapid evolution of this field, this paper provides a comprehensive review of current embedded system platforms. First, this paper focuses on the background of the research and expounds the basic theory of the embedded system platform secondly. Furthermore, this paper constructs a classification and comparative analysis of embedded system platforms, summarizes the current problems and future development of embedded system platforms, reaching to the conclusion that traditional platforms are stable, while emerging ones are more open but still need better ecosystems. Finally, this paper gives a perspective that embedded platforms will develop toward heterogeneous integration, enhanced intelligence, and increased localization.